Chapter .21

2K 43 15
                                    

"Now I would like to call....... Luke Collins up to the stage" the announcer boomed over the speakers.
My jaw dropped I jumped up in shock, he stood up and hugged me and then walked up to the stage. I clapped as he walked up to the stage.

"now son you look a little shocked" the announcer said to Luke. "you are probably wondering how this happened, now we looked through both of your times and scores, now at first John was the winner, due to the poor time that you received in Florida, but after analyzing it, John Scott had not attended that event making his score a 0. We had also looked into all the things that you had accomplished this year, you have started working on new events, like Bulldogging, and roping. You were obviously a clear choice but the score set you over the bar. I am happy to announce to everyone our first place rider is Luke Collins" the announcer roared and the crowd went crazy. I was beyond happy for him and I couldn't believe that he won.
" now they told me to say something" Luke chuckled into the microphone" I just wanted to thank my  beautiful girlfriend Katie, you are my rock and I don't know where I would be without you, I love you" he said. "and I would also like to thank Betty and Chip, y'all are like my mother and father and I thank you for putting up with me all these years" he said and walked down the stage over to me.
"I'm so proud of you" I said as he pulled me into kiss him. I smiled and hugged him. "Your absolutely amazing, you know that" I said looking up to him, he placed a hand on my cheek and kissed me again.

The ceremony had ended but a lot of people were talking to Luke, I sat at our table with Chip and Betty as he talked with people about the things that were now going to happen. He had a lot of brand deals and sponsorships. I smiled knowing that he was making his dreams come true, he had accomplished so much this year.

"so how long have you known Luke" Betty asked me, "Like did you guys know each other for a while or not, because out of nowhere he just started talking about you, a lot" She asked.
"well I guess I have know Luke for about 6 months now" I said "I actually met him here, uh I was walking along petting the horses and Lilly ran out from their trailer behind their horse and he went to kick her but I grabbed her before, so Luke's horse kicked me" I said.
"oh wow" she said.
"So have you guys known Luke since he was a little kid or when did he start here" I asked.
" well his father as you know was a bull rider," Betty said
"not a very good one" Chip chuckled, " but he was here constantly as his mother and father were fighting and what not, then his family started to kind of leave him here and wouldn't come pick him up, so we started taking him home to feed him dinner, then they would just leave him for days on end," Chip said shaking his head in disappointment.
"He moved in with us" Betty chimed in
"oh wow that's really sweet of you guys" I said remembering that Luke told me this before.
"anyways Luke was never interested in bull riding until he moved in with us," Chip said.
"He saw all of Chips trophies and belt buckles" Betty said. " he has quite a few" she smiled
" he realized that there is more than just falling off like his father, and asked me to teach him" Chip smiled "his father wasn't too happy about it but he got over it" he said smoothing down his mustache.
I raised my eyebrows
" He then started to get really good, he started staying on for 5 seconds then 7 then 8 and we knew that this boy had a future, so we started signing him up for the bigger rodeos, we travelled all over with him,"Betty said, " We saw that he was coming in the top 5 in all of them, so I encouraged him to try out for the travel team here"

"wow you guys are the sweetest" I said
"we just wanted to make his life a lot better since up to when he was 13 it kind of sucked, he lived with us for 5 years" Betty said, "then his little sister was born and he moved back into his home to protect her and raise her because he knew that his mother wasn't going to, we set him up with a job that allowed him to make a little cash herding cows at this mother's property"
I smiled
"what" Betty asked
"that's my mom" I said
Betty smiled " wow" she said
" I don't know how you two hadn't met before then" Chip said
" well around the time I guess he started I was living on campus full time. I would only come home for holidays and took the winter session so I could get my degree faster" I said.

"oh really and what was your major" Betty asked me as Chip got up to go steal Luke
" It was in equine studies" I said " so basically I got a degree in stuff I already know" I said with a giggle.
Betty smiled, " I'm glad that you and Luke met" She said
"Yeah I'm very happy that I met him."
" honestly I know I said it before but he is so much happier with you, he had some girlfriends that didn't last long, here and there you know" She said "A lot of girls who just followed the rodeo and wanted a quick fling, it seemed like he had given up on dating" She said " but then you come bouncing into the office here and I saw the look in Chip's eyes, I guess he thought you would be perfect for Luke, if we had only known that you guys were already friends" She laughed.

I smiled
" Can I steal my girl" Luke said walking up behind me. I turned around and smiled at him. I stood up and we walked outside.
" I'm so proud of you" I said and he smiled at me.

"thank you babe" He said leaning down to give me a kiss " I love you"
"I love you too" I said hugging him, he leaned down and started to makeout with me,
"we gotta go home so I can take this dress off of you" he said in my ear.

" Oh my gosh Luke?" a girl yelled walking over to Luke " I heard that you won, I'm so proud of you" She said "

"Erica?" Luke asked in disbelief. " I haven't seen you in forever" He said hugging her. I frowned in confusion.

"oh sorry, baby this is Erica" He said. "Erica this is my lovely girlfriend Katie"
"hi" I said standing there awkwardly. She oddly smiled and went back to talking to Luke.
"what are you doing back here" He asked.
"I moved back" She said excitedly
I decided to go back inside while they were talking, I walked into the barn and found Matt.
"hey Matt" I said "congrats on getting top 10 that's really hard to do" I said.
He chuckled " yeah at least I beat Alex" He grinned
I smiled " yeah put him in his place!"

"I'm surprised that you aren't celebrating with Luke" Matt said with a little frown.
"he's talking to some girl he knows, so I let them catch up" I said.
He frowned " who" He asked
"her name was Erica?" I said trying to recall her name
"Oh" He said and rolled his eyes.
"wait do you know her" I asked getting a little nervous.
"uh yeah she was bestfriends with Luke, like I'm pretty sure since they were little kids, she used to hang around here" he said and shrugged.
"oh ok" I said
"you may wanna stand your ground" Matt suggested
"Oh? Well thank you and good job today" I said then walked out of the barn. I walked out and saw the Luke was still talking to Erica, I walked over to them and smiled at Luke when he glanced at me."Hi honey" He said sliding a hand around my waist.
"sorry to interrupt but do you have my phone" I asked.
he reached his hand into his pocket and handed me my phone. I yawned and glanced down at the time.
"oh god" Luke said " Its 1am" He looked over at me, " We gotta get you to bed" he said smacking my butt.  "well it was nice catching up with you," He said to Erica, She smiled and looked over at Luke's arm around me and glared at me.
I was taken aback by her, she then looked back at Luke and smiled.
"well it was really nice seeing you" she said placing her hand on his arm and then walked away.
"that was odd" I said after she was far enough away.
"what do you mean" Luke asked.
"did you not see her glare at me" I asked.
"no, I doubt she would have glared at you" he said poking me in my side. I giggled. "let's get you into my bed ASAP" he chuckled grabbing my butt again. 

☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼

•vote
•comment
• love

The Bull RiderWhere stories live. Discover now