Chapter 18
Hadley
Being distracted with two tons of pure rage between your legs is not smart.
But here I am, strapped to a damn bull, my head somewhere back at that lake this afternoon.
Levi yells something in my direction, and I try my best to dislodge the memories of the singular moment insisting on replaying like I might forget.
Not likely.
But I need this ride. So, I rein in my wandering mind and re-strap down to help me into the head space. Mosquitos buzz around. Their presence since this afternoon has been a constant annoyance. One I’m hoping will disappear as the night cools off.
Fingers crossed.
I slap my neck, squashing one of the damn bloodsuckers, and get back to the task at hand. Levi checks in as I slam my fist into my rope hand and nod quickly at the gate cowboy.
The chute gate flies open.
The giant grey bull under me lunges from the small space and sets spinning to the right. I settle in for the ride, spurring him round as I hold my breath and my hand high in the air.
Every revolution we take, I glance at the clock.
4.12
6.37
8.00
The buzzer screams through the air, and I tug my hand free and leap from his back, sticking the landing before gunning it for the rails.
Safe halfway up the rails, I wait on my score.
Logan and his crew have the grey giant trotting for the return gate as my eighty-one points light up the board.
Not bad, but not great, either.
The ride was too easy and my only one for the night.
The Bravos have five riders busting from the chutes tonight, me being one of them.
It’s an odd feeling wanting Knox to do well.
Alongside my other teammates, we both need to score well to keep the team high on the leaderboard.
Which is updated every week after the events.
Tonight marks the first night of riding with sponsors pinned to my shirt.
Expectations also hang from the team shirt as I make my way back behind the chutes. Hands slap my back and shoulders.
“Good one, Jonesy.”
“Rode him down, bud!” another voice echoes from a few chutes down.
“Guess the locker-room talk makes all the difference.” Knox stops in front of me.
Hell, tonight isn’t even the best ride of my rodeo career. I know he’s trying to stir shit, but we’re supposed to be on the same team now, so . . .
“Good luck, Knox.” The words feel uneasy on my tongue. I’m not one to wish harm on another—I wasn’t raised that way—so I give him a hard slap on his shoulder and step around him.
“Luck, Jones, has nothing to do with it. Watch and learn.” He slides his black hat on his head, tugging the collar of his team shirt littered with sponsors, and stalks for the chute and the bull with his name on it. Literally.
Kadence. Known on the circuit for being one of the most erratic bulls.
Apparently, there is a god.
I can’t resist the opportunity to see Kade Knox get spat out and land on his arrogant ass. So instead of making my way back to the locker room in the back of the office building, I head for the open return gate and lean on it.
Knox climbs the rails and lowers himself onto the bull that’s already kicking up a fuss in the chute. Levi is snapping something out into the earpiece he has strapped to his head. His clipboard hits the dust as Kadence rears up in the chute, propelling Knox backward.
My gut flips.
Angry bulls are not ideal.
Great for a high technical ride, all that frustration converting to powerful moves, but after the dismount . . . That’s the most dangerous few minutes, and you want to get clear as fast as you damn well can.
It’s the risk bull riding carries. The toughest sport on dirt.
The world’s riskiest form of entertainment. For the cowboys, at any rate.
Kadence half settles long enough for Knox to strap down.
Knox may be arrogant, but he is a damn skilled bull rider. Still, something doesn’t sit right this time. A preemptive feeling of worry gnaws on my insides. As Maggie walks right past me and into the arena, camera in hand, that worry flares to outright panic.
Fuck, no.
“Maggie!”
She turns back, not stopping, walking across the arena. With her bright smile as she waves at me, my last breath lodges in my throat.
She squats right in front of the chute as Knox pummels his rope hand into a fist around the stiff rope.
No, no, no.
She rises and moves to the far side of the arena and leans on the rails, and I suck in a burning breath.
Rubbing a hand over my face, I stare as the chute gate swings open. And as if time slows right down, Kadence explodes in a tangle of legs and snot, tossing Knox from his center instantly.
“Come on, asshole, stay the hell on,” I growl out.
“Remind me never to ask you to cheer for me,” Spencer says with a chuckle.
Where the fuck did he come from?
I can’t take my gaze from the spinning, raging two-ton animal inching its way closer to Maggie. The only thing between her and it is Logan and his face-painted crew.
Christ.
I shift on my feet as the bull jerks, changing course, and Knox flies from his back into a crumpled heap in the dirt.
Maggie’s eyes widen, her hand slapping to her mouth.
The crowd gasps as Kadence makes a beeline for the unconscious cowboy. And the pretty little photographer who is mere feet from where he fell.
Hell.
“Oh fuck.” Spencer’s hand runs through his hair as Logan desperately tries to steal the bull’s attention.
Each moment slides by like molasses in winter. Knox stirs but doesn’t get up.
The bull is closing in.
Maggie’s hand slips from the rail where she was ready to jump up and out. The camera swings at her side as she takes a tentative step forward to the man on the ground.
I shift on my feet. “Logan, get in there!”
His men surround the bull, but it’s hell-bent on Knox.
“Goddamn it!” I fly across the arena, coming up behind the crazed animal, I slap its hind, hoping it will spin back.
It doesn’t.
I keep moving, fast. Maggie is kneeling at Knox’s head now.
Sweet Christ!
“Get up!” I holler.
“He can’t!” she yells back.
“You, Maggie, you get up!”
Her eyes narrow as a frown drops over her face. The bull’s hot breath washes across my back as I make a grab for Knox. Hauling his heavy ass from the dirt, I drag him toward the rail. Maggie gets under one arm, and he starts coming to.
“The hell . . .” He sways, and we all but push him up the rails. I send Maggie up the rails with one hand before taking a few rungs myself.
“Hup! Hup!” Logan is waving his hat at the bull. It spins, bolting after the clown-faced man, who legs it back toward the return chute before high-stepping dramatically, making the audience laugh, and jumps up the rails, clambering to the top and over.
Kadence disappears through the gate, and the crowd stands with a roar.
“Now that, ladies and gentlefolk, is entertainment!” the announcer drawls.
The crowd whistles, cheering, hats tossed high in the air as Knox finds his bearings and steps down the rails with a wave. I jump down and take his arm in my grip as he sways a little on his feet.
“Get your goddamn hand off me, Jones.”
He gives me a strange look, as if trying to figure out why I’m the one helping and not the bullfighters. Maggie steps off the rail and his gaze flickers to her.
“Figures,” he grunts and limps toward the return chute. He plucks his hat from his head and holds it in the air. The crowd cheers for him all the way back to the chutes.
“That was close,” Maggie breathes, now beside me.
“Yeah, it was.”
I stalk my way back across the arena. Rounding the chutes, I run into Levi lecturing Knox, telling him it’s either a visit to Willow the circuit doc or he’s out for the rest of the season.
Like Levi has that power, but you never know. Hell, if he has sway over scouts, who’s to say he can’t influence the team managers? Especially with Knox’s attitude this year. Wouldn’t take much to drop the shithead.
“All good, man?” I ask Levi as he stands watching Knox to make sure he does, in fact, go see the doctor.
“That little shit will be the death of me.”
“We know, old man. We’re more trouble than we’re worth.”
He throws me the ‘shut the hell up, will you’ look. “Nice save, Jonesy. Next time, let Logan handle it.”
“Stop putting the photographer in the danger zone and I will.”
He steps closer, folding his arms over his chest. “Telling me how to do my job?”
“No, sir.”
He tilts his head, his eyes narrowing. “For your information, it was her idea. Something about getting more action shots to bring in a bigger audience to the website. She’s got a good head on her, that girl.”
That girl.
“Yep” is all I can manage.
Levi leaves me with a wink, and I study his back as he walks back to the chutes.
Shaking the feeling he knows more than he lets on, I grab my gear and wander to the locker room.
The team space is empty when I get there.
It’s the first time I’ve been in a team locker room for any sport, so I don’t really know what to expect, but it’s clean and white.
And my bag is right where I left it when we showed up hours ago.
I half expected it to be pillaged.
I drop onto the seat, unstrap my wrist, and remove my spurs before taking my hat off and running a hand through my hair. I just need a breather. I’ll make it back to the chutes to help out in a second.
Knox appears a few minutes later, ripping off his gear. He tosses it to the ground like a toddler who missed out on a lollipop.
“Someone’s happy,” I mutter.
“Guess you would be. I’m out for a fortnight. Fucking shit landing.” He strides to his locker, pummeling a fist into the metal. It dents, and he grunts before shaking out his hand.
“Adding a broken hand to your list of injuries won’t see you back any earlier.” I don’t know why I’m trying to help. I should really stop.
“What would you know, pussy-whipped golden boy?”
The hell?
“Watch your fucking mouth, asshole.” I stand and my hands curl to fists.
“Or what, farm boy?” He closes the distance between us.
“You don’t have a decent bone in your damn lousy body, do you?” My face is pulled tight, heat racing through my veins like wildfire.
He huffs a careless sound and turns away. “Whatever you say, golden boy.”
“Grow up, Knox.”
He spins around. “You’ve been here two seconds. You don’t get to tell me how to handle a goddamn thing.”
He’s right. I’m brand new to the team, and I can’t lose this spot.
I swipe up my hat from the bench seat and shove it back on my head. I start for the door, but muffled words stop me in my tracks. “Montgomery should have been there.” I turn back as he flicks his gaze from where I stand to the locker at his side and adds, “Thanks.”
The word is too soft, but it’s the first sliver of Kade Knox that hasn’t rubbed me the wrong way in I don’t even know how long.
I don’t know if he looks back up, but I give him a nod and a half smile and turn back, pushing through the door and out into the night air.
When I make it back, Logan is getting chewed out about the Knox-and-Maggie incident, or so it’s been labeled, apparently.
I’ve never seen Levi so furious.
Ever.
I take a stance by Logan’s side, and Levi’s eyes, full of pure fire, flick to me. “Got somewhere else to be, Jones?”
“Nope, I’m good right here.”
Logan throws me a grateful look.
“Fine, what the hell were you two idiots thinking?!” He scorns us both in plain sight of every other cowboy, every team and their managers.
Hell, doing the right thing all the time is exhausting.