Chapter 10
Bodacious. That damned bull had been coming up a lot lately.
He'd been dead for years now, and still the Pbr couldn't get away from him.
For me, it had started with Cody riding a mechanical bull on "Bodacious Mode.
" Then Jake had elected not to ride Without Ado, using the same method the cowboys had on Bodacious.
This? This was bigger.
But seeing Jake tip his head, taunting me to figure it out?
For a second, I felt like a fucking dumbass.
If he had a plan, then why didn't he just spell it out?
Then again, this was Jake. That fucker was stealthy.
He liked to slip in unnoticed, steal the best ladies in the room, or the scores, or Cody's attention.
Then again, stealing was the wrong word. It was the sort of thought that made me a very single man. Jake wasn't stealing a damned thing, because he'd earned all of it. My resentment wanted to say he hadn't, but that just led us right back to where we were now, didn't it?
Jake didn't talk shit, he didn't need the credit, and he wasn't trying to brag. He simply got down to business and got things done. This time, he needed my help for some reason, and while I wasn't sure why, I could play this game - because it was the right thing to do.
So I told the men in the room, "If the Pbr is treating us like we're disposable, we make sure we aren't."
"How?" Wes asked.
"We don't ride."
Immediately, everyone began talking. Most of them were talking at me, and in voices too loud for me to tell apart. They were lashing out, and this time it was at me.
"Shut the fuck up!" I roared, surging to my feet. "Listen! The problem is that none of us want to die, right? Some of you are already talking about going home? What is that if not 'not riding'? So instead, stay. If the Pbr wants to use us, then we'll use them."
"I'm not following," Jackson Cloutier said. "How do we use them?"
"The one thing the Pbr is counting on?" I asked, gesturing to all of us. "That we will never work together. We're supposed to compete, right? But who says we have to be enemies? Why can't we be on the same side? In Canada, we call it collective bargaining."
"Like a union?" Tim Moore asked, proving he was here too.
I shrugged. "Sorta? But that's not the goal. The point is we're all qualified. We are the top thirty-five riders in the world, but if we step down, someone else steps up. That means we need to hold our spots."
"And?" Sonny asked, looking interested.
"And not ride," I repeated. "We send the bulls out with our rope on them, and us behind the chutes. We'll all get no-scores, but we'll stay ranked right where we are."
Across from me, Jake smiled proudly.
Ok, that fucker was clearly up to something, but this time, it felt like he was on my side.
Well, our side. All of ours, and for me, that was going to have to be enough.
It also really made me want to talk to him, to figure out what was going on, but this was not the time.
I had everyone's attention, and most of them looked more confused than pissed.
"You want us to pay an entry fee, then intentionally get bucked off?" Noah, one of my Canadians, asked.
"Not bucked off," Renato clarified. "Look up Bodacious. I'm sure there's videos out there. What he's suggesting is that we don't get on the bull in the first place."
"Someone's going to ride," Wes pointed out. "I'm willing to bet most of us know who."
"Austin, Eli, and Derek," Jackson Cloutier said.
I nodded. "But what can they do?" When no one had a ready answer, I pushed the point. "Maybe those three win this weekend. They're not going to knock any of us off the tour. They also aren't good enough to hold that ranking - but think about it! What will happen when, out of thirty-five riders - "
"Less with J.D. out," Kaleb corrected.
I lifted a hand, giving him that. "Or so. But out of all of us, if only three men even try to ride? How happy will the fans be?"
"And," Jake said, finally speaking up, "we already know the media will be crawling all over that place. That means it will be in the news how we're boycotting until we get our bullfighters back."
Ah, that was the part I'd been missing. "Ok," I said.
"And if we can get the wolf pack back down there?
Then we can start competing for real. This isn't about scoring or unsafe bulls.
We make it about our matadors. Until we have the men back who will keep us safe, we're not going to risk our lives. Who's in?"
Unfortunately, they didn't immediately cheer my idea. Instead, most of these guys looked at each other as if trying to figure out what good this would do. I looked back at Renato, hoping for some backup, but instead it came from across the room.
"You new guys don't get it," Wes said. "Tanner, Jorge, and Isaac are good.
Damned good, and they haven't asked for a thing from us.
Hell, Tanner's the one who cut Casey free tonight.
We've all taken them for granted, and do you have any idea how much worse that wreck would've been if Tanner hadn't broken the rules to help? "
"But Tanner's gay," Jaxon reminded us.
"Not gay!" I shot back, sick of how he refused to let that go.
"Trust me. That fucker stole Cody right out from under my nose.
Then, he didn't try to run me off when he should've.
And you know why? Because he flat-out told me I'd fuck it up on my own.
And I did. He won the girl, which means he's fucking the girl. He. Is. Not. Gay!"
Renato just waved me down. "So what if he is?"
"Huh?" Sonny asked.
So Renato said it again. "What does it fucking matter if Tanner is the gayest of the gay?
" He looked at the men muttering over this.
"I don't know about any of you, but I'm not going to fuck him.
I'm not real worried about that little bullfighter trying to overpower me.
What I am worried about is not having his crazy ass out there to jump in front of the bull so I don't get hit. And if that's how he gets his kicks?"
"Yeah, but..." Jaxon looked from side to side as if seeking support. "He'd be grabbing us."
"He's grabbed us a million times!" Jake yelled, slashing a hand through the air.
"So have Jorge and Isaac. They've thrown their bodies over ours, but that was ok because we 'knew' they were straight?
It doesn't make it less gay, and it doesn't change a damned thing.
They risked their lives to save ours - and they were good at it. "
"And I'd rather have a gay man who can do the job than a straight one who can't," Wes drawled.
"Same," I agreed. "Personally, I'm not scared of who someone else fucks."
"Only matters who I have to," Jackson Cloutier said. "Otherwise, it's none of my fucking business. Ty, I'm in. You think Cody will agree?"
Slowly, I nodded. "Yeah. I think that woman is braver than all the rest of us combined. I think she'd gladly throw a ride to prove a point."
"I'm in," Wes said. "I support the wolf pack no matter who they fuck."
Kaleb tapped the table in front of him. "When do we stop, Ty?"
"When we get the real bullfighters back."
The kid bit his lips together and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I mean, that sounds great, but there's one big problem."
"What's that?" Jake asked before I could.
"If we're not riding," Kaleb said, "then we're not getting paid. If we're losing money, how the fuck do we make it to Nashville next? Then Anaheim? Then Vegas? The Pbr knows we're all running on a shoestring. They can wait us out."
"So we make a pool," I decided. "We start working together, because clearly doing it the other way hasn't helped any of us."
"So, a union?" Sonny asked.
"Sure," I said. "Our fee is the entry fee. Our benefits come from the group. But if we want to save this fucking sport - and our lives - then we have to at least try! We gotta do something."
"I'm in," Renato said.
That immediately made the rest of the Brazilians agree. Most of them did it in their own language, but to me, that proved their silence hadn't been because they weren't keeping up. No, those guys simply stuck together. Wait. That was it!
"Look at Brazil," I said. "They work as a pack.
They help each other, they back each other up, and they throw down for each other.
Now, a while back, J.D. said something similar, so why can't we all work together?
Make this a bit less about Australia, Brazil, America, Canada, and the other nations who don't have as much representation, and make this about being a fucking Pbr bull rider! "
"Yeah!" Jake cheered, setting off everyone else.
So I called out to the bar, "Drinks on me for anyone joining the cause!" I called out.
"A second on me!" Renato added.
Which made the bull riders cheer even more. Hands went into the air as men volunteered, and these men were starting to sound excited. Hell, I actually felt excited. It was as if, for the first time in far too long, we were finally headed down the right path.
Yet as the wait staff began taking orders and getting everyone their two free drinks, Jake left the table where he'd been sitting alone, and moved to pull up a chair between me and Renato. Smiling, he patted my arm as if congratulating me, but I wasn't falling for that.
"What are you doing?" I asked softly.
He laughed once. "I'm not doing shit, Ty. You are."
"Why are we doing it?" Renato asked for me.
And Jake smiled just a little too big. "Because you two? You're big names. You're heroes. These men want to be like you, or maybe be you. I don't know which, and I don't really care."
"And?" I pressed.
"And people tend to listen to their idols," Jake said, turning to look at me with completely serious eyes. "We need our bullfighters back, and that's not going to happen unless the Pbr has no other choice. This? It'll force their hand."
"What happens if it forces them in a way that doesn't work out for us?" Renato asked.
Jake shrugged. "Then we're fucked. But see, that's the interesting part of Ty's plan."
"Your plan," I corrected. "I just ran with it."
Murmuring, he nodded a few times. "Ok, so you're not as oblivious as I thought.
Yeah, it was my plan to start. You get the credit for it, and they're listening to you.
They wouldn't listen to me. I don't matter enough.
I kept my head down, thinking that being all serious would give me an edge. Spoiler, Ty: it didn't."
"What do you mean?"
He just tilted his head to the men toasting about living another day. "Them? They need someone to lead them." Then he wagged a finger between me and Renato. "This weekend, it's you two."
"And Cody," I pointed out.
Jake made a face. "I don't know. I think she's getting there, but with J.D. out, you two are the stars the rest will look up to. Maybe it's time you use that for good, hm?"
"He's got a point," Renato told me.
Yeah, I knew he did. Fuck, these men had just proven it, but it still felt weird. It felt like some kind of trap, like I was jumping into the deep end of something I didn't understand.
"Why?" I asked next, trying to figure this feeling out. "Why do you want this so bad, Jake?"
And for a moment, the quiet cowboy's face changed into pure rage.
"Because I'm fucking tired of being used, Ty.
We're the ones making the money. We're the stars of this show, and I'll be damned if I let Donald Merrill use and abuse us to make himself even more money on our backs.
Fuck that, fuck the shit he's trying, and fuck ignoring it because it's easier. "
"Ok," I breathed, realizing he clearly had his own demons he was using this to fight.
"But if you want to be the brains and make us the spokesmen of this, then you figure out how we're going to keep this going if the Pbr doesn't cave quickly.
We need a pool, and you, Jake Cunningham, are going to run it. "
"I can do that," he promised. "You get Cody on board, and I'll handle the rest."
"Just like Bodacious," I said. Then I did the craziest thing ever. "Pleasure working with you, Jake." And I offered my hand over the table.
He looked at it for a moment, then slapped his against it. "Better than being your arch neblesis, hm?"
All I could do was groan - because he was right.