“Do you have leather chaps?” Abby asks, grinning. Everyone stares at her, and she shrugs. “What? It’s a legitimate question. Bull riders are hot. Bull riders in leather chaps? Even hotter.”
“She’s right,” Adley agrees.
Phillip, Jack, and Tyler roll their eyes.
“I knew I liked you.” I hold out a fist, and Abby reaches across the table to bump it.
“Is it anything like riding that thing?” Emily asks, tossing a thumb over her shoulder at the mechanical bull.
“That’s Cheryl, and fuck no, it’s totally different. But she’ll give you a good ride,” I say, distinctly remembering last year when I watched the horror on Rhett’s face as his girl, Mo, climbed on Cheryl’s back.
A voice in the back of my head reminds me that I still need to talk to Rhett, tell him about Adley and me. Fuck, I probably need to talk to all of her brothers. And the sooner the better.
Rhett has been a rock in my life over the last five or so years. We haven’t talked a whole lot since he moved back to Heaven—he’s been busy with wedding stuff an
d building his house—but that’s no excuse. I can’t keep putting this off.
“A girl was on there when we first walked in. It looked kind of fun,” Abby says.
“Get up there,” I coax, but Abby shakes her head, and everyone at the table laughs.
“You don’t know Abby very well,” Phillip says. “She’s a bit…”
“Careful,” Tyler says.
Phillip nods. “I was going to say safe, but careful works.”
“There is nothing wrong with being safe,” I tell Abby, who is frowning. “But if you want to get up there and try it, I can help you.”
“I wanna try,” Adley blurts, surprising us, and the first thing that pops into my head is what Rhett said to me when Mo mounted Cheryl.
“You just wait. Your time is coming, and when it does, we’ll get the girl you love up on Cheryl and see how you feel about it.”
The girl I love.
Is that what this is? Love?
My eyes snap to Adley’s.
After watching my parents rip each other apart, I swore I’d never fall in love. But now that I have some perspective, I don’t think I ever really stood a chance with Adley. She’s too sweet and beautiful and perfect and… I love her.
16
Adley
What the fuck am I doing? I don’t want to ride a mechanical bull. That shit is for people who are brave, and I am not brave. But the look of relief on Abby’s face reminds me why I threw myself into the bull-riding arena.
“Thank you,” she mouths.
Abby is sweet and smart and wildly cautious. Taking chances isn’t her thing. When things are out of place or order, she gets anxious and starts counting. That’s when all hell breaks loose. She hasn’t been formally diagnosed, but we all know she suffers from anxiety and most likely OCD.
“You want to get on Cheryl?”
I pull my gaze from Abby’s and look at Lincoln. “Yeah, why not?” I say, trying to sound confident. “Will you help me?”
Lincoln is overprotective and reminds me so much of my brothers. I expect him to say hell no and drag me out of the bar for even thinking about putting myself in danger, but then he shocks the hell out of me when he stands up and offers me a hand.
“I’ll always help you.”