"If you sign," Tanner countered, "I bet you'll get a stuffed animal."
"Shit," I drawled. "That's what y'all need to be asking for."
"Gonna," Tanner said. "Plan to tell Rhaven it's part of the deal."
But Jorge and Isaac were looking at us like we'd lost our minds. "Stuffed animals?"
"Oh!" Cody said, hopping up to run over to her luggage. "It's cute!"
"I don't need a toy," Isaac said.
I jerked my chin at Jorge. "Bet Aubree'd like one."
Then Cody turned, holding out the little bull and rider. Even squished from being in her bag, that thing was as cute as I remembered. It was also just tough enough to not be a kid's toy, would make a damned good souvenir for a cowboy to buy his girl when he dragged her to an event, and the sort of trophy I definitely wanted to start collecting.
"Ok," Isaac said. "We definitely need those. Not sure how they'd make them work for bullfighters, but I'm going to ask."
"But what does this deal really mean?" Jorge asked. "I mean, they'll buy our shirts. Great. They're willing to have our backs. That kicks ass, but we need a paycheck, Max."
"Never mind what happens if the PBR says no," Isaac muttered.
"Yeah," Tanner said.
"I made sure there's a backup plan," Max promised. "If the PBR says no, then Deviant wants to offer thirty thousand to each of you for some commentator stuff. It seems they have a livestream. It'd be something like three or four video podcasts a year, using your expertise to help promote their involvement in the PBR. Basically sitting in a room with microphones on a livestream, so not hard."
"For thirty grand?" Isaac asked, nodding to show he approved.
"Could still have a job," Jorge said.
"Bullfighting would be better," Tanner pointed out. "Max, I don't like the idea of Cody and J.D. riding with those fuckers working the arena."
"But we won't be riding," Cody countered. "We'll be striking, Tanner. Big, loud, fire-starting type of striking."
But I saw a problem with this everyone else seemed to be missing. "The PBR don't like to be told what to do. They sure as shit aren't gonna be happy when Tanner and I come out after this."
"Shit, good point," Jorge said.
"So we don't?" Tanner asked. "I mean, these twoneedjobs."
"We also chose to walk away," Isaac reminded him.
"And Jorge has a wife to worry about," I countered. "Naw, y'all need the work. So, how do we help, Max?"
Max pointed at Tanner. "You give him the power to stop the strike."
"But I didn't start it!" Tanner insisted.
"No," Cody agreed. "You're just the reason for it. So make it clear you'll convince the riders to ride again."
"Try to convince them," I corrected. "Don't make it sound like you did it, but make it real clear you got some pull. They don't."
"And blame Cody," Max said.
"No," Tanner insisted. "I'm not throwing her under the bus."
But Max gave him a devious - but sweet - little smile. "Tanner, that empowers her. If Cody's got pull with the riders, then fucking with her will hurt the PBR. If the riders are on her side, then maybe her scores will get better. If she's able to stop this strike, then being nice to her helps everyone."
"There's that," I muttered, realizing Max was right.
