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"And the wrecks," I muttered. "Yeah. Fine. Have it your way."
Turning, I stormed back to my gear. I had a pair of jeans in there. If I was sidelined, I didn't want to spend all day in these stupid oversized shorts. They only fit right when I had my protective gear on underneath. So, instead of pulling out my pads, I found the jeans and dropped my ass onto the bench to get my shoes off.
"You know we have contracts," Isaac was saying.
"I also know those contracts have clauses that allow each of you to call out of an event," Mr. Sousa was saying. "This is your choice, Isaac. You and Jorge are not suspended."
"Like fuck we aren't!" Jorge snapped. "If you think putting us with some second-rate fucker isn't asking for us to get hurt, then you don't have a damned clue what we do!"
"Then train Tanner's replacement."
"No." Jorge pulled in a breath and glared at the man.
"Excuse me?" Mr. Sousa asked.
"I said no," Jorge repeated. "The agreement was that we got to pick our partner. We picked Tanner. We rejected all three of the alternates before, and now you're trying to force us to work with them when Tanner's healthy and fine? You're doing this because why again? It sure as shit isn't because he walked out of the arena - otherwise we'd all be in shit."
"Because they think he's gay," Isaac said.
"Because he is expected to do hisjob!" Mr. Sousa countered. "Andhechose not to.Hechose to leave when the riders needed him most. There are consequences for such things."
"Consequences that only show up after the press starts asking if he's gay," Isaac taunted. "Funny how that works. No one said shit yesterday. No one had a problem until someoneliedabout Tanner, because he's not gay!"
"And that wasn't what your assistant asked me about last night," Jorge pointed out. "Nope. He was angry because Tanner took over the show, making a scene when he spoke into Cletus's microphone. Said it was unprofessional."
"It was," Mr. Sousa pointed out. "And it was one of many things that contributed to our decision, but leaving the arena? That's just a step too far."
"And bullshit," Isaac said. "C'mon, we all know you were searching for a reason to boot Tanner. If leaving the arena was really why you wanted him gone, you wouldn't have waited until today."
"Leave it alone, Isaac," I said.
"Like fuck I will!" Isaac shot back. "This is so much bullshit, Tanner. We all know it."
"So go work," Mr. Sousa said snidely.
"No," Jorge said again. "We're a team. We work together or not at all."
"Well, let me know when you change your mind," Mr. Sousa said, holding out a business card to Jorge.
He refused to take it. For a moment, the pair stared at each other, then Mr. Sousa shrugged and offered it to Isaac instead. When Isaac shoved his hands into his pockets, Mr. Sousa sighed heavily. Shaking his head as if disappointed, he put the card on the bench near them, then simply left.
Yeah, this was fucked. As if today could get any worse! Fuck! But the guys shouldn't be penalized because of me. I knew that if they weren't working the arena, they weren't getting paid. Considering our contracts weren't that nice, we all needed those paychecks.
"You two should work with Charlie Gibbs," I told them. "He's the best of the bunch."
"Tanner..." Jorge sighed and headed towards me. "Charlie Gibbs can turn a bull, but he's too timid to take one head-on."
"Stephen Hodge had no rider awareness," Isaac added. "He's always a beat behind, sometimes two. He has to see it happen and then react. The man can't predict shit."
"And Peter McClain has been run over enough times he's injured more than healthy," Jorge said. "He's slow. Sure, he'll take the hits so the rider doesn't. The problem is he takes the hits even when he doesn't need to. The man spends more time with his face in the dirt than turning a bull!"
"Yeah..." I breathed. "So how bad do you think this is going to be?"
"Bad," Jorge said. "I also don't think it'll last. The PBR will realize we're serious, and they'll let you back."
"Because this is bullshit!" Isaac said. "They're just scared of the rumors."
"So am I!" I yelled, cutting them off.
