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"Then give me those," Jake grumped, snatching the keys from my hand. "Neither of you looks fit to drive. Ty has to be all pretty for his first-place win, so the least I can do is make sure you get where you're going and not die on the way."
"What?" Tanner asked.
Jake just held up the keys. "Me drive. You ride. Girlfriend need reassurance."
"Fuck off," Tanner snapped.
Jake just stepped back. "Keeping it simple, Tanner, because you look like the man's dying, and if that's the case, I'm breaking a few speed limits."
"Not dying," Tanner promised. "Fuck, he'd better not be."
Which made me whimper because I didn't really know either. I'd seen a few stories about bull riders who'd dropped long after their ride. I knew some injuries could sneak up without warning.
"He has to be ok!" I begged.
"Then let's go," Jake said, gesturing ahead of us as if I should lead the way. "I don't know where he parked."
"This way." Tanner took the lead, lacing his fingers with mine and pulling me forward.
I felt like I couldn't think. I could barely breathe. What would I do if J.D. died from this? No. He wouldn't. He couldn't! They were taking him to the hospital, so that meant he'd be ok, right?
It had to, because that man was so much more than my mentor. He was one of my best friends.
But as I let Tanner tow me forward, I realized it was a whole hell of a lot more than that. As the fear and paranoia made me feel like I wanted to puke, I realized I finally had a name for the feeling that hovered between me and J.D. I knew why sleeping with him had felt so very different. I could no longer deny the reason I was willing to trust him so completely.
I was in love with him - so he'd better find a way to be ok!
Chapter23
On the screenof my TV, the announcer was talking about how impressive this bull was and how he'd never been ridden before. My eyes, however, were locked on the screen. Standing on the gate, pulling hard on the rope, that was my baby girl.
"Look at her go," I bragged to my best friend, his son, and the new kid who was doing the job Cody used to do. "'Cept for all that pink, you wouldn't know she wasn't one of the guys."
"She's a little shorter," Gerardo teased.
"PBR's site says Emilio Alves is the same height."
"He's heavier," Marco, the new hay boy, pointed out.
"Ok, you got me there," I admitted. "But y'all watch her. They always said women couldn't do this. They said girls don't have enough upper-body strength, but you look at her pull that rope."
"It's not easy," Luis, Gerardo's son, told Marco. "When they yank on it to warm up the rope, most of those riders put some muscle in it."
"Still don't know why any of ya wanna climb on a damned bull," Marco admitted. "I like my teeth a lot more than the bragging rights."
"Good call," I told him. "Had my front two replaced after taking some steel in the face."
"The panels," Gerardo clarified for the kid. "Dean and I rode back before they had helmets."
"Hell, we rode back before they had those safety vests," I admitted. "In my day, we thought walking off the pain made us real men. Damn, were we stupid."
"Yeah, we were," Gerardo agreed.
"Cody wears a helmet now," Luis pointed out.
"Because of that guy getting on the bull right now," I said.
"J.D. Adkins?"
