Chapter 40
I felt like my head was whipping back and forth as I tried to keep up. Max was over at the side, rummaging through papers. Cody was watching him. J.D. was by the door, talking to Rhaven. That big guy, Braden? He headed to the table and set a bag on the top. A smaller one went beside it.
For a moment, I considered suggesting he should call Danny, the teenage bellhop, to take his stuff to his room. Granted, I didn't even know if they were staying in this hotel. But Chance Hunter? That man was powerful.
First, because I knew he was rich. Secondly?
Well, he oozed authority in a way I wasn't used to.
This wasn't like Donald Merrill's version made of bluster and yelling.
Hell, Chance wasn't even wearing a suit and he still made me want to grovel a bit.
Only the knowing smiles on Rhaven and Braden's faces kept me from trying.
Last weekend, Rhaven had convinced me she was cool. Chill, even. And the way she'd befriended Cody wasn't what I'd expected from a rep, but Max wasn't any better. Granted, I had a feeling that had more to do with Cody and J.D. than Max and Rhaven.
When Max finally got all of his papers sorted, he called J.D. over to the counter he was at. Passing over a pen from the inside pocket of his suit, he tapped places, and J.D. started scrawling. A page was flipped, then they repeated that until J.D. finally passed back the pen.
"Cody?" Max said.
Which made her head over there. J.D. flashed her a smile, then claimed a spot on the couch right beside Chance. That would keep the impressively sexy man from hovering over Cody, which was a pretty smooth move. Yet when Chance chuckled softly, I realized he knew it too.
Then Max brought three sets of paperwork over and passed them to me, Jorge, and Isaac. From that inside pocket, he pulled out more pens and handed them to each of us. "If you want to read over it, I understand," he said.
"Or we can just sign," I told him. "You haven't screwed J.D. or Cody, and I have a feeling you won't screw us."
"Would make me bad at my job," Max agreed. "And I have no intention of being bad. You'll need to initial the spaces beside the numbers. If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them."
"What's your cut?" Jorge asked.
"Five percent," Max said.
He and Isaac shared a look, then we all started signing. Yeah, I scanned the paperwork, but I didn't go over it that intently. Mostly, I was just curious what something like this would have on it. It seemed to be the standard sort of crap I'd expect - and all in legalese.
"Done," Jorge said.
"Same," Isaac agreed.
So I gathered the papers up and passed them back to Max. "Ok, so we're all official now?"
"Yep," Max said. "And I wanted you three here because we have some decisions to make. I have a few options to make sure you three keep getting paid." And he glanced at Chance.
"Ok?" I asked, aware something was going on.
Chance made a little gesture to Braden. "So, we heard the Pbr is having a problem with Tanner's lifestyle. I have an idea I want to run past the three of you, but let me make sure I have my facts right first. Tanner, you usually wear purple, right?"
"Yeah, for obvious reasons," I said.
"Bisexual," Braden told Chance. "Purple's a common symbol."
"Pan, actually," I told him.
Braden just murmured like he didn't care. Chance nodded, accepting my correction, and then he held out his hand toward Braden. "Jorge, you wear red, right? Isaac, yellow?"
"Yep," Jorge said.
"Are you three attached to those specific colors?" Chance asked.
"Why?" Isaac wanted to know.
And Chance unfurled the thing Braden had just passed him.
It took me a second to realize it was a jersey because the colors were a little distracting.
Across the left shoulder was bright red.
Vibrant purple took up most of the middle in a diagonal slash, and electric blue made up the bottom side, but the colors blended, making it a smooth gradient between them.
"Because I'd say this is mostly purple," Chance said, reaching for the next.
That one went from orange on the shoulder, through red, and ended with purple. The next he pulled out was similar, but with green, yellow, and orange. One by one, he passed them over to us.
"I have a few design options," he explained, "but these three most closely match your chosen colors. Another option is a horizontal gradient. The last one is a full rainbow, but that would make one of you the cool shades, one the warm, and one would be in the middle.
"I like rainbow," Isaac told Jorge. "But Tanner needs to stay purple."
"I can do warm colors," Jorge said.
"I look good in cools," Isaac agreed. "I can do like blue and green. You get red and yellow, and Tanner can do the purple, but I think it should be pink to blue, not red."
J.D. grunted at that. "I dunno. I think he needs pink and red."
"Good point," Jorge mumbled to Isaac.
Chance chuckled softly. "I'm pretty sure I missed something."
So Rhaven laid it out. "Cody wears pink.
J.D. wears red. But that's easy enough. We can make up a set with red to pink to purple to blue.
Jorge can have red, orange, and yellow. Fire colors, basically.
We'll give Isaac the blues, teals, and greens.
Put just enough overlap on them, so when these three stand side by side, they'd be a perfect spectrum. "
"Yeah," Braden said, "but they haven't flipped them over yet."
Which made me do just that. My eyes landed on a very large, but very familiar symbol. Across from me, Cody sucked in a breath. J.D. leaned in, but Isaac barked out a laugh.
"Deviant Rescue Squad?" he asked. "Are you calling us names?"
"I'm implying that maybe deviant behavior isn't something to be ashamed of."
"I do like the logo," I admitted. "But I'm not sure we can even wear these. They aren't official gear."
"But would you?" Chance pressed.
Jorge folded up the one he was holding. "Why? And no, I'm not worried about the colors, the branding, or anything else. I know your company, and I don't have a problem with it, but what are you getting at, Mr. Hunter?"
"Chance," he corrected again. "And I want to break into the Pbr. The demographic of the fans is exactly the age range I'm trying to reach. The conversion we've gotten from Cody has been exceptional - which I intend to use as my reasoning when I speak to Donald Merrill tomorrow."
"Why?" J.D. demanded.
"Because I want to sponsor the bullfighters," Chance said.
"Apparently, Red Bull's contract has expired, and they're now working to get a better deal.
The drink makers want to pay less, and the Pbr wants to make more.
Well, I have more. I also know how to wave money around and make people notice, but if I'm doing this, I'm doing it for the underdogs.
The ones who don't fit in, who need some representation, and those looking for an outlet where they can escape.
I want crazy. I want determined. Most of all, I want to make it very clear that teamwork is overpowered in sports, in games, and definitely in real life. "
"Shit..." Jorge breathed. "You want to sponsor us? But they won't let us work."
"They'll let you and Isaac," I shot back. "Guys, this is a good deal. Take it, run with Peter for the rest of the season, and - "
"Nope," Chance said, cutting me off. "My deal?
I'm going to offer them a stupid amount of money, but with a very big condition.
" And he pointed right at me. "I want the bullfighters who make the crowd cheer.
I want the man who is in every Pbr video with his feet off the ground.
I want the 'wolf pack,' as you call yourselves. "
"And when they say no?" Cody asked.
"Then I say no deal," Chance said. Then he waved that away and smirked at J.D.
as he got comfortable on the arm of the chair.
"Apparently, I'm as likely to flirt with you as your girl, so relax.
" Then he looked back at us. "I have a meeting with the directors of the Pbr tomorrow.
Here." And he pointed across the room. "At that fancy lounge they have for us.
I want you three to come. I want to make my case.
But before I can do that, I need to make sure you're willing to do this, to make a scene, and to listen as those assholes try to cut you down to change my mind. "
"Fuck 'em," Isaac said.
"No," I grunted, stopping my guys before they could get started. "Stop and think about this. J.D. and I aren't going to be hiding it anymore. He's coming out in Nashville."
"The event," Rhaven told Chance, "not the city."
"Gotcha," Chance said.
But I kept going. "The three of us aren't going to be popular. Ty has been working to convince the riders it doesn't matter, but when J.D. admits that he fucks men? Yeah, it's all going to blow up again, and you're talking about us wearing rainbows?"
"Fuck yeah, I am!" Jorge snapped.
"Same," Isaac agreed. "Tanner, I don't know how to break this to you, but I'm not going to be hurt if people call me names. I'm still straight. I'll still be working. I also have no problem counting to one Mississippi if anyone has an issue with it."
"They can learn, or they can hurt," Jorge agreed.
"And did you see that shirt? Rescue Squad, Tanner.
Not matadors, or bullfighters. Not even 'Arena Crew' or some shit.
Sure, they put their logo in there, but Deviant Rescue Squad?
Yeah, I can embrace being called that, because it's what we're supposed to do!
It's what those fuckers aren't doing now. "
"And he's saying he has our backs," Isaac pointed out.
"Tanner, I don't want to work with Peter, or Charlie, or Stephen.
We picked you. We're a team, the three of us, and if we can get you back, fuck yeah, I'm going to look like a whole-ass rainbow for it.
You know why? Because maybe some gay kid is watching, thinking he can't ever get into this because it's not done.
Or maybe some girl will think the colors are pretty and want to know more about the animals.
I don't even care, because this thing we're doing now isn't working.
We aren't working because those assholes have their heads shoved so far up in your sex life it's not fucking funny! "
"And I hate that," Chance said. "I fucking hate people who think any of us should follow the rules they made up, just because they said so.
I hate knowing it encourages people to think they're better because they're 'normal' or 'right' - and let's not even get into the fucking religious aspect of it. "
"No shit," Braden grumbled.
"Because my team," Chance continued, "isn't going to check those boxes, but you watch them kiss our asses."
"I'm trans," Rhaven said. "And yes, I asked for this chance. I wanted to get involved in some outreach stuff."
"Bi," Braden said.
Which made Cody duck her head and giggle. I saw when Rhaven caught her eye, getting the impression those two had talked about something.
"Yeah, he's the bi one. The straight one doesn't work for us," Rhaven admitted.
"Wait, what?" I asked.
"She's got two boyfriends too," Cody explained.
"Wait..." Isaac said. Then he cringed. "Nope, never mind."
But Braden could guess where he was going. "How can her other boyfriend be straight if she's trans? Because she's a woman. Not a dude, not a man in a dress, and shit, look at her! She's fucking hot."
"I mean, not gonna say shit about your girl," Jorge told him. "Especially not since you're bigger than my whole team combined."
Which made Chance chuckle. "He's my unofficial bouncer.
Rhaven got a little pushback, so I wanted to make sure it doesn't happen again.
But here's the thing. If you wear my logo, that makes you a part of my team too.
" He gestured to Cody to prove his point.
"And our motto is that we may be flawed, but we're not alone.
" He paused to hum thoughtfully. "Well, our latest one is that teamwork is overpowered, but they basically mean the same thing.
Mostly that we don't leave you high and dry.
No, we bring in the big guns, throw down the money, and use whatever cheat code we need to make sure we fucking win - and this is a fight I really want to win. "
"Why?" I asked him.
Which made Chance smile. Not a happy smile, and it certainly wasn't friendly, but this was nothing like J.D.'s cold grin. This was sharper - like a razor.
"Because I'm sick and fucking tired of having this bullshit used to kill people.
And that's what it does, Tanner. It starts with a word and ends with an overdose, or a blade, or a bullet.
Oh, it's never murder, because they don't pull the trigger, but they set the wheels in motion.
And this? I can do something about this, so I am. "
I nodded. "Then I'm in."
"Oh thank fuck," Jorge breathed. "We are too, Chance."
"Which means you were right," Max told him. "Now all you have to do is convince the Pbr."