Page 53 of Untamed

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Page 53 of Untamed

A bull that displays a bucking pattern in which he spins in a tight circle throughout the ride is often referred to by bull riders as a "spinner."

Haylee and I passed out in my room last night with Morgan. She leaves in the morning to check on her mom and make sure she made it home from work last night.

When I’m finished feeding the cows and chickens, Joel shows up instead of Danny.

I glare at him. “What do you think you’re doing here?”

“You want to learn to ride a bull or not?” He leans into the doorframe, like I should be thanking him for showing up. “D had to work this morning. C’mon. Let’s get this shit over with.”

Wow, so he’s in a great mood. I hesitate. I should tell him to leave. If Grayer sees him here . . . I can only imagine what he’ll say. He told me, very specifically to stay away from him . . . but if I can ride Hammer and get his attention, things might be different.

My logic is totally back-ass-wards. Completely.

“I don’t know why I’m doing this for you,” he mutters, gazing over the arena.

He grunts out a frustrated sigh. “Well, you should be doing this for me.”

Joel is an evil person who has constantly taken advantage of everyone he knows. And some might wonder how I get myself into these situations with Joel. Honestly . . . girls don’t get themselves in those situations. Guys like Joel make the situations bad. And then of course, you have situations like these where I’ve gotten myself into the bull’s territory. Quite literally.

Joel looks back at me, making a sweep over my body with his eyes. “So you won’t fuck me anymore, but you need my help?” he asks. His dark eyes glare, his resentment shining through. He expected that I would always be there for him. When the only person I want to be there for, is me.

“You have a girlfriend, Joel. You’ve been. . . .” I pause, because we’ve never been exclusive. There’s no use in trying to explain something he’s never going to understand. “What you’re doing is wrong andyouoweme. You know that.”

“How so? My brother’s dead because of you.”

A sharp pain hits my chest. I motion to the driveway. “If you’re gonna act like a dick, leave.”

He doesn’t answer me. In fact, he rolls his eyes. He just doesn’t get it.

Drawing in a deep breath, I try to prepare myself for what I’m about to do. And what seemed like a good idea before, looks ridiculous when I see Hammer snorting snot out of his nose and giving me that “I’m going to kill you” look. He’s the meanest bull we have.

Joel gives me a nod to the chute. “Ready?”

“Can’t be much different than riding a horse, right?”

Joel shakes his head. “Right. . . .”

My plan to impress Grayer, or at least grab his attention was torideHammer. No one aside from Grayer has ever ridden him. If Grayer stayed on him, surely I can, right?

Forget the fact that he’s a professional bull rider. I was completely convinced this morning that Icoulddo this. Now I’m not so sure.

Sitting in the chute, on Hammer, Joel yells at me as he opens the gate before I’m ready. “Drop your riding hand and drive your shoulder! You want your weight on your inside leg.” He’s hanging over the fence shouting orders I can’t hear because my heart’s pounding so rapidly in my ears. All I hear is rushing blood and the noises Hammer is making. It’s like he’s breathing fire, and my body is burning with exertion as it’s yanked and tossed around like a rag doll. How Grayer does this is crazy. Freaking crazy. I try my hardest to get a good grip on Hammer, but he’s spinning and bucking and I can’t. Bull riding is clearly a sport that is way harder than it appears.

At some point, I begin to think I’m going to die. There’s really no other way around it and I regret this so much. Stupidest thing I’ve ever done. Screw the adrenaline.

“Drive your shoulder!”

“What the fuck does that mean, Joel?” I yell. Letting go and falling to my death seems better than getting a face full of horns.

“Put your weight on your inside leg when he spins!”

“Joel!” I know I’m in trouble when Hammer spins and twists the other direction of the way my weight is shifted and I slip from his heaving bristling body. I don’t know how I haven’t fallen off yet.Has it been eight seconds?

“Throw your arm over your head!” Joel hollers again, as if I understand him. “Don’t cross it over your body!”

“Oh, yeah, so fucking helpful!” None of the crap he tells me to do works. None of it. Or maybe it’s that I don’t know what I’m doing enough to apply anything he’s telling me.

Before I know it, I’m airborne. I see the ground coming fast at my side and then I see Hammer spin again, his eyes locked on me and head down. I’m going to die. Turned eighteen and made it one day before I was rammed, and not in a good way.


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