I breathe slowly and deeply for the rest of the drive, and manage to stave off the panic. When I reach the rodeo grounds, the parking lot is total chaos and I end up in a spot that feels a mile away from everything. I hurry through the rows of cars towards the main stands, leaving Beau a voice note letting him know where I am as I walk.
I haven’t been to a stock show or rodeo in years, probably since I was a teenager, and I’m not ready for the masses of people milling around inside the grounds. There are food trucks and rides for kids, and tents to buy beer and wine. I have no idea how long I’ll be here, so I don’t buy any alcohol or food. My stomach is too cramped with nerves to eat anyways.
The event schedule says that reining starts in half an hour, at seven sharp, so I head over to the stands. This morning, I spent more money than I should have on the only front row seat left available. But if I have any chance of Nathan noticing me, I have to be front and center. Besides, I genuinely want to see him and Bally ride up close, and I want to be right there cheering him on.
With nothing else to do, I start reading the Western Horsewoman article over again. I only skimmed it this morning, and skipped over a lot of things to get to the end. This time, I pay attention to everything. To the beautiful shots that Mick captured of me and Maggie, Ballantine and Nathan, and the four of us together. There’s one in particular that stops my heart.
It’s of Nathan and I when we were joking around together about doing serious cowboy shit. My face is cracked into a wide grin and Nathan’s head is thrown back in laughter, his hat about to fall off of his head. His hair is mussed and his eyes are bright, and behind us, Maggie and Ballantine are touching their noses together. It’s beautiful—I want to print the photo out and frame it. Maybe I’ll even call Mick and ask for a copy.
The article itself is well written, I’ll give Shane that much. It captures Nathan’s story and his time at Star Mountain perfectly, striking a balance between honestly discussing the fight and presenting him as the caring, superb horseman that he is. It makes me proud to know him—and prouder to be loved by him.
I’m just getting to the part where the article discusses me, when I hear a voice next to me say, “Oh my God. Is that her? I think that’s her.”
“Who?”
“The woman from the article.”
“Shut up!”
The two women burst into a fit of giggles, and I look up from my phone to glare at them.
“Fuck, it’s totally her,” the blonde says.
“I know, I told you so,” says the brunette.
“She’s right here,” I say flatly.
“So tell me,” the blonde whispers conspiratorially. “How’d you get up the courage to come here? Aren’t you like, totally embarrassed?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” I say, though I have a sinking suspicion as to what she’s getting at.
The brunette snickers and says, “You’re obsessed with him and he doesn’t seem to care about you at all.”
“Don’t worry, honey, it happens to the best of us. We all get obsessed with Nate at some point. But he’ll never give you what you want, so there’s no point pining for him.”
I square my shoulders and keep my head high as anger rises in me. These idiotic gossips have no idea what they’re talking about, I remind myself. And besides, a public declaration of my feelings for Nathan was the entirepointof me asking Shane to change the article. I need him to know that I want all of him—reiner, rancher’s son, charismatic playboy. I want it all.
“I don’t care what anyone thinks. It won’t change how I feel about him.” I raise a brow at the two women, but they just laugh again. “Whatever. Don’t speak to me again.” I give them my trademark Viper stare and they at least have the decency to look a little sheepish and scared.
“Let’s listen to her,” the blonde says. “She seems unhinged.”
I turn away from them and focus on the ring, where the first rider is making his entrance. The crowd goes wild as the name is called and my ears perk up as I hear that it’s a woman. Kelly Peters, riding Battle Watch. I watch Kelly’s entire ride closely, paying attention to the little details Nathan taught me to look for. She moves with her horse beautifully through the pattern, and I wonder if she might be a contender for Reserve Champion. On the last spin, Battle Watch completes it so perfectly that the crowd watches in awed silence, and then bursts into cheers.
The riders after Kelly are good, but none hold a candle to her and Battle Watch. Finally, it’s Brad’s turn to go, and I grit my teeth as I see him ride out on the horse that must be Palladium. Palladium is completely calm, even his tail still, and I wonder if Brad sedated him for this event. It’s difficult to tell for sure, and I try to keep my breathing calm while I watch his ride. He’s good, I’ll give him that. Though, Nathan is miles better and Kelly might even be as well.
After Brad finishes the pattern, he rides off to a smattering of applause. Beside me, the two women who were mocking me aren’t even paying attention, and are fixing their hair. Interesting. It would seem that regardless of his win againstNathan and their fight, people still don’t like him all that much. I can’t help but smile.
“Our final rider tonight will be Nathan Booth, on Ballantine.”
The crowd goes insane as soon as his name is called, cheering and hooting. I catch a mixture of chants for Nathan, and against him. He’s clearly a controversial figure now, but that just makes everyone all the more excited to see him. I feel adrenaline rush through me as we wait for him to enter the ring, and I keep my eyes glued to the entrance.
As Ballantine and Nathan appear, I all but stop breathing. I drink in the sight of him. He looks steady and serious, except for the small smirk dancing across his lips, and the crinkles by his eyes. It makes me realize why he got so popular—his charisma and cocky confidence are present even when he competes. Normally, the bull riders and bareback guys get the most attention. But there’s no competing with Nathan’s classically handsome face and swagger.
Ballantine starts to lope through the pattern, and I lean forward, determined to catch the entire thing.
44
NATHAN
