Roping Her In

Chapter: 22

As soon as Cox sat down next to me at breakfast he was pulling me closer to him. Kolt and I had been joking around about anything that could go wrong today. Cox held me to him for a moment before letting me go. Chaz came in a second after. They didn't speak to each other at all during breakfast or the morning FCA service.

We pretty much watched the events until the jackpots. I threw some jeans on and put the boots I had back on before going to the covered arena. As I was watching Chaz rode up next to me. Something he never did. "I'm sorry about how I've been towards you." He said. "I take it Cox got frustrated and told you how he felt." I said.

"Something like that." He said. "I'm not trying to take him from you." I said. "I know. He told me why he would have to go." He said. My turn for goats was coming up. I went out and did my best before going back over to where they were. Kolt and Cox were now there. Chaz went for calf roping before he and Cox team roped. I got second in the jackpot, Cox and Chaz got first. We went to the dragsteer roping that night together. Cox and I left after the FCA service back to the trailer.

I showered quickly before he jumped in. He pulled me to him in bed holding me to him. "Your not going to leave me are you?" He asked. I rolled over to face him. "Why would I leave you?" I asked him. "I saw you talking to Chaz early and you looked happy talking to Kolt." He said. "Chaz was apologizing for how he was treating me. He saw how bad it hurt you and he wanted to fix it. Kolt is like a little brother. He doesn't know any better sometimes and he knows that I will never leave you unless it's for a good reason." I said. He buried his head in the crook of my neck.

I held onto him. He held onto me. "How's life been?" He asked. "My brother gets out of rehab just in time to watch me go to nationals." I said. "He must be proud of his sister." He said. "Now that he's not high all of the time, he sees that I am accomplishing a lot. Even says that if I really want to, I could go to NFR after I graduate high school." I said.

He kissed me. "Sounds like a magnificent plan. I'll rout you on." He said. "But what if you are in the arena with me?" I asked him. He furrowed his brow. "I want you to team rope with me. Chaz already said he's going to college for something other than rodeoing. Maybe with a rodeo scholarship to the college too." I said.

"Has your brother ever said anything about meeting me?" He asked. "He has." I said. "I wouldn't mind meeting him." He said. "I guess he would need to sometime in the future." I said. He nodded. "Good night baby." He said. Good night." I told him as he rolled so I could use his shoulder as a pillow. The other two came in shortly after.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I sat in the waiting area at the facility waiting to go see my brother. Cox came with for a little support. I made sure Justin was ok with him coming beforehand. Justin sounded excited about Cox coming. I don't know why he is unless he's going to try and run him off as a test.

It's most likely his test. I hope I can keep my head while they are talking. I just wanted to come see how he was doing before he gets out. When they said we could go back, we went through the safety precautions, metal detectors, and the whole nine yards. A person led the way to his room. He was about to knock when I said I would.

"One moment!" Was heard from the other side of the door. A second later Justin opened the door. "Come on in." He said making room in the doorway. He and Cox shook hands. First test. "Brought you some stuff." I said as Cox set it on the table. Justin went through it. "Are you trying to bribe me?" He asked.

"Nope. Figured you missed these while in here." I said. "Glad you still remembered them." He said. "How could I not? I'm still finding wrappers in everything." I said. This was a side of me Cox never got to see. The side no one really sees. The one where it's almost as if our parents didn't get killed in a wreck.

Justin hugged me before offering us seats. "One more month." Justin said. "And just in time for nationals?" I asked. "I'll be on parole. Can't leave the state for another month." He said. "I wish you weren't going though." He said. "I'll be fine. He's going, Dan wanted to go see how Nebraska looked this time of year." I said.

"I'm not saying that I don't trust you to go by yourself, I just don't want to lose you too." He said. "You won't." I said. "Which would you risk?" Justin asked. "I would risk my truck than my life or my horses." I told him. He leaned forward. "I don't mean it like that. Would you die if it meant your horses or others in the vehicle lived?" He asked.

"I would risk metal and a trip to the hospital than anyone, my animals included getting injured." I said. He glared at me. I glared back. Cox never said a word. I got up and went over to the stuff. "You know, our parents would not be like this to this extent. Every day accidents happen like this because of stupid people who do not know what they are doing. That's why we are responsible for our own. I am always responsible for my rig and my load. Just you wait." I told him.

I walked out for a moment. I had to calm down.

Cox

I could tell she was losing her patience. I didn't say anything because I knew she needed to do this herself. Justin sighed putting his head in his hands. "I just want her safe." He said. "She doesn't want to lose you either." I said. "How would you know?" Justin asked me.

"Because I can see it in everything she does. She may have told me what happened since august, but I can tell you, she loves you enough that she did not want anything bad to happen to you either." I said. He didn't say another word until he lifted his head up. "She trusts you." He said.

"She wants your trust." I said. He nodded. "I know she does. It's going to take time. I need time to trust myself before starting to rebuild my trust with her." He said. "Go to her. She needs you now. I'll see her when I get out. I know I've been a horrible brother since my parents' death. She deserved better than my addictions." He said.