Page 13 of Just Hold On

Chapter 12

The driveto the arena was tense. Cody kept her attention focused on her knees and her hands locked together. Me? I could barely keep my attention on the road, because I kept watching her. I couldn't quite figure her out. Maybe that was what had me so interested. On one hand, she was so brave, so determined, and so very tough, but on the other? The girl who'd actually cried because she didn't want me to see her like that wasn't at all what I'd expected.

And I had a funny feeling that the harassment she kept waiting for wasn't a new thing. Every time I tried to do something nice, she braced for it. Maybe that old wisdom was right, and I should just act like an asshole. After all, that usually got me the girls, but it wasn't really the best way to keep them. Oh no, I wanted to know what battles she was fighting in that head of hers, and then I'd kill the monsters before she had to shed one more tear.

At the arena, I found a place to park back by her truck. We sorted her stuff out from mine, and she actually let me help move it over. The smile I got for that? Yeah, worth getting my ass chewed earlier. After that, we headed inside to check in. Unlike Friday and Saturday, Sundays started early. The goal was to get everything finished up at a decent hour so the fans could get home in time to make it to work Monday morning.

None of us liked it. Our lifestyle encouraged long nights. Often, they were spent driving, but each weekend we took the chance to party because we never knew when we'd be the one with the bad bull. Sometimes it ended our careers, so every single second was precious. It also meant getting up before noon required a hell of a lot of coffee.

That was why the rest of the crew all looked like lukewarm crap. I'd put in the effort to make sure I didn't. Granted, having her to wake up with was a hell of a lot of incentive. Where the guys had a day's growth of beard, rumpled shirts, and nothing at all tucked in, she looked glamorous.

Her hair was in a loose braid down her back. Her hat sat easily on her head and had been brushed clean. Her jeans were black today, which matched the black shirt I'd given her, and made her tight little figure even harder to resist. She'd left her chaps and vest back by the chutes. Right now, she looked more like my girlfriend and less like a fellow competitor.

Shuffling toward the office right at her side, I decided that I wouldn't be upset at all if that was exactly what the other guys thought. Not because I didn't think she could do it, or because I was in love with her or anything. Sure, I liked her well enough, and I felt like we had some amazing chemistry together. Mostly, though, I figured them giving me hell was better than her getting any more of it.

And, well, if they thought she was mine, it'd give me enough time to make that happen. No way would I lose this girl to my competition.

Thankfully, checking in was quick and easy. Show some form of ID - from a PBR card to our license - get assigned a bull, then get a time to be ready to ride. They set us up in blocks, ranked by our overall standing instead of our placing at the event, and scheduled to go with the commercial breaks. When I saw my time was the same as hers, I was even more impressed. Her first event, and she'd moved up enough to be sitting only two places behind me in the overall rankings.

"You know," I said when we turned back toward the cattle pens, "if you get in the top five, you earn a buckle."

Her head whipped around fast enough to make her braid into a weapon. "Really?"

"Really."

From her excitement over that, I could only guess she didn't have a drawer full of old rodeo buckles back home. Granted, that was a little surprising in its own way. She rode good enough, I figured she'd have all sorts of awards, but I knew how special the first one always was. Especially the first one from the PBR.

I'd planned on escorting her back to where we'd stored our gear, but the sight of J.D. made me change my mind. Considering I'd set us up in the same place Renato and I had been the night before, she should be fine. There were enough people hanging out over there that no one would risk anything.

"Hey," I said, pointing down the right aisle. "Go get stretched out. I have to talk to someone, and then I'll meet you there."

She gave me a suspicious look, but went. I wasn't sure what she thought I was planning, yet I could see she was trying to trust me. Evidently our little "chat" this morning had more of an impact than I'd thought, but I still hadn't made it all the way inside her guard. I couldn't help but wonder how many times she'd been let down before, and I hated it. I was going to prove to her that someone in this world would take care of her.

But that could wait. Right now, I wanted to know what the hell J.D. had been thinking. He was set up away from almost everyone else, which was what he always did. J.D. didn't exactly have friends. He had people he pushed around, and people who ignored his pushing - like me. I wanted to make sure he had no intention of putting Cody into that first category.

I started off blunt. "What happened last night?"

His eyes were on his rope, but when he looked up, I saw the deep red bruise across his jaw, disappearing into the scruff of his short, overly-manicured beard. Then the bastard smiled. "Figured I'd see you a lot earlier than this. Have a good night with the drunk chick?"

Oh, I almost punched him right there. The only thing that stopped me was knowing that he'd punch back, and when neither of us stopped, it would only mean one thing. Neither of us would be allowed to ride afterward.

"I made sure she got in bed safely. Alone."

He just looked back to his rope and kept cleaning. "Kinda what I figured. She's good, ya know?"

I took a step closer, looming over his shoulder. "Stay away from her."

He just took a deep breath. This wasn't the J.D. I knew. That bastard would already be shoving. Instead, this new and confusing version just looked up and smiled. "No."

"No?"

"Yeah, you heard me. That rookie has some serious talent. Ty, she hung on to Disco Breakout. That bull's put me on the ground more times than I can count, but she was fine on his back. Wasn't until she got off that he screwed her up." Then he jerked his chin back in the direction I'd come. "Now look at her. Traipsing around like ain't a damned thing wrong, the day after a bull tosses her twenty feet through the air. She's not whining, not crying, and sure as shit ain't backing down from it."

"She's getting ready." And I hoped he'd figure out that meant he should leave her alone.

J.D. just chuckled. "Yeah, saw that. Also saw you hovering over her like some overprotective boyfriend." He grinned mischievously. "Ya banging her yet?"

Too much. I shoved at his shoulder. "Don't even try going there. She was drunk."

"Gonna?" I tensed for the next shove, intending this one to be a whole lot harder, but he just flicked his fingers up, backing off in his own way. "Look, man, you're all over her. I get it. Sometimes a girl comes along and it's like gravity, right? Well, I'm not stickin' my nose between you and your moon, or whatever romantic crap you're gonna try to lay on her. All yours after hours, but when it's go time? She's mine. Missouri is still in the United States, bud, and that means she's my rookie, and I'm going to make sure she stays that way until she's just one of my riders. Get me?"

"So what was the deal last night, if you're only interested in her riding ability?"

He pointed, wiggling his finger at the panels before us. "Seems Austin's dick hurts real bad when he gets beat by a girl. I showed him how much worse it hurts when he fucks with my riders."

Three rows over, barely visible through the cattle panels, I could just make out the guy in question. Wasn't a whole lot to see, but even from here, I could tell that he had a few more bruises than J.D., and it looked like there was something on his face.

"What did you do?" I asked, terrified of the answer.

J.D. shrugged it off. "Showed him that I'm not full of shit. When I say I'll cut someone, I mean it, and then I do it. Thirteen stitches, but he agreed that he just fell on some spilled beer. We're all good now."

Holy shit. I had to fight my natural reaction to back away from this psychopath. "Why? Dude, that's the sorta thing that gets you kicked out and banned from ever riding again."

He just nodded, once again working on his rope. "So I had this redhead in my lap, telling me how she was going to suck me off, right? Dumber than shit, but she knew who I was. Well, I was trying to see if she'd do it right there, you know, just to get a feel for how desperate she was, when I heard Austin laughing with his buds about how he was going to make sure that dumb bitch never came back. Had a real funny feeling he didn't mean some buckle bunny."

Yeah, so J.D. really was the asshole everyone thought, but I wanted to hear this story, which meant I had to sit through it. "Uh huh."

"So I got rid of my slut. Sent her off to Kaleb, that teenager from Wisconsin? And then I went to sit by Cody. She wasn't too happy about that. Tossed back half her drink and tried to tell me she was leaving, but she was already messed up. Almost got her to stay when Austin walks up behind her and," he made a gesture like he was grabbing a pair of boobs, one in each hand, then jiggled. "He said something to her about the size throwing her off balance. I mean, they aren't that big, but pointing it out was just rude."

"Saying you wouldn't have done the same?" God, I wanted to punch him so bad.

But J.D. just shook his head. "Not unless she was begging for it. And by begging, I mean saying please like the redhead I started with. Cody? Nah. She's not into that. She's not some slut looking to screw her way into a little money. She wants to work for it."

I was speechless. Completely and totally at a loss for how to even react to that. He was right, but only in the rudest, most crass and self-serving way possible.

And he didn't care that I was staring at him like he was a freak. He just kept going. "Anyway, I knew you were into her, and since you weren't there, figured the least I could do was make sure no one fucked with your girl, you know? And Cody was gonna fuck him up. I saw it. She could barely stand, but she wasn't just gonna take shit from anyone, so I thought I should do something, and I remember how hard it was starting out. No money, terrified of screwing up and getting kicked off tour, but everyone is so willing to throw out the shit and try to scare us off. No one stood up for me when I was a rookie, and I'm not that kinda guy."

Wow. Ok, so J.D. was honestly trying to be a decent guy. Sounded like he had no clue how to do that, but he'd been trying. I had to give him that. And he'd stood up for Cody, which counted for a lot more than he knew, so I sucked up my pride and offered a hand.

"Thanks, man. Owe ya."

His eyes flicked over and he chuckled, making no move to take it. "Don't act like I did that for you. I did it for her. Dude, you people keep thinking that this hazing shit is no big deal. I'm trying real hard to stop it. You and me? We're the top riders in each of our countries, and we're the ones people look up to. Means we gotta act the part."

"Starting a fight is acting like it? Have you lost your mind?"

He barely shrugged, proving he'd heard me. "I didn't start it. I finished it. Means he won't start it again. If that's what I gotta do to make sure that the next new guy - or girl - gets to prove themselves based on how well they ride, not how much crap they can take?" Slowly, he looked up, staring right in my eyes. "Then, yeah. I'll cut a few more people up with a broken bottle."

He was insane. That was the only explanation I had. What bothered me the most was that he had a point. A damned good one. There was just one more thing I wanted to know. "So you're willing to make sure Cody doesn't get the same kind of crap she got at home?"

J.D. smiled. "No one fucks with my rookie, Ty. Not even you. If you screw this up? I'll hurt ya. I'll hurt ya exactly as bad as you hurt her."

I believed him. Tipping my head, I knew the only thing left to do was back away slowly. Right now was not the time to figure out why he'd taken such an interest in her. It made no sense. For years now, his only interest had been himself, and I was pretty sure he wasn't trying to date her. Not positive, but he made it sound like he wasn't even interested in her sexually, just her potential as a bull rider - although I could be wrong about that. I wasn't wrong about his love life, though. J.D. didn't date. He used women up for the night, then tossed them aside.

Before this weekend, so had I. That was the problem. And he was making sure I knew it hadn't been a secret.

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