Chapter Three

Bella

"Can I have everyone's attention please?" Emmett rose from the table.

I looked around to see a smug Rosalie, a smiling group of guys and Alice looking worried. My parents looked shocked. I held my breath; Emmett was going to ask Rosalie to marry him.

I felt my heart tug and start to break from just thinking of it. I looked around one last time, hoping to see something different, it was all the same, except Paul was looking at me now instead of Emmett.

He winked at me, but I was too sad to even blush. I felt the water in my eyes, but refused to let the water fall.

"I would like to propose a toast. As you know we have all done well this session, but what you may not know that we have all made it within the top ten this session. So here's to us busting our asses and riding them bulls." The guys whooped, mom and dad raised their glasses, Rosalie looked pissed, and Alice looked shocked.

It was all too much. I was so sure that he was going to ask the bitch to marry him. I excused myself from the table, Alice quickly fallowing me, and made my way out to the barn. I grabbed my saddle and bridle, tacking up Zoey.

I didn't even wait for Alice as I pulled myself onto Zoey's back and taking off.

I let the wind run through my hair, letting it tie it in knots that I would fight with later.

I pushed Zoey over the small fence and felt tears running down my face. For now, I would just blame it on the wind hitting my already sore eyes.

I could tell by the thumping of the hooves behind me that I wasn't alone. Alice is getting faster at tacking horses up. I was on the fastest horse on the property besides Sunny, and no one rode him, so I wasn't worried about them catching up to me.

I heard the hooves grow quiet, but I kept going. I didn't want to be around anyone right now.

Zoey slowed down as we came up to the tree I like to sit at. I swung off of her and just dropped the reins, letting her enjoy the grass then sat down by the tree.

I finally let the tears fall and land on the hard ground beside me. It all came down too; Emmett would always see me as a sister. He was with Rosalie and as much as I hated it, I'm sure they were going to get married some day.

I needed to start letting my love for Emmett fade away. It was going to hurt like a bitch, but it would hurt more to constantly see him with Rosalie.

Zoey nickered lifting her head, letting me know that Alice had finally caught up. I quickly wiped my face, getting rid of the fallen tears and looked back up, but it wasn't Alice.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

Caleb POV

I have known for some time that my sister liked Emmett, and possibly loved him. It sucked knowing that he would never return the feelings and in the end would hurt my sister.

When Emmett asked for everyone's attention, I wanted to kick him. I knew he was planning on asking Rosalie to marry him, but wasn't expecting him to do it right now.

I looked at my sister to see her face white as a ghost; she also had an idea of what the dumb-ass was doing. I wanted to kill Emmett.

I couldn't have been more glad when he brought up the sessions standings, and hadn't actually asked Rosalie to marry him.

As I said, I knew Em wanted to marry her, but I didn't have a good vibe about her. She was a constant bitch to everyone. When Bella had called her a bitch outside, we all tried to hide our laughs but failed.

I was glad my sister was starting to stand up for herself.

I was also glad that she showed some interest in Paul. Paul was a good guy. New to the current but definitely not new to riding bulls. Jake was the same, but since they are cousins, they were raised together. I trusted Jake and Paul but Cam was another story.

There was just something about Cam that rubbed me the wrong way. He was nice, and a good rider, but I sure as hell didn't trust him around my sister.

So when Bella and Paul both showed some interest in each other, I was happy. If they ended up dating, I knew he would treat her well.

But that thought went out the window when Bella quickly and quietly excused herself and went out the door.

Alice fallowed after her and once I saw the look on Jakes and Paul's face, I knew they wanted to follow.

"Hey Ma, I think we're gonna head out and I'll show the guys around?"

"Oh! That's a good idea. Why don't you saddle the horses and join Bella and Alice on their ride?"

"Can do." I said walking out the door with Paul and Jake right behind me.

As we were walking out of the house, I heard gravel flying and looked towards the barn. Zoey came flying out of the barn, with Bella urging her forward.

"Where she off to?" Paul asked. I shrugged my shoulders and walked towards the barn. I heard a frustrated yell and walked forward faster. There stood Alice trying to saddle Chevy up.

"Why can you never stand still when I need ya to, ya big pain."

"Alice, I don't think he'll answer ya back." I laughed. She turned a glare on me. I laughed harder as the saddle fell to the ground, earning a kick from Alice.

"Stupid thing." She mumbled.

"Where were you goin in such a hurry?" Paul mumbled.

"Bella, she's on Zoey and that horse is fast. She's pissed." Alice grunted trying to pick the saddle up from the ground.

I sighed. "Emmett."

"What was your first clue?" Alice asked sarcastically, "Are you just gonna stand there or are you gonna help me?" she asked Jake.

"I haven't decided yet. There's just something hot about you picking up a saddle." Jake chuckled. I rolled my eyes.

"Where is she goin, do ya know?" I asked.

"Probably that old tree you two used to go to." Alice mumbled, throwing the bridle at Jake. "Make yourself useful."

I laughed walking to Chevy and swinging myself up bareback before nudging him out of the stall.

"He don't have a bridle!" Alice screeched. I ignored her, knowing my sister trained this horse to do anything. I pushed him forward and saw her in the distance. She just nudged Zoey forward, so I pulled Chevy back and went towards the barn.

"No luck?" Paul asked. I shook my head no, and swung off before saddling Chevy.

"Where's Jake and Alice?" Those two were nowhere in sight.

"I think he took her on home." I nodded.

"So Paul, I think we need to talk."

Paul POV

All session I had heard of Isabella, Caleb's little sister. I come to know a lot of her. Like, she hated being called Isabella, but preferred Bella. She loved her horses, and would do anything for them.

She also trained her own horses, and would once in a while barrel race on her horse Sunny.

I knew she loved to sing, and was very good at it, but don't want to go professional like both of her parents.

I also had an idea that she liked Emmett, but he couldn't see her more than Caleb's sister.

Then when Caleb asked if he wanted to work on their ranch, my cousin Jake and I jumped on the chance. I wanted to meet this young woman that seemed to have the three hardasses' hearts.

When I saw her, she was even more beautiful then Caleb made her out to be. I wanted to get to know her even more and have her give me the chance to take her out.

But I saw the heartache flash on her face at the dinner table, and just wanted to comfort her.

Seeing her rush out of the barn on her horse, I saw just how well of a rider she was. The way she moved with her horse.

"So Paul, I think we need to talk."

"Alright, what about?" I asked.

"Let's go for a ride." He finished saddling the horse I knew the name to be Chevy and watched as he grabbed another one, quickly saddling it as well.

We mounted the horses and started walking out in the pastures. Going at an easy walk, I looked at Caleb. I could tell he was thinking of how to word something but knew he would come out with it when he figured it out.

"Paul, alright look, I know you like my sister. I can tell by the way you look at her. I'm giving you permission to see how she feels about you, but I will tell you this. You hurt her and I will castrate you myself." Then he pointed forward, towards a tree where I saw Bella's horse standing there. I walked forward and smiled when her horse nickered in greeting.

I watched as Bella wiped her face standing up, and then looked at me. I saw shock, but a small smile playing on her lips.

"What are you doing here?"