Chapter 54
Ok, it was official. I had it bad for this girl.
I was pretty sure that was mostly because I'd finally stopped ignoring it, or trying to convince myself there was nothing there. Instead, the smell of her damned shampoo lingered in my mind, making me daydream about her at the worst times.
But seeing her standing before me, with her eyes a little too wide? Yep, she did not know how to handle this, and I had to fix that. Fast.
"Hey," I said, lowering my voice. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"
"Uh..." Cody looked back at J.D. as if seeking permission.
"Don't look at me!" he huffed. "You're the one giving the orders here, rookie."
Which made her nod, but it was more of a nervous jiggle. Then she turned back to me. "Ok. Sure."
So I gestured to the side. Bull riders were still filing into the area, claiming a space for themselves.
I'd seen Austin heading toward the locker room, which made me think that was why everyone else was clustering up in the larger open space.
But at the side, there was a little corner tucked nicely out of the way.
I led her there, then shifted closer and dropped my voice. "Hey, are we good?"
"Um..." She pulled in a breath and lifted her chin. "I was drunk, Jake."
"Well aware," I assured her. "Thing is, I don't want to be wondering if I fucked up and end up distracted when I'm about to ride. I can only guess the same is true for you, so let me lay something out there for you?"
"Ok?" She sounded a little too wary.
"We," I said, reaching up to clasp her arm, "are friends. I respect the hell out of you as a bull rider. I'd like to think you don't hate my guts for driving you home, right?"
"No, I don't," she said, and finally those pretty blue eyes of hers lifted enough to find mine.
Which made my lips curl into a smile. "Good. Ty told me we should talk before we ride. I mean, I was going to stick my head in the sand and be an idiot about being embarrassed, but yeah."
Ok, I hadn't planned on that. I had planned on avoiding her until we had a moment to actually discuss things, just to make sure I hadn't taken anything wrong.
And yeah, Ty had said to discuss it before riding, but that was because he said she'd tie herself up in knots if I didn't. This way, I took the blame instead of her.
And before my eyes, Cody's entire body relaxed. Slowly, she nodded. "Yeah, I'm embarrassed too, and everyone saw. I mean, what was I thinking?"
"I think it had something to do with me having dimples," I teased.
She glanced away, but the little giggle proved I'd said the right thing. "Yeah. Sounds like me."
"And a whole lot of whiskey," I added. "That tends to lower some inhibitions.
Sometimes too many, so I just wanted to make it clear I am not offended at all that the best bull rider in the Pbr, and the most beautiful woman I've seen in a long time, decided my dimples are cute.
" And I rubbed her arm again, doing my best to make it casual and friendly.
"I'm just..." She paused to bite her lips together. "They're doing a thing today."
"J.D. and Tanner?" I asked, making sure I was keeping up.
She nodded. "Yeah. It's been a long time coming, and I don't want to fuck it up."
"Then we'll make sure you didn't," I promised. "And we'll make sure you show J.D. up on your bull."
"Shit," she said around a little laugh. "Jake, he drew Speed Bump."
A sigh fell out before I could stop it. "Ok, which means I'm not winning tonight."
"He needs to," she said. "He may also need some backup, because this could go bad."
"I definitely have his back," I promised. "Cody, in full disclosure, I may have interrupted them Wednesday night. I was waiting to make sure they knew you'd had a lot to drink - "
"And to tell them I kissed you," she mumbled.
I rocked my head from side to side, neither agreeing nor negating that. "That was more so J.D. didn't kill me. Mostly, I wanted them to make sure you didn't slip in the shower or anything."
"I wasn't that drunk," she grumbled.
I had to glance away but the chuckle still slipped out. "No? Well that's good to know." But I rubbed her arm again. "So, still friends?"
"Yeah," she agreed.
"I can still pull for you when you need it? And maybe you'll return the favor for me?"
And a little smile appeared. "Yeah."
"Good." Then I jerked my head back to our gear. "Then let's get back, because I have one more thing to do before the opening ceremony."
"Yeah..." And she turned that way with me, but before we'd even made it a step, she asked, "Jake, maybe we can talk more tonight?"
"Any time you want," I assured her. "Hell, I already gave you my number, cowgirl. Try using it sometime."
"Hitting on my girl?" J.D. asked, clearly catching the end of that.
"Yours?" I asked, all too aware of his rant about that exact word the other night.
He lifted his chin, looking at me from under his black hat. "Today, we're at the Pbr, Jake. Cody is my rookie. Mine, and that is not up for debate. What you do with her at a bar? That's a whole different thing."
"Gotcha," I said, but I was starting to figure this guy out. "And speaking of that, I need to talk to the sound guy. Make sure I have the right dance music for my bull." I smiled at Cody. "I'll be back. Keep an eye on my gear?"
"Always," she said.
Damned if that didn't make my guts do some stupid things. I wasn't sure if this counted as butterflies, but it was definitely hard to ignore. The way she'd said that was as if it had been a given. As if she really didn't regret what she'd done when drunk, and that?
It gave me hope.
But I'd shown up early to make sure I had my new sponsor stuff approved and ready to go. I'd drawn my bull, talked to Cody, and now I had one more thing I wanted to get done. Not had to, but wanted to, and yet I had a feeling this was going to be just as important.
I found the stairwell and hurried up it, whispering a prayer in my mind that Donald Merrill wouldn't be up here. When I came out at the top, I paused for a moment, thrilled to see it was just Clay and another guy in the production boot at the top.
"Hey, Clay," I said, heading that way.
Slowly, he turned his chair to face me. "What do you want this time, Jake?"
"Music," I said.
Which made him sigh heavily. "Again?" Another sigh followed that, then he looked over at the guy. "John? Are you heading downstairs any time soon? I am in real need of a coffee, and looks like I'm stuck for a bit now."
"Buy me some nachos and I'll go right now," the other guy said with a smirk.
Clay leaned forward so he could pull out his wallet, then passed over a twenty-dollar bill. "Biggest coffee you can find? My flight was a redeye."
"Got it," John told him, pausing to smack my arm on his way past. "Hope you ride today, Jake."
"Same," I told him, waiting until the door closed behind him before turning to my brother. "Clay, I really do want a song."
"Are you riding?" he asked.
I grinned. "Oh yeah. The wolf pack is back, so that's the plan. I mean, unless they fuck us over again."
So Clay turned back to his laptop. "Ok, what song?"
"For Cody Jennings you need to play America's Sweetheart."
He gave me a confused look. "That's not country."
"Close enough," I assured him, "and AC/DC isn't country either."
Clay made a note. "Ok, I can do that. Just so you know, this one isn't on our usual play list. I'll have to go through it to find an eight second clip of it, so you'll owe me."
"Ok?" I asked. "What do you want?"
"I want to know what's going on," he said, lowering his voice. "Jake, that strike? It rattled Dad. He was frantic, trying to figure out how to get men back on bulls because the Pbr was bleeding money."
"Good," I said.
"Yeah..." He leaned to check the door, then relaxed back into his chair. "Look, it sounds like that game company sponsoring Cody? They strong-armed him into putting Tanner back on the dirt. He didn't say what threats they used, but it would've been ok."
"Except?" I asked, catching that caveat.
"Well, Dad wanted him back after Casey Davis died," Clay explained. "So it was a win-win sort of thing at first."
"Wait, he did?"
Clay nodded. "Getting the regular bullfighters back was pretty much his only option. But then, during the break? Yeah, stock contractors freaked the fuck out. They were threatening to sue for breach of contract and pull their stock. I'm talking the big names, too."
"Speed Bump," I said. "Yep, I know about that. Don't tell Dad, but Ty and Peter McClain were in the middle of that."
"Shit," Clay breathed. "Ok, that makes more sense then. But yeah, that pressure convinced Dad he had to get Tanner, Jorge, and Isaac back. Cletus was pushing too, so when Deviant made their sweet deal?"
"How sweet?" I asked. "Oh, and in full disclosure, I just signed with them."
"Nice!" Clay said. "Well, Deviant bought signage on basically everything, is sponsoring a few shows, and it's the sort of deal Dad's not used to seeing."
"So what's the problem?"
"Well, Sousa and Haynes told him to watch himself. They said he was being a dumbass. Not in front of Deviant or anything, but when they were talking about what they needed. Dad bitched about how they were ganging up on him, and how no one respects tradition anymore, and that sort of shit."
"Which makes it sound like he's being pushed out," I realized.
But Clay made a face. "More of a disagreement about this. Jake, the judges? They want Tanner gone too. They were pissed about some gay guy working in the P-B-fucking-R."
"Dad said that?" I asked, needing to be sure.
"No," Clay assured me. "I overheard them after the last event. There was a big meeting over how the Pbr was going to handle Casey's death. I guess Cody Jennings made a stink on the news, and it hit the organization hard."
"It should've!"
"And Casey's family is suing," Clay added. "Millions, Jake. Cody said enough there's no way we can win. It's going to get settled, and it just might bankrupt the Pbr."
"Which," I realized, "fucks Dad's record as president. So that's what he's pissed about?"
"Both things," Clay said. "I mean, he's pissed about his record going to shit, but he blames the changes. The bleeding hearts who don't understand this is a men's sport, that it's not meant to be soft, or easy, you know?"
Which sounded just like Austin. Maybe those two were talking more than I wanted to accept.
"But everything should be ok now, right?" I asked.
Clay shrugged. "I honestly don't know. Dad feels like he was forced to accept this, and you know how he gets. He's pissed that his own side - the other directors - turned on him. And when he gets like this, he lashes out."
"Which means Cody's going to get it."
"Or anyone else who gets in his way," Clay agreed. "So since you're asking for music for her, maybe you should give that woman a heads-up?"
"Yeah," I breathed. "Fuck. I was hoping for a good weekend."
"Then maybe try winning," my brother taunted.
"I would," I said, "but I happen to know J.D. Adkins drew Speed Bump. I also know something else is going to piss Dad off."
"Care to share?"
I chuckled. "Well, let's just say someone's planning on coming out this weekend."
Clay sighed. "Well, fuck."