mostly only there to see the bulls that were coming up later. When the ground crew entered the arena to set up the barrels, I shifted around on the bench, looked up, and prayed, “Come on, Shae-Lynn.”
Unfortunately, Tawnie and Shae-Lynn were the last two of eight riders, so I had to sit there trying not to puke through the other ones. When the silhouette of Tawnie mounted on Stella entered the alley, I had to close my eyes. I didn’t want to wish her any bad, but I really hoped she would make a mistake. I opened one eye and peeked. Stella took off as if she’d been struck in the butt by lightening. Tawnie had to fight to get her to slow down enough to get around the first barrel. They flew around the next two barrels. When she ran home, I literally felt a blast of air as they raced by us.
“Yee haw!” the announcer shouted over the loud speaker. “If you blinked you missed Tawnie Lang on her new mount, Stella. Look at that time. She just blew the competition right out of the water. Ladies and gentlemen, this is as good as barrel racing gets. Give that pretty lady another round of applause. She has posted the fastest time of the weekend.” I glanced over at Cole, nervous as hell. He smiled at me in a goofy way as the announcer blabbed on, “With only one competitor left to ride, this is shaping up to be quite the race. We’ve got Shae Roberts on Harley. She was last year’s top earner in prize money and she was in first place coming into this round. She is going to need a fast time to stay there though.”
“I can’t watch.” I buried my face in my hands, only for a second, then looked up when the hooves pounded against the dirt. Harley ran fast, but Shae-Lynn didn’t approach the pocket properly and Harley dropped his shoulder way too early on the first turn. She picked it up around the other two barrels and then raced through the finish line. It wasn’t going to be a fast enough time though. Shae-Lynn immediately jumped off Harley and walked him out of the arena without even waiting for the time to be posted.
“What was that?” Cole mumbled, partly perplexed, but mostly amused.
“It almost looked like she threw that on purpose,” Tyson said after the scoreboard confirmed that she dropped to second place.
I was too stunned to say anything. I just sat there staring at the barrels.
“We’re going to watch Ty from behind the chutes. You coming?” Cole asked.
When I didn’t respond, he shrugged and then rushed to catch up to the other guys. I sat there all through the bulls and I was still sitting there after the grandstand had emptied. Eventually, Ron found me and climbed up. “Looks like you bought yourself a horse.”
I tilted my hat back and rested my elbows on my knees, still speechless that Shae-Lynn messed up.
“If I knew Stella was going to be that fast in competition I would have charged you more.”
“I don’t actually have the money right now, but I’m good for it.”
“You better be. I’m going to run five percent interest on it until you pay it off, so don’t take too long.”
“You can keep her until I get the money. I don’t even have a trailer or anything.”
“I don’t want her. You’re going to have to figure something out.”
I rubbed my face and sighed. “Yeah. All right.”
He chuckled at my misery as he climbed back down the bleachers.
I got up and went outside to find Tawnie. Shae-Lynn was walking back from the concession stand with a sandwich and a bottle of water. I ran to catch up with her. “Hey, what happened?”
She shook her head. “I just wasn’t feeling it today. Harley might have an upset stomach or something.”
“Harley was fine.”
Her eyes darted to meet mine for a second, then she stared down at the grass as she continued walking. “I can’t win them all. Stella’s a good horse.”
“The guys think you did it intentionally.”
“They do, do they?”
“Did you?”
“Why would I lose on purpose?”
“You tell me.”
“I just wasn’t feeling it today.” She walked faster.
“Shae-Lynn, what’s wrong?”
“For the millionth time, call me Shae.” She started jogging at that point and I wasn’t going to chase after her, so I went to find Tawnie. She was brushing Stella.
“Hey Billy. Did you watch the race? She is such a good horse. I absolutely love her. Too bad she has to go back to Ron.”
“Actually, I bought her from him.”
The comment took her off guard and she processed it for a few seconds. “You don’t even have a trailer. What are going to do with a horse?”
I took my hat off and ran my fingers through my hair, hoping she was willing to do me a favour since I did her one. “Would you be willing to take her?”
“I would love to, but I can’t afford to lease a horse.”
I paced, trying to come with a solution that wouldn’t end up with me having to buy a trailer and find a barn to board at. “If you cover the cost of boarding her, we can call it even.”
She eyed me suspiciously. “You’re going to just let me use your horse for nothing?”
“Well, you could give me one percent of your earnings on her if that makes you feel any better.”
“One percent? That’s it? Are you serious? I’ll give you ten percent.”
That was easy. “Fine.”
She squealed and launched herself at me for another hug. I was ready for it, so I squeezed my arms around her to make it last a little longer. “Thank you, Billy. I’ll take good care of her, and you can have her back whenever you want.” She rested her hands on my shoulders, which gave me a good angle to check out her cleavage. She bit the corner of her lip for a second. “We should go out and celebrate.”
My body reacted a little to the warmth of her hands and the scent of her perfume. I smiled. “Yeah. That’s a good idea.”
“All right. I’m going to ask someone to watch the horses. Then I need to go back to the hotel to get cleaned up. Rochelle said everyone is going to bar called Stetsons. I’ll meet you there later.”
I nodded, tipped my hat, and watched her ass as she spun and walked away.
Back at the camper, I showered and dressed in clean clothes. Cole came in as I was ironing my shirt. “Where you going?”
“To the bar.”
“With who?”
“Nobody,” I said because I didn’t want him giving me the gears.
“Yeah, right.” He unbuttoned his shirt and unbuckled his belt. “Wait for me. I’m coming with you.”
