Chapter 39
I got to meet a few of Isabella's friends when they came over Friday night.
The gaggle of teen girls in the house was loud, but in a way that left a smile on my lips.
I was used to loud, after all. Now, J.D.
? He was not as thrilled to hear his sister squealing over "cute cowboys" or bragging about how a girl was going to kick her brother's ass next weekend.
For the ass-kicking part, he made a big fuss of acting like his little sister had turned on him.
The cute cowboy part, though? Yeah, he made sure those girls knew that cute cowboys needed to be their age or they were creeps.
And if they weren't gentlemen, then they sure as shit weren't cute.
But from the way Isabella's friends were smiling at him, I had a feeling he was one of those cute ones they'd been talking about - if not the cute one.
Which gave Tanner and me plenty of ammunition to pick on him the next day.
When Maria jumped in to make her son blush, I decided I liked this family.
Even Tanner relaxed around them, giving up on his over-the-top attempt at good manners.
Then again, he'd only just gotten comfortable enough to start rummaging in the fridge without asking when it was time for us to go.
"But you have another week off," Maria insisted.
J.D. just shook his head. "No, Mama. Tanner's gotta work, which means we go with him. That's how it is with a family, you know."
And that made his mother smile so proudly. But when she hugged me before we piled into the truck? It felt good. Hell, it felt natural.
Thankfully, the drive from his mother's place to the hotel wasn't a long one.
J.D. also took over, saying he was fine to drive, he was done with being an invalid, and he knew his way around Nashville better than we did.
Tanner made a weak attempt to resist, but we both knew he was right.
J.D. was doing pretty good. He had actually rested and recovered. So, this was going to be his reward.
But the Marriott in this town was not like the ones I was used to.
It was not only bigger, but also a hell of a lot nicer.
The three of us grabbed our bags and headed in, a little too used to doing this - then paused once we made it through the doors.
The lobby looked like it had been designed by some billionaire.
At the side, the bar was placed to be comfortable, not hidden away.
Then there was the front desk, filled with people who actually smiled.
"J.D. Adkins," he announced as he dropped his bag and fished out his wallet. "I have a reservation for the week, for three."
"Yes, sir," the man said on the other side. I could hear a keyboard clacking as he looked that up, then, "Sir?" The young man's eyes jumped up, then back to his screen. "You'll be staying through Monday?"
"Checking out Tuesday, prolly," J.D. agreed.
The man nodded, then started clicking. "Ok, I'll need to see your ID."
"Here ya go," he said, passing over that and his credit card.
"Don't need the card," the guy told him. "Sir, you and your party have been upgraded to the Griffin suite, and the payment has already been handled."
"By who?" I asked, moving to J.D.'s side.
But the young man was already waving for someone to come over. "Danny, they're in the Griffin."
"I'd be happy to take your bags for you," the teenager said as he pushed a cart over.
"Uh..." Tanner was looking between all of us like he was confused.
"Who paid for the room?" I asked the desk attendant again.
"Um, it says here that everything is being handled by Deviant Games."
"Nice!" J.D. told me. "I think I'm liking your sponsors more and more."
"Me too," I agreed.
Which led to a small circus of getting all three of us a key card for the room, putting our bags on the trolley, and then following the teenager to the elevator so he could escort us up.
And it was quite the way up. Floor after floor dinged, but the doors didn't open until floor number thirty-three.
"On top of the world," Tanner muttered as we followed the bellhop out of the elevator.
"And your room is right over here," the teenager said.
"Down that way is the executive lounge, which is reserved for guests on this floor.
The pool is on the roof, and there should be directions to the restaurant, gym, and everything else in your room.
" He gestured at a door just as he paused before it.
So J.D. stepped up and unlocked the door, then gestured for me to go in first. I did, feeling awestruck - and more so when I saw the actual room. Well, it looked more like an apartment!
"You have a bedroom on either side of the living area," the bellhop explained.
"The controls for the curtains are on the television remote, and the kitchen is stocked with complimentary coffee.
" He gestured as he explained all of that, pointing us in the proper directions, then began unloading the cart.
"Let me get you a tip," J.D. told him, grabbing for his wallet again.
The kid quickly offloaded our stuff, accepted the crumpled bill J.D. passed him - then paused. His eyes got wide, a smile took over, and then he nodded a few more times.
"Thank you, sir! If you need anything else, I'd be happy to help!"
"We're good," Tanner assured him, following the teenager back to the door before flipping the safety lock. Then he turned back around with his mouth hanging open dramatically. "Holy. Shit."
"Yeah," J.D. breathed, making his way over to the remote so he could open the curtains.
As the fabric slid back, there was nothing but glass.
An entire wall of it made up the far side of this rather large space.
In all the time I'd been touring with the Pbr, I'd never imagined a hotel room could look like this!
It wasn't quite what I'd call comfortable, but only because it was nicer than that.
This was the sort of thing people dreamed about spending money on for some fancy vacation, and my sponsor had just paid for it?
"They didn't say they were giving me a room," I told the guys as I went to check out the bedrooms.
The first had a massive bed with the bathroom off the side.
It wasn't quite what I'd consider standard, being bigger, more spacious, and looking a lot more expensive.
However, when I went to the other side, it was basically a carbon copy of it.
The only difference I could see was that the window was smaller.
Well, narrower, almost like the curve of the building cut it off.
And when I came back out, Tanner was in the kitchen, checking out the facilities. J.D. was standing at the window, looking out over the city. Yet when he heard me, he turned with a little smile.
"I grew up way over there," he said, pointing off into the distance. "Always thought this hotel was fancy as fuck, but I'd never seen these rooms before. I'd get a single because it was just me."
"Yeah, and I think we should consider doing a little home cooking while we're here," Tanner said. "I mean, no reason not to, right?"
"And you're sick of road food," I teased.
He made a little noise. "A bit. I also know we have an entire week before everyone else shows up. Work week, I mean. No reason we can't settle in and relax a little more." He glanced over at J.D. pointedly.
"I'm fine," J.D. insisted. "I also ain’t going to say no to real cooking." Then he headed to the couch and flopped down. "Tanner, call the guys. I need to call Max. Everyone should be here by now."
"And you wanna brag?" I guessed.
"Shit," J.D. grumbled. "I have a feeling Max already knows. Just wanna make sure whatever he's working on for Tanner's all handled, and that means signing shit."
The pair of them pulled out their phones.
So, just to feel like I was joining in, I did the same.
I didn't have anyone to call, though. Instead, I snapped a few pictures and sent them to my dad.
I wanted to make sure he knew I was doing just fine, and I was pretty sure he'd never seen a place like this either.
Part of me wanted to jump on the couch or bed. It was stupid and childish, but people like me didn't get to stay in places like this. Never mind that we weren't even paying for it! Holy hell, I was going to need to do a lot of sucking up to Rhaven the next time I saw her.
"Yeah," Tanner was saying. "Room 3301." Then he chuckled. "Then come over!"
That made J.D. look up. "What?"
"They're across the hall," Tanner explained as he headed for the door. "Sounds like they got upgraded too."
"By my sponsor?" I asked, because that didn't make any sense at all.
J.D. just asked into his phone, "What did you do, Max?"
I could hear the man's laughter coming across the line.
Then there was a murmur of conversation I couldn't make out, but Tanner was pulling open the door.
The sound of familiar voices made me forget all about that, because there, right in front of me, were two men I'd missed a lot more than I'd expected.
"Matadors!" I called out.
"Bull riders!" Jorge yelled back.
"Cody!" Isaac said, rushing into the room to give me a hug. I was barely on my feet before he caught me up and swung me around. "You taking care of our boy?" he asked.
"Good care," J.D. said before ducking his head, clearly still talking to Max.
I just laughed. "So, is your place this nice?"
"Pretty much the mirror image," Jorge said, heading over to offer me a hug. "This is from Aubree, and she says 'you go, girl.'"
I gave him a quick hug, then waved them to the couches. "So, Deviant paid for your room too?"
"Yeah," Isaac said, sounding as confused about it as I felt. "Do you think that's who Max is making a deal with?"
"He's in the lobby, heading up," J.D. said, finally hanging up his phone. "And he said it's all a surprise. Told him I fuckin' hate surprises, but he just laughed at me."
"Well, worst case," Jorge said, "we get to hang out and watch all of you make a mess of the Pbr."
"You see the strike last weekend?" Tanner asked.
"Oh yeah," Jorge assured him. "I was confused at first..." His words trailed off. "And fuck. Casey. Really?"
Tanner nodded slowly. "Yeah. His fucking suicide wrap got hung, he was halfway off the side, and just got battered. Between the bull and the wall..."
"Those idiots should've turned that bull the moment he fouled himself at the gate," Isaac grumbled.
"Even when Casey was coming off," Tanner said, "they still looked like they were lost. They don't feel the rides! They don't -"
A knock at the door made him stop hard. I looked that way, but it was J.D. who got up to answer it.
"That should be Max," he said.
"Your rep?" Isaac asked.
"About to be our rep," Tanner explained. "Max has been with J.D. from the start. He picked up Cody when he was still with Tillman, doing denim. Now he's independent and offering management services. So, getting us all the sponsors, basically."
"But what can he really do for us?" Jorge wanted to know.
"Sponsors," I said. "If they want you to stand beside a booth and support their padding, or shoes? It means a paycheck, right?"
"True that," Jorge agreed. "And I could really use one."
"You two could come back!" Tanner insisted. "Take Peter. He's not that bad."
"He's too slow," Isaac grumbled. "He also knows it. Hell, with his bum knee, there's no way we could - "
"Cody!" Max called, interrupting. "Oh, and this place is nice!"
But he wasn't alone. I stood to greet him, and caught a flash of black by the entrance. Then something big. It took me a second to realize that was Rhaven and another guy, and behind them came that redhead I'd only met once.
Jumping to my feet, I did a doubletake, because yep, that was Rhaven, Braden, and the owner of Deviant Games, Chance Hunter.
"Mr. Hunter," I breathed. "I... Thank you for the room, sir."
He smiled at me as he made his way over. "Just Chance." Then he turned to look at the three bullfighters sitting on the couches. "Gentlemen, I can only assume you're the bullfighters."
"That's Jorge," Tanner said. "The other is Isaac."
"And you," Chance told him, "are Tanner Burns. I only have one question. Do your teammates know why you're suspended?"
"Do you?" Jorge shot back, refusing to stand. "Because if you've got a problem with it - "
"They know," Tanner broke in.
Which made Chance smile. "Perfect." And he perched himself on the arm of the couch closest to me. "Max? I think you have paperwork you need them to sign?"
"Yep," Max said, dropping his briefcase on the kitchen counter. "I have to get J.D. and Cody first."
"I'm not in a rush," Chance assured him, but he did make a gesture toward Braden. "I also hear congratulations are in order, Max. Sounds like you've jumped right in the middle of the Pbr's mess."
"Yes, sir," Max said. "I have. These people might not be like your gamers - "
"Games are all virtual," Braden said, finally speaking up. "This sport is real pain."
"Exactly," Chance said. "And I heard there's a big problem. I want to stick my nose in it." Then he chuckled. "But paperwork first."