Page 47 of The Pieces We've Lost

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll just remember this the next time you meet a girl. There won’t be any mercy for you then.” I tried to turn my focus away from the guys and toward the rodeo. They had started the bareback riding.

It was always interesting to watch the other events and see the types of people who were competing as well as their demeanor and attitude. There was usually quite a mixed bag as far as arrogance went. Most of the cowboys were good sports, but occasionally you’d have someone who needed to get off their high horse.

The worst I’d ever seen was somebody getting thrown from a horse because another competitor had messed with their saddle. Apparently, they had beef with each otheroutside of rodeo and he decided to bring his drama into the arena. Needless to say, he got a hefty fine for it. He was lucky he didn’t lose his career, or at the very least get barred from the arena.

There were ten competitors in each semifinal round. The top five from each would move onto the championship. There were some great roping teams competing tonight. Not only were Dash and Wayne competing, there was also a team from Arkansas in this round who had been to the NFR last year. I wasn’t familiar with all of the teams, but I recognized a couple of names on the day sheet.

“Look, those guys from Utah that we saw last year in Arizona are on here.” I pointed their names out to Reid.

“Damn, I was honestly not expecting that,” he replied. That specific team must have improved quite a bit from last year if they were here in Houston, especially in the semifinals round.

A gasp from the crowd broke up our conversation. My head shot up to see what had happened for the crowd to all collectively react like that. By the time I looked up, the rider was already out of the arena, but the instant replay showed that he nearly got stepped on by the bronc.

When it came to sports injuries, rodeo was up there in the ranks of boxing, football, and hockey. Some could even argue that it wasthemost dangerous sport. You risked your life—or at minimum a finger—every time you stepped into the arena.

I never understood how people thought it was animal abuse. If anything, it wascowboyabuse. Anybody who has ever met a rodeo family, knows a lick about agriculture, or has been involved in the sport would know these folks cared more about the animals than most people they knew.The animals being well taken care of was not up for debate.

One of the worst deaths in the rodeo world since Lane Frost had been Levi Merritt. Both were young, with bright futures ahead of them. From the stories I’d heard, they both lit up a room the moment they walked in. The loss of Lane Frost changed the course of rodeo, though, in terms of safety.

Occasionally, there would be scares. But the show went on—it had to.

The rest of the events up until the team roping were uneventful, and then it was time. Team roping. I started wringing my hands, becoming eager for the chute to open—to watch the very thing that gave me such a rush. There were only two things that made me feel like I wasn’t so empty, made me feel electrified, as though I had a purpose in life; one of those things was roping.

The first team to rope was the duo from Utah. Although they had made it this far, their technique today looked sloppy. They finished with a time of seven-point-eight seconds. Unless several teams got no time or broke the barrier, they almost certainly wouldn’t be moving on.

A couple of teams did get no times for failing to catch their steer. It had to be frustrating to make it this far in the competition just to be unsuccessful at the thing you’d trained so hard to do. Even more frustrating, though, was breaking the barrier. Feeling on top of the world with a great time, just to have ten seconds added on because you got a little too hasty.

Next, the team from Arkansas would rope, followed by Dash and Wayne. Cade and Cameron Maxwell were brothers from a small town outside of Fayetteville. They were both built a bit larger and stockier than Reid and Iwere, muscles grown from working in a mechanic’s shop. They didn’t come from a rodeo family, didn’t have a legacy passed down to them from their parents. How they ended up roping, I didn’t know, but there were all sorts of rumors about it.

Some people claim they had worked on a ranch a couple summers, got good at riding and then tried their hand at roping and were naturals at it. Others say a rodeo legend had met them when he was passing through their town, made an offhand comment about them looking like they could be great cowboys, and then started mentoring them.

Regardless of how they got their start, they were damn good. They were a team that should not be underestimated.

Cade lifted his chin and the chute opened, the steer exploding out of the gate. Despite their size, their motions were expert and smooth, graceful like figure skaters out on the ice. There were no jerks or rough movements. They had the steer roped in an impressive five-point-three seconds.

At last, the team everyone had been waiting to watch geared up to compete: Dash Kingsley and Wayne Marlow. They were a force to be reckoned with in the arena, and they knew it. They held their heads high with pride as they led their horses into their starting points. Dash had a smirk on his face, as if he already knew they were going to dominate the competition tonight.

I’d never met Dash and Wayne, but they got mixed reviews from everyone they’d met. The women were usually the ones leaving sparkling reviews. The men were more fifty-fifty.

Right before they opened the chute, Dash looked intothe crowd and flashed the women his signature smile, the camera picking it up and displaying it on the jumbo screen. I rolled my eyes as a girl a few rows in front of us nearly fainted.

“Get a load of that bullshit.” Jake wrinkled his nose.

“They act like they’ve already won the championship,” Reid muttered, a look of contempt on his face. If there was one thing Reid hated, it was people who acted like they were better than everyone else. Not sure how he handled me as his partner in college at times, but he probably tolerated it because he knew he could put me in my place.

“Maybe they think tonight’s the championship and they won’t show up tomorrow.” My retort earned me a snort from Reid.

“Yeah, if only.”

We turned our attention back to the arena, right as the chute opened. Kingsley flew out on his horse, roping the horns faster than I’d ever seen anyone rope. Marlow was right behind, catching the feet like he did this in his sleep. I gave Reid a look of half annoyance, half awe as we waited for the announcer to call out their time.

“Ladies and gentlemen, give these young men a round of applause! With a time of four-point-eight seconds, that time is going to put these cowboys at the top of the leaderboard for tonight! Dash Kingsley and Wayne Marlow, folks! Keep the excitement going for them as they take a lap around the arena with the sponsor flag!”

At least we knew who our biggest competition would be tomorrow. A flutter of nerves pooled in my stomach. Reid and I would have to be at the top of our game. These were NFR times that Dash and Wayne were running.

Lord help us if we want to take home gold.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

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