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Chapter 33
I wokeup the next morning to some horrible sound coming from J.D.'s phone. I braced for the pain that always came with opening my eyes, but there was nothing. No hangover. No new injuries to figure out how to ignore. Well, my hand hurt a bit, but Cody's ex's face probably hurt worse. That noise, though? It hurt my ears, sounding like some apocalypse alarm or something.
Thankfully, J.D. swiped at it, then pulled his phone to his ear. "Hey, Max," he croaked, then paused. "Mhm." Slowly, he sat up. "Yeah, that's her address. I'm in Rolla right now, but I can head over that way. Gotta take a friend over to pick up his truck anyway." Another pause. "Nah, she knows you're coming. It's all good. Yeah. See ya in about an hour and a half, then."
When he tossed the phone on the nightstand, I sighed. "So, we're heading back?"
"Yeah. Max wants to get there a bit after noon. Dunno why these corporate types can't wrap their minds around waking up late, but they think lunch is halfway through the day. Fuckers."
I headed toward the bathroom. "Stealing the hotel toothbrush."
"Go for it," J.D. said. "Unless you wanna trade spit with me, you ain't got much else, and gotta look good for our girl."
Our girl. J.D. had been saying that for a while, but this morning it had a new meaning. Yeah, when I'd been high, his points had made perfect sense. This morning? Well, they still kinda made sense, in a J.D. sorta way.
Although sharing a girl was something that happened when a man didn't give a shit about her. The problem was that I did care about Cody - and the more I was around her, the more I seemed to care. But sharing her? Was that degrading to her somehow?
Not really. Not if it was on her terms, right? And the truth was that the only reason I wanted her all to myself was for my own pride. I wanted all of her attention, all of her affection, and all of the bragging rights that came with having her at my side. But what did she get out of it? Tip toeing around talking to the guys on tour? Spending all her time trying not to piss me off?
No, that wasn't fair. Having seen firsthand how her ex acted? He wasn't trying to get her back. That asshole had intended to chase us off, just so Cody would end up with nothing. He didn't want her; he just didn't want her to have anything else, either. Damn, but I shoulda hit him again.
Because if I put together all the pieces of what I knew about her, they all made the same picture. Cody was going to have a whole lot of baggage when it came to men. That was what Shelby meant when she'd said Cody was stronger on the outside than in. The guys she'd grown up with had turned dating into a weapon. And as much as I hated to admit it, J.D. was right. If I wanted to have a chance with her, then I needed to prove to her that I was different.
I needed to share her, not just be her friend. No, I had to let her know that wanting someone was ok. Make it clear that she had as much right to fuck as I did. Sure, she was full steam ahead when it came to fighting for her rights to ride bulls, but the rest? Cody had been forced to bend somewhere, and she'd picked the piece she thought was least important: her heart.
That didn't mean this was going to be easy, but I was all in.
It didn't take long before J.D. and I were pulling off the highway, following the blacktop until it ended, and pulling up in front of an old single-wide. My dually sat proudly out front, just where Shelby had left it. J.D. pulled his truck in beside it, and we both climbed out. In the back yard, I heard a lawnmower sputter out and die.
Two seconds later, Cody's dad came around the corner. "You two back for more?" he asked.
J.D. gave him one of those shit-eating grins of his. "Ty's picking up his truck. I'm here to meet with the Tillman rep."
"That the sponsor she's talking about?" her dad asked.
"Yes, sir, it is," J.D. promised.
Then he turned to me and offered a hand. "Dean Jennings. And which one are you again?"
"Ty McBride," I told him.
He grunted, proving he knew my name. "So which one of you is hauling my daughter around this tour? Because the pair of you have been hovering over her like buzzards waiting on roadkill."
"I am," I said.
But J.D. spoke at the same time. "That's me."
"Yeah," Dean drawled. "That's what I thought. Which one of you thinks he's gonna be dating her?"
J.D. and I shared a look. I canted my head, giving him the go-ahead. That way, if this blew up, I wouldn't be the one her old man chased off with the shotgun.
"That's the thing," J.D. began. "See, we met her ex last night, and we weren't real impressed. And I don't mean just us. I mean our whole crew. The bullfighters, Renato, and their girls. May have put a little hurt on the faces of him and his friends, but ain't no one calling my rookie names, sir."
"Mhm. So you're the ones that beat up Cole and his friends. I figured. Why?"
"He called Cody a slut," I said, letting the words just fall out there.
Slowly, Dean nodded. "And you're pissed because no one talks about your girl that way, right?"
"No, sir," I said. "I'm pissed because that asshole thought he had the right to stick his dick wherever he wants, and she doesn't. I'm pissed because he thinks your daughter can't do the exact same things we do, and that just isn't right. I don't mean the slut part, either. I mean the bull riding, the beer drinking, and all the rest."
