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"I'll try," Ty said, although he didn't sound so sure about that.
Tanner simply bobbed his head in agreement. "I can do that. Probably not well, but I can at least try."
Then Ty killed the truck and we all climbed out. I wasn't quite sure what we'd figured out, but it felt good. It felt like we were a team. In my mind, I was callin' us Team Cody.
Chapter34
Since I had J.D.'struck, I decided to stop at McDonald's when I saw one on the way back to the hotel. I also got some extra burgers for the guys. A lot of them. Probably too many, but we had microwaves in the room, and they'd work well enough.
Then I managed to not only get a long, hot shower to soak out my own muscles, but I also had time to dry my hair and pull on some soft pants. The whole time, my mind kept jumping back to Ty shoving people around tonight. First the guys he should've ignored, and thenTanner!
I wasn't sure what was going on, but I wouldn't be able to sleep until I knew. Between Ty's attitude lately and my scores dropping, my mind felt like it was spinning in circles. So, when I heard the guys laughing as they made their way up the hall, I hopped to my feet and gathered up the bags of burgers and fries. I wanted to tackle this head on.
"It's kinda cold, but I picked up food," I announced as J.D. sauntered into the room.
Tanner and Ty were right behind him, and all three guys' eyes lit up at the sight of those bags. Like rabid animals, they headed over. There was a moment of shuffling as they divided burgers, fries, and drink options.
Ty had a Big Mac in his mouth and three cheeseburgers balanced on his palm. J.D. was filling a bag with boxes of burgers, and Tanner was tasting fries. In the end, I was pretty sure they'd all shoved most of the food into their mouths before they even finished sorting, but it was kinda cute. Unfortunately, I was going to ruin the whole thing because I simply couldn't let this go.
"Um, Ty?" I asked. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"All night," J.D. replied. "Because I'm gonna eat, get high, eat some more, get more high, and then hope my aches shut up."
"And sleep," Tanner said as he picked up a bag. "Cody, you cool if I crash on this side tonight?"
"Uh, sure," I decided. "Everything ok?"
"He got kicked," Ty said. "Big ol' bruise on his back. Pretty sure he's wanting to smoke out with J.D."
"Vape," J.D. corrected.
"And yes," Tanner said. "Sleep too. I didn't really do a whole lot of that last night."
I caught his eyes and nodded. "Yeah. Relax. I think I'm the only one not hurting this time, but I get it."
It took just a bit longer to get everything we needed from J.D.'s side over to Ty's. I made sure I had my gear bag for the morning. Ty grunted - because his mouth was full - and tipped his head at his in a silent request for help. Snagging that, I followed him through the dividing doors in the middle, then closed our side behind me. Then, once we were alone, I decided I might as well just get this over with.
"Why did you start shit with Eli, Derek, and Casey?" I asked as I sat down cross-legged on the closest bed.
"Mm?" Ty asked, grabbing another of the burgers and a box of fries. "You heard what they were saying!"
"Yeah," I agreed, trying to keep this calm, "but you were about to ride, Ty."
"And they weren't going to stop," he pointed out as he dug into his second burger. "Cody, I know how guys like that are. They need someone to put them in their place, so I did."
"That's not how it works," I told him.
"Yes," he assured me, "it is. They respect someone who can put them on the ground, and I promise I can. Shit, in the PBR, it's about the only thing we respect."
"And I can't!" I snapped.
He paused, then finished chewing and swallowed. "Huh?"
"I can't put them on the ground," I clarified. "Never mind that you lost your focus and took a set of horns to the face for it! Ty, you were unconscious!"
"Not quite," he said before shoving a collection of fries into his mouth.
I just sighed. "Ok, flat out, not moving, and making me think you'd just been killed before my eyes." I lifted a brow to make the point.
