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I had to duck back to stay out of his way. Isaac pressed in, but we couldn't interfere yet. J.D. was riding this bad boy, and right now he looked damned good. Up on the big screen, the time was speeding past, counting the seconds, but it felt like it was moving in slow motion.
To the right. To the left. Without Ado was willing to try it all, along with a few twists in the middle. He ducked. He dodged. And then, sooner than I expected, the bull got pissed.
Throwing up his head, I watched as the horns collided with J.D.'s face. His helmet took the impact, but that wouldn't stop it from hurting. But when J.D. still didn't give up, Without Ado had to try it again. The bull slung his head one more time, adding a little force to go with the impact, and then pushed sideways, slipping out from under J.D.
The best rider in the PBR could do nothing to stop it. He fell, landing on his hip in the dirt, then paused for a moment. Sadly, Without Ado noticed, dropping his head and charging straight for him.
"Down!" I screamed, running that way as fast as I could.
J.D. didn't have the chance to respond. The bull hooked him good, sending him flying. I tried to keep up, but they were moving faster than my fucking feet could go. Jorge and Isaac weren't any better.
When he landed, J.D. rolled once, then ended up facing me. I tried to shoot the gap, to get Without Ado's attention on me, but the bastard didn't give a damn about anything but the fool who'd strapped himself to the bull's back.
The beast ran straight across him. I saw feet land on J.D.'s leg. I was damned sure that wasn't all, but the man knew enough to curl up and protect himself. It bought me enough time to slap the bull's head - and I slapped hard - but Without Ado didn't give a shit. Pushing through me, he went back for more.
In slow motion, I watched as the bull's horn hooked the back of J.D.'s helmet, right at the base of his head. Like a football, that went flying, but now J.D. was extremely vulnerable, and this beast wasn't paying any attention to us.
"Ho!"
"Ha!"
My partners were yelling, and I was doing my best to push in. I barely managed to get my body over J.D.'s, when the bull came around again. This time, his head was up. To me, that was a good thing. That was how we got them moving, but Without Ado had other plans.
He crashed into me like a bulldozer, sending me flying. I had enough time to see Jorge move over J.D. and then I came down hard. Rolling, I forced myself back up, but this was going sideways, and fast.
"Get him off J.D.!" I bellowed.
"He's not giving up," Isaac called back, shoving at the bull's ass in an attempt to turn him off his victim's body.
By now, J.D. wasn't moving. He wasn't even curling up. The man was still on his side, but limp in a way I really didn't like. I still wasn't going to quit. I had to get this bull out of the arena so sports medicine could come in!
"Ha!" I yelled, rushing Without Ado like we were playing chicken.
Then I slammed into him, hitting the bull with every ounce of strength I had. Grabbing a horn, I pulled, trying to turn his head to the side, but he was having none of it. The beast flung his head, slinging me off - and then decided to follow.
Welp, I'd just gotten him off J.D. Unfortunately, Without Ado was now gunning for me. I could feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins. As all eighteen hundred pounds of pissed-off bovine came thundering at me, I found the zone.
My pulse slowed. My mind cleared. I pushed off the dirt, getting my feet under me, and jigged in place, waiting for him. Just as the bull was ready to slam into me, I tapped his nose, ducking around his side. He threw a kick, hoping to take me out, but I ducked under it.
"Let's go, motherfucker," I breathed, aware I was now all on my own.
My guys were with J.D. The bull was with me, and I needed to get him gone. Thankfully, Without Ado was the kind of boy to hold a grudge. He spun, pausing to actually paw at the dirt like some kind of Spanish fighting bull, and then he charged.
There was no waiting around this time. I spun and ran, knowing the fucker would follow. The only question was whether I'd make it far enough before he hit me. My purple shoes dug into the perfectly manicured footing of the arena, and I gave it all I had.
Up ahead, the darkness of the gate was my goal. The man at the side, ready to close the panel and lock the bull in, was waving me forward, so I ran. I ran like I had a ton of killer animal on my heels. I ran like he was going to get me at any moment. Hell, I ran like my boyfriend's life depended on it, because for all I knew, it might.
I barely crossed the threshold from arena to bull alley before I turned to the side and jumped, throwing myself as high up the panel as I could. Right behind me, Without Ado came rumbling in, slamming into his pen so hard he made the panels shake. Thankfully, someone threw the gate closed behind him.
"Fuck," I panted, dropping back to the ground. "How bad?"
The man at the gate just shook his head. "I dunno. Jorge and Isaac haven't left him."
"Then let me out."
He pushed the gate back open enough for me to slip through, then pulled it closed and latched it. That way, even if Without Ado got out of his pen, he still wouldn't make it back to the arena. That one little bit of reassurance helped as I jogged across the sand, but the sight of the people clustered around J.D. didn't.
I saw Doc. I saw a few others from the sports medicine team, and they were the guys who generally didn't have much to do. The staff, the helpers, and maybe even the first responders. But every single person in that cluster of people looked way too intense and the crowd was perfectly silent.
