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Back Cross My Heart Save as PDF
Chapters (54)
  1. Cover
  2. Prologue
  3. Chapter One
  4. Chapter Two
  5. Chapter Three
  6. Chapter Four
  7. Chapter Five
  8. Chapter Six
  9. Chapter Seven
  10. Chapter Eight
  11. Chapter Nine
  12. Chapter Ten
  13. Chapter Eleven
  14. Chapter Twelve
  15. Chapter Thirteen
  16. Chapter Fourteen
  17. Chapter Fifteen
  18. Chapter Sixteen
  19. Chapter Seventeen
  20. Chapter Eighteen
  21. Chapter Nineteen
  22. Chapter Twenty
  23. Chapter Twenty-One
  24. Chapter Twenty-Two
  25. Chapter Twenty-Three
  26. Chapter Twenty-Four
  27. Chapter Twenty-Five
  28. Chapter Twenty-Six
  29. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  30. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  31. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  32. Chapter Thirty
  33. Chapter Thirty-One
  34. Chapter Thirty-Two
  35. Chapter Thirty-Three
  36. Chapter Thirty-Four
  37. Chapter Thirty-Five
  38. Chapter Thirty-Six
  39. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  40. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  41. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  42. Chapter Forty
  43. Chapter Forty-One
  44. Chapter Forty-Two
  45. Chapter Forty-Three
  46. Chapter Forty-Four
  47. Chapter Forty-Five
  48. Chapter Forty-Six
  49. Chapter Forty-Seven
  50. Epilogue
  51. Author’s Note
  52. Acknowledgements
  53. Keep Reading …
  54. About the Publisher

I jog around the waiting line of guys as they slap my shoulder with shouts of congratulations, to the back of the line. Cheers go up in front when Rod makes his second shot, and it isn’t long before he joins me, all smirky and satisfied.

‘Looks like she brought you back from the dead,’ he says with a jesting punch to the arm.

I manage a smile. ‘Only she could have.’

‘Someone told me you missed me.’

May smirks, her dark hair flying out behind her as she slows her horse down to a casual trot to match mine. She holds the reins with two fingers, and she brushes a stray lock of hair from her shoulder, revealing the strap of her tight black tank top. Her gold heart necklace from her quinceañera makes little clicking sounds when the pendant hits the others around her neck: a horseshoe, a locket. The thick buckle of her belt glimmers in the totally unconcealed sunlight, cinching perfectly fitting Wranglers around her waist. Her butterfly boots squeak in the stirrups.

From slightly behind her, I can see every detail of the tattoo of a flower bouquet just above her elbow, on the back of her arm. Even slowing down, she’s still faster than me.

‘Hold up,’ I call.

She laughs, the richest sound I’ve ever known, and turns to look back at me. Her hair skims my cheek, and when she reaches out with a daring arm, her fingers brush my jaw, her rings kissing my skin. ‘Keep up, Colt.’

With a whoop, she speeds up again, that finicky horse of hers galloping faster and faster, his hooves beating the ground.

‘Come on!’ I pat the side of my horse’s head, but he’s not having it. We don’t move any faster. ‘Hey, May!’

She’s well ahead of us now. I watch as her horse traces the corner of a pond, water and dirt flying up around them. I can’t see anything – I can’t see her – in all the dust. ‘MAY!’ I yell. ‘MAY …’

I shoot up in bed. My chest is pounding, and honestly, my head too.

Great. It’s not enough that everyone around me won’t shut up about her. She’s swinging by my dreams now, too.

Damn it, May.

Chapter Forty-Four

On to the Next

May

The Oklahoma half of the crowd joins us in a screamed rendition of the school’s ‘Orange and White’ chant. Maddie whoops, raising an arm to signal louder, and they obey, every word of the song echoing through McNeill Athletic Complex Field in Washington, DC.