Bless His Cursed Soul: A Southern Paranormal Suspense Novel (The Righteous Book 2) by Meg Collett

Author:Meg Collett [Collett, Meg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Meg Collett
Published: 2019-03-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

THE BRIGHT ARENA LIGHTS DREDGED up a potent mixture of emotions so dizzying Loey couldn’t begin to identify them. Even though she rode Butters into the arena that Friday night for the Fall Festival’s annual rodeo and not Tempest, fear twinged down her legs, clad in her best Wrangler jeans.

The opening notes of the national anthem played. Everyone stood with their cowboy hats over their hearts, the men’s belt buckles polished to a fine shine beneath the day’s fading light. The American flag Loey carried waved over Butter’s haunches as they loped a circle around the arena.

She sped up with the music, changing directions and circling, throwing in flying lead changes and quick, tight spins. Butters moved smooth as silk beneath her, his black mane streaming upward, his yellow hide flashing like fool’s gold. Loey turned at the top of the arena, and Butters sensed her heartbeat rise and her grip tighten on the reins.

He gathered himself and tore off, galloping straight down the center of the arena as the anthem reached a crescendo. It wasn’t as fast as Tempest had run—no other horse would ever be as fast as Tempest—but it was fast enough to drop her stomach. She trusted Butters with her life, but she squeezed her eyes shut and prayed the people in the first row couldn’t see her shake with fear.

At the middle of the arena, Loey sat back a fraction in the saddle and whispered a soft, “Whoa.”

Butters hit the brakes. They slid fifteen feet to a stop, with dirt flying and the crowd cheering and Butters’s haunches low to the ground as he executed the sliding stop perfectly.

“Give a round of applause to Righteous’s own Loey Grace Keene and her Quarter Horse gelding!” the announcer said over the sound system.

Loey leaned along Butters’s neck and took off his bridle. She tipped her hat to more cheers and nudged Butters forward. With the flag in one hand, she waved with the other as she and Butters loped bridleless out of the arena.

At the end of the chute, she slowed Butters to a walk with a simple, “Easy.” She handed off the flag to a volunteer and swung down from the saddle, not bothering to replace Butters’s bridle. She scratched his favorite spot beneath his jaw and planted a kiss on his velvet-soft nose. He smelled of molasses and apples from the copious amount of treats the kids had given him earlier. He huffed against Loey’s shirt.

“What do you feed that thing to make it have an ass like that, and where can I get some?”

Loey rolled her eyes as Dale caught up with her and Butters. “Your butt is already perfect.”

Dale’s dressy boots kicked up dust, and her toned, tanned legs flashed beneath her too-short jean shorts. She wore an immaculate white lace top.

“You looked good out there,” Dale said. “Were you nervous at all?”

They walked out of the arena and into the main gravel parking lot. Trailers and trucks and dusty SUVs were all parked together.

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