Love Under the Western Skies

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜɪʀᴛʏ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ

"One more ride this year girl," I accepted the lasso being handed to me, "then I'll book you a spa day, I promise."

She neighed in response and I chuckled, closing my eyes to calm my nerves. I was at the world championships, but I wasn't nearly as nervous as I was when I was riding in my home rodeo. Which is ridiculous, I know. But I wasn't nervous, because whether or not I won this buckle today, I had already won this year. I had a healthy, wonderful son, a beautiful girl, and a child on the way. I had won in life this year, a buckle would top it all off, but I was happy either way. When I opened my eyes, the roaring of the crowd had been drowned out by a blissful silence that only came when I was focused. The buzzer sounded, and the steer was released into the arena.

One, two, three seconds later, and my gate was opened, the timer counting.

The rope was an extension of my arm as I circled it over my head, my eyes locking on the left horn of the steer, one flick of my wrist and I was wrenching the rope tight, the line snapping into place, I looked up right as Craig circled around me, his rope circling the two back legs, and when his rope snapped tight, I finally glanced up at the clock, grinning when I saw the time. 3.59 seconds, the best time of the night so far.

I looked at the crowd to see Madison screaming, jumping up and down while Rhett laughed as he was jostled about. Soon all of Sawyer Management was joining her in celebration.

Craig and I made our way back to the staging area, putting our horses back into the stables. Then we sat on the fence, watching the three other teams go behind us. It was unreal as the last team went, and we were still sitting in the number one spot, it was even crazier when the announcer called our names stating that we were the world champions. The scream from the crowd was deafening when I turned to hug Craig. His first-ever buckle and I could feel the excitement rolling off him.

"Steve!"

I turned when I heard Madison's voice, Rhett was perched on her hip with a giant smile and I took off running towards them, wrapping them both in my arms as I lifted them and spun them around. "Congratulations baby!" Madison smiled, her feet back on the ground before I pressed my lips to hers. Swallowing any emotions that were threatening to spill out. And as soon as I pulled away, I kissed Rhett's head.

"I love you Madison."

She grinned, kissing me again, in front of everyone with no shame, "I love you, Steve."

I was on top of the world.

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Rae, Nathan, Ari, Hannah, Madison, and I were sitting in a booth at the local tavern.

I had an arm draped around Madison's shoulders as we all laughed about the journey we'd had on the road. Even with Sawyer's only signing Ari six weeks ago, he's integrated himself into our everyday life. He's become a friend and someone I've used to escape Madison's mood swings. But tonight was a celebration, Nathan and I had won the title of world champion respectively, Ari came in second, and we were celebrating Madison adopting Rhett.

Nash and Kristina were all too happy to take the little boy with them, Kristina saying she got a farm toy that only makes a cow sound, and both Madison and I cringed, we'd never escape the sound at this rate.

I was nursing a beer, I had tried to give up drinking with Madison being pregnant, not because I wasn't able to monitor myself, but because I didn't want her to feel alone, to be the only one at the table sipping on water. But she insisted, and tonight she ordered herself a Shirly temple, so we were both being wild it seemed like. Currently, she, Hannah, and Rae were in a debate about the most annoying employee at Sawyers, and the most exhausting person signed.

"Look all I'm saying," Madison raised her hands in defense, and I chuckled, kissing her temple gently, "Is that Nathan became a lot more bearable after you slept with him a few times."

"Hey now," Nathan teased, "Let's not forget Mister Casanova over here," Nathan reached behind Rae to pinch Ari's cheek, the rugged man glaring at his mentor playfully, "Is way worse than me."

"At least he's always been nice." Rae shrugged, taking a drink of her margarita.

"Don't turn on me," Ari shrugged, gesturing to me in the corner of the booth, "I looked up to him, and he went and fucked Savannah Bozeman, at least I didn't do that."

I couldn't help but bark out a laugh, and Madison smiled at me as Hannah replied, "Yeah, but he got a cute kid out of the deal, I have to follow you around with a trail of NDAs I've probably wiped out an entire rainforest with the amount of paper I use daily."

I sucked air in through my teeth, "Sounds like I'm the likable one at this table," I took a pull from my beer, "You all should take notes."

"Yeah I have the name of your how-to guide," Nathan smirked, leaning back with his arms crossed over his chest, "How to get a girl pregnant, almost lose your career, and then get another girl pregnant in the span of a year and a half," I rolled my eyes playfully but Madison snorted, hiding her face in Hannah's shoulder, "I think it'll make massive sales, what do you think Levinson?"

"Oh yeah," he took a drink from the beer in front of him, "I'm sure it'll fly off the shelves, a bestseller for sure."

The table fell silent for a moment before everyone erupted in laughter. The noise was so loud it startled the other patrons. But we didn't care. It was the first time since the season started that we all got to be friends. We weren't rushing back to homes, or packing up to new cities. I wasn't worried about Savannah, and I had a stronger career than I've had in years. Nathan wasn't focused on mentoring and Ari had made himself at home with our little group. For the first time in years, I can say that I was happy. So genuinely happy with my life. I had the best girl currently leaning against me, I had my son, I had my unborn child, and I had friends, and a family in Sawyer's that I didn't have before.

All thanks to Madison.

We must have been at the tavern for well over two hours, our table was covered in appetizers, and empty bottles littered the remaining open spaces. Hannah, Rae, and Madison were in a deep discussion about some TV they had been watching, and Ari, Nathan, and I were watching with intent. Something was fascinating about how they were picking apart things. But I think a bigger part of us was just in love with watching them talk about something they were so passionate about.

Eventually, they left that conversation and Madison leaned into me, her exhaustion apparent on her face. But she was still snacking on some appetizers and if the baby was letting her eat them, I wasn't going to take her away from the food. "Okay," Rae clapped, making everyone at the table jolt with the loud noise, "Time for a toast, everyone grab your glass."

We all listened to what Rae said, you always listen to what Rae says.

"This year, Hannah, Madison, and I were thrown into the deep end, we had three assignments that seemed nearly impossible to achieve. Hannah and Ari became friends, I fell in love with Nathan, and well arguably the most successful out of us three is Madison, she fell in love, adopted a son, and is having a baby, so cheers to a successful year."

We all clinked our glasses together, taking a drink after, and my eyes snagged on Hannah who held her glass up again.

"To friendship," She started.

"To fun," Rae added on.

Madison grinned, tapping her glass against theirs, "To Love Under the Western Skies."

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