51 - Sophie
51
Sophie
The sun was shining down on us, hinting that spring was right around the corner, as I stood outside the lawyer’s office in downtown Fort Worth with Johnny and Eli. Both of them seemed calm, but I was pacing back and forth.
“Don’t know why you look more nervous than us,” Johnny said.
“Because I’m invested in the outcome of this meeting too,” I said. “And unlike both of you, my concerns aren’t related to money.”
Suddenly, the door to the office opened. I stepped aside as the army of lawyers working for Ted Salmon marched out, one by one.
“Do they look happy to you?” Eli asked worriedly. “They look happy. Like they won.”
“Their faces seem blank to me,” Johnny replied.
“For a lawyer, that is happy!” Eli insisted.
Fortunately, Sawyer and his lawyer emerged next. All of us immediately gathered around him in a semicircle.
“Well?” I demanded. “What happened?”
Sawyer’s face was completely blank, just like all the lawyers before him. For a few excruciating seconds, I searched him for any hint of how it had gone.
Then he grinned.
“No way!” Eli said.
Sawyer nodded once.
I gasped. “Salmon caved? Really?”
His attorney let out a relieved smile. “Four more cowboys came forward within the last week, accusing Theodore Salmon of bribing them in past rodeo events to intentionally lose.”
“It’s a cash settlement,” Sawyer said.
“A very large settlement,” the attorney said proudly. “Mr. Easton’s portion is significantly larger than the other cowboys involved, on account of the personal damages to his career and reputation.”
“And,” Sawyer added, “the aggravated assault charges have been dropped.”
“That’s amazing!” I said.
Johnny crossed his arms. “So Salmon gets away with everything? All he had to do was stroke a check and this whole scandal just… goes away?”
“He threatened to break our kneecaps!” Eli added.
“There were no cameras in that tunnel at Dickies,” the attorney answered for him, like it was something they had already discussed at great length. “It was your word against Salmon’s. Sawyer and the other cowboys arrived after the threats were made, so there aren’t additional witnesses.”
“But we got something else,” Sawyer said with pride. “Salmon has been removed from the Fort Worth Rodeo Board of Directors. They don’t want to be associated with him and his corruption.”
“All of this is confidential,” the attorney quickly added. “Publicly, Theodore Salmon will announce that he is stepping down for personal reasons.”
“So he gets to go on with his life like nothing is wrong?” Johnny asked.
“These concessions were extremely difficult to negotiate,” the attorney said defensively.
“It’s a win,” Sawyer said. “The one thing that fat billionaire fuck cares about the most isn’t his money. It’s his influence.”
“And his influence around the rodeo specifically,” I chimed in. “Without that… he’s just another rich guy. He must be seething right now.”
“His lawyers didn’t look happy about the concessions,” Sawyer said with a sneer. “I wish I were in the room when they have to tell him.”
Johnny glanced at his watch. “Good timing. We need to hit the road in the next hour if we’re going to avoid rush hour traffic in Houston.”
I winced. “Is now a bad time to mention I still need to pack?”
Johnny narrowed his eyes at me. “You said you would be ready.”
“I had laundry to do!”
“You can ride with me,” Eli said, giving my ass a possessive little squeeze. “So, how big of a settlement are we talkin’, Sawyer?”
“It’s not polite to talk about money,” Sawyer replied as we walked away from the office. A small smile touched his lips, and he added, “But it’s a lot.”
“How much is a lot?” Eli said. “Give me a number.”
“No.”
Eli groaned. “This is just like the size of your junk. You won’t tell us anything .”
“When it’s this big,” Sawyer said slowly, “just telling you the number feels like bragging.”
Eli looked over at him. “Are we talking about the settlement amount, or the length of your lasso?”
“Yes,” Sawyer replied, which made all of us laugh.
*
I thought about my relationship with these three men while driving down to Houston with Eli. Jessica had been fine with me taking a few weeks off work to figure things out, especially now that the Fort Worth Rodeo was over and Billy Bob’s wouldn’t be as busy. “You deserve to take some time off!” she’d told me last night when my shift ended. “Come back whenever you’re ready.”
But the more I thought about it, the more it felt like that was the last time I would see her. At least, as one of her employees.
Driving south with the guys felt like a new beginning.
The next three weeks at the Houston Rodeo flew by. I took turns with my cowboys, sleeping at Johnny’s trailer one night, Eli’s the next, and then joining Sawyer in his hotel room after that. I fell into a nice routine with them without needing to set a firm schedule of any kind.
And they didn’t seem to mind sharing me. If anything, it helped them relax and focus on the rodeo on the nights they weren’t with me.
I was with them individually most of the time, with two exceptions. Johnny won the Saddle Bronc Riding event, and Eli came in second place. The three of us celebrated that night with another threesome that was every bit as hot as the first time, the two of them taking turns and passing me back and forth in bed like it was practiced choreography.
The second time was at the end of the rodeo. Sawyer had won the Bull Riding event, and Johnny came in third place. The four of us got drunk at a local bar, then stumbled back to the rodeo camp together.
“Want to join us?” Eli asked Sawyer. “The bed in my trailer isn’t exactly huge , but I think we can all squeeze in there.”
“This is another ploy to see how big my cock is,” Sawyer replied.
Eli held up both palms. “I swear to the sweet lord baby Jesus that I am motivated solely by the desire to give Sophie as much sexual pleasure as humanly possible.”
“I would enjoy all three of you more than just two,” I said, arching an eyebrow at Sawyer. “That’s just basic math.”
Sawyer smiled, pulled me into his embrace, and kissed me roughly. “Tempting. But I’m gonna have to take a rain check.”
I pouted, but didn’t want to push him. I was thoroughly enjoying my three cowboy lovers, even if Sawyer never joined the rest of us in group fun.
“But speaking of sharing things,” Sawyer said. “We’ve all got a lot more prize money to add to our collective pool.”
“Oh, so now you want to share,” Eli muttered.
“I haven’t done the math,” Johnny said, “but between our prize money and your settlement, we could start looking at land.”
“I know a real estate agent back in Colorado,” Eli suggested.
I cleared my throat. “Actually, I’ve already been doing some research on that front. And I have some news.”
All three of them stopped in their tracks and looked at me.
“I think I found a place.”