The Last Harvest(47)

“Oh yeah.” Ben crams a big wad of chew in his bottom lip. “I just thought it was dandruff.”

Ali pulls her hair over her shoulder. “One time she caught me staring at her necklace, and she started scratching her head so hard, she drew blood. I felt really bad.”

“Self-mutilation.” Tammy pushes her glasses up on the bridge of her nose. “Maybe that’s why she has to keep her hair up like that. To cover it up.”

“Did she tell you the Devil’s going to take over the town or some stupid shit like that?” Ben blurts.

I don’t know what to say, so I just stand there, staring down at the tiny patch of clover trying to push up through the dirt.

“Wait. You didn’t actually believe her, did you?” Tyler laughs.

They’re all staring at me, waiting for an answer.

“No … I mean, I don’t know…”

“It doesn’t matter,” Ali says as she stands next to me. “All that matters is we’re here. Together. And it’s a beautiful day.”

“Beautiful-ish,” Tammy whispers up at the gray sky.

Ben rests his arm on my shoulder. “You’re all kinds of messed up right now, Tate, but we’re going to make you right. The Preservation Society will make you right again.”

Tyler glares at him. It’s a miniscule moment, a tiny whisper of warning, but I’ve got my eyes wide open now. Miss Granger and I might both be crazy, but Tyler’s up to something. He brought me out here for a reason. And I’m going to have to play along a little longer if I want to find out what it is.

“How about we put all this behind us and have some fun?” Tyler cracks his knuckles. “Agreed?”

Ali wraps her pinkie around mine for a brief moment. It gives me the courage to nod.

Tyler crouches to unzip the bag, revealing bull riding gear. “Now…” He looks up at me with a smug grin. “Who’s ready to ride?”





30

ALI PLUCKS a rich brown Stetson from the bag and fixes it on my head. “There,” she says, looking up at me with those big doe eyes. “You look like a real cowboy now.”

I want to ask her what she meant back there when she said that about Miss Granger helping her this year, but Tyler’s watching my every move. Or hers. I can’t help wondering if that’s what this is all about—Ali.

Ben opens the barn door and a bull comes charging into the chute. “Holy shit,” he hollers. The bull’s pure black, like he’s made up of a thousand crow feathers, with horns sharp as razors.

“What’s his name?” I ask, watching him rage against the bars.

“Diablo.” Tyler grins as he struggles to get him roped up.

“Of course it is.” I take a deep breath.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Ali sidles next to me at the fence. “No one would blame you if … well, you don’t have to do this.”

“Oh, I think I do.” I reach out to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear and she smiles up at me, like she understands everything. And that’s the way it used to be between us. Half the time we didn’t even need words.

Tyler clears his throat and I pull my hand back. I can feel him staring a hole in my head, his rage matching the bull’s. Pretty sure he was thinking I’d wuss out, but I’m not backing down. Not anymore.

“How ’bout we make this a little more interesting,” Tyler says as he hops down from the chute and pulls out his wallet, placing a hundred-dollar bill on top of the fence post. “A hundred bucks apiece to whoever can stay in the ring the longest.”

“Ease up, Tyler Trump.” I try and make a joke out of it, but I can’t believe he has a hundred-dollar bill in his wallet, like it’s no big deal.

“Yeah, that’s a little steep for my blood, too,” Ben says as he digs around in his pockets.

“Fine.” Tyler sighs. “Whatever’s in your pockets then.”

Ben puts down sixty. I put in what I’ve got.

“Twenty-two bucks?” Tyler laughs. “I almost feel bad taking this from you, Tate. Almost.”

He dusts off an old horseshoe and places it on top of the money. “Your winning streak is over,” he says, as he brushes past me to put on his gear.

Ben slaps me on the back. “Just like old times, huh, Tate?”

“Something like that.” I force myself to smile. Tyler might have the custom-made chaps, the best training money can buy, but we’re not playing for points here. What I lack in style, I make up for in heart. And all I have to do is hang on the longest. I’m good at hanging on to things.

I watch Ali leaning up against the fence, talking to the bull, trying to soothe it, and I know she’s innocent in all this. I’ll do whatever I have to do to protect her.

Tammy comes out of the brush with three blades of onion grass. We draw to decide the order. It’s Ben, then Tyler, then me.

As Ben’s pacing next to the chute, trying to psych himself up, I’m thinking I lucked out. They don’t call him Big Ben for nothing. Hopefully, he’ll tire Diablo out a bit so I can get a decent ride.

Ben climbs onto the bull and gives the signal—at least I think it’s a signal. Either that or he’s changed his mind and he’s trying to get off.