Page 72 of The Pieces We've Lost

Gross.

“Mikey! Stop hitting on my girl,” Colter scolded him.

“Oh? Your girl? Damn, Carson, that’s a new development. Are you sure you agreed to that?” He turned to me, and although I knew he was fucking with Colter, I still got defensive over him.

“Yeah, Mikey. I’m his girlfriend, what’s it to you?” I quipped before I could stop myself.

Colter’s face lit up, his smile brighter than I had ever seen it, as he came over and wrapped me up in his arms.

“Girlfriend, huh?” he whispered in my ear, and my heart fluttered. “I could get used to that.”

He kissed me on the cheek as Jake whistled and Mikey yelled, “Gross, get a room!”

I just laughed, feeling very content as part of the friend group, even if some of them were pure goofballs.

“All right, Blaze, are you ready to show me what you’re made of?” Colter pulled me along.

“I don’t really have a choice,” I grumbled, a little nervous to showcase my roping “skills” in front of these people who did this for a living. They were professionals. I was not.

“You’ll be fine, baby. Hell, you could rope circles around Mikey,” he reassured me as we both mounted our horses and Reid handed me a rope.

“Have you heeled before?” he asked me, and I shook my head.

We roped calves for branding using head-and-heel instead of heel-only, and I never really learned how to heel. I’d still had plenty of experience roping, but I knew heeling could be difficult if you didn’t have prior experience.

“It’s a little bit different from being a header.” He explained the differences with where to aim and how to throw the rope effectively.

I nodded as he went along, grasping the basics of it fairly easily.

I held the reins nervously. I didn’t rodeo; this wasn’t part of my lifestyle, showing off my skills to other people. Yet, I found myself wanting to be part of this, no pressure, just having fun.

Colter backed his horse up, and I followed, backing up on the right side of the box. I knew enough about team roping to know how it worked, but I still didn’t want tomess anything up, even though there was nothing on the line.

“You ready, baby?” he asked me.

“Ready as I’ll ever be?” I tried to say confidently, but it came out as more of a question.

“It’s okay if you miss, this is for fun, okay?”

I knew he meant well, but it only fueled my competitive side more.

Colter nodded, and Mikey opened the chute gate. This particular steer was a bit slower than the ones they had during competitions, so it wasn’t hard for Colter to catch up to it and rope its horns. I followed fairly closely after him, swinging the rope over my head waiting for the right moment to throw the loop as the steer was still moving. I saw my opening and I took it, catching the legs.

I felt my jaw drop. I couldn’t believe I’d actually caught the steer on the first run and was dazed for a split second before I snapped back into what I was doing and dallied my rope.

“Hell yeah, Ellie!” Reid whooped from the outside of the fence. “Now that there, boys? That’s a real cowgirl!”

I looked over and saw the corner of Colter’s lip turn up in a grin at Reid’s comment. Even Hayden and Mikey were smiling and clapping.

“That was pretty damn impressive there, Blaze.” Colter rode his horse over to me, getting close enough to peck me on the lips. “Might give Reid over there a run for his money!” he called loud enough for Reid to hear, but Reid just shrugged his arms in response.

CHAPTER FORTY

colter

She was a natural. Watching her out here, roping with the boys, made me happy. It was nice to see her being involved in my life, even if it meant hanging out with the people she least expected to be associating with. I knew she had experience with roping, but I didn’t expect her to be able to keep up as well as she did, and that was purely a mistake on my part. She was talented, and I hoped one day she would compete, even if the first couple times scared her to death.

We stood against the fence on the outside of the arena, my arm wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her close to me. I tried not to think about her going back to Texas in a few days, leaving us with a long-distance relationship—a real one—since she had proclaimed herself as my girlfriend earlier.

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