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The second the thought crossed my mind, I started to panic. It was too soon. Too quick. There was no way in hell someone could fall in love with another person in one day. It just wasn’t possible. Love at first sight was a myth.
Making a decision, I got up, leaving my Strawberry cow behind in the seats where he’d left me. I ignored the tears burning their way down my throat. This was too quick and way too good to be true. The last thing I wanted was to get my heart broken. It was better for me to leave before I got in too deep.
I turned back in time as the buzzer sounded and the roar of the crowd cheering became deafening. He’d made it the eight seconds and in that eight seconds, I’d made a decision to cut my losses before someone else I loved left me. I was already too attached, and he saw me as just another buckle bunny. My stomach tightened at the term, but it was true. Even Serena called me a saddle stalker. It was an inside joke between us that was now making me sick to my stomach.
Without stopping, I left the as fast as I could. I pushed my way through the crowd of people and into the parking lot. Through my tears, I found my car and pulled out my keys. My phone was lost because I’d given it to Rhett. I had no idea where he put it, and I wasn’t about to wait around and ask for it back. Serena and Tyson might be mad at me for leaving and not calling them, but they’d understand.
I didn’t want to go home. Going home would be explaining to my dad why I was upset, which would mean explaining to him how I ended up at the rodeo alone without a friend. He’d be pissed, so I headed the only place I could. Serena’s house.
Chapter Nine
After getting off Twizzler, I looked up to where Skylar was sitting, but all I saw was a giant pink cow and Brianna waving at me. Brianna was the daughter of one of the sponsors. She followed the circuit to represent the brand for her father’s company. Well, that’s what she was supposed to be doing. When she wasn’t being the face of the company, she was just another buckle bunny.
Brianna hopped from cock to cock, not really worried about who’s bed she ended up in. When I was young and dumb, I liked that about her, but after losing my parents and now meeting Skylar, I knew what I really wanted.
I waved to the cheering crowd as I left the arena floor. As soon as I was out of sight, I ignored the congratulations from everyone around me, heading straight for where I’d left Skylar.
The whole time I was weaving through the crowd, I kept hoping that maybe she was in the bathroom, but I knew she was gone. Somehow, I knew it in my bones that she had disappeared without telling me, and I had a feeling Brianna had something to do with it. A feeling that was confirmed as soon as Brianna threw herself into my arms.
“Oh, Rhett, that was amazing!” Her perfume was so strong I could taste it as she wrapped her tentacles around my neck.
I gently pushed her away from me, keeping hold of her forearms. “Where is she?”
Brianna knew who I was talking about. There was no need for me to clarify. She gave a dramatic sigh and eye roll showing her spoiled brat behavior. I used to find it funny and charming, now it was just fucking annoying.
“She’s too innocent for you, Rhett. That girl wouldn’t let you loose in the bedroom. She’d be deprived and you’d be bored in no time.”
Fuck. “What did you tell her, Brianna?”
“Just the truth, that you like your women tied up in knots. I’m not even sure she understood what I meant by it. I mean, seriously, she looked shocked. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was a virgin. Missionary would probably scare her.”
Brianna put her hands on my chest and started fiddling with the buttons on my shirt. She looked up at me through the screen of her lashes, her manipulative eyes calculating. I could see right through her shit.
“If she is a virgin, that is none of your business, and what she and I do in or out of the bedroom is none of your business.” I grasped her wrists and pulled them away from my chest, holding her at arm’s length. “You better hope I find her, Brianna, because if I don’t, you can bet your ass I will make sure you won’t be following the circuit anymore.”
She paled, knowing what my threat meant. Nobody talked about what Brianna did on the circuit because nobody wanted daddy stepping in and pulling funding, but if I didn’t find Skylar, I wouldn’t give two shits about letting her dad know exactly how Brianna had been representing his company. Cock hopping is not the image he would want for his daughter or his company.
I watched as Brianna high tailed it away from me. If she was smart, she’d never come near me again because at that moment I wanted to ring her fucking neck for interfering. I had a past I wasn’t exactly proud of, but four years and the hell I’d been through with my family changed me. I wasn’t that man anymore.
I made my way to the seats where I’d left Skylar and the huge pink cow still sitting there. I grabbed the stuffed animal by the neck and made my way back through the arena to my trailer. I knew I’d won the damn prize tonight, and that prize took me up a few more spots in the rankings, but none of that mattered right now. I wanted a shower and to try to find Skylar.
My trailer was small, but it kept me from having to shell out money for hotels, so I went inside and set Strawberry in the corner. I needed to call my brothers, so I looked for my phone, and that’s when I remembered I’d given it to Skylar. I smiled because if she had my phone, I had her location.
Chapter Ten
I woke up, my eyes swollen and gritty from crying myself to sleep last night. The man of my dreams wasn’t quite the knight in shining armor, or leather chaps, that I thought he would be. All my girlish fantasies about being with a cowboy went up in smoke when that woman had told me Rhett was a player and wouldn’t stick around. The last thing I needed in my life was someone else abandoning me, so I’d left him before he could leave me.
I thought it wouldn’t hurt walking away from him, but I was wrong. It felt like my heart was being pulled from my chest, and I wondered how it was possible that I could’ve gotten so attached so quickly.
When I rolled over, I came face to face with a big, pink cow—Strawberry.
I sat up quickly remembering that I’d left the cow at the rodeo because the damn thing was too big for me to carry through the arena, plus it would have been a reminder of him. The only way Strawberry could have gotten here was if Rhett were here.
My heart was thundering in my chest as I rolled out of bed and found the clothes Serena had let me borrow. The pants fit fine, but her breasts were way bigger than mine, so her shirts were always bigger on me. I didn’t care though, if the cow was here then Rhett was here or had been here. I had to find out how, why, and if he was still here.
One look in the mirror told me I needed to do some work on myself before I went downstairs. My hair was a mess and I’d left my makeup on last night, fuck. I just wanted to go downstairs, but I didn’t want him to see me like this either.
I pulled open the guest bedroom door and went to the bathroom down the hall, quickly washing my face and running a brush through my hair. Serena kept a stockpile of extra toothbrushes, and I thanked heaven for the fact that she was taking to the whole mom gig like a duck takes to water.
