AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Under Armour wants in," Grace said around dry little laugh. "Both him and her? Yeah, I promise my bosses would not be opposed."
"Tillman's not leaving," J.D. pointed out. "Naw, they got enough gay cowboys that they'll stick with me."
"And," Grace said, "I'm pretty sure Mike's Hard Lemonade will step up if J.D. gives them the chance. I'll make sure Troy is at the next show."
"But I need more time," Max said. "Grace, they can't just come out. They'll need to make sure they're safe. We'll need to convince the PBR this is a good thing for their brand. We -"
"Can't," Isaac said. "No one can brace for all the possible backlash."
"But he's right," Dean said, leaning over his knees. "Hear me out, boys. I know you two wanna scream it, thinking you have nothing else to lose, but you do." He tipped his head out to the arena behind me. "You got all that. Because if they already came up with some bullshit to get the bullfighters sidelined, they can do worse."
"And we need to talk to Cody," I said, watching J.D. "She deserves to know what's coming."
"Shit, she'll be all-in," he mumbled.
"Maybe." I shrugged. "But she still deserves to know, because she's got enough shit of her own right now."
"And this won't distract from it," Grace said. "So give me and Max the week, ok?"
"You're gonna help with this?" Max asked.
Grace just smiled at him. "You're supposed to be their Tillman rep. I think you're a lot more than that, so yeah. How about we join forces and make this a cooperative thing, hm?"
Max simply offered her his hand. "A pleasure doing business with you, ma'am."
And while all of that was sweet, there was a bigger problem everyone here was missing. I almost didn't want to bring it up, but I knew I had to. Pushing out a heavy breath, I lifted a hand to scrub at my face, then broke the news.
"Guys, Cody's barely able to use her left arm. The alternate bullfighters? They won't keep the bulls off her. I don't know who she drew, and if it's Without Ado?"
"Fuck, she'll bail," J.D. promised.
"And even if it's a good bull..." I went on.
"She's going to have trouble with the dismount," Isaac said.
"Shit, and everything," Jorge realized. "How bad's that arm?"
"Bad," I told them. "She keeps saying she can ride with her off-hand, but it's been a long-ass time, sounds like."
"A few years," Dean admitted. "But she can do it."
"And if she gets thrown and a bull comes for her?" Jorge asked. "Those idiots won't get in there fast enough."
"No one willing to shoot the gap," Jorge agreed.
"So we need to find out what bull she has, make sure her wrap is right, and - "
Dean cut me off. "I'll handle her," he promised. "You worry about your shit, Tanner. Because while you might be trying to play it cool, this shit isn't cool."
"It's really not," Isaac told me, "but we've got your back."
"Always, without question," Jorge agreed.
Then Dean pushed to his feet. "So I'm gonna need you to look after J.D. We both know Cody will kick our asses if he does anything stupid. I'll figure out where she is back there, and handle her. Ok?"
I nodded. "Can do."
Then he dropped one of those big, rough hands of his on my shoulder. "And I don't care what bullshit line they're using to fuck you boys over. I know this has to be pissing you off, and you're trying real hard to play it cool, but I get it. This is hard, Tanner. It's supposed to be hard to look your fears in their face. Dunno, but maybe that's why we dumbasses rode bulls. Maybe it's why you fight them? A way to push the real issues of the world aside for a second and distract ourselves from it?"
