Page 33 of The Hearts We've Broken
The bull thrashed in the chute, knocking against the gate. On the big screen, the cowboy set himself on the back of the bull and adjusted his grip on the rope. Once he was ready, he nodded and they opened the gate. The bull spun and kicked right off the bat, but the cowboy held on as cheers from the crowd drowned out all the other noise in the arena.
Clouds of dust rose up on the floor as the bull switched directions, kicking its legs out behind it, doing whatever it could to throw the man off its back.
Eight seconds felt like an eternity before the buzzer finally went off. He jumped off the bull and scrambled out of the arena as the bullfighters distracted the bull and guided it out of the arena.
“You dothatfor a living?” I hadn’t realized I’d said it out loud until the words were already out of my mouth.
“Sure do, Peach. And I’m damn good at it, too.”
After the rodeo concluded, the goal was to get out of the stadium as quickly as possible, avoiding the media and any rabid fans who saw us walk in.
Things hardly ever went according to plan, though, and right as we stepped out of the arena, a reporter stopped us.
“Mikey! Who do you have with you tonight? Is this your girlfriend?” she asked as she shoved a microphone in his face, a cameraman standing next to her. “Or is she just another one of your flings?”
I wasn’t sure if he meant to or not, but Mikey flinched beside me. Annoyance flared in my chest, traveling up my throat. I didn’t think. I just defended him. “I’m not just a fling. I’m his girlfriend, and my name’s Juniper, thanks for asking.” With that, I pulled Mikey, still frozen in shock, away from the reporter as she called after me, drawing attention from everyone around us.
“Mikey! How long have you two been together?” someone else yelled from our right.
“Where’s she from?”
“Are you going to drop her after Houston like you do every other girl?”
Fuck. That was cold.
Soon enough, everyone in close proximity to us had their phones out and were snapping pictures.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered in a panic. “I just wanted to help.”
He sighed as we continued walking. “It’s all right, Juniper. I appreciate you standing up for me. We’ve got a new problem on our hands now, though.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“People are expecting us to break up after Houstonnow, so we’re going to have to play this out longer than planned.”
Even though we’d planned for this—accounted for the media inevitably talking about us—it still came as a shock. I hadn’t expected everyone to think we’d immediately break up or that I was just a fling to him. Perhaps that was naive on my part.
“Oh…well, that’s fine, right?” I didn’t sound too convincing. I wasn’t sure if I could have convinced myself with that tone.
He responded with a small hand squeeze. “We’ll make it work.”
@therealbucklebunny:Did you see the girl Mikey Tucker was with tonight at RODEOHOUSTON?
@roughyforlifee356:Don’t expect this one to last that long
@ropingandriding.podcast:We plan on getting the full scoop on this. Stay tuned, rodeo fans.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
mikey
Travis
Call me later. We need to talk about those photos going around.
You got it.
Travis
