Cowboys aren’t easy to love, and they’re even harder to hold onto.
-Food for thought
Codie
I hadn’t been to a rodeo in so long that I forgot what it was like.
The atmosphere didn’t change. Not at all.
The bull riders were still the kings. When one walked by, you damn well knew it.
Why?
Because usually they were accompanied by one or more buckle bunnies—those chicks that were only there for a ride on those bull riders’ dicks. The more public the fucking, the better.
I guess maybe as a kid I’d been shielded from all that had gone on at rodeos.
In the stands it was grand. There was none of the sexual tension. The atmosphere was total excitement and enthusiasm.
But behind the scenes?
Yeah, let’s just say I could practically feel the air of excitement vibrating all around me.
“You okay?” Ace asked, sounding worried.
I looked up at him and gave him a false smile.
“Nervous,” I admitted truthfully. “Worried about Scooby. But I’m also worried about the fact that I don’t know him all that well. That, and my grandfather hasn’t stopped giving me death glares since he saw me arrive with the paperwork.”
Ace followed my gaze to where my grandfather had made himself comfortable in a chair next to the corral for his bull, then turned and shifted his body so that he made himself become a barrier between the two of us
“Y’all are as stubborn as old goats.” He shook his head. “He’s not mad at you, honey.”
My brows rose and I shifted in my seat to look around Ace. I found my grandfather still glaring.
“Could’ve fooled me,” I said softly, returning to my original position. “What’s next?”
“Scooby won’t get chosen since he’s an unknown,” Ace said, forward and to the point. “He’ll be assigned to a rider at random. When it’s his turn, we’ll put the flank strap on him…”
I looked at him wide-eyed. “My grandfather told me it didn’t hurt them.”
He grinned slightly. “It doesn’t. The flank strap doesn’t get anywhere near the bull’s genitals.”
I breathed a sigh of relief.
“They’ll get him in there.” He pointed across the way at a small holding pen. “There’s where the rider will mount. When the sound chimes, the gate will be thrown open. Hopefully Scooby does what he does anytime we get near him…”
“Buck?” I asked, my belly tight.
“Buck, yeah.”
I snickered.
“Did you mean for that to sound like it did?” I questioned.
He shrugged. “Seemed apropos.”
“Apropos?” I teased, tickling him lightly on the belly.
He blushed lightly and readjusted his cowboy hat.
Did I mention that he looked sexy in all of his hats?
Damn, the man could pull it off.
I never often saw him without one, and honestly, the more hats I saw, the more trouble I had trying to decide which ones I liked best.
This new, dressier black cowboy hat he wore tonight? Well, let’s just say it was pretty sexy indeed.
Ace had outdone himself.
He was in a pair of Wranglers so tight that I could make out the hem of his boxer briefs at about mid-thigh. He had on a chambray shirt that was red and white checkered, and he had it tucked into the jeans, exposing his very big, very shiny belt buckle. It had a mustang with a bull rider on the front with the words ‘TEXAS’ emblazoned on it in gold lettering.
I was fairly sure that I’d have to buy him a new one for his birthday or something.
Speaking of birthdays.
“When is your birthday?” I asked out of the blue.
Ace tucked a piece of hair that’d flown into my face by a gust of wind, and then said, “In about four weeks.” He paused. “Why? Did one of my brothers say something?”
I frowned. “No, but you would’ve told me it was coming up, wouldn’t you have?”
He shrugged. “My birthday isn’t my favorite day.”
It was then that I put two and two together.
If my guesstimations were right, the death of his parents and siblings happened four days after his birthday. No wonder he didn’t like it or really seem all that excited about it.
For once, I was glad when one of his brothers interrupted us.
“Scooby is up fifth.” Banks came walking up with a grin on his face. “And ol’ Hector there drew him.”
Ace and I turned to see ‘Hector’ glaring daggers at Scooby.
I bit my lip at the man’s obvious displeasure at the situation. I mean, I understood completely. Nobody wanted to ride a bull that wasn’t proven. Sure, Scooby looked good, but he was also quite young compared to some of the bulls here tonight.
“Why’d I let you talk me into this?” I whispered loudly.
He looked at me with a gleam in his eye.
“Trust me.”
I sighed and looked away. The sad thing was, I trusted him with everything I had.
***
I sat nervously on Ace’s lap and kept my eyes closed.
I would’ve rathered we sit somewhere that I could sit on the bleachers instead of Ace’s lap, but somewhere in between now and five minutes ago, the whole damn crew had arrived. Colt. Darby and Callum. Georgia and Nico, sans their kids, thank God. Then there was Desi. Desi who was so anti-violence that it was almost comical. I couldn’t wait to see what she thought of this mess we were about to find ourselves in.
Banks was up, and he looked as if he was in the zone.
The crowd didn’t bother him. Nor did the screaming. Honestly, it was the most serious I’d ever seen him.
“When did he start doing this?” I asked, peeking out from between my fingers.
I wasn’t sure what I was so scared of. It was probably going to be fine, but I’d made the stupid decision to look up the professional bull riding statistics and happened to see how many professional bull riders died every year. Then I started thinking about how awful I would feel if Scooby killed someone.
“When we were teens. Actually, we all did it but he was the one to keep it up when we all moved on. He’s really good. Could be the best if he put his mind to it… but something’s held him back from actually giving it his all. Now all he does is ride recreationally when there’s a rodeo in town.”
“You used to ride?” I turned my head so I could stare at him from between splayed fingers.
He grinned and pried my hands from my eyes.
“Yes,” he answered, amusement lacing his tone. “What’s really the problem here?”
I bit my lip and thought about that.
“There’s actually quite a few of them,” I admitted. “Would you like me to list them alphabetically?”
Darby, who was sitting next to me, scoffed. I shot him a killing look.
He pantomimed zipping his lips with his fingers.
I turned back to Ace who was watching the exchange with glee in his eyes.
“No,” he finally said. “I’d just really like you to tell me what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours.”
I drew in a breath then blew it back out.
Here it goes…
“One, I’m wondering if I’ll recover the money I spent on him.” I ticked off the first finger. “Two, I’m wondering what happens to my bull if he kills someone.” I held up a third finger. “Three, I’m thinking that me sitting in your lap is garnering quite a bit of attention and it’s making me queasy.” Fourth finger. “Four, my grandfather is bad mouthing me to the other bull riders.” I blew out a breath. “Five.” I paused. “I’m kind of fond of your brother now and I don’t want him to get hurt.”
He slowly clasped his hand over mine and then tugged me closer until I was so close that I was underneath the brim of his hat.
“The bull riders know damn well what
they’re getting into when they go into that arena on the bulls’ backs,” he informed me, his breath lightly brushing over my lips and nose. He smelled like chocolate and coffee. Two of my most favorite things in the world. Well, three if you counted the scent of Ace himself. He was my most favoritest—yeah, yeah, I know it’s not proper grammar—thing in the world. “Therefore, if anything happens, nothing will happen to the bull. And, if he manages to fuck some of the riders up, even more of the riders will be more than willing to try their hand at riding the beast. Which is what you want.”
I bit my lip.
“The money you spent on him will come back with time. He’s new. He’s gotta prove himself,” he continued as if he hadn’t just made me weak in the knees. “And let’s just hope, for now, that he doesn’t go killing anybody.” He paused. “As for your grandfather, he’s spooked. He sees Scooby and he sees dollar signs, just not dollar signs when it comes to him.” Then his beautiful mouth crooked up into a smile before pressing that mouth to my own. “As for my brother? He’ll be fine. He’s too ornery to get hurt.”
And when his brother came up, Ace was proven one hundred percent correct.
After accomplishing his eight-second ride, he hopped off the bull like it was a child’s ride and walked to the gates. When the bull came after him with vengeance in his eyes, Banks calmly climbed up the fence and out of the arena without a second glance.
“He acted like it wasn’t a big deal,” I murmured softly, leaning back farther into Ace’s chest and running my hand up and down his hard pecs.
“My brother has a death wish,” Ace muttered to me. “He has this innate ability to always find the worst situations and put himself smack dab in the middle of it.”
The next bull rider was up, and we all watched as the scores for Banks’ ride were displayed on the screen above our heads.
“Is that a good number?” I asked quietly, my jaw stretched as I stared at the number.
“Ninety-one is good,” Ace replied. “Really good for how long he’s been off a bull. The goal for an experienced rider is to get above seventy-five. The first rider scored sixty-four, remember?”
I nodded my head and started to drop my head back down and turn, but suddenly Ace’s lips were on the pulse just under my jaw, and he was pressing a kiss to me.
My heart skipped a beat, and then my pulse began to race.
Before I could bring my hand up to cup the back of his head, he was gone, sitting back with a smile on his face.
“Y’all are disgusting,” Darby said from my side.
“No, you’re disgusting,” I shot right back.
Darby’s lips twitched, and Georgia leaned over me to stare at her baby brother. “You know what’s disgusting? When I walk in on my baby brother getting a blow job.”
Darby’s cheeks flushed. “Nobody was supposed to be home!”
Georgia sat back in her seat with a huff.
Ace turned to his brother. “Who was the chick?”
Darby sighed. “A girl from my Calc-II class.”
Ace’s lips twitched. “A girl that you want to date? Or a girl that you want to…”
I slapped my hand over his mouth before he could finish the sentence.
Ace licked my hand, and Darby rolled his eyes.
“She’s a friend.” He paused. “That I like.”
“A friend doesn’t give a friend a blow job.” I felt it prudent to point out.
Darby shrugged. “Well, we may be more. We may not be. I haven’t exactly figured that out yet.”
“Well, you figured out how to get a blow job out of her,” Georgia muttered darkly.
I snickered against Ace’s throat, then tensed when I heard Scooby’s name being called over the loudspeakers, along with Hector’s name.
I bit my lip and latched onto Ace’s hard bicep, my fingernails digging in slightly.
“This is a family event,” I heard whispered loudly.
I didn’t have to turn around to know who it was.
Marie.
Son of a gun, would I never catch a break?
Ace felt me tense in his arms and squeezed me lightly before tipping his head down and whispering low in my ear.
“Ignore her and I’ll eat your pussy out in the front seat of my truck in ten minutes,” he growled.
His sexy drawl would’ve been enough to send shivers down my spine straight to my vagina. But the words that had come out of his mouth? Let’s just say that I was wet and would be the rest of the night.
I didn’t answer him, though, just calmly kept my ass in my human chair and waited with bated breath.
“I don’t know,” I heard someone else mutter just as snottily. “I’m not sure she’s as much a whore as she is a bitch. At least lately.”
Ace started nibbling on my earlobe, and I momentarily forgot what I was thinking.
“You would think that she wouldn’t come back after all that she did,” Marie continued. “I mean, stealing the assistant chief’s cruiser. Getting his son in trouble by blaming it all on him? Vandalizing the school. Fucking her way through the…”
Ace had finally had enough.
“If you don’t get your ass away from me right now, I’m going to tell your husband that you slept with his best friend,” Ace all but snarled.
My mouth fell open first at the abrupt jerk of Ace turning with me in his arms, then even farther at the words that had come out of his mouth.
Marie had slept with someone that wasn’t Jace?
Holy fucking shit.
Marie looked startled for a few long seconds, then got up and left before the crowd around us had even digested the words.
Marie’s friend was the next to go, and all of a sudden we had two empty seats at our back and a whole lot of people staring at them as if they couldn’t believe what had just happened.
I couldn’t blame them.
I didn’t either.
“And for anyone else wanting to know, I love Codie Spears, and she’s moving in with me,” Ace declared loudly. “And I don’t fucking care if y’all think she’s a troublemaker. She’s my troublemaker.”
Georgia snickered.
“Damn,” Darby said. “Does this mean that I can’t use your bathroom anymore?”
I licked my lips at Ace’s words, then sat stiffly in his arms for a few long seconds before he tipped his head back down, his hat once again blocking out all the light.
“You’re not freaking out right now, are you?” he asked curiously.
Apparently, the last time that he’d said it, I’d freaked out.
Which, admittedly, I had.
I hadn’t even acknowledged that he’d said it.
I opened and closed my mouth for a few long seconds, then finally said, “I love you, too,” in the squeakiest voice that’d ever come out of my mouth
He laughed, then tightened his arms around my body for a few long seconds before saying, “And you really are moving in with me.”
I bit my lip.
“Isn’t it a little too soon?” I questioned.
I mean, it hadn’t even been that long yet.
“Maybe,” he admitted. “But us Valentines don’t really play it safe.”
Georgia snickered. “My man had me moved in with him in a short period of time, too. I think it’s just an alpha male thing, not necessarily a Valentine thing.”
Ace grunted.
I forgot to breathe because while we were discussing living arrangements, Scooby had been notched into the little shoot thingie with the gate on it, and the gate had swung open with Hector on Scooby’s back.
And Scooby just stood there.
For two whole seconds.
Hector, getting pissed, leaned forward.
And then Scooby did what he was born to do.
Buck.
Oh, holy hell did he buck.
“Damn,” Darby and Ace said at once.
“Holy shit,” Georgia breathed.
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Everybody all around us breathed in deeply, every single molecule of air, it felt like, being sucked into throats all at once.
Then Hector was flying through the air so high that everybody and their brother stood.
Ace stood with me in his arms, and I practically climbed him so I could see over the tall guy who’d went a step farther and went onto the bleacher’s seat just so he could see.
That was when I saw Scooby barreling down on Hector who’d landed in a heap next to the fence.
Had he hit the fence?
Had he gotten hurt?
Was he going to ever move?!
Then Hector was being tossed up and out of the ring by none other than Banks.
Banks literally picked him up by his leather vest and chaps’ belt and tossed him up and over.
Then, before our eyes, Banks went flying.
Scooby dropped his head, lifted it up, and tossed Banks what looked like ten feet in the air.
Ace growled and started down the bleachers with me on his shoulders.
Banks landed on his feet and was running back toward the fence, Scooby hot on his heels.
But Banks made it before Scooby could get to him, and Scooby’s head hit the bars of the fence just as Banks’ feet cleared it.
Then, for good measure, Scooby head-butted the bars again, making the entire row of fencing shake.
Banks flipped him off.
I couldn’t help it.
I started to laugh.
Ace did, too.
But only after he turned and pointed at his brother, who was giving us a thumbs up.
“That was… wow,” I finally said.
Ace snorted. “You could say that again.”
Chapter 21
Professional gate opener.
-T-shirt
Ace
“Where’s your better half?” Callum asked as he bench pressed his next set.
I felt a pang in my chest at my newly acquired gym partner not being where I wanted her—i.e., by my side.
“She started work today,” I reminded him. “Remember?”
He grunted and re-racked the weights, then nodded.
“I forgot.” He sat up and stretched out his shoulders. “How’s she liking it? She started this morning, right?”
I nodded my head. “I’ve gotten two messages from her all day. She was supposed to meet me here—which is why we’re here so late—but she texted me about thirty minutes ago to say I should start without her. Something about a meeting that she didn’t know she had to attend.”
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