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Chapter 47
I'd gotten so wrappedup with my dad and Shelby that I'd missed holding the rope for J.D. Luckily, Ty had been there for him, but that meant I needed to be there for Ty. Giving my father a kiss on the cheek and sneaking in one more tickle on Eric, I hurried back to the chutes. I reached the gate just as J.D. made it back through.
"Hey," he said, turning for the stairs, but his limp was obvious. "Where you going?"
"To help Ty strap in." I shot a look at his leg.
"Aw, babe," he joked, "that's all for show."
"Bull," I said, pointing a finger at his face. "You need to see Sports Medicine again."
"After the last ride," he promised.
But when we hit the stairs on the other side, I had to help him up. His knee really had taken a pretty good beating yesterday, and landing on it a minute ago didn't help at all. There was no way he'd be able to balance on the gate and pull a rope. Well, I was here now, so he didn't have to.
Side by side, we made it to Ty's chute. He was just stepping over, and still had three riders to go, but that meant it was time. Things moved fast in the PBR, after all. But when I went to step over, one of the chute attendants shoved an arm before me, blocking my way.
"No fans back here," he snapped.
J.D. grabbed the man's shoulder and pulled. "That's my rookie, dumb fuck. She's a rider. Cody, go pull."
I just gave the guy a smug look. The kind that said, "Don't you regret that now?" and hopped over the back end of the bull. Ty saw me just as I moved in to grab the rope. That earned me a smile, but he gestured for me to pull more.
"Hang on, babe. Don't wanna yank you under the bull," he warned. Then he yanked at the rope.
Holy fuck. I'd thought J.D. was strong. Ty? He was making me work for this, but I had it. When I only rocked a little, he smiled at me again, but he was quickly getting into the zone. He made about eight passes on the tail end, then started yanking at his handle. That was easier, but his bull wasn't quite as impressed.
That bad boy had been standing still for too long, so he gave a nice lunge in the chute to make sure we were all still awake. I leaned away from his head, having seen a few too many come up in the front, but he wasn't that excited. As soon as he quieted again, I was right back in place, ready before Ty's hand hit the handle.
"Tighter," Ty demanded.
So I pulled harder. When the bull began to squirm, he grabbed the tail from me and began wrapping it around his hand. I waited. Sure enough, his bull thrashed, undoing all of Ty's work. With a growl, he passed the tail back and I pulled again. This time, the chute guys pushed in a block on the other side, giving the bull something to lean against without crushing Ty's leg.
The second wrap went faster and looked even tighter. When Ty started slapping his gloved fingers down around the knot, I knew he had it. As quickly as I could, I hopped back to the inside of the chute, then over. J.D. was right there. He grabbed me by the waist and lifted me clear just as Ty nodded.
The gate opened, the bull threw himself out, and Ty didn't completely follow. It was a bad buck from the start, and I could see it. So could the bullfighters. Those guys kept their distance until things started to go bad. It was like they had some kind of ESP for a rider losing his balance, though, because even while Ty was fighting to get his seat back, they were preparing for a wreck.
The clock hit four seconds. Ty tilted right. The bull spun to the left, and his ride was all over. With a yell and a thump, he hit the dirt, rolled, and was up and running for the wall. The bull had seen him, though. Dropping its head, he had Ty lined up right between his horns. Thankfully, Isaac was there.
The bullfighter tapped the animal's nose. The bull's head came up as he changed targets, but Tanner took over, darting between them. Next it was Jorge. Within seconds, the bull had completely forgotten about Ty, but he wasn't ready to quit yet. That was when the outrider came in to give the big guy a little more incentive.
Loping his horse up and around the bullpen, the outrider was spinning a lasso over his head. None of the bulls liked that, and this one even less. He turned for the gate, but had one last message before he was done. At the last second, Ty's bull dropped his head and charged Isaac. The bullfighter darted to the right, but he hadn't given the animal enough room.
Then Tanner jumped right across the bull's face. It threw its head, hooking Tanner's leg and giving him a little extra air. Ok, a lot. I squeaked when Tanner took flight, but he just threw out an arm and landed still running, making it look as easy as jumping on a trampoline. Thankfully, that was all the bull had wanted. It finally trotted back through the gate.
Ty was part way down the arena, and halfway up the wall before him. Once the gate closed behind the bull, he jumped back down and pulled off his helmet. Getting the animal out of the arena had taken ten times longer than Ty had stayed on its back, and even from here I could see he wasn't happy about it. Still, he headed straight for the bullfighters, most likely to tell them thanks. It was kinda what we did.
But with that being the last ride of the night, all we were waiting on was the closing bit of the show. We riders were done until tomorrow. I turned to head back for my dad, but J.D. caught my arm.
"Hey," he said, leaning close to my ear. "Go home with Ty tonight."
I looked back at him. "Ok?"
He hadn't found his hat yet, so he leaned under the brim of mine. "I need to tell Tanner this plan for you to date him publicly. If it's not gonna piss you off, I was thinking about inviting him to my room."
"Oh yeah?" I asked, leaning back to see his face. "That's just fine by me. You two drink some beer and act like good cowboys."
He scoffed, but the corner of his lip was curling higher. "Yeah. Something like that. Look, I'll text you and let you know how it's going. Mind if I give him your number?"
"I'm good with that," I promised, then checked that Austin wasn't anywhere near us. "Hey, I like him, ok? He's part of my crew. The three of you are kinda the closest friends I have on this tour."
He nodded. "And the rest?"
"Is awesome," I promised, knowing he was talking about how I'd caught them kissing. "Things between us haven't changed, J.D. You're still my... mentor."
Without warning, he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tight. "I was gonna tell you tonight," he whispered against my neck. "Swear, Cody. I just didn't wanna jump the gun on that."
I reached up to pull off my hat so I could press my lips beside his ear. "Always on your side, J.D. For this and everything else. Just get your knee looked at, ok? Tell yourself it's my vengeance or something."
"Girl," he warned, "careful. You keep being all sweet like this, and I might get all twitterpated."
"Twitterpated?"
He nodded. "Don't tell me you ain't seen Bambi!" Then he turned me for the stairs and gave me a swat on the rump. "Go find Ty, see your daddy, and celebrate that ride."
"Hey?" I asked, even as I backed that way. "What did you score?"
"Ninety point five."
I just pointed at him. "I fucking beat you! Ninety one. Oh yeah!"
He shook his head at me, but he was actually laughing. The honestly amused kind, not the kinda crazy thing he usually did. It looked really good on him. For that moment, J.D. Adkins turned into nothing more than a damned good-looking bad boy. I decided I liked it a whole lot more than I should, and that it was perfectly ok to do so.
Lifting my hand over my shoulder, I waved behind me and tried to fight my way back to the side where my dad was watching. When I crossed the aisle, Ty was just finishing up his interview and snagged me, hooking a finger in my belt loop to slow my rush.
"Hey, where you going?" he asked.
I pointed at the stairs only a couple of feet away. "Shelby's going home tonight, and I wanted to see Dad. Coming? I mean, since you're my ride?"
He moved behind me, putting one hand on each side of my waist. "Lead on, cowgirl."
But Dad's crowd had only grown. It wasn't just Shelby with him now. It was half our corner of Spring Creek. I saw Marta from high school, her husband, and almost everyone who'd been on the rodeo circuit with me. Even Cole and his friends were there. The bruises from Wednesday had faded, but I could still see them.
I jerked my chin at Cole and called out, "Why are you here?"
"It's an open event," he yelled back.
Ty moved beside me, and he was bowed up like he wanted to go another round with my ex-boyfriend. "Yeah? You gonna open your mouth this time?"
"Man," Cole groaned. "I came to see if she could ride."
My father grunted at that. "She rode better than you ever did, and on a professional level bull. Boy, you've been trying to make your balls look bigger for years, and there's no one here who's fooled. You got a shit seat, can't keep your head down, and your hips don't follow the spine. You'll never make it to local champion, let alone the top series of the PBR."
"Well," Cole said, "you were still a good ride, Cody." He glanced over at the others, then to my dad. "And now I can say I've been with a pro."
I expected Ty to charge him. I was ready to break up a fight, but he surprised me. Ty leaned back toward the chute area and whistled loudly, then pointed up at Cole.
"This guy's harassing a rider. We need him removed and banned."
"Fuck you," Cole spit at Ty.
Ty just grinned. "Yeah? Well, here's something you haven't thought of yet. Getting banned from the Tough Enough Series shows? Means you can't ride in them either, jackass. Say buh-bye to your big country dreams."
Shelby squeaked in excitement and threw herself at Ty's side, hugging him like they'd known each other for years. "You are now my hero!" she said. "I'm so rooting for you."
Ty just chuckled. "Yeah, well, Cody and I are friends, and I don't plan on screwing that up." He tipped his head at my father. "Kinda scared of that old man."
"Like hell you are," Dad chuckled. "Still, Cody, they want you to sign posters, since you aren't coming back to town."
"Yeah," I agreed. "Just tell me someone has a Sharpie? I didn't even know they'd made mine yet."
Shelby unfurled hers, finally showing me the whole thing. It was a picture from last night, of me on Without Ado. Thankfully, the cameraman had caught one of the few bucks where I looked like I had it all together. The bull had slobber flying up, a halo of dust proving that he was working hard, and I looked perfect. Absolutely perfect. My pink chaps and helmet drew the eye to my free arm where "Girls Do It" could be easily read.
So what if the side that said, "Better" was away from the camera. I thought the fact that I could even do it was enough. At least for me.
When I started signing all nine of their posters, I may have been grinning just a little too much. I was still new to being a celebrity, and it felt strange and amazing at the same time. That these people were all my hometown friends? Well, the idea of my poster being in their garages and kids' rooms? Yeah. This was the dream I'd been chasing. This was everything I'd wanted.
And I still wasn't done. When I signed the last one, I hugged Shelby, little Eric, and my dad. I knew they all needed to go home, get some sleep, and that most of these people had things to do tomorrow.
Me? I had a contract to turn in, because I was a real professional bull rider.
