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Instead, he walked Ursula into the pen, and turned his attention to the horse, stroking her neck and murmuring to her softly to keep her calm around so many new people.Much to his annoyance, rather than skittish, Ursula seemed curious and interested in the people standing at the fence. Without a word, he began putting her through the groundwork, building up to her blanket, then saddle. He paused for a moment to give her some love before stepping his foot into the stirrup and mounting her slowly.
Surprisingly, she didn’t move or prance around. Instead, she shook her head slightly and stared at Bailey. Bailey merely winked and blew him a kiss. A rise of laughter flowed through the crowd behind her, and he looked away, trying to focus. Tugging the reins to the side, he signaled Ursula to walk the circle, slowly increasing her speed to a trot. He had to hide hisexcitement because this was the first time he had gotten this far with her. But, as usual, she was tricking him.
Without warning, Ursula tucked her head and began bucking. Not too hard, but enough to show her displeasure, and force him to bail out before she actually threw him. He rolled, barely landed on his feet, then dusted himself off. He put his hands on his hips to watch her circle the pen twice before coming back to nudge him playfully.
Braulio stepped out to grab her from him, but she nipped at him, then swung her body around, ramming him to the ground without warning. Braulio hopped up quickly, hands up as he backed away from her. “She’s in a mood. She can stay with you, Nas.”
“Bring her to me. My turn!”
He hesitated, running through all the ways he was going to stop this. But leading this wild horse of his over to Bailey, she was as docile as could be, so when Axel moved to stand next to Bailey, he shook his head.
“She’s not ready yet. I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“That horse ain’t never gonna be ready.” One of the older trainers from the west compound leaned against the fence nearby. “She’s fuckin with ya. She’ll never be broken. Will wait for you to get comfortable, then bam.”
He cut his eyes to Bailey, and she rolled her eyes as some of the younger guys started cracking jokes at him.
“You’re too soft on her, Nas. Those baby commands are never gonna work.”
“Treat her like a woman, tell her what to do, slap her ass, and she’ll take it.”
“Hell, she’d probably like it.”
“I know some that do.”
He could see the way all the comments irritated Bailey when her smile dropped a little and her face tightened. She droppeddown from where she was perched on the fence and reached for the reins even as they continued their comments.
“Y’all aren’t really going to let her try to ride him? She’s a hundred pounds, dripping wet.”
“Ain’t no way.”
“Alpha, she’s gonna kill herself.”
“Naw, let her on. I got money to make today.”
Every argument he had ready to go died before he could say it. He wouldn’t add to the comments, and no way he would take this from her now. But when she tried to take the rope from his hand, he held it tight for a moment, and meeting her eye, only said, “Be careful. Bail the second she acts up.”
She only smiled up at him, a real smile, not the one she had given the crowd. “Remember what I told you yesterday. You keep underestimating me.”
Then, she hugged Ursula’s neck, slipping her an apple wedge while sweet-talking her in a low voice. She walked her slowly in front of the cluster of people.
“Now, I’m gonna take all your worries and concerns as a compliment, and whoever said I only weighed a hundred pounds, bless you, cuz baby, I’m probably taller than you.” She lowered her sunglasses to look at the offender. “And have at least twenty pounds more of muscle.”
Laughter and more jokes rang out, and the young warrior blushed red, but didn’t say a word while Bailey continued.
“As for all your bets, I’m not taking any blame for money lost here, but money won? I better get a cut of that.” She stopped to rearrange her cowboy hat, then pulled off the long sleeve button-down she’d been wearing. Underneath, her normal tiny tank was tucked into her jeans along with the necklace she never took off. She tossed the button-down over to Lana and paused dramatically.
“But since you’re so worried, I will let you all help me decide what to do first. Now, remember, I’ve only worked with her since Monday, and Nas showed you everything she already knew how to do. Including bucking him off.”
They laughed, and someone jeered at him before she raised her hand to make them quiet down. “I’m gonna start here in the pen, but she really doesn’t like it. You think she needs a harsher hand, but I think she just needs her freedom. I think she needs to be given what she wants. And what she wants is not to be confined to a circle, bored to tears for the rest of her life. You want to break her spirit. I want to use her spirit to show you how great she could be.”
There were a few murmurs, definitely some doubt. She knew how to work a crowd, but no one had ever doubted that. She was practically born for a good show.
“I was going to start out bareback, but so many of you are worried about my safety. I’ll let you decide. Should I ride bareback or with protection?”
The crowd didn’t miss out on that double entendre, and the whoops and hollers had her grinning. Even Lana had stood up on the fence and was yelling for bareback.
“Bareback it is.” She waved away Braulio, who had approached cautiously to get the saddle. With the quick movements of a seasoned rider, she had the saddle undone and handed off before he could offer to help.
