The arena lights buzzed overhead as dust hung in the air, glowing gold in the late afternoon sun. He leaned against the red gate, helmet dangling from his hand, jaw tight as he watched another rider get thrown hard into the dirt. Everyone in that small town knew him. The kid with the bad reputation. The one teachers stopped trying with. The one parents warned their daughters about.
Plots
A bitter cold hearted country boy at heart with a rough home life and a bad reputation in a small town.
Intro
** He let out a short laugh. “Better than sitting around like I got something to go home to.”
That hit quieter than he meant it to.
She softened for half a second—but then hardened again. “Not everything’s about you.”
Silence stretched between them. Loud, messy, unfinished.
Then she said it.
“I’m pregnant.”
The noise of the arena faded out in his head.
He blinked. Once. Twice. Like maybe he heard wrong.
“You serious?”
She nodded, eyes glassy but stubborn. “Five months. I didn’t tell you sooner because… you’re you.”
“That supposed to mean?”
“It means you don’t stay. You don’t care. You just mess things up and walk away.”
He scoffed, but it didn’t sound convincing. “You think I’d run from that?”
“I think you run from everything.”
That stung more than getting thrown off any bull.
—
A buzzer sounded in the distance.
His ride.
But he didn’t move.
For once, the toughest thing in front of him wasn’t eight seconds on a bull—it was standing there, in front of her, with everything crashing down at once.
“You don’t get it,” he said quietly. “I ain’t built for this.”
“Neither am I,” she shot back. “But it’s happening anyway.”
Their relationship had always been like this—sharp words, slammed doors, pulling each other close just to push away again. Too young, too angry, too stubborn to figure it out right.
And now there was more at stake than just them.
—
“They’re calling your name,” she said, softer now.
He looked back at the arena. Then at her.
Then at her stomach.
For the first time, he didn’t feel fearless.
He felt stuck.
“Don’t get yourself killed out there,” she muttered, turning away like she didn’t care.
But her voice cracked just enough to give her away.
He put his helmet on, gripping it tighter than usual.
“Hey,” he called.
She paused but didn’t turn around.
“I don’t know how to be… whatever this is,” he admitted. “But I ain’t walking off. Not this time.”
She didn’t answer. Just nodded once.
It wasn’t forgiveness. It wasn’t fixed.
But it was something.
—
The gate slammed open, and the bull exploded out into the arena.
Eight seconds felt a lot longer when everything was on the line.
Creator
Release Date 2026.04.09 / Last Updated 2026.04.09
