“I’m so sorry for your loss,” I said.
Dirk was now talking to the little boy and signing the back of his shirt.
“Thank you. And thank you for coming down to meet us—I know you’re on your way to the arena for today’s event. You’ll never know how much it means to both of us.”
Smiling, I reached for her hand and shook it again. “You and Billy enjoy today. Lloyd here will get you taken care of.”
With a slap on my back, Lloyd moved in and began making plans with Kara. I leaned down and shook Billy’s hand.
“I’ll see you later, buddy.”
“Bye, Brock!” he shouted, then took off running toward an older woman. I was guessing she was his grandmother. Dirk nudged me with his arm, and we headed toward the exit of the hotel to make our way to the arena. It was bull-riding time.
“Hornet’s Nest. Just my luck,” I grumbled as I stared at the bull.
I’d drawn the number two bull. He’d been ridden only once in twenty outs, and that was by Cord Hansen. The bastard hadn’t stopped talking about it for weeks after he’d gotten the eight seconds required to get a score.
“You’ve got this, Brock,” Dirk said from next to me.
Turning his way, I smiled. Dirk was more than just my best friend; he was like a brother to me. The fact that we got to be on tour together, both doing something we loved, had probably saved my sanity. There were plenty of moments I wanted to give in to the guilt that felt like it ate away at me every second of every day. Dirk knew; he saw it every single time he looked into my eyes or hauled my ass back to our hotel when I’d been drunk out of my mind.
Would things have been different if Kaci had chosen Dirk and not me? I had no damn idea. All I knew was, Dirk had kept me going when all I’d wanted to do was give up and walk away. He pushed me because he knew I needed it. I had never told him before, and probably never would, but he saved my life five years ago when I’d started drinking too much.
“Shaw, heard you got your old buddy.”
I grunted as Cord walked up to me. I wanted to knock the smirk right off his face. The last time I’d been on Hornet’s Nest, he had thrown me after two seconds, and I’d seen Cord laughing his ass off as I got up. Asshole. He was a bitter jerk and pissed because I was currently in the number one spot, and he was trailing further behind in the number two.
“Hey, Cord. How’s it going?” I asked, not about to engage in his little game.
He frowned, disappointment laced on his face. Cord was like a female. Constantly trying to drum up some sort of drama.
“Good luck today, buddy,” Dirk said as he slapped the shit out of Cord’s back before we walked away. “Douche,” Dirk whispered, glancing back to Cord.
Even after giving Dirk every reason to hate me so many years ago, he still had my back, and I knew he always would.
Growing up, Kaci had been the one girl every guy in town wanted. But Dirk and I’d had her. Not in a sexual way. She was our best friend. The girl who went fishing with us. Hunting in the early hours of the morning. She even helped my granddaddy build the barn on my parents’ ranch for the goats she’d talked Daddy into getting.
Kaci was different from any other girl I’d ever known. She wasn’t afraid of anything. Gutting a deer was second nature to her. She could knock back Jack Daniel’s with me and Dirk like nobody’s business. She was also happy; sometimes it seemed like a forced happy, but she had a smile on her face most of the time.
Kaci could also make Dirk and me fight over the littlest things.
Everything had changed the day I asked Kaci to prom. Dirk had been pissed at me for going against our self-imposed rule. Kaci was off limits. I ignored the rule, and it had opened up a rift between me and my best friend. Neither of us knew how to deal with it besides going after each other constantly.
When it finally came to blows between me and Dirk, fighting over her, we’d told her she needed to make a choice. She knew she had to pick one of us. She picked me.
I had won and had taken Kaci from my best friend, even though I knew he loved her more than I ever could. But I was a selfish bastard and couldn’t walk away from her. I was happy she’d picked me over Dirk and didn’t regret for one minute marrying her. Even though everyone told us we were too young to get married.