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Give that pretty lady another round of applause. She has posted the fastest time of the weekend.” I glanced over at Cole, nervous as hell. He smiled at me in a goofy way as the announcer blabbed on, “With only one competitor left to ride, this is shaping up to be quite the race. We’ve got Shae Roberts on Harley. She was last year’s top earner in prize money and she was in first place coming into this round. She is going to need a fast time to stay there though.”
    “I can’t watch.” I buried my face in my hands, only for a second, then looked up when the hooves pounded against the dirt. Harley ran fast, but Shae-Lynn didn’t approach the pocket properly and Harley dropped his shoulder way too early on the first turn. She picked it up around the other two barrels and then raced through the finish line. It wasn’t going to be a fast enough time though. Shae-Lynn immediately jumped off Harley and walked him out of the arena without even waiting for the time to be posted.
    “What was that?” Cole mumbled, partly perplexed, but mostly amused.
    “It almost looked like she threw that on purpose,” Tyson said after the scoreboard confirmed that she dropped to second place.
    I was too stunned to say anything. I just sat there staring at the barrels.
    “We’re going to watch Ty from behind the chutes. You coming?” Cole asked.
    When I didn’t respond, he shrugged and then rushed to catch up to the other guys. I sat there all through the bulls and I was still sitting there after the grandstand had emptied. Eventually, Ron found me and climbed up. “Looks like you bought yourself a horse.”
    I tilted my hat back and rested my elbows on my knees, still speechless that Shae-Lynn messed up.
    “If I knew Stella was going to be that fast in competition I would have charged you more.”
    “I don’t actually have the money right now, but I’m good for it.”
    “You better be. I’m going to run five percent interest on it until you pay it off, so don’t take too long.”
    “You can keep her until I get the money. I don’t even have a trailer or anything.”
    “I don’t want her. You’re going to have to figure something out.”
    I rubbed my face and sighed. “Yeah. All right.”
    He chuckled at my misery as he climbed back down the bleachers.
    I got up and went outside to find Tawnie. Shae-Lynn was walking back from the concession stand with a sandwich and a bottle of water. I ran to catch up with her. “Hey, what happened?”
    She shook her head. “I just wasn’t feeling it today. Harley might have an upset stomach or something.”
    “Harley was fine.”
    Her eyes darted to meet mine for a second, then she stared down at the grass as she continued walking. “I can’t win them all. Stella’s a good horse.”
    “The guys think you did it intentionally.”
    “They do, do they?”
    “Did you?”
    “Why would I lose on purpose?”
    “You tell me.”
    “I just wasn’t feeling it today.” She walked faster.
    “Shae-Lynn, what’s wrong?”
    “For the millionth time, call me Shae.” She started jogging at that point and I wasn’t going to chase after her, so I went to find Tawnie. She was brushing Stella.
    “Hey Billy. Did you watch the race? She is such a good horse. I absolutely love her. Too bad she has to go back to Ron.”
    “Actually, I bought her from him.”
    The comment took her off guard and she processed it for a few seconds. “You don’t even have a trailer. What are going to do with a horse?”
    I took my hat off and ran my fingers through my hair, hoping she was willing to do me a favour since I did her one. “Would you be willing to take her?”
    “I would love to, but I can’t afford to lease a horse.”
    I paced, trying to come with a solution that wouldn’t end up with me having to buy a trailer and find a barn to board at. “If you cover the cost of boarding her, we can call it even.”
    She eyed me suspiciously. “You’re going to just let me use your horse for