Page 118 of Burned & Bound

“You need more than a power nap.”

“Nah. Just a power nap and I’ll be fine.”

“Look, I have shit to do all day anyway,” I said. “I ain’t riding tonight, but I do have to show up to the rodeo opening. We’re picking bulls tonight.”

Tonight was all about showmanship and kicking things off—building the excitement. The first stop on the tour was the only one we usually drew bulls at. It always drove things sky-high for the crowd. After that, we were randomly matched.

I didn’t ride until tomorrow, but there was no way I could miss tonight. Not unless the world came to an end. But West didn’t need to be there for that.

“You sleep,” I reiterated. “You don’t need to be there for that shit.”

“Yeah, but I came here to do all that boyfriend stuff. I can’t sleep through all of it,” West muttered. I held my tongue at the boyfriend comment. This wasn’t the time for that conversation.Though, hearing him refer to himself as my boyfriend made my fucking day.“Power nap.”

“Baby, you need your sleep.”

“I’m fine,” he snapped once more. I fell silent, staring at my watch to count the minutes of quiet. West made no effort to continue the conversation. It took no more than three minutes for him to completely pass out on me.Power nap my ass.He’d be out for hours.

But I also knew how bad he’d feel if he missed anything, so I set an alarm and wrote him a note with instructions for when he woke up. If he slept through the alarm, at least I tried.

CHAPTER 82

west

Ihugged the coffeeclose to my chest as I wandered through the rodeo.Fuck, it was insane.All the interviews and event replays I’d seen couldn’t encompass this shit. My skin crawled painfully, and I wanted nothing more than to fucking leave. The number of people who had bumped into me, the level of shouting, and the amount of alcohol around had me fucking dying.

But I was doing this for Jackson.

I hadn’t seen him since I passed out in his bed. Hell, I couldn’t remember a damn thing past trudging into his room. Driving all day and staying up all night with horses had taken it out of me but the dealing with all the people part had fucking done me in.

I didn’t understand ninety percent of the shit going on around me as I made my way over to the stands. I just wanted to sit down away from it all to watch the bull draw, but Jackson sent me to a specific stand. I did it because I wanted to make him happy.

And it would’ve been okay if it wasn’t for the six young-as-fuck women sitting where I was supposed to sit. Glitter, itty bitty cutoff shorts, andcowboy boots.Jesus fucking Christ.He sent me to hang out with his buckle bunnies.

“You must be West!” a tiny blonde thing exclaimed. When she got to her feet, I took an instinctive step back in case she tried to hug me. She looked like the kind of girl who used hugs as a way of greeting. There was no way in hell I could handle that—not even to be nice to Jackson. “Jackson told us to expect you!”

“Yeah.” I nodded slowly.This hadn’t been in the note.“Hi.”

“Hi! I’m Darla—Jackson’s best friend,” she said. I stared at her like she’d grown a second head because Jackson didn’t have friends let alone a best friend.Correction: I was supposed to be his best friend“This right here is Opie—her full name is Ophelia, but we call her Opie. It’s way easier. And that’s Wren, Sutton, and Willa. And the one over there lookin’ like a tiger starin’ at some sheep is Birdie. Her hair don’t move.”

That last part was said in a hushed whisper like it was a secret I wasn’t supposed to know. I just nodded again because what the fuck was I supposed to say to that.I didn’t have the right kind of people skills for her enthusiasm.

“Come! Sit!” Darla pointed to a spot on the bench and walked over to a different spot.

For a hot second, my heart stopped in my chest.Fucking hell.I didn’t want to be in close quarters with them. I didn’t even know them. But glancing over my shoulder, I realized it was either sit snug with them—people Jackson trusted and sent me to be with—or sit with a bunch of drunk as fuck strangers.

Neither option was fucking appealing.

I made myself sit down. But as I did, the six girls moved around like they’d practiced for this shit. I ended up with a wide bubble of no one in my space.

“Don’t you worry, doll face,” Darla whispered behind me. “Jackson made sure we got you.”

Those words wrapped around my heart like barbed wire, and I sucked in a sharp breath. I glanced at the space around me—more than a generous one-person space in every direction.Jackson really had fucking thought ofeverything.

What Jackson failed to fucking mention was how goddamn boring the bull draw would be. There were twenty-four fucking riders. Twenty-four. Both nights. Which fucking meant we had to do the goddamn bull draw three times. The first time was to determine the pecking order with each rider picking a number.But no. They couldn’t just pick a fucking number. No, it was a whole goddamn show—one the crowd ate up.

It sure as fuck didn’t help that the woman holding the fucking hat was scantily clad and damn near showing it all in her country girl pride. No one gave a shit about the pot-bellied middle-aged announcer hanging out with her narrating the whole event.

I needed a fucking drink.

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