Page 58 of Spur It On

"Nope," they replied in unison.

I nodded as the three of us headed towards the front door of the bar. "Then I'm going for it."

"Thought you already had 'it,'" Isaac joked.

"The other it," I told him.

"Thank fuck," Jorge groaned, reaching over to give Isaac a high five. "Real sleep tonight."

"Assholes," I told them. "Both of you."

But I knew they weren't trying to run me out of the room, and they knew I wasn't serious. Still, when I walked into the bar to hear the country music blasting and was confronted with nothing but sponsor patches everywhere, it felt good. Like home, in a way. This was Cheyenne, and every time I'd been here, I swore it had been a little better than the last.

"Matadors!" someone called out.

That made half the crowd turn around and cheer out a greeting. "Bullfighters," Jorge shot back. "I'm Latino, not Spanish!"

Then a woman called out, "Drinks on me!"

That drew my eye to the bar. J.D. had claimed his regular spot, right up front and in the middle of it all. This time, however, Cody was at his side. Like this, the pair of them looked a little dangerous. It also looked like Cody was keeping the buckle bunnies away, even if she hadn't realized it yet.

"Cody!" I called out, heading that way.

She turned, smiling at the sound of her name, then it got even bigger when she saw me. "Tanner!"

"Oh, I see how it is," Isaac told her.

"Beers?" she asked, pointing at all three of us. "My treat."

"Your daddy trained you right," Jorge told her. "So sure."

Cody turned back to the bar, holding up 4 fingers. I moved behind her, catching her waist so I could lean in close. "Saw you almost fall off the chute earlier."

"J.D.'s rope broke," she told me.

I caught his eye next. "Also saw you grab her."

Because that was putting it mildly. The man's full attention should've been on his bull, yet the moment Cody had tilted, he'd jumped off its back to grab her. I was pretty sure she had no idea how focused he was on her, but I knew, and he needed to know that I knew.

"Can't have my rookie's ass on the ground," he told me, making it sound casual.

I nodded once to show I accepted that. "And where's Ty?"

Cody waved to the far side of the bar. "He's doing his thing."

"On it," Isaac said.

Because Ty's thing tended to be female, cheap, and easy. Beautiful too, but that rarely negated the other three. Once he got his beer, Isaac headed that way, and Jorge went with him. Those two knew all about the insanity and complications of my mess with Cody, so I was hoping they were headed over to give him an excuse to not fuck things up.

The truth was that I liked Ty. Yeah, he was tall, buff, and sexy. That could've had something to do with it, but mostly it was that he was just a good guy. He got in his own way a lot, and he tried really hard to be a piece of shit like everyone else in the PBR, but he really wasn't. Ty talked to the kids. He flirted with the moms. He knew how to work this game, and he was good at it.

But he was also damned good on a bull. Not serious enough most days, and he made a pretty penny for doing jack-all. Still, I'd never had an issue with him. Not until that first day at the hotel. Now, I wasn't sure how he felt about me, but with Cody tying us together, we'd need to eventually figure it out.

Then Cody tapped my arm. "Did you see?" she asked.

I shook my head, unsure of what she was talking about. "Maybe?"

"I'm in fifth!" she squealed. "Only half a point behind J.D."

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