Chapter 46
Because of thebad rides yesterday, only five of us had scores. That meant those with no points in this event were ranked by their overall standings. At twenty-first place overall, that put Cody in twenty-sixth place today, so she rode near the start. J.D. was first overall in total points, but he'd been bucked off, so he would ride later in sixth place. My amazing score yesterday had me sitting in first place for this local event, which meant I'd ride last tonight.
That gave me plenty of time to look at the crowd. Over by Cody's dad, there was a whole lot of pink. Sitting beside him, I could see a woman holding up a sign and waving it around, all but daring the cameramen to put her on the big screen. Because she had a little boy beside her, I had a feeling that was Shelby, Cody's best friend.
But when the first bull came out of the chute, I knew that today wasn't going to be any better than yesterday. The bulls were bucking hard - this string was made up of some of the best - and the first rider of the night came off hard. His bull managed to even get in a little love tap before the bullfighters got him scooted out of the arena. The next few rides were just as bad.
The ninth rider of the night, however, was Cody. I'd offered to help her strap in, but J.D. said that was his gig. So I continued to stand on the sideline and just watch. As soon as her side of the chutes was herded in, J.D. was right there. Cody swapped out her hat for her helmet, the bright pink color of it so easy to see. When the tail of her rope was up, J.D. grabbed it and pulled.
Since she was going to be the first of a new batch, the televised version of the ride was on commercial break. That meant the clown was doing his best to tell jokes, and yet the cameras tried to capture the excitement behind the chutes for the fans to see. Her strapping in was the most exciting thing they had, so one of the camera guys had leaned over to get a real nice close up.
Almost immediately, a cheer went up from the far side of the arena. Naturally, Cletus the Clown pointed them out. "Looks like we have some fans of the local girl out here."
And they cheered again. Signs were pulled out, most of them covered in glitter, and all of them were pink. They weren't the only ones, though. On the other side, a few women yelled loudly, holding up their own signs. That meant Cody was getting her own fan club already. Then it was time for the next set of rides to start.
Cody eased herself down, and I watched it on the large monitor on the back side of the arena. I knew there was one just like it above me, but I would never see that one. The moment Cody had her weight on her bull, he did the same thing they all did: he lunged forward. She rode it, double-checked her wrap, and waited for J.D. to get the hell out of her way.
Then she nodded.
The gate clanked open with a vengeance, her bull soared out, and my girl looked like every other guy in the PBR. She had this. She was riding aggressively, right up in there. Her free hand stayed up and tight, the motion of the bull jerking it around a little. Her head was down, her seat glued to the animal's shoulders.
He was making a couple of good, straight bucks, but then the bull turned to the left. I almost groaned. Left turns were hard for most riders, but Cody rode left-handed. That meant it was easier for her, and she proved me right. When the bull slung his hips around, she didn't even notice, sneaking in a few solid spur strokes just for extra points.
It was as clean of a ride as anyone could ask for. The best part was that she made it look easy. After getting bucked off yesterday, she needed this. The fans would all be talking about her, and none of them would bother to notice that it had been a bad weekend for points. The first few riders out tended to set the mood for the night, and we had five come off in a row before her.
She didn't care at all. Cody just rode that bull. Nothing else mattered. It was like she didn't even care about her fans, her father, or her boyfriends all watching. She had this, and all the rest of us could do was just watch in awe.
The buzzer went off, proving she'd made a solid eight seconds, and she jerked her rope, getting herself free, but she didn't let go immediately. She waited for his haunches to be coming down, and then simply slid off the side - right into Tanner.
He caught her around the waist and set her behind him, then moved for the bull, doing his job. It had been done so casually, but I already knew he had a thing for her. That he'd been right there, exactly where she was going to come off? That hadn't been an accident. And then, once her bull was through his gate and out of the arena, Tanner went to grab Cody's rope from Isaac's hand. Then he carried it back himself.
Even through her helmet, I could see the smile she gave him. While she reached up to pop the jaw strap free, she said something to him, he nodded, his straw hat making it easy to make out even from where I was standing, and then she patted his arm. Tanner kept walking beside her, though, all the way to the gate. Just before she stepped through, she turned back to say something else to him, and he nodded again.
Jealousy was raging in the pit of my stomach. I knew it was stupid. I'd just made it clear to her last night that she had the right to do what she wanted, but that was so much easier to say than to do. The truth was that this wasn't easy for me. Oh, I wouldn't tell her that. Nope, I had every intention of playing this off as no big deal, but that didn't make it true.
It didn't bother me at all when she didn't come over to find me. Nope, because she went to see her father. I watched him jump out of his seat, pick her up in a big ol' bear hug and spin her around. Shelby hugged her next, and then the best part of all. Some fan waved at Cody, holding out a poster and a pen. Like the pro she was, Cody signed her name across what appeared to be a poster of her.
The whole time, more riders were going, and most were falling, but I stood there trying to figure out why Tanner bothered me so much, but J.D. didn't. When I saw Cody pose for a picture with some guy and his wife, I realized what it was.
I knew that J.D. was on her side. He wanted to help Cody succeed. He wasn't standing up for her, fawning over her, and spending money on her to get laid. He was doing it because he just wanted to make her happy. I didn't know Tanner well enough to say the same.
But I could fix that.
Clearly, the guy was interested in her. I'd watched the video of her first ride in the PBR, and I'd seen the exact moment when Tanner realized that she wasn't just one of the guys. The camera had caught a perfect shot of his befuddled smile when she made it through the gate and he turned back. He liked her, but did he like her for the right reasons? Or had he been just like me?
It took a few hours to get through all the riders between Cody and J.D. The whole time, she was with her dad, grinning big enough that I could see it from here. Damn, but it looked good on her. Me? I was sulking, and I knew it. Not for something as selfish as missing out on her attention. No, it was all about that smooth move Tanner had pulled, and the dozens of other guys who I knew wanted to get her naked just to add another notch in their belt. But when J.D. came up behind me and smacked my back, I tried to play it off. Unfortunately, he could see right through me.
"You ok?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said, trying to act like I didn't know what he was talking about.
"She's with her dad. She's kinda spent her whole life for this moment. Let her enjoy it."
"No," I promised. "It's not that. I'm just..." But I didn't have a good excuse ready.
"Don't wanna get fake-dumped?" he asked, dropping his voice so no one else would hear.
"Not even that." I glanced around at the other guys to make sure no one was listening. "I get all possessive and stupid when I'm worried about her. Like you? I know you want what's best for her. But when I saw Tanner catch her coming off the bull? Man, he planned that."
"Pretty sure he did, and props to him for making it look so damned good," J.D. said. "Ty, he threw down for her. He was right there helping us beat her ex into the ground. He's cool, man. Tanner's on her side. Trust me."
I turned to look at him, searching his face to see if he was just trying to shut me up. There was nothing. J.D. just looked like he always did. He had this perpetual man scowl that just kinda worked for him. Either that, or he plastered on that stupid grin of his that looked like he'd mixed his meds. Either way, if he was this sure, then I'd try to go with it.
"Ok," I said, making it clear I'd accepted this.
"Good. Now help me strap in?" he asked.
Which was why he was really here. "Just tell me you didn't draw Without Ado?" I asked.
"Nope. I got Candy Sprinkles."
Unfortunately, his bull was in the set on the opposite side of the arena from mine. In the PBR, we typically ran eight chutes. Four would be filling while the other four were in use. That kept the show going, but it meant that half were on one side of the cattle gate, and the rest were on the other. Thankfully, he was the next to last rider on this side, which should give me enough time to get back and get on my own bull.
"Just no more injuries," I told him. "She likes it when we walk out on our own."
J.D.'s only answer was to hand me his hat. That, I passed to one of the chute attendants while he strapped on his helmet, and while a couple of guys worked his rope under the bull, I stepped over the panels to the arena side. When the rope was on, they passed me the tail and I held it taut while J.D. eased himself over Candy Sprinkles.
The bull didn't even wait for him to start warming his rope. He just thrashed a few times on principle. That pissed off the bull in front of him, who was about to go any moment. The rider on it looked back and barked out something about keeping shit together back there.
We both ignored him. It was just Jake Cunningham, and he was known to get a temper in the chute. J.D. set to warming his rope, and he pulled hard. Now I knew why Cody had been working so hard when she'd done this for him yesterday. J.D. might not be as broad as me, but he had plenty of power to spare, and he used all his force to get the rosin on his rope nice and sticky. When he moved to work on the handle, I thought the cinch was going to slip. It didn't, and in minutes he was leaning down to do his wrap.
"Hey," he said without looking up. "If I come off limping, it's because I'm gonna spur the shit outta this bad boy. Gotta match your score, right?"
"Keep telling yourself that, J.D.," I teased. "You good?"
"Yup. Get on the safe side before I sit on this monster. He seems a little twitchy."
I went to step across and one of the chute attendants offered me a hand. Clasping his wrist, I made it just as J.D. put his weight on the bull. I saw the beast tense, but that crazy fucker didn't care. J.D. had his weight in place, so he nodded just as Candy Sprinkles exploded. The gate opened, and the best rider in the PBR rode him up, out, and into the arena with a bang.
Literally, because the bull kicked the back wall, the sound going off like a gunshot. Dirt flew from the bull's hide, but J.D. just sat up there kicking his feet against that spotted hide like he was a kid on a dime-store pony. Candy Sprinkles bucked, J.D. rode, and I finally realized why he was so damned good.
He didn't care. Nothing in the world mattered to J.D. - or hadn't. He didn't care about getting hurt. He wasn't worried about getting bucked off. He just needed the rush that came with strapping ourselves to a ton of bovine muscle and hoping we could live through it. I rode to get points. Cody rode to get respect. J.D.? He rode because he didn't have anything else.
I watched while his bull doubled back, slung snot into the air, and did a few flying leaps. Not once did J.D. move. He just rocked with each impact as the bull landed, sweeping his legs across the beast's sides when he went back up again. This, right here, was how it was done. It was the way we all wanted to ride, and with as many buck-offs as we'd had this event, J.D. was bound to get noticed.
The buzzer went off for a full eight-second ride, but J.D. stayed on for two more good bucks, then he yanked at the tail of his rope, releasing himself. The bull scooted right, J.D. went to the left and hit the ground on his knees. The only problem was that he didn't get right back up.
Jorge moved to intercept. Isaac got a touch on the bull's face, turning him for the gate. Tanner was farther back, but he gave the bull incentive to take his exit, then hurried over to check on J.D. Up there on the rail behind him, I could see Cody leaning over, trying to see if he was ok. J.D. just popped the strap on his helmet, pulled it off, then lifted a hand for an assist. With Tanner on one side, Jorge on the other, they helped him back to his feet, and J.D. tested his leg.
It held. Patting Jorge on the shoulder, he shot one of those smiles at Tanner, then limped toward the gate, taking his rope from Isaac before he reached it.
Up above him, Cody sighed so deeply that I could see her shoulders heave and relax, then she looked over at me. Cupping both hands to her mouth, she yelled out, "You'd better beat me, cowboy!"
I just lifted my thumb up and turned back for my side of the arena. She'd scored well, hitting 91, but I had a feeling I could beat it. If nothing else, I was honestly going to try, because I had a funny feeling that Cody didn't want to win unless she'd earned it.
Well, I could make her work to keep up with me.