more year to figure out what he was going to do with his life that didn’t involve ranching with his father.
For the first time ever he wished he’d finished a college degree and had something to fall back on as Wes had mentioned.
So maybe he might go back...but not if he didn’t have to.
One more year and maybe he could become a knee-replacement spokesperson. All he knew was that while he had his knees he was going to use them. If he had to get a replacement, he would, but life would change then and he wasn’t ready.
Matt Montoya was going down fighting.
“Hey, don’t take all the syrup.” Craig held his hand out and Matt handed over the bottle. He was going to miss Craig when he left.
* * *
“CRAIG SAYS YOU’RE practicing too hard.” Liv’s hand paused on Matt’s battle-worn knee. The right was worse than the left, crisscrossed with scars from where he’d had the cartilage cut away. The left was not that scarred, but Liv recognized needle marks that shouldn’t have been there.
“Still seeing him, aren’t you?”
“It’s not illegal.”
“It should be.”
Matt reached down to tilt her chin up so she had to meet his eyes. “I’m not overdoing things.”
“Then why do you need to inject painkillers?”
“So I can do my job.”
Liv sat up and hugged her knees to her chest. Matt placed the flat of his hand on her back, but it didn’t comfort her. It only intensified the sadness she felt that he was doing this to himself and she had no right to ask him to stop.
His life. You want to live your life, you have to allow him to live his.
But what he was doing to his body was so wrong.
“Why is roping so important?”
The hand on her back stilled for a moment, then started moving again. “It’s what I do.”
“You’ve said that before.”
He brought his lips down to lightly kiss her shoulder blade, sending tingles shooting through her body. “Maybe it’s more like it’s who I am.”
She turned on him. “No. It’s not who you are. Something is driving you. I mean, it’s not logical to risk destroying your knees for a sport.”
“Football players do it all the time.”
She dropped her head back down to her knees. Useless.
“Roping...” he began, then fell silent again. She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping he would continue, afraid he would not.
“Roping is the way I express things.”
“Like what?”
“When I first started, back in junior rodeo days, it was the competition that I loved. Competing against myself almost more than competing against other people.” He paused to clear his throat. “Pleasing my dad when I won.”
“Did that change?”
“Oh, yeah.”
Liv waited for a moment, then rolled her head so that she could see him. “How?”
“When I was fifteen years old, I took a trip with my dad to a roping clinic in Butte. I got done with my section and headed to the trailer to meet up with him. When I got there, I could hear him talking to some woman on the other side. I was about to walk around and tell him I was done when I heard her say, ‘Ryan needs braces.’ And there was something about the way she said it...”
Liv had no idea where this was going, but wherever, it was serious. Matt wasn’t looking at her and his hand had once again stopped.
“So I’m wondering to myself why my dad would care if Ryan needed braces.”
“Did you know Ryan?”
He gave a soft snort. “Oh, yeah. Ryan was the kid who was my toughest competition. A year younger than me, but we were in the same divisions.”
“So why would your father care if Ryan needed braces?”
“Because, come to find out, Ryan is my half brother.”
Liv tossed her hair back as she sat up straight. “No.”
“Oh, yeah. Not the best thing for a kid to find out about the dad he worshipped.”
“My gosh, Matt.”
He smiled tightly and she could see what this cost him to tell her this...this secret. More than that, she wondered what this was costing her. “Who knows about this?”
“Me. Dad. Ryan’s mom. I don’t know if he knows. I don’t think he does.”
“Your mom?”
Matt shook his head. “As far as I know, no. Which is why I’ve never let on that I know. I just stood on the other side of that trailer, listening when I should have walked away, and since that time I’ve never said a word.”
Liv simply stared at him, knowing exactly what he was talking about, since