Dare You to Resist the Bull Rider (Rock Valley High 4)

He leaned over and shoved a cookie into my hands. “Here, have one before I eat them all. I have the feeling you need it after dealing with Ms. Gentry today. I got to know, is she some sort of zombie? Or a ghost? She looks like an old war widow that just crawled out of a cemetery.”

I took a bite, inhaling deeply with the wonderful explosion of flavors on my tongue. My mom was a great cook, but she could never make cookies like these.

“No, I’m pretty sure she’s real,” I said with my mouth full. “Her son was there, and he looked like a human. A sweaty human on the verge of a nervous breakdown, but still human.”

He cocked his head and smiled at me, sinking farther

into the couch cushions. “Seriously, Char, I didn’t have a clue you were going to enter the competition.”

“Funny, I didn’t either...” I grumbled quietly, staring at the TV.

“You never would’ve done something like that a year ago. It’s really cool. The rodeo guys and the contestants usually cheer each other on, so we’ll get to spend lots of time together at the fair this week. Plus, you’re definitely going to win.”

I gulped down the cookie that had suddenly turned into a lump of charcoal in my mouth. That was the second time Hunter had gushed about me being in the competition. He was all for it. I didn’t have the heart to tell him it had all been a set up and I was getting out of it as soon as possible.

At least, not tonight.

“You really think I actually stand a chance of winning that thing?” I asked him, grabbing another cookie from his hands. At this rate, I was going to eat a dozen of them in one go. It was a good thing I’d packed the Pepto-Bismol.

He scoffed. “Yeah, totally. You’re better than all those girls combined. It’s no contest. They might as well call it right now.”

I squinted at the TV, trying to hold in my giggle. That was the funniest thing I’d heard in a long time. Maybe even funnier than hearing about three guys being interested in me. I wanted to burst out into mocking laughter, but when I looked over and found him studying me with such an intense expression, my stomach tilted dangerously.

“What?” I asked. Totally busted. He’d caught me laughing. “I’m not mocking you, I swear. I just think you’re a little delusional if you think I’m going to win the Junior Rodeo Queen. Lexi says I’ve got the hair for it, but other than that, I’ve got nothing. Not like Sarah Claiborne.”

“No, it’s not that...” Something like pain flickered across his face as he pointed to his lips. “You’ve got something...there.”

Blood rushed to my cheeks. That’s what I got for stuffing myself with warm, gooey carbs. So much for impressing him with all the ways I’d matured this year. I was a hot mess.

“Do I have chocolate on my face?”

His frown deepened and he nodded. I tried to clean it with the back of my hand, but he was still looking at me funny.

“Did I get it?” I asked.

He bit his bottom lip and then tentatively reached out with his hand, swiping the pad of his thumb gently against the corner of my mouth. The sensation sent a sharp shock down my spine, my stomach tilting violently the other way. It wasn’t unpleasant. And actually, it gave me the sudden and crazy impulse to spread chocolate all over my lips in the hope that he’d touch me like that again. It was a feeling I’d never had before. It made my heart do a crazy staccato beat in my chest.

“There.” He swallowed hard and then nodded, his gaze flicking from my lips, back up to my eyes. “Better.”

“Um...thanks.”

I turned back to the TV and nibbled on the edge of my cookie, determined not to look him in the face again until at least the opening credits. That was so strange. Almost as strange as Hunter putting both of his hands on his knees and gripping them until his knuckles turned white. Silence fell between us, and not the comfortable kind that we used to fall into so easily while doing homework or hanging out in his room. This was heavy and full of unasked questions.

But when the movie finally started, it gave us both something to concentrate on. And by the time the first ten minutes were done, we were back to cracking our old jokes and throwing popcorn at the screen. Bree even came and joined us for a while as she took a break from unpacking. The three of us sat cozied up on the couch, a reminder of better times.

Despite how amazing tonight felt, I couldn’t help but worry in the back of my mind how I was going to handle quitting the competition. Ms. Gentry would murder me unless I had a solid reason for backing out. Maybe I’d get a better grip on it after I finally cornered Lexi and Beth. After all, it was their fault I was in this mess. The two of them had some explaining to do. And then they were going to make this right.

Or no more cowboys for them!

Chapter Six

Looking back, I probably shouldn’t have been so harsh.

The text I’d sent to Lexi and Beth to meet at the county fairgrounds this morning before the first Junior Rodeo Queen event was kind of terrifying.

Be there. Or Else.

But I was still so angry I could hardly see straight. The thought of telling Ms. Gentry I was out of the competition made my knees shake. Instead, I was going to leave that job up to Lexi and Beth. After all, they’d gotten me into this mess. They could get me out.