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"What more do you want from me?" I screamed at him just as the music cut out. "I rode that bull! I'm not going anywhere, so what more do you want from me?" In the silence, my words could be heard all the way up in the stands. "I'm not here to be your sweetheart! I'm here to get scores, and you're screwing me on them because I'm a woman!"
"Looks like we have a bit of a tantrum going on down here," Cletus joked, trying to alleviate the tension.
"I'm not a joke!" I snapped at him. "I'm here to ride. I'm not going to ask permission. I'm not going to bend over and be pretty for your entertainment. I'm going to ride the bulls, and I willkeepriding the bulls until you force me out. I will not quit! I will not walk away! I am doing this, and I'm doing it a hell of a lot better than you like, so deal with it!"
Then - and only then - did I turn for the exit. But for the first time since I'd been here, the entire arena was quiet. The bulls were still moving, but the music hadn't come back on and Cletus wasn't trying to fill the silence. It was so still that when I grabbed the rope I'd thrown, the sound of my bell clanking worked like punctuation for my rant.
But as the gate opened to let me out, the staff member nodded his head at me with respect. "You tell 'em, Cody."
"Yeah," another added, patting my shoulder as I stepped through. "About time they show you some respect."
No shit. Sadly, it still wouldn't raise my score, but staying on had. I turned, looking for Ty so I could thank him for hitting the challenge button for me, but instead I found my dad hurrying down to meet me.
"That's my girl!" he beamed. "I knew you could do it!" And he grabbed me around the waist, lifting me up just to spin me around with a loud whoop. "This ismylittle girl!"
Chapter55
When Cody's clock stopped,I knew they were trying to fuck her over. When she stayed on longer, making sure she hit a full eight, I started to get hopeful there'd just been an error. It happened sometimes, but the moment she was off the bull, her name on the scoreboard dropped down.
That was bullshit, but before I could yell at her to protest it, Ty had slapped the challenge button for her. Good for him! Then the entire arena waited while the judges tried hard to find a reason to keep her from scoring. As the only rider so far with three complete rides, a score would put her in first place - which was exactly where my father didn't want her.
Yet the moment they gave her a score, the men around me all groaned. It was shit. She'd earned a hell of a lot more than that, and from the way Cody reacted, she knew it too. The girl was yelling at the judges under the bullpen, letting them know her opinions, but the loud music kept the crowd from hearing it.
Turning, I looked up at the announcer's booth up above the big screens. There, the sound guy was staring down at the arena - and then everything stopped. The fancy lights, the music, and everything but Cody's tirade as she made it clear she wasn't going to just give up.
Her voice rang out. Her words hit hard. "What do you want from me?" she demanded, and I swore that resonated with the people in the stands. As I looked around, I saw men and women nodding in agreement. That girl was riding, and she was doing a damned good job of it. Now she just needed to get the fans on her side.
So when she left the arena, I headed that way. Her dad beat me, but I got there in time to give her hat back, trading that for the helmet her father had helped her get off. She barely had her Resistol on her head, though, before the first camera pushed into her face.
"Cody, do you think you're being scored unfairly?" the reporter asked.
"I do," she said. "This is the toughest sport on dirt. These men have been proving just how hard it is for years now. I'm not here to change anything, but I expect to be judged fairly for my rides. If I can keep up with the rules meant for these men - who are some amazing riders - then why should I be punished simply for being a woman?"
"You should also know," I added, leaning in to pass her helmet to her father, "that she's not a right-handed rider. Cody Jennings just rode one of the higher-ranking bulls in the PBR's elite series, and she did it on her off-hand due to an injury."
"So you were riding injured?" the reporter asked her.
In answer, Cody unbuttoned her cuff on her left arm and pushed the sleeve up, exposing the tape and wrapping Anthony must've put on her earlier. "Couldn't hold with this one this time, so I used the other. My daddy taught me the bulls don't care which arm we like more. They just want us off. Well, I didn't want off, so I stayed up there and did my job."
"And you did good!" Dean said, steering her away. "I'm so proud of you, kiddo."
The cameraman let them go, and Dean was leading her off to the back, likely to put away her gear. I smiled, feeling like one small hurdle had just been handled, but my ride was coming up, and this was not going to be good.
Pushing out a heavy sigh, I climbed back up to the catwalk that ran behind the chutes. I was currently in second - no, third now, with Cody's ride. Only Ty and I had two qualified rides this weekend. Everyone after Cody and before me had at least one buck-off this weekend. That, more than anything else, skewed the results in her favor.
But wading through the people clumped up to see where Cody went took a bit. Out in the arena, more riders were going, and from the moans and groans of the crowd, not a lot were having much luck. A few gasps proved damage was being done.
I was walking past a chute just as a rider jumped up onto the side of it. The flash of black behind him made me realize a bull was following, so I thrust out a hand. He grabbed it, I pulled out of habit, and the bull charged in after him barely a second after the man made it over the rail.
For a second, the pair of us paused in surprise, and then he patted my shoulder and pulled off his helmet, revealing Gustavo. Curious, I looked up at the scoreboard to see he'd gotten a ride, but he'd come off yesterday, so Cody still had a chance.
"You survived," I joked.
He nodded in agreement. "Thanks to you. Fuck, it's rough down there."
"Yeah, it is," I agreed, my decision feeling more right than ever.
But as I was walking towards my chute, Ty fell in beside me. "Think anyone's going to listen to her?" he asked.
