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Jake ignored me, looking over at J.D. "I accept liquor as payment for favors. I like the good shit."
"Lemme guess, Jim Beam?"
Jake smiled. "It'll do. You wanna go nicer, I'm not gonna stop you, but it'll do."
"Deal," J.D. said, reaching around me to offer Jake his hand.
Jake slapped his palm against it, shook once, then made himself comfortable. Yeah, but I didn't have a clue what they'd just agreed on. I was sure, however, I wouldn't necessarily like it.
"Someone wanna fill me in?" I asked.
"Nope," J.D. said.
"Not really," Jake admitted.
So I turned, putting my back to the arena so I could see both of them. "Donotstart thinking you can fuck me around, boys. Neither of ya."
J.D. broke easily. "Just making sure someone has your back when I'm busy," he explained. "Jake won't cramp your style."
So I wouldn't be alone, he meant. So if Austin decided to come at me when J.D. was in the chute or on the bull, I'd have a little muscle I could rely on. Well, while it might bruise my ego a little, I knew these two had a point. I also didn't mind Jake.
Back in Cheyenne, we'd come to an agreement. He didn't like the drama behind the chutes. I didn't like the drama directed at me. That meant we kinda agreed on things so had found this comfortable balance. At least, that was what it had felt like.
So I turned one more time and resumed my place between them. "Thanks, Jake."
He huffed out something like a laugh. "Ok, that was not what I expected."
I just shrugged. "I'm smart enough to know the fights I can't win. Getting my ass beat once was enough, thank you very much."
"Good." He looked over, shifting his hat enough to draw my eye to it.
The thing was grey. It was felt, not straw, and looked like a Resistol. A slightly different style from mine, but I approved of his taste. It matched his blue shirt and silver-trimmed, blue chaps. The look wasn't as stark as most of these guys - or mine, for that matter. But it worked for him.
Oddly, I'd never reallylookedat Jake before. He was a bull rider. I knew how he sat a bull. The rest had been unimportant to me. But leaning against the rail beside him, I finally paid attention.
The man was tall. Not as tall as Ty, but taller than most of the other guys who did this sport. He had broad shoulders, which was a given. His waist was lean, trim, and narrow, another given. But the man?
His hair looked like it was light brown or maybe dark blonde. Sandy was the best word I had for it, but it was hard to really tell under his hat. His jaw was the strong type and sorta square. His lips were nice but not distracting and his nose was a little wider than expected. In other words, he was a nice-looking man. Not the kind who'd get a second look around here, but on his own, a girl would definitely be doing a double take.
And how had I never noticed that? Ok, so Ty had distracted me, and that man was gorgeous. J.D. was chiseled and stark. Tanner was pretty, landing just on the feminine side of what most women found sexy. Still, those three were damned distracting, so I hadn't had a reason to look at Jake. Not until right now while the guys continued talking without me.
"Believe it or not," J.D. said, "she's not really a bitch."
"Already figured that out." But Jake's eyes were on me as I inspected him, not J.D. "Cody, don't take this wrong, but my goal here is just to kill the drama. Like I've told you before, you can ride. I didn't expect you to, but you can, so who cares if anyone likes it?"
I clasped his arm. "Thanks."
He just pointed subtly down the line. "I think that's your set filling in."
My eyes jumped to the scoreboard, not surprised to see only half of it was filled up. Quite a few of those numbers were zeros, which meant buck-offs. Still, this string seemed to be moving.
"Who you on?" Jake asked.
"Speed Bump."
He groaned. "That fucker comes out flying. Grip hard or he'll leave you in the chute."
"And strap your helmet on good," J.D. told me. "Last thing you want is a concussion from hitting the panels."
