I think about what the sheriff is saying, and I can’t think of anything he’d want besides my money. Hell, he signed over his own daughter to get at it. Unless…

“Wait,” I say, thinking about Tracy. “Maybe it’s not something he’s after. Maybe it’s someone.”

“What do you mean?”

Maybe Tracy wasn’t part of the deal after all. Maybe he said all that shit just so I would be forced to take it over. He could have thought I wouldn’t actually agree to take her, let alone fall in love with her.

When she told me those words this morning, it was the first time in my life I’d ever felt worthy of anything. Not when I won Nationals, or when I got into the Rodeo Hall of Fame. When Tracy told me she loved me, that was my proudest moment. That’s when I wanted to be the best version of myself, so that I deserved her love. I was just about to tell her all of that and say it back before we got interrupted.

Tracy is selfless and caring to a fault. She will sacrifice her own happiness even to the one man that deserves it the least. I’d be willing to bet every last cent that Mr. Walker loved having that kind of power over her and isn’t willing to give that up so easily.

“I need to go,” I say, as the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“What’s going on?” the sheriff asks, but I’m already in motion.

If he’s stupid enough to come to my house and try to take Tracy away from me, then he better be ready for a fight. There’s nothing that will separate Tracy from me, especially her deadbeat dad.

“You might wanna send a patrol by my house,” I call out to the sheriff as I get in my truck. “Maybe an ambulance too.”

Chapter Seventeen

Tracy

“Open the damn door!” my father bangs on it harder while I stand there in shock.

My mind does not want to believe what’s happening and that this is why Bronco left in a hurry. He didn’t even say goodbye or anything. I chew on my tender bottom lip, still feeling where Bronco kissed me. His marks are all over me, and meanwhile he’s leaving me to my father?

There are all kinds of things the sheriff might have told Bronco. I’ve realized over time that most of what my father did wasn’t by the book. What if Bronco thinks I was a part of all that? He could think I pulled some wool over his eyes and was a part of some setup with my father in all this.

For Bronco to think that for even a second breaks my heart. We might still be new, but I thought what we felt was soul deep. To me, it was the kind of love I always heard people talk about but never believed it was possible. Not until Bronco.