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“Joel that was somethin’,” Noah told him with a smack on the back. “You were great.”
“Yes, you were,” Eli exclaimed.
Damon asked him, “Did you get hurt?”
“No, sir. I’m good to go,” he said with an exaggerated wink that took Damon and me off guard.
Damon, as always, recovered quickly. “I’ll just bet you are.”
Joel came to sit with us to watch more of the bull riding and pointed out mistakes other riders made, told us things like where they were from, and how long they’d been riding. He was caught up in all of it, sitting tall and proud that he’d qualified for the next round.
I couldn’t believe he was going to do it again, get back on another bull, but he couldn’t get enough, it seemed.
We left him after the bull riding event was over and it was time for the calf roping. Only Noah wanted to stay for that, but Eli complained he was starving, so we left the arena to head into town and get a bite.
Eli was talking a mile a minute about the rodeo, also his first, and Damon and Noah let him, nodding along with his observations. “I can’t believe they do that. I’m glad Joel wore a helmet. That next guy didn’t, and the bull almost came down on his head when he got thrown.”
Noah explained, “That was dumb. All of them should wear ‘em, but less than half do. It’s a damn shame. Rodeo kills and maims a lot of good people.”
“I never knew they wore them at all.”
“Well, babe, if that bull had caught that rider, no helmet would have stopped him from gettin’ his head knocked in, but it does help.”
That sobered all of us. “Joel…he could die,” Eli whispered, his voice choking on the words.
“Now, Eli, he’s okay. You saw him, he’s good at it. He’s good at cowboyin’ period. I ‘spect he’ll quit when he’s had enough.”
As Eli rolled his eyes, he got angry. “The guy that said he’d never safeword if he was in the lifestyle, he’s gonna quit for his own good?”
Damon almost choked on his bite of salad, and I slapped his back while Eli handed him his glass of water. “You okay?” I asked him, seeing his eyes bugging out as they stared dead at Eli.
“Excuse me? He’d never…what?”
Eli chuckled at Damon. “Oops.”
“Eli, damn,” Noah whispered. He obviously hadn’t wanted us to know that bit of information. He then told Damon, “Eli was talking to him about stuff, and he was asking about the lifestyle, and…well, the stubborn little fucker said he’s too tough to use a safeword.”
I cracked up and Damon’s eyes gleamed with the challenge. “Oh, really?”
“Now, boys, don’t get no ideas. He’s young and stupid as fuck.”
“Noah, us? We’re choirboys,” Damon protested, laughing.
“Yeah, I’ll just bet.”
“I guess we’ll just have to see, once your club is up and running,” Eli mentioned slyly before he bit into his burger.
The club. One reason I gave into Damon’s requests about moving to the country was that. If we could open an exclusive retreat for men into the lifestyle. It would be a place for them to travel and relax in the woods during the day, and at night, have some fun in a new environment. It was a great idea in theory, but making it happen wasn’t as easy as it had been made to sound.
I gaped at him, then at Noah. “The two monogamists, out to hang at our club. I thought you guys were kidding about that.”
“Why?” Noah asked. “Why wouldn’t I want to show off my boy, here? He’s a pretty thing and that’s not the best part of him.”
Absolutely preening at the compliment, Eli leaned over to kiss Noah on the cheek. “Thanks.”
“Not until it’s ready, and it’s far from ready,” I groaned as my mind shot back to the issues with the place. “To so much as get the permits, it’ll have to be tight, and that guest house isn’t tight. I figure for sure; we’ll have to convert the barn.”
“I want the barn for the animals. We’ll build another building for the club,” Damon argued. We’d had the same discussion a few times, and it hadn’t been resolved yet.
