And then it was time.

The gate opened with a clang, and Wyatt’s horse burst out, bucking in place, up and down, up and down.

That was child’s play.

The horse wasn’t even going to give a decent ride.

But suddenly, he turned the other direction, and he sent Wyatt Dodge flying. Wyatt managed to land on his feet, the momentum walking him forward, and the horse trotted away, doing half a lap before turning and going back out through the gates.

“No score,” Gabe said, clapping his hands together and rubbing them.

It was his turn.

He climbed up behind the gate. Exhilaration fired through him.

It didn’t matter how many times he did this. It was a rush. Because you never knew what you were going to get. If you were going to get that pansy-ass pop-and-turn shit that Wyatt had just done. Or if he was going to get the real deal.

Judging by the barely leashed energy from the horse underneath him, he was in for something. Although, sometimes those horses surprised him. Spent all their energy in the lead-up.

But not this one.

When the gates opened, the horse burst forward, and Gabe’s mind was blank of everything but the pitch and roll of the animal beneath him. The horse threw him forward, then back, and Gabe moved with him, one arm held back to balance.

He had a mental clock going off in his head but soon he let that fade away, too. All that mattered was the horse. That he find its rhythm.

That he hang on tight.

There was a hell of a lot of skill involved in this event. No lie about that.

But some of it...some of it was just down to pure grit.

Sometimes grit was the most important part.

Then the buzzer went off, letting him know he’d gone to the eight-second mark, and he waited until there was an easy opportunity for him to jump down onto the arena, planting both boots firmly in the dust, the momentum spinning him forward about two steps.

The cheers that erupted for him felt different than the cheers on the circuit.

He had enjoyed that. There was no denying it.

Whatever anger he had let get twisted around him since coming back...

He had enjoyed the glory. He had enjoyed the women.

He had found himself sinking into all the things he had judged his father for wanting more than he wanted home.

But in front of the home crowd, Gabe found something different. And when he turned and saw Jamie, not clapping at all, just leaning over the fence, staring with an expression of pure adoration on her face...

Yeah, the home crowd was the best crowd he’d ever been in front of.

He lifted his hat and waved it, then walked out of the arena.

“Show-off,” Wyatt grumbled.

“That’s the entire point, Dodge. To show off.”

“Hell,” Wyatt said. “If we had a bull, I could’ve shown you up pretty good.”