Wild Ride: A Bad Boy Romance (7 page)

“Ladies and
gentleman, may I now present to you the man you’ve all been waiting for, the
current number one rodeo champion in the world…Colton.”

The crowd
exploded.

Something had
happened.

There were
people here who weren’t just rodeo fans.

In the last
week alone, Colton’s fame had exploded.

Driving home
from my Father’s funeral, I had heard Colton on a radio talk show. And there
were fans calling in from all over, just hoping for a chance to talk to Colton
for a moment.

I had to admit
it had affected me. His widespread fame had made it nearly impossible to get
him out of my head. He had become all I could think about.

I looked down
and saw Colton. He was seated on his bull in the pen. He looked…well, he looked
hot, especially in his cowboy hat and jeans…all that rodeo gear.

The bull was a
big and vicious one. It was exhaling sharply through its massive nostrils…it
seemed to me that I could sense its anger, it’s meanness.

The group was
already going wild…there were women who were lifting up their shirts, showing
their pert young breasts….I felt a twang of jealousy…who knew how many more
women Colton had slept with since me.

I was jealous,
angry and sad. But I couldn’t stay away.

I had seen a
billboard advertising this rodeo event, and had made a flash decision to
come…the tickets had been more than I’d thought. The man at the ticket counter
said that they were about to sell out, and that the tickets were selling for
twice as much as normal. When I’d asked why, he’d said it was because Colton
was fast becoming the most famous rodeo star ever.

The crowd was
going insane at this point. Breasts were everywhere…young breasts…I looked down
at my own and wondered if they could ever compete.

The voice on
the loudspeaker was saying something, but I couldn’t concentrate on what it was
saying, or who was speaking.

I had finally found
Colton in the crowd. He was all I could see from that point onward.

He was wearing
his full rodeo gear.

He wore his
cowboy hat, his spurs, his chaps, all the leather gear that I had always
associated with cowboy style. It turned out it was all practical gear, and the
style was just an offshoot of original practical necessities…that just goes to
show you how much of a city girl I really was. I didn’t know anything about cowboys
or the rodeo. This was actually my first rodeo. There was a distant possibility
I had been to one in college, but if that was true than I had definitely been
so drunk on tequila that I didn’t remember a single moment of it.

Colton got onto
the bull. The bull seemed fairly calm so far for having a human mount him, and
for being locked in a pen.

Forgive me for
my descriptions…I’m sure an actual rodeo fan would kill me for the technical
details I’m missing, but I did my best to pay attention to the rodeo, but like
I said I was not only a complete beginner, but also my mind and my body were so
focused on Colton that it was hard to see what was going on around him…not that
focusing on the rodeo rider during a rodeo is a bad thing…but, you know, you
should also be paying attention to the bull and all that…

Colton
looked…hot. Simply hot.

Colton had a
way of sitting on that bull that made it look easy. He had a way of moving his
body fluidly along with the bull. It was strange, observing him, to see how
gracefully his body moved, meanwhile being encased in very stiff clothing made
out of leather and denim. His blue jeans, for instance, must have been some kind
of special cowboy brand, since they were perhaps twice as thick and twice as
stiff as the normal jeans. But because of the way his chaps were positioned, I
could still get a great view of his ass, which looked even tighter, even
plumper, even more muscular than when I had seen him outside of the rodeo arena…I
would have to ask him about those blue jeans…

Of course,
asking him about the blue jeans meant that I would see him again, and I wasn’t imagining
just any old interaction, but an intimate one…

Even though he
had left me at the hotel…abandoned me like any other fan, I knew that I had to
have him again…and I had no doubt that he wanted me too…I didn’t know how I
knew, but something had completely overcome me…Colton was now, now that I saw
him, at least, a complete obsession.

My vision became
like a tunnel, and the periphery completely faded out. I was no longer aware at
all of the crowd or where I sat on the bleachers.

Something must
have happened…some announcement…the next thing I knew an assistant, also
dressed in cowboy gear, ran up and jabbed the bull with a long stick. It was
possible that it was an electrical prod, but I couldn’t be sure. I thought I
had remembered something

Colton rode it
like the pro that he was.

He looked
incredibly hot. He looked like he was having the time of his life.

When the bull
finally bucked him off, the smile was still glued to Colton’s face.

Colton went
flying through the air. But even as he did, he looked absolutely graceful. He
reminded me of a ballerina. He was spectacular, twisting his body around in
such a way that he just barely missed the horns of the bull…the horns were
swishing viciously through the air, their pointed ends trying desperately to
pierce Colton, the bull’s tormentor.

Colton landed
on his feet. It was miraculous…I wasn’t sure, but I was pretty sure that the
bull riders didn’t normally land like that…totally intact and standing tall in
their cowboy boots.

Colton beamed
at the crowd.

The bull was
looking angrier than ever, even now that it had finally gotten Colton off its
back.

Colton took his
hat off and waved at the crowd.

I was so
focused on him, that somehow that focus must have communicated itself to
Colton. I imagined I must have looked quite singular, that I must have stood
out quite a bit, sitting in the crowd, focused only on Colton…or else it was
something else altogether. Maybe it had to do with that feeling that he and I
were meant to be together, no matter what…

Whatever the
cause, we locked eyes…

Colton stared
into my eyes, and it felt like he was seeing deep down into my soul. My body
felt completely bare before his gaze. At the same time, I felt like I could see
into him in a way that I couldn’t before….I saw all the troubles he was going
through…it was almost something like a telepathic connection, without all the
magical mumbo jumbo…this was just the power of two souls connecting, the power
of love…

I knew in that
instant that Colton really was the man for me. And I could see it in him…he
knew then and there that I was who he wanted, more than anyone else. For both
of us, there wasn’t anyone else that could do that job. And we knew this
without even talking about it, without discussing it, without even uttering a single
word.

It was then
that I knew I wanted to be with Colton forever.

I really didn’t
know much about him.

I would learn
later that there were things…things about his personality that should have
given me pause. His desire, for instance, to pursue his own fame without regard
for anything else or anyone in his life…well, that might have become a problem
later on…but there was no way I could have known it at that moment. Although, I
later kicked myself for not realizing that every bad boy sports hero is practically
the same. It’s something inseparable from their personality. It’s what helped
make them who they are…

Colton’s eyes
were locked on mine…

He wasn’t
paying attention.

For that brief
moment, he let his love life, or his future love life, interfere with his
career.

The bull was
shaking with rage.

It ran at
Colton, who was just starting at me…

With a whoosh,
the sound of the crowd came back into my senses. It was if my ears had suddenly
opened up.

The crowd was
roaring…not with delight, not with applause, but with fear.

People were
holding their faces. Women and children were screaming. Men were groaning with
anticipation with what they knew was about to happen.

I realized it
before Colton.

I tried to
frantically move my arms, my whole body, to let him know what was about to
happen.

He kept staring
at me.

Finally, he
caught on. He understood I was indicating danger.

“Watch out,
Colton, watch out…the bull,” the announcer was saying through the megaphone.

But it was too
late.

By the time
Colton looked over, the bull’s horn was less than an inch from him.

It pierced
Colton right in the stomach.

The horn was all
the way into him, more than a few inches…worse than the wound from a long
knife.

The horn was
stuck all the way into his soft flesh.
 
I couldn’t believe my eyes, the sight was simply horrifying to
behold.
 
I questioned my own sanity
because I knew that this image brought to my brain from my eyes was impossible,
nonsensical, unfathomable, incredulous, preposterous.
 

I pinched
myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.
 
When I finally had to face the reality that what I was seeing was true,
I took a deep breath and focused on the scene unfolding in the arena below
me.
 

The bull’s horn
had punctured his flesh right in the center of his abdomen.
 
The blood had already started to ooze
out, and seemed to look strangely beautiful.
 
It shone and glistened in the afternoon
sun. For a split second, I thought how peculiar that the day was so pretty when
my life was collapsing around me.
 

There was a lot
of blood now, gushing from the puncture wound to pool in puddles on the dusty
arena floor.
 

Time seemed to
stand still.
 
What was probably only
a couple of seconds seemed like eternity to me. I had just fallen in love with
Colton, and now I didn’t know what would happen.

What happened
next shocked and horrified me.
 

The bull,
enraged, reared its massive head toward the blue sky.

The bull used
its massive head to move Colton’s body.

The bull lifted
up Colton’s body, which was pierced on its one horn.

The horn ripped
through Colton’s flesh in a sideways motion.

I was horrified
as Colton’s blood continued to flow freely, increasing the flow until it was
completely pouring out of him.

His guts
started to pour out…his actual intestines were pushing out of his body.

The bull roared
and snorted….

People were
rushing into the ring. They had stun guns and nets…they were supposed to be
controlling the bull…they were supposed to be stopping it.

I was crying,
as I got up and rushed down through the crowd of people, down the bleachers. My
only thought was to get to Colton…no matter what.

Colton flew
high through the air as he was finally released from the bull’s horns…

He fell onto
the dusty dirt with a huge thump….

His cowboy hat
lay in the dirt, completely trampled and squashed by the bull’s heavy hooves.

Colton lay
there, his guts and blood streaming out of him….

He didn’t move
an inch…

The smile was
still plastered to his face, but there was also a look underneath it of pure
terror.

“You can’t go
in there, lady,” said a security guard, who was holding me back. I had run
smack into two or three big burly security guards who were wearing black
security jackets.

“I don’t care,”
I cried. “I’m in love with him. I’m in love with Colton. And he’s dying.”

“Lady, I think
every woman in the arena is in love with him. Sorry, but that doesn’t give you
any special privileges.”

“But we’ve
already slept together,” I cried, somewhat unaware of what I was saying. I was
desperate for anything that would work, anything that would let me get closer
to Colton.

The security
guards exchanged a look and began to chuckle quietly. “I still don’t think that
excludes many of the women in the arena,” said one of them.

“Assholes,” I
yelled, and pushed myself forward again.

I don’t know
where I had gotten the strength, but…it was like one of those situations where
a mother is able to summon incredible strength to lift a car up off her
toddler…it was just like that. My adrenaline was pumping insanely. My heart was
beating furiously, beyond furiously.

Somehow I
pushed so hard that I knocked one of the guards clean over. He was big and
burly too…he must have weighed close to 350 pounds.