42 - Sophie
42
Sophie
Johnny, Eli, and Claire—the reporter from the Fort Worth Star Telegram—met at my apartment Thursday night. I put out a bowl of chips and salsa, and handed out bottles of beer as we gathered in my living room.
“Is Sawyer Easton coming?” Claire asked. “I was hoping to discuss his side of all of this as well.”
“I invited him, but he hasn’t responded,” I replied, pulling out my phone. “I’ll text him real quick.”
“We haven’t seen him around the rodeo camp much, either,” Johnny said. “I think he’s been tending to his horses when everyone else is having their practice rounds at Dickies.”
“I guess it’s a good thing he hasn’t gone home yet,” I said. “Let’s just start without him. Claire?”
The reporter opened a small spiral notebook and flipped back a page. “I’ll jump straight to the extremely unhappy conclusion. Our editor won’t let me run a story like this about Salmon unless it’s absolutely bulletproof.”
Eli cursed.
“I was afraid of that,” I admitted. “Salmon has too many friends around town, of course he controls the newspaper too.”
Claire gave me a pointed look. “Your words, not mine. But yes.” She gestured with her notepad. “There’s a good story here. The bones are there. But it’s not substantial enough. We need more witnesses, more evidence. Your conversation with Salmon the other day. If it was recorded…”
“He caught us in the locker room,” Johnny said, glancing at Eli. “Quite literally with our pants down. I never had a chance to try to hit record on my phone.”
“Now, if you were able to get some sort of organized protest going?” Claire suggested. “Like a walk-out during the Bull Riding event? We’d have to cover it, and the reason why.”
Johnny and Eli exchanged a look. I could already tell we wouldn’t like the answer.
“We found two other competitors who might be willing to protest with us,” Johnny explained. “ Only two. And they’re only willing to do it if we have bigger numbers.”
“Which we don’t,” Eli added.
“What about the checks he wrote them?” I asked. “The exact amount of the Bull Riding prize money, plus ten percent? They can’t just explain that as a coincidence.”
“Sure they can,” Claire said dryly. “Salmon’s organization sponsors rodeo cowboys all the time. By themselves, those checks aren’t enough.”
“What about our testimony?” Johnny asked. “Eli and I were there. Is our word meaningless?”
“Not meaningless, but not meaningful, either. It’d be their word against yours. Three against two. And one of those three is the most powerful man in Fort Worth.”
“We could try,” Eli insisted stubbornly.
“Sure. You can. But let me tell you how that’ll go.” Claire tossed her notepad onto the coffee table and cradled her beer with both hands. “Salmon will hire the best law firm in Texas. Heck, he probably already has them on retainer. They’ll go through your lives with a fine-toothed comb, looking for ways to discredit you. Then they’ll file a bunch of motions to dismiss, arguing that the lawsuit is legally deficient. They’ll request extensions. They’ll file procedural motions to slow down the proceedings. They’ll challenge the jurisdiction, and try to complicate your discovery requests, and file for summary judgment. They’ll do everything in their power to drag this out for as long as possible.”
“So?” Eli replied. “I don’t care how long it takes, if it means nailing his ass in the end.”
Claire slowly shook her head. “Even if you’re paying your own attorneys for months? Maybe years? With all the nonsense Salmon will throw at you, they’ll have to hire legal assistants and work overtime. I’ve seen cases like this cost a plaintiff ten grand per week .”
Eli opened his mouth, then closed it again. “Fuck,” he said, chugging the rest of his beer.
“And in the meantime, Appleton will have won the rodeo this year,” Johnny said.
“Then what do we do?” I asked, feeling helpless.
Sawyer chose that moment to respond to my text.
Me : Are you coming tonight? Everyone is here.
Sawyer : It’s pointless to try to go up against Salmon. I’m focused on my own criminal charges right now. Sorry.
That text stung the most of all. I’d expected Sawyer to have more fight in him.
“I’ll keep making calls,” Claire told us. “I have to do it quietly so the Salmon family doesn’t find out, but maybe I’ll find some other sources to corroborate your story. You two might not be the only ones he’s bribed.” She stood up. “Sorry I don’t have better news.”
“Thanks for meeting with us at all,” I said.
She said goodbye, then left.
Johnny sighed back into the couch and closed his eyes. “What do we do now?”
Eli popped up. “I intend to drink.”
“A fine idea.”
“I agree,” I said. “What can I make you?”
Eli put a hand on my shoulder and pushed me back down onto the chair next to the couch. “You’ve made us plenty of drinks since we came into town. It’s my turn to play bartender. Just point me in the direction of your liquor.”
“Second cabinet next to the stove,” I said.
While Eli banged around in the kitchen, Johnny pulled out a piece of paper and stared at it. I realized it was the check Salmon had given him.
“It’s a lot of money,” I said.
He nodded. “Sure is. All the things I could do with it…”
“Tell me about it,” Eli called from the kitchen. “It’s all I’ve been able to think about.”
“I could buy a plot of land.” Johnny smiled at the check. “This would cover the down payment on a ranch of my own. Not a big one. But enough for me.”
“I could buy a tank!” Eli announced excitedly.
“A tank?” Johnny asked.
“Sure! A tank with a turret that spins. I know a fella in New Mexico who collects antique tanks, from like World War Two.” He glanced over and realized we were looking at him like he was crazy. “I wouldn’t actually buy one. But, y’know, I could .”
“You two aren’t seriously considering taking Salmon’s money, are you?”
Like a boy with a guilty conscience, Johnny averted his eyes. Eli said nothing.
“You’re just going to let Salmon get what he wants? Take his money and allow Chris-fucking-Appleton to win the rodeo without a fight?”
“He’s gonna get what he wants no matter what,” Johnny said. “The judges are in his pocket. He’s kicked out Sawyer, and might do the same to us in the future.”
Eli emerged from the kitchen with three drinks clustered together in his hands. “At least this way, we walk away with a boatload of cash.”
I took a drink from him, but shook my head in disappointment.
“What is this?” Johnny asked, taking a testing sip.
“Rodeo Buck,” Eli replied. “Whiskey, lime juice, honey, and ginger beer.”
“It’s good,” I admitted, smacking my lips.
Eli sank back into the couch next to Johnny. “It’s strong . Don’t say you weren’t warned.” He punctuated it with a wink.
“We haven’t decided anything,” Johnny continued after a long sip. “But I’ll be honest, Sky Eyes. I’m feeling mighty defeated right now.”
I understood it logically. Accepting the money was the only scenario where they came out with any kind of positive result. An amount of cash that large was life-changing. It was freedom .
But I was still frustrated that they were giving in.
“I hate all of this,” Johnny muttered, propping up his legs on the coffee table. “The corruption. The fucking audacity of it.” He slapped the check with the back of his hand. “I hate how tempting it is. I don’t want to sacrifice my morals.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“Yeah. Me too.”
Eli raised his arms over his head like a cat that had just woken up from a nap. My gaze lingered on him as he stretched, muscles flexing beneath his snug denim and sun-kissed skin.
Johnny pulled out his phone. “Claire said something that jogged my memory. About how Salmon might’ve done this before. Remember the Bull Riding event last year? That boy from Fargo was favored, but fell off after just a few seconds.”
Eli perked up. “I do remember that. Shit was suspicious.”
Johnny tapped on his phone for a few seconds. “Here it is.”
I carried my drink over to the couch and squeezed in between the two of them. Johnny held his phone out so all of us could watch, and hit play. The video was quick: a bull exploded out of the starting gate, with a cowboy on its back. The bull bucked two times, then a third, and the cowboy flew to the dirt.
“Back up,” Eli said, leaning closer to me to see. “Show that last part again.”
My next breath brought Eli’s scent to my nose, along with Johnny’s. I was acutely aware that I hadn’t had sex since the hotel room with Sawyer. That felt like an eternity. Which was crazy, considering I’d had a six-month long dry spell before sleeping with Johnny.
“Looks intentional to me,” Eli said, pointing. “Like he let himself fall off.”
“Sure does,” Johnny agreed. “Maybe we can contact him and find out. But if he accepted bribery money, I doubt he’ll want to admit it now.”
Eli groaned and took a long pull from his drink. “This is depressing. Let’s talk about somethin’ more excitin’.” He turned to look at me. “What kind of hardware is Sawyer working with?”
I almost spit out my drink with laughter.
“Seriously?” Johnny asked.
“What?” Eli demanded. “I want to know. He walks around like he’s got a tree branch down there, but maybe he’s just compensatin’.”
Both of them looked at me.
“Are you sure you want to know?” I asked with a smile.
Eli groaned. “That means he’s big.”
“He’s not small,” I admitted. “But it’s not the size that matters. It’s how you use it.”
“Yeah, but it’s even better if you’ve got both ,” Eli said, elbowing me.
Johnny snickered, but said nothing.
Wedged between them on the couch, I thought about being with Sawyer. I had been forward with what I wanted, and he responded in the best possible way. Would these two appreciate the same bluntness?
Only one way to find out .
“So,” I said. “Were you two serious about a threesome or not?”
Eli coughed. Johnny stared over at me with a thoughtful expression.
“Didn’t we make it clear already?” Eli asked. “I don’t know about Johnny over there, but I wasn’t joking.”
“Maybe,” Johnny said.
“Just maybe?” Eli asked before I could.
“I’ve never done that before,” Johnny replied. “Not sure if I’ll like it or not.”
“Where’s your sense of adventure?” Eli teased. “I’d be a good partner. I can share. Hell, I promise not to make eye contact, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”
“Or does it intimidate you having another penis in bed with you?” I said to Johnny with a disarming smile.
The blond man snorted. “That’s not a problem. I’ve had to see Eli’s dick a lot this week.”
“I don’t know why everyone is harpin’ on me for that,” Eli complained. “It’s a locker room. That’s the one place I’m allowed to hang dong and not get judged for it!”
“It was funny how uncomfortable it made Salmon’s henchmen,” Johnny admitted.
I felt like we were getting off topic, so I cleared my throat. “I won’t tell you the exact size of Sawyer’s manhood. But I will tell you something he did that I really liked.” I looked at Eli. “He was in charge. He didn’t play around.” I turned back to Johnny. “He took what he wanted.”
I chugged the rest of my drink in three gulps, then wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. I rose from the couch, took a few steps toward my bedroom, and turned back to face them. My heart was pounding—even though I had already slept with the two of them separately, it made me nervous to be this forward with them.
Johnny and Eli shared a look. Then they both smiled.
“Whelp.” Eli downed the rest of his drink and turned his hungry eyes to me. “Don’t have to tell me twice.”