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"Yeah, but..."
"And we deal with the rest later," he said. "In case you missed it, I'm not your problem anymore, but a busted-up cowboy? Yeah, pretty sure you're gonna be driving to Boise. Pretty sure he's gonna bitch the whole way. So, you worry about you. I'll worry about me."
"Ok," I relented, still feeling like I should thank him more, or explain, or something.
But the line was getting shorter, and before I knew it, I was up at the curtain, the next one to head out. Ty finally took his hands off my shoulders, no longer propelling me forward, and the steward nodded.
Lifting my chin, I stepped into the arena just as the spotlight landed on me. To the side, the cameraman turned to get me on the screen, and I marched forward, following the same trail as the man before me, Jake Cunningham.
"And from Spring Creek, Missouri, in second place this weekend, we have the first woman on the PBR's Tough Enough series, Cody Jennings!" the announcer called out.
I lifted my hat in acknowledgement, and men began to cheer. Over the music, I couldn't hear the people in the stands because there was too much sound coming from the dirt around me. Spread out in the semi-circles the PBR liked to use, the men left standing after this hell of a weekend were all clapping, and so many of them were actually whooping and hollering for me!
A smile grabbed my face just as I reached the ramp to jog up on top of the bullpen. As I passed him, Jake slapped my back lightly in congratulations. Then I took my place over at the side as Ty walked out.
"And the winner of the Des Moines, Iowa, Tough Enough competition, from Alberta, Canada, it's Ty McBride!"
And this time, I could hear the crowd. There were cheers. Loud ones. Female ones. Even quite a few men. Ty lifted his hat, waving it at both sides, and then ran up the ramp to find his spot on my other side. When he put his hat back on, though, he turned to me and tipped it like a gentleman.
"And now for the real fun to start," he said with a smile as the beautiful buckle girls came out holding those boxes with our awards in them.
Chapter59
The lights went out,the music came on, and the bull riders started making their way out. Each one had his name called. Every guy down there lifted his hat in a salute of sorts. They'd just gotten to Wes, who was limping noticeably, when Dean and J.D. returned.
I jerked my chin in greeting, so J.D. moved to lean against the rail beside me. Dean claimed one of the open chairs. Casually, I leaned closer to my boyfriend, overly aware of how many people could see us.
"You still doing ok?" I asked.
"Yup," he assured me. "Also learned something real interesting."
"Ok?"
He looked over with that maniacal grin of his. "We got some real good blackmail on Cody's side, and since Cody's on our side, well, I think shit's gonna get real fun."
"Uh-huh..." I said, completely lost now.
"Seems Jake Cunningham's sweet on our girl a bit. He says it's because she's helping him change things, but he went real far out of his way to apologize for saying shit about gays back in Tulsa."
"Right..." He still wasn't laying this out well.
"And Jake's got some dirt on the fuckers trying to screw over our girl, Tanner." That crazy-ass grin of his got bigger. "Good dirt. Now, ain't my dirt to go talkin' about, but trust me when I say it's useful."
"How does this help us again?" I pressed.
Laughing, J.D. slapped my back, then turned to the arena once more. "Because the PBR's trying to pull Cody's teeth, and they don't know she just got a real weapon workin' for her."
The words were barely out of his mouth before the announcer called out Cody's name. Like everyone else around me, I cheered, yelling for her with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. She jogged up onto the bullpen, then Ty came out.
Yeah, I yelled for him too, just on principle. They'd both ridden all three. They both deserved to get a little recognition for it, and Ty wasn't a bad guy. Now, he seemed to be a pretty shitty boyfriend to Cody, but I wasn't going to date him, so I had the luxury of judging him differently.
But when all of them were standing in place, the announcer came back on to introduce the local reverend. We all bowed our heads and a prayer was said for those who'd been injured this week. I glanced over at J.D., thinking of him as I listened. And when that was over, “The Star-Spangled Banner” was sung one more time.
Only after all of that did the announcer begin to list off the top five riders of the weekend. In fifth place was Tim Moore. In fourth was Gustavo Ribeiro. Third was Jake, second was Cody, and Ty came in first. People clapped politely as each one was given a shiny new belt buckle as proof of their accomplishment.
Then the brunette buckle girl walked over to Ty with a microphone as the announcer began to ask him how he felt about his ride this weekend. He smiled at the woman politely - which was rather tame for Ty.
"With all the buck-offs this weekend, Ty, how did you manage to ride all three of your bulls to some of the highest scores we've seen on tour so far this year?" the announcer wanted to know.
