Chasin' Eight (Rough Riders #11)(105)

“That sucks.”

“Yeah.”

“Or maybe it doesn’t.”

Chase’s head snapped up to see a slow grin spreading across the kid’s face. “I might actually have a shot at winning tonight?”

“If you keep your chin down, which wouldn’t be an issue if you’d wear a freakin’ helmet.”

Another scowl. “No way. It’d throw my balance off. Just because it works for you don’t mean it’ll work for me, so quit nagging me about it. Sheesh. You ain’t my mom.”

“Maybe you oughta rethink that smartass comment, since my ridin’ percentage is over eighty after I made the switch and yours ain’t close to that.”

“Rub it in, why doncha,” he grumbled. “Are you at least staying to watch? In case I do win?”

“The last f*ckin’ thing I wanna do tonight is sit up in the goddamn stands,” he said curtly.
Ryan froze. His cheeks flamed and he ducked his head, hiding his face beneath his cowboy hat. “Oh. Okay. Ah, I’ll catch ya later I guess.” The he spun on his heel and was gone.
Nice going. Maybe you can knock a toddler’s ice cream cone in the dirt too.
In his foul mood, it didn’t take long to reach the cabins.
Three soft knocks broke her concentration. She glanced up from the computer screen as Chase said, “Ava. Let me in.”

She leapt up to disengage the locks. “Are you okay?”

Chase sauntered in and set his hat on the dresser before he plopped into the lone chair in the room. “No, I’m not okay.”

“What happened?”

“I ran into my cousin Tell. He’s a judge for saddle bronc and bareback. He wondered why I was here, I told him the truth. Then he spewed every shitty thing about me sneaking around the PRCA circuit, which ain’t anything I haven’t already been wrestling with since I started this trip.”

First time he’d mentioned feeling any guilt.
He sighed. “Long story short, Tell demanded I quit the event or he’d report me. I understand where he’s coming from. It’ll be his ass if anyone finds out he knew I’d been lying to the PRCA about bein’ Bill Chase. So I dropped out of the competition. Then I ran into Ryan, and he’s confident he has a shot at winning tonight since I’m not competing. He begged me to watch him ride and I was a dick, which is just f*ckin’ awesome, because for the millionth time in my life I used my shitty mood as an excuse to be a douchebag to someone who didn’t deserve it.”

Hard, to watch him struggle, but Ava knew from past experience Chase wasn’t in the frame of mind to be petted and soothed.
That’s when she knew for sure it was more than just sex between road buddies as they killed a couple of weeks during a lost summer. That’s when she realized she was completely in love with him. His opening up to her, letting her see the man who struggled, who cared what people who he cared about thought of him, not just the charming bull rider with carefully crafted PC answers, not just the determined lover, but the real Chase McKay.
“What can I do?”

“Do we have any beer?”

“No.”

He sighed again. “Just as well. Makes me think it’s time to pack it in and cut the rest of this adventure short.”

Outwardly Ava managed a bland expression, but inside she panicked. She wasn’t ready to end this. Not now that she’d cemented how she felt about him.
“I’ve been ridin’ better than I have in years. I’m ready to go back to the PBR.” He expelled a bitter laugh. “But that ain’t up to me, is it?”