Page 52 of The Hearts We've Broken
Seemingly satisfied, the reporters and media slowly started to dwindle, heading off to find their next victims.
I broke the kiss, although I still held Juniper’s face in my hands. Looking deep into her icy blue eyes, I murmured, “You’re trouble, you know that, Peach?”
“What’s going to happen?” Her eyes widened, like the realization of what we’d gotten ourselves into had just sunk in.
“I don’t know, Juniper, but it looks like we’re going to be stuck with each other for a while longer.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
mikey
The next morning, we hooked up our trailers to get back on the road. Our next destination was a rodeo in Arizona, but it was also a seventeen-hour drive to get there. We’d most likely split it in two and stop along the way in Amarillo.
“We all packed up and ready to go?” I called out to the guys.
“Yeah, let’s get out of here.” Colter nodded as he picked up the last lawn chair and put it in the back of his pickup.
“After you, milady.” I opened the passenger side door and gestured for Juniper to climb in.
She looked unimpressed as she hoisted herself up into the pickup, grabbing the “oh shit handle” to help give herself a boost. Once she was safely inside, I shut the door and ran over to the driver’s side.
I turned the key in the ignition, and the radio turned on to a country western station. The A/C was blowing through the vents, and the sun was shining. I didn’t know if it was the combination of everything, but I reached forJuniper, lacing our fingers together and resting our hands on the center console.
We drove out of Houston in a convoy of pickup trucks and horse trailers, leaving behind the rodeo, media, and the fans that changed everything about our fake-dating arrangement.
At the end of the day, I’d proven the boys—and the media—wrong. Juniper and I had been together for a little over a monthandI’d won the championship buckle.
Technically, we could quietly end our relationship once we got back home. Lay low for a bit while it blew over on social media. It was what everyone expected, after all. A whirlwind fling. The Mikey Tucker special. But a part of me wanted to ride this out a bit longer.
I couldn’t deny that I’d been happier in Houston than I’d ever been at a rodeo. Having Juniper by my side made me feel lighter somehow. I didn’t want to get used to it, though. This thing wouldn’t last. I had to remind myself of that. Nothing about our relationship was real.
“What are you thinking about?” Juniper asked about thirty minutes into our drive.
“Hm?” I snapped out of my trance.
“You looked deep in thought over there. Just wondering what’s on your mind.”
“Not a whole lot,” I lied.
Bringing up whatever feelings I thought I had would just make this whole thing more complicated. How was I supposed to tell my fake girlfriend that she made me forget the pressures of being a professional bull rider? That when I was with her, a lot of my worries melted away, and I was able to just be myself.
She hummed like she didn’t quite believe me, but at the same time, she didn’t pry.
An old song from the late nineties came up on the radio, and I turned up the volume, tapping my hand on the steering wheel to the beat as Joe Diffie serenaded us.
“What kind of music do you like?” I asked as the song ended.
“I kind of just listen to whatever’s on. I don’t think I have a favorite genre or anything.”
“Really? Not even a go-to station to listen to on the radio?”
Her cheeks flushed red. “Honestly, I don’t really listen to the radio unless I’m at work. I don’t know, I’m not the type of person to have music playing all the time.”
“You like the quiet?”
“I wouldn’t say I like the quiet per se, but at the same time I don’t need something filling the silence all the time, if that makes sense.”
I nodded, even though I didn’t really understand. Music was a nice distraction for me when my thoughts got a little too loud. If I was able to focus on the lyrics, my fears of being forgotten seemed to fade a bit.
