BUCKED Box Set: A Bull Rider Western Romance (33 page)

Yet, I didn’t care enough to ask, at least
right now, and so I let whatever it was that was going on inside of Tyler’s
head slide so that I could enjoy the ride…and to my utter surprise, I did, for
more reasons than I would have ever expected.

When the ride was over, we went to check
out the picture and of course, like most of our pictures, it was absolutely
hilarious.

My dad had his tongue sticking out and I
was screaming my head off, but without even noticing, Tyler had also enjoyed
the crazy picture taking and looked as though he truly feared for his life.

“That’s a great picture,” my father
exclaimed, before he looked over at me and asked, “Should we carry on the
tradition? I know it’s been a few years…” He smiled at me, almost as though
trying his best to apologize, before I nodded enthusiastically.

“Sure!” I answered and then looked at
Tyler with a teasing expression. “I need some kind of leverage against the meat
head, over here.”

He narrowed his eyes at me and retorted
quickly, “Go ahead and threaten me. You have no idea the kind of threat I
fuckin bring…”

My father looked between the two of us
then and at first, I thought that he was going to reprimand us for cursing and
teasing one another, but instead he just smiled and let out a chuckle. “It’s
kind of cool to have two kids.” He looked at me before he added in a careful
voice, “This was what I always imagined. I always wanted you to have a
sibling…”

Even though I was enjoying the sentimental
moment and the fact that my father really seemed to be trying, I couldn’t let
that one slide. It was just too rich. So I narrowed one eyebrow before I
answered, “I’m sorry, Dad…You imagined that I would have a self-righteous prick
for a brother who only cares about himself…and his hair which is obviously a
pet of some kind?”

Once again, he laughed and passed a glance
between the two of us again before he said, “In our own right, every guy is
like that at his age.”

“Dude, I’m standing right here!” Tyler
exclaimed, but then smiled and answered, “Although, I’m flattered you noticed.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle as I pushed
his shoulder in a playful manner. The truth was, having a brother really wasn’t
so terrible. It was having a stepbrother that I wanted to strangle more than
anything else that was the problem I seemed to have.

Yet, that was all right. At the moment, I
was having a good time and I certainly didn’t want to ruin the mood. So I
continued to banter with him and pretend that, in fact, he was my brother.

Since my dad was obviously trying, I
figured that it was only fair that I did the same thing.

When I pushed his shoulder, he turned back
and smiled at me, before chasing me out of the line.

We then met up with Tyler’s mother, who
had become the bag lady and waited for my father to return.

The rest of the day went just as well as
that first ride and I was intrigued by that. It did help that Tyler kept his
asshole tendencies to a minimum and tried his best to be a brother, instead of
a lover, but I also noticed a change in my father.

Instead of ignoring my existence as much
as he possibly could, he tried to make the day special for me. For once, he
reminded me of how he was, once upon a time, before my life was turned
upside-down. Even though there was always the presence of his wife and Tyler,
this particular day seemed to be more about me and him than anyone else on the
planet.

I would have never admitted this, but it
actually felt good being able to enjoy the company of my father, the way I
remembered him, instead of the shell of a man he had become.

That day at the amusement park, I felt as
though I had gotten something back that I hadn’t had in a very long time. It
was unexpected and I was aware that it probably wouldn’t last, but I had waited
five long years to feel this way again and it didn’t take me long to realize
that it was definitely worth every second of the wait.

Chapter
20

Tyler

That was, to say the very least,
un-fucking-expected. In addition to the fact that I actually had a good time,
not only with Ashley but also with her father, who seemed to be completely
different in his own element, my stepdad had actually made me feel like he
wasn’t just banging my mom.

For the first time, probably ever,
considering my actual parents never gave a shit about one another, especially
my mother towards my father, I felt like I belonged to a real family. I had fun
with my mother, my stepfather
and
my
smoking’ hot stepsister. What’s even better was that I went through the entire
day and didn’t piss off any of them.

That was definitely a first and I was
pretty damn sure I wanted to try to do something like that again.

I was honestly amazed at how much I felt
the connection I had with these people throughout the entire day. Even my
mother wasn’t useless, which was also a first. She was a very good sport. She
held the bags for everyone, didn’t complain and actually looked like she was
having a good time watching her family have fun, instead of just trying to
think about what exactly it was that her family could do for her.

However, once the touchy feely day was
over, it was back to business as usual; after all, I still had a reputation to
uphold. Player and family man are basically polar opposites and I knew exactly
where my priorities lay.

Surprise or not, it still was only one day
in a lifetime that I had made for myself and therefore, the next morning, I got
up bright and early in order to make my way to the Y for my work-out before any
other
family
activities got in the
way.

The last thing I needed anyone to think
was that I had actually enjoyed myself the other day. Even if only the people
who were supposedly closest to me were to find out, I would have a big problem
on my hands. If they thought that the day before was anything but torturous for
me, they would want to include me in other pussy family outings and that wasn’t
going to fly with me. I needed to have my own freedom and if they started to
get all up in my business, then my lifestyle was going to go down in flames
real quick.

I figured I would disappear for a little
while, to show them that what happened the other day was in fact a one-time
deal.

So, as I went through my daily workout
routine, I focused on getting my head back in the game and pursuing my goals,
as they pertained to getting my stepsister in bed.

On the plus side, I couldn’t deny that
having her there with me at the amusement park hadn’t gone well. She mostly
stayed with her father, reveling in the newly forming relationship that I was
sure wouldn’t last, but I stayed with the both of them, encouraging and
enlightening the mood with my presence.

I had done one hell of a job figuring out
what I needed to do in order to help close the gap, at least for the day,
between my stepfather and his daughter, which in turn made me look like a hero;
and if there was any doubt at all, that was definitely what I was going for.

Even though I didn’t woo her enough to
sneak into my bed when we returned home later that night, I did feel as though
I had a good chance of reclaiming her trust. She seemed to be happy with me
again, having helped bridge the gap between her and her father and I was ready
to take full advantage of that situation.

I smiled as I thought about what it would
be like when I finally made up her mind, while I bench-pressed enough to make
my arms begin to shake.

After pushing myself to the limit, I sat
up and momentarily felt dizzy, as blood was able to rush back around my body
again.

Then, when the haze of sweat and slight
disorientation finally left my gaze, I saw someone I certainly didn’t expect
coming my way.

“Ashley?” I said as I stood up, sweating
profusely.

“Hey, Tyler,” she said with a smile. It
was clear that, without a bead of sweat on her, she probably hadn’t started
working out yet, but my mind began to wander to what she would look like,
glistening with the fruits of her workout, her neat ponytail now completely
amiss and tight ass shaking as she made her way into my arms.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded,
shaking the thoughts out of my head and trying to make it sound as though I
didn’t believe she was welcome here.

“I’m just trying to get a good workout and
I figured I would try out your haunt.” She shrugged. “It looks like it is doing
wonders for you.”

With that, she began to stretch and I
thought of trying to discourage her from being here, but I quickly realized
that probably wouldn’t work very well to my advantage and therefore, I just
smiled at her and shrugged. “Yeah, well, there is also a lot of skill and
precision that goes on. There is no gym in the world that will make you look
like the fucking monster that I have built myself up to be if you don’t
actually know what you’re doing.” I sneered at her in a teasing way.

“Fucking monster,” she repeated, sharing
my smile, “So, is that what you aspire to?”

“No, that is what I am,” I answered
confidently and she giggled. I cocked my head to the side and replied, “This is
a big place. You could get lost. Would you like for me to show you around?”

“That’s not necessary,” she said, shaking
her head, but I grabbed her hand and turned her all the way around to face me
in a way that I knew would get her attention.

As she gazed up at me, I raised my
eyebrows and returned a toothy grin. “Oh, but I insist.”

Instead of being freaked out though, she
just narrowed her eyes at me and moved her head to the side before she
answered, “So, I guess you weren’t really asking me then, were you?”

“Nope, but then again, I think it would be
fun to spend a little quality time with one another. You sure seemed to enjoy
it yesterday and come on, you and I both know that you didn’t come all the way
to this gym just to try out the equipment.”

She shrugged and snatched her hand back
from my grasp before she smiled at me and answered, “Well, when you make such a
convincing argument…”

“I thought I would,” I agreed. “What the
hell are we waiting for?”

Even though it was obvious that she had
come here for me, which was encouraging, I wondered why she insisted on hiding
that to start. The thought had crossed my mind that she was just trying to play
hard to get.

After all, when a woman goes from hating
the very fact that you exist to showing up at your gym to see you within a
matter of twenty-four hours, she has to have some kind of saving grace. She
sucked at it, but I had to give her props for trying.

So, without making her wait any longer, I
started to make my way through the gym as I enthusiastically showed her around.
It was a big gym with a lot to see, which made my life a little bit easier,
especially when I was sincerely trying to figure out how to make her stay with
me longer so I could lay on my charm even thicker.

Then, we made our way to a billboard in
the gym, which had the announcements of everything that was going during the
week. I usually wasn’t interested in it, unless there were competitions which I
hadn’t seen yet, but I figured a woman might be interested in the foo-foo
offerings that the otherwise stable gym had going on in rooms where I wouldn’t
be caught dead.

However, when I showed her this, she
immediately gravitated towards a sign that I didn’t expect and hadn’t seen
before.

“Hey Meathead, this looks perfect for
you,” she said at once, pointing toward the sign.

“Yeah, I’ve done those competitions
before,” I answered, trying not to act as interested in it as I really was. The
fact that I had not seen it first bothered me, but the fact that she knew me
that well was something that I thought was interesting. In fact, that was the
most encouraging news I had received from her in a long time. Still, I played
it cool. “There’s really no fucking contest anymore though. They used to
interest me, but then they became increasingly boring…”

“You’re going to enter,” she insisted.

“No,” I scoffed at her, “I’m not.”

She shook her tight ass, which looked even
tighter in those yoga pants and glared at me with a challenge in her eyes as
she said, “Then, I’ll sign you up and you will have no choice but to do it or
risk the world thinking that you are…” she smiled in an evil way, “to use your
words, ‘a fucking pussy’.”

“You’re a bitch,” I responded quickly,
almost as though it was a kneejerk reaction.

She shrugged, unfazed before answering, “I
know,” and turned around to write my name on the signup sheet.

Chapter
21

Ashley

I couldn’t believe I had actually done
that. I smiled with a sense of excitement, but tried not to laugh as I asked
Tyler his last name.

Begrudgingly, he spelled it for me. I
turned around and raised my eyebrows toward him. “I think we’re done now,” I
jeered. “If you need any help, or if you’re looking for a coach, I would be
happy to help.”