True Love Waits

Chapter Thirty Nine

         "Alright, next up for sale is the beautiful red roan gelding by the name of Bullet, ridden by the well-known Maleena Lackley." The announcer relayed, his voice being drowned out by the loud cheering of the crowd the second he said Maleena's name. 

       With a smile, Maleena steered Bullet out into the arena. The show had gone wonderful; Bullet was an extraordinary horse. Now, she just prayed that she would be able to buy him, and that folks wouldn't try to bid her up too much, although she knew that was to be expected based on the number of fans seemed to show up. 

       As Maleena's eyes scanned the crowd, she saw several faces that were familiar to her, whether if they were from the futurity race, or guests at one of the rodeos that Maleena rode in. Either way, out of the large, growing crowd, Maleena was still able to pick out a few common faces. One in particular stood out to her. Leaning against the fence to her left was her favorite fan: Cody. A smile rose to her lips as she saw her boyfriend give her a thumbs up. 

          "Alrighty, lets start the bidding here. Who's gonna bid a 1? Can I get a $1,000 here?" The auctioneer started off his chant, pointing to various members of the crowd. Immediately, one man raised his hand, bidding on Bullet.

          Maleena was preparing to bid from her spot on top of Bullet, but it seemed like almost everyone in the crowd wanted the gelding just as bad as she did. Trying her best to focus on the auctioneer, but also on riding Bullet around the arena, Maleena kept a keen ear on the price that was rapidly climbing. 

        A twinge of sadness swept over her, causing a churning in her stomach as she reality of actually owning this horse was quickly dwindling. Maleena's head shot side to side as she listened to the bids on "her" horse quickly rising. 

       Finally, when it seemed like the bidding would never stop, Maleena heard the auctioneer about to sell him, "Goin' once..."

       "Here!" Maleena shouted loudly, lifting her hand high enough, she thought it would come detached from her shoulder. 

         The arena seemed to quiet down slightly, and Maleena immediately felt all eyes on her. "Are you bidding, Maleena?" The auctioneer paused the bidding momentarily. 

          "Yes." Maleena put her hand down. She hadn't heard how much the last bid was for, but she did know that she was not ready to let this horse go. 

         "Alrighty, well this is a first. The rider of the horse being shown wants to place a bid. Well, Maleena, the price we left off at is $4,500. Are you prepared to better that?" 

         "Yeah, I'll bid $5,000." Sure, that seemed like an extravagant amount for a horse, who was still new to the rodeo world, but Maleena saw potential, and she had never been wrong before about her instinct with horses and their potential. Plus, she knew what Bullet would be worth some day if he kept winning like he had been previously. 

         "Alright, $5,000 here. Do I hear $5,500?" The auctioneer locked eyes with the previous bidder, who quickly shook his head, not prepared to pay more, backing out of the auction. 

         "Anyone? $5,500? It's just money, folks." He tried. 

          Out of the middle of nowhere, a high voice bid up Maleena. "$5,500." 

         Maleena would recognize that voice in a crowd, and she had, literally. As much as she hoped she was wrong, she knew she wasn't. Turning to the sound of the voice, Maleena saw it was exactly who she thought. Aisley, the 23 year old blonde barrel racer who had had it out for Maleena since the day that Maleena beat her by .03 of a second.