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Eventually, the guy got his own hand free, but I was starting to realize just how bad tonight was going to be. We'd gotten spoiled with the main safety team. Jorge, Isaac, and Tanner were good. Damned good. They were crazy motherfuckers who jumped in when needed. They never cared about their own wellbeing. They were here for ours.
So while the outrider got his horse in motion to chase that bull out, I let my eyes scan the crowd. Over on my right side, I found what I was looking for. Sitting in the front row, J.D. was dressed like just about everyone else here tonight. Without his chaps and vest, he didn't stand out nearly as much as I'd expected.
Tanner was beside him, with Jorge and Isaac on either side of the pair. Those jerseys they wore were hard to miss. Red, yellow, and purple. They were the colors we were used to seeing, not the green, white, and blue down there now.
I was pretty sure those were Cody's representatives in their little group too. Max, I knew. The other woman was new. Under Armour or Mike's, from the patches on Cody's vest this weekend, which meant she'd gotten a couple of those sponsors she'd been chasing. I had a feeling three would not be enough for her, though.
By the time we'd made it up around twentieth place, the show had been stopped seven times for injuries. Three had required the doctor down there. One had been carried out on a stretcher. Fuck, this was getting ugly.
"Hey," Jake said, claiming a spot on the rail beside me. "You brooding again?"
"About the bullfighters," I admitted.
"No shit," Jake agreed. "What, that's like fifteen guys out of the chutes, and only Jackson's stayed on?"
I nodded. "And we're up to seven injuries."
"Fuck," Jake breathed. "Welp, I can promise I won't be one of those tonight." Then he flashed me a smile.
"Oh, so sure your ride's going to go that smooth, huh?" I asked.
He just chuckled. "I'm positive I won't get hurt, how's that?" But the man tipped his head over to where Cody was standing at the rail with her dad. "Got to meet Dean, too."
"Yeah, he knows his shit."
"Also looks like you're still playing her protector," Jake went on. "Had Wes ask me if I'd keep an eye on her when she's alone. He said it's coming from you. So I guess you haven't given up on the cowgirl yet, huh?"
"Shit..." I drawled. "I just know what Austin did to her last weekend. Now J.D.'s in the stands, Tanner is beside him, and she's injured."
"And her father could probably put some hurt on a few boys," Jake countered. "Ty, what are you really doing?"
I just sighed. "I'm trying to take care of her." Because that was the line I was sticking with.
I just hadn't expected it to become the truth. I'd assumed naming myself her protector would give me an excuse to hover around her. I'd thought it would be how I fit into her little group of boys. I'd also crammed my head so far up my ass, thinking about how into her I was, I'd forgotten she had her own goals. So now I was standing over here and she was over there.
"Well," Jake said, "Since we're up here in public, and you can't punch me without getting thrown out, let me put something out there."
That had my complete attention. "Bad?"
"Probably," he admitted. "But hear me out before you get pissed and walk off?"
"Uh-huh..."
"Tanner's out because he left the arena for J.D.," Jake said. "J.D. is out because he's hurt. Now, the PBR won't want to lose their bad boy, but J.D.'s going to be sidelined for a couple of weeks at least."
"Sounds like it," I agreed.
"And," Jake went on, "the rumors of them being gay probably aren't too far off the mark, right?"
My hands clenched on the rail before me. "Seriously?"
"I said you should hear me out," Jake insisted, lifting a hand to beg me to wait. "Ty, Cody's with one, both, or something. Doesn't matter to me. Itwillmatter to the PBR. If you think a woman riding in the Tough Enough series is upsetting the boss, just wait to see how he'll take a gay man."
"They're not gay," I growled.
"And if they're fucking each other as well as her," Jake said, "they might as well be to the morons running this place. They aren't straight. Now, you're going to deny it, but I've already figured that much out. Pretty sure Cody's in the middle of them. Pretty sure the three of them are happy as can be. Doesn't mean this is going to be easy for any of them."
"And it's none of our damned business," I pointed out. "I mean, unless you're making a play for her? You have been all over her this weekend."
