Page 52 of Untamed
The second round or "go" is the second preliminary round of competition at a PBR event. A high score in the second round is important to a bull rider because it counts toward his qualification for the 25th PBR: Unleash the Beast Championship Round.
Haylee takes me back to my house and despite the day and finally turning eighteen, I don’t feel like partying. She stays in my room with me because as she puts it, no one should be alone on their birthday. I have to agree. It makes sense and it’s nice to have her there. Someone who never judges me. It doesn’t matter if I just want to lie around, she’s there with me. With Sawyer Brown’s “Hey, Hey” playing in the background, we check out those naked pictures of Grayer and I’m not disappointed at all.
Haylee isn’t either. “Sweet Jesus. . . .” She gawks at the one of him standing on a tailgate, a fifth of Southern Comfort in hand and pulling his jeans off, the top two inches of his dick showing. He’s laughing in the picture, and clearly drunk. “Think he goes commando?”
I think back to the night in his truck. “No, well maybe, but he was wearing black boxers that night I was with him.”
She hands me my phone back. “Wouldn’t it be so cool to live like they do? New city every night, crazy experiences. I mean, they’re fucking living their lives. You know?”
“Think they get lonely?” I ask, setting my phone on my nightstand.
“Doubtful. I can’t imagine with the pussy they get.”
I laugh, but the thought of Grayer returning to the tour and back to the lifestyle I’m sure he’s accustom to, I don’t particularly like those thoughts.
“Grayer leaves soon, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah. Not sure when. I guess the contractor came and picked up Mac today.” I have to admit, saying goodbye to Mac was harder than I thought. Now I know how Morgan feels when they kill her pet pigs. Given, Mac isn’t being killed, but still.
“You know . . .” Haylee pauses, pouring rum in a glass. She’s given up on the tea and drinking it straight now. Pretty soon she’ll give up on the glass. I’m surprised she hasn’t already. “We could leave tonight. Who would say anything?”
“Probably no one.”
“I hear Austin has a really good veterinary technology program,” Haylee says, hinting to me. “Andit’s near Decatur. . . .”
Look at her hinting at following a bull rider. I smile, trying to play it off but believe me, I’ve totally thought about it already. “I wonder if they have a business administration program?”
“It’s a community college.” She waves me off. “I’m sure they do.”
Haylee thinks I should become a veterinary tech, which I agree with because I ultimately want to work for a veterinary hospital and Haylee wants to start her own business. Although she hasn’t decided what yet.
Reaching inside my nightstand, I take out my lilac nail polish. “Have you heard from Tucker lately?”
Haylee stiffens at the mention of his name, rolling her eyes. “Only when he wants something.” She places her toes on the bed for me to paint. Haylee hands me the rum and I take a small sip and then pass it back to her. We’re not drunk, but the burn in my cheeks tells me I might be getting close. I open the nail polish and swipe over her big toe with the lilac paint.
“I can’t wait to leave here,” she says, staring at the rum bottle. She takes one more drink, then sets it aside and frowns. “I need to get out of here. If I don’t . . . I’ll be following that asshole around forever. I can’t stay here. I have to get away from him. He’s never going to leave her and if I stay, I’m never leaving him.”
I know the feeling.
She’s right though. If we stay, this is our life and we know it.
