BUCKED Box Set: A Bull Rider Western Romance (47 page)

When I did, I glared at my mother hard, until
she stopped talking and stared at me.

“Mom, I really don’t give a fuck,” I
answered before I walked out, closed the door and made my way back out onto the
beach to find the one person in the world that I did really give a fuck about.

Chapter
43

Ashley

I no longer had a phone, or a car, since
both of those things belonged to my father. I was sure that I would have to
worry about how to pay for school, but there were plenty of options for
students in my good standing.

I might be paying them off forever, but I
would at least be able to have the life I wanted, without relying on my stupid
father.

I had certainly said a lot to him and I
had meant every word of it. I wasn’t trying to be cruel or hurtful, but I
wanted him to know that he had hurt me with all of the awful things
he
said.

I wanted him to know that life didn’t
always work the way he thought it did. I had tried to forgive him for what he
did, but I hadn’t forgotten. I would have never forgotten; he made it so hard
to get past it, because he was acting guilt-ridden over something that he did
not allow me to try to understand.

For all he knew, I spent all of those
years having no idea what was going on. He might have wanted forgiveness for
it, but he had certainly never asked. In fact, he hadn’t even explained
anything to me, so how could he expect true and honest forgiveness if he wasn’t
able to own up to what he had done?

Hell,
he isn’t even willing to accept that he did anything wrong!
I thought, rolling my eyes and laying back on the sand.

After leaving my car and basically
everything that belonged to my father at the house, I realized that probably
wasn’t the best idea. I didn’t know where I was going to go, since I didn’t
want to pay for housing at school for the rest of the summer and I didn’t want
anything from my father. I knew I had to figure it out, but I certainly wasn’t
going to try to get back in his good graces just so I had a place to stay.

If I got desperate enough, I was sure that
I could have crashed at a friend’s house close to school.

However, right now, I was just enjoying
the ease of having all of that pent-up anger and anxiety off of my chest. I
felt as though I could breathe easy for the first time in years.

Even when I was in school, my past life
plagued my mind, but since there were no reminders I could ignore them. Here,
they were so daunting that ignoring them was almost impossible.

Therefore, after they had built up for
three months, it was really nice to have a breath of true fresh air.

I still didn’t want to leave Tyler and I
hoped he was all right, seeing as how I didn’t tell him anything about what had
happened, but I figured he would make do. I certainly wasn’t worried about him
leaving if he felt like he had to. In all honesty, I was surprised that he
stuck around for as long as he did.

For
me?
I thought, but then reconsidered.
Don’t
kid yourself. He’s probably just as happy that you’re gone.
You took care of the headache that was your
relationship with him basically for them. Now they can really be one big, happy
family of three. No questions asked, just what my father had always wanted.

That’s when I heard a familiar voice
calling my name.

I stopped to listen and turned my head
toward the sound.

The voice certainly didn’t sound like my
father. In fact, it actually sounded a lot like… “Tyler?” I asked, squinting my
eyes in the darkness. I was able to pick out his muscular shape coming toward
me.

“Ashley?” he asked, in a far more hopeful
voice then I had expected. He quickened his pace toward me, slid next to me on
the sand and wrapped his massive arms around me.

The two of us stayed like that for a
moment and when we pulled away, I leaned in to kiss him.

The familiar taste of him was luscious.
After the day that I had, I wasn’t sure if I would ever get to feel his lips
against mine or drag his sweet nectar from himself unto me.

Once our lips touched, my hands came up to
grasp his face before I pulled him forward and deepened the kiss.

Our tongues entwined with one another,
while our lips locked and after a moment, his arms came to encase me once
again.

We continued to make out for a little
while, as I ran my hands up and down the length of his massive shoulders until
I could make out his magnificent form. I felt extremely pleased to have him in
my arms again and I knew that I could not risk losing him.

However, I had many questions and so,
eventually and slightly begrudgingly, I pulled away from him.

He tilted his head and stared at me with a
question on his mind, but he didn’t say anything. He just stared at me in the
darkness.

I smiled back at him and asked, “You
didn’t get kicked out or anything did you?”

He laughed. “Are you kidding? They
couldn’t fucking kick me out if they tried.”

I giggled at his confidence. “Then what
are you doing here?”

“Looking for you,” he answered in a soft
way, but had a twinge of attitude, as though the explanation was obvious and I
was an idiot for not realizing that.

I couldn’t help but beam. “That’s really
sweet, Tyler, but I’m not going back.”

He shrugged. “Fuck it. Neither am I then.”

I laughed, but when he didn’t say anything
else, I turned my head with question and answered, “Really?”

He nodded. “But if we intend to be bad
asses, we should probably go get your car; or at least get a ride back to the
house so that we can get my car. It’s not like I don’t have the money to
sustain us for a little while.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I
had never expected that he would join me. I just thought I was running away
from my father, and Tyler would have to be the sad casualty. Fortunately, that
wasn’t the case.

“Really?” I asked and I saw the shadow of
his head nod as he chuckled and before he was even finished moving, I threw my
arms around his neck and pressed my lips against his.

I felt the wetness of them and the desperation
of his kiss and I knew that he was telling me the truth. There was no doubt in
my mind that he was really going to join me in my pursuit and I couldn’t wait.

Suddenly, this adventure got a lot more
interesting.

Chapter
44

Tyler

When we broke away, I asked her what
happened and she explained what a fucking dickhead her father was to her. I
told her what had happened when I had gotten back to the house.

Of course, I left out the part about my
mother and the fact that I suspected her father might have done something to
harm her, but we did have a conversation about what would have been a fight,
had I let it progress that far.

“Are you all right?” Ashley asked me, her
eyes widened with concern.

I laughed and swatted the air in front of
me before I answered, “I’m fucking fine.”

“Are you sure? I don’t know what got into
my father. I would have never guessed that he would have resorted to violence.
Not like that.”

I chuckled slightly. “Yeah, me neither.” I
showed her my broad grin, which I hoped was visible in the darkness. “I don’t
know. I have to say that in a really twisted way, I’m kind of proud of your old
man.”

At this, she hit my arm. “What is wrong
with you?” she demanded in a teasing voice.

“I’m just sayin’…I didn’t think the
asshole had it in him. I thought he would scurry away from a fight, but he kept
coming back. He actually chased me.” I laughed.

Now, her voice was teasing and slightly
condescending as she answered, “You were the one who ran away from him?”

“Fuck no!” I exclaimed as I felt my jaw
drop and she laughed, playfully scooping herself up out of the sand in order to
run away from me.

I returned her jovial expression before
once again, I made my way back on my feet and began to chase her.

At this point, however, I wasn’t really
sure I could actually do anything. My body was aching and seriously lacking
nutrients. I hadn’t eaten anywhere near my calorie count and all I had done
since the stupid competition was run around and fend off fights. My body was
exhausted.

But I certainly didn’t want to look weak
and so, I growled to hide the shot of pain that I felt when I pivoted to one
side and then ran after her, while she let out a shrill shriek of giggles.

I chased her around for a while, before my
body realized that I seriously could not function again until I received
something to eat. I hurried up and grasped her tightly around her petite waist.

She let out another deafening laugh and
kicked up sand as I pulled her back and up, before setting her back down. “I
got you…” I said with a grin, as I collapsed on the sand before my legs
actually gave out.

It didn’t take long for Ashley to curl up
next to me. Breathing heavily from the strain of running, I could feel her
breasts heave against my chest each time she inhaled and exhaled.

The feel of them against my skin caused me
to feel horny. Yet, my need for food superseded my mojo, which was superseded
still by my need to have my point be heard. “Seriously though…I wasn’t running
away, I was prioritizing.” I shrugged as she looked at me. “I didn’t give a
shit about him. I was looking for you. That’s all I care about.”

She looked at me strangely and I felt a
rush of emotion. I both hated this feeling and loved it at the same fucking
time.

I didn’t want to feel this way about her
at all, but because I did and I was fairly certain that I didn’t have a choice
in the matter, all I wanted was to help her with everything and anything.

Ashley had helped me more than anyone I
had ever known and I was getting used to the attention she gave to me. As much
as I would have never admitted it, I didn’t want the attention to stop. I
wanted to go with her, wherever the hell she ended up going, and I wanted to be
there for her no matter what.

It was in that moment, in the darkness,
where I was barely able to see her eyes, when I realized that she was more like
me than I had ever realized.

Even though she had at one time been able
to count on her mother, for the entirety of her adult life, she had also been
on her own. Her father hadn’t made anything easy for her especially after her
mother died. And now she was trying to start her life, completely separate from
her family and from the excitement I heard in her voice when I told her that I
would go with her, wherever the road may take her. I was convinced that she was
now searching for some kind of anchor; someone she could count on and rely on,
no matter what.

Despite what I would have admitted to
anyone, even at the time, I wanted to be that anchor

So, while I was staring into her eyes, I
pulled my hands up and rested them solidly on her shoulders before I made
myself perfectly clear. “Ashley, you are the only person in this world that I
fucking care about and I am going to do whatever I can to help you.”

I saw her smile at this and after a few
more seconds, she said in an earnest tone, “Thank you, Tyler. That means more
to me than you know.”

I snickered at this and carefully drew my
hand down her cheek. “I wouldn’t count on that,” then I grasped her chin
between my finger and my thumb, brought her face toward me and kissed her.

She moved her head a little to the right
in order to receive the kiss more fully and once our lips connected, I brought
my other hand up and grasped her face, willing her toward me with the slight
pressure I applied.

Her lips were swollen and juicy against my
own and her tongue was curious. She parted her mouth and I could feel the
excitement and desperation as she pressed in closer to me.

Ashley’s tongue lovingly swiped itself
against the roof of my mouth, which caused a chill to run down my back. I
shuddered just before I smiled behind her lips. I wasn’t quite sure why I was
quite so intoxicated by her love, but I knew that I just couldn’t get enough.

I grasped her tighter and pulled her
closer. After everything that had gone on between us today and the relief I
felt prolonged by the knowledge she still wanted me, when everyone else I had
ever known would have thrown me away, I couldn’t hide the passion and intense
desire I had for her.

Through receiving the taste of her on my
lips, I was able to block everything else out. I no longer cared about
anything, unless it had to do with Ashley.

I no longer felt hungry or fatigued; all I
wanted was to feel her fucking sexy body up against mine as I showed her
exactly how much she meant to me.

Chapter
45

Ashley

After a few moments of intense, excited
lapping of our lips and twisting of our tongues as they searched wildly inside
of our mouths, I felt Tyler pull me down onto the sand and immediately begin to
unbutton my blouse.