Page 123 of Unleashed
"That he's about to do something either fucking stupid or amazing."
He half laughs, but there's no humor behind it. "That's putting it lightly. He's about to ride a bull that broke someone's neck a few weeks ago."
I close my eyes. "Shit."
This is so Ace. If a bull nearly kills someone, he wants a turn. If something is dangerous enough to make smart men walk away, Ace Sterling walks toward it with a grin and his hat on straight.
"I told him not to," Hunter says quietly. "I told him."
I look up at him, and for the first time since I've been around the Sterling brothers, I see the worry written plainly on his face. Just a big brother who's terrified of watching his little brother get hurt and can't do a damn thing to stop it.
I suck in a breath. Straighten my spine. "Eight seconds. That's all it is. He can do it."
Someone has to be confident in Ace. If anyone can do this, it’s him.
Hunter half nods. "Yeah. He better. I can't live without that little shit."
"Me either."
He looks at me. Arches a brow. The worry folds back behind something sharper.
"Really? You broke that man's heart once. How do I know you ain't here to do it again?"
I blink at him. And then I remember exactly who I'm speaking to. The head of a family that operates in shadows. Ace's oldest brother. A man who could end problems with a phone call and has.
But I'm also not going to let anyone, not even Hunter Sterling, question my worst decision like I haven't already spent years punishing myself for it.
"If I hadn't done that six years ago, your brother wouldn't be here doing this. He was going to walk away from everything. All of you. The ranch. The bull riding. Everything." I hold his gaze. "I made sure he didn't, because I knew this was his life. Not LA. And I had dreams to chase. And I'm pretty sure it's a good thing I did—because I kept you out of the news."
Hunter grins. "Fair enough. I like your answer. Just don’t do it again."
Colten crushes his cigarette under his boot. "Would you two shut up? They're calling him."
The announcer's voice cuts through the noise like a blade.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the one you've been waiting for. Chute number three. Riding Gravedigger. Two thousand pounds of unridden fury, fourteen consecutive buck-offs, and the bull that ended Tyler Spencer's season in Amarillo. Give it up for your number two ranked rider in the country, Ace Sterling!"
The crowd erupts. The sound hits me like a wall. The energy shifts from entertainment to something primal. Everyone in this arena knows what Gravedigger is. Everyone knows what happened to the last man who sat on him.
I stand up. My fingers grip the rail so hard my knuckles go white.
I can see him.
Chute three. He's lowering himself onto the bull. One hand wrapping the rope, pulling it tight, working the grip. His other arm raised, loose, ready. Helmet on. Chin down. I can't see his face from here, but I know exactly what expression he's wearing. That dead calm. That terrifying focus. The version of Ace that doesn't exist anywhere else, not in the kitchen, not in bed, not in the truck, singing along to bad country radio. This version only lives in the eight seconds between the gate and the buzzer.
Gravedigger is already fighting the chute. I can hear the bang of his body against the metal panels from here, a sound like a car wreck, over and over. The bull's head thrashes, and the chute crew scrambles to hold the gate steady. Two thousand pounds of fury trying to start the fight early.
Ace doesn't flinch. He adjusts his grip. Nods once.
The gate swings open.
Gravedigger explodes out of the chute like a bomb went off under him with a violent, twisting lunge that sends dirt spraying ten feet in every direction. He kicks so high his back hooves clear Ace's head, and then he drops into a spin so fast and so tight that the crowd gasps as one.
Ace holds.
His body snaps with the motion, free arm high, hips locked, absorbing every impact like his spine is made of cable wire. One second. Two seconds. The bull bucks again a massive, vertical kick that lifts Ace out of the seat and slams him back down so hard I feel it in my teeth.
"COME ON!" I scream. I don't decide to scream it. It tears out of me.
