Page 74 of A Montana Rodeo Star

There was something holding her back.

The guilt.

The sense that she would never be able to fix this.

Then something from what he’d said triggered her. She sat forward. “You’re not seriously thinking about competing tomorrow, are you?”

Brent lifted his sullen eyes to meet hers. “I’m not going to walk away from everything I’ve done to get to where I am.”

“Brent—” Both of her brothers spoke together. Brent must have just remembered they were in the room because he startled and peered at the two of them.

He didn’t give them a chance to speak. “No one can stop me from chasing my destiny. My father—my biological father—would have wanted me to do this. Competing is the only way to honor his memory.”

Faith gripped at her shirt just above her chest and whispered, “Brent, you can’t honestly think that’s the only way.”

His expression hardened once more. “He was a star, Faith. He had everything going for him.”

“I know.” This time her voice broke. “There was no one like him. His instincts were like nothing the world had ever seen, but⁠—”

“But nothing. I’ll go to Tripp’s wedding ceremony, but then I’m going to compete.”

“You’re not in the right mindset,” Tate pointed out. “This news… you’re going to hurt yourself.”

Brent worked his jaw. He clearly didn’t agree but when he didn’t argue, Tate continued.

“Look, I get where you’re coming from⁠—”

“I doubt that,” Brent scoffed.

“Yeah, probably not entirely, but hear me out. Your mother lost the love of her life. She had a young kid and she found out she was pregnant. That had to be a traumatic experience at the very least. It probably changed her brain chemistry.”

“That’s not an excuse!” Brent’s voice rose.

Faith flinched, not willing to meet his eyes.

“I’m not saying it’s an excuse. All I’m saying is put yourself in her shoes. Try to see things from the other side.”

“She lied to me! She told me that Judd Gilley was my father⁠—”

Jason was the one to step forward this time and the cool tone of his voice dropped the temperature of the room by several degrees. It was enough to give her goosebumps.

“That man is every bit your father. He raised you, if you haven’t forgotten. Just because he doesn’t share blood with you means squat. Don’t you ever make him feel differently.”

Faith turned and peered up at the brother who rarely spoke. But she knew his views on family were deeply rooted. The Dennison family hadn’t experienced the trauma that Brent was currently dealing with, but that didn’t mean Jason didn’t make an excellent point.

Judd Gilley had stepped up when his friend had died.

A flicker of remorse was all they got from Brent before he shook his head and stormed toward the door. Neither Faith nor her brothers went after him. There was no point. He was still hurting so much, and he needed to come to his own conclusions where his family was concerned. Though he hadn’t outright broken up with her, she wasn’t sure if he’d ever see her the same way.

Maybe this was for the best. A clean cut. Everything out in the open.

All she could do was pray that he’d make it through this hurdle without permanently damaging the most important relationships in his life.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

He was not overreacting.

He refused to believe that.