"I ain't sick," I grumbled.
"Don't listen to him," she insisted. "You're fine."
"He was my friend," I said, needing to make her understand.
Yeah, this was Cody. She got me. I didn't know if it was the look on my face or something in my voice, but those words were barely out of my mouth before her arms were around my neck, hugging me hard. She had to pull off her hat, but then she pressed her face right into the spot where my neck met my shoulder.
"I am proud of you," she whispered. "You could've done nothing. You could've played this off, saying it was bullshit." Then she leaned back to look me in the face. "But you didn't. You made a scene, and I think we both know it's so Tanner isn't the only one getting shit, right?"
"Yeah, maybe."
She nodded once like that proved her point. "Good. So take all those feelings about Jaxon, shove them down into your boots, J.D., and use them later."
"Yeah..." I breathed, easing her back. "How you doin', rookie? Fucker pushed you again."
"I'm good at hitting the dirt and getting back up," she assured me.
"Yeah, she is!" Jackson said, making us both turn to find him making his way over.
I huffed something that should've served as a laugh. "She's better at staying on for eight."
"That too," Jackson said as he reached us. Then he thrust his hand out to me. "Glad to see you're finally done hiding it."
"It?" Cody asked, a clear warning in her voice.
But to my surprise, Jackson just waggled his finger between me and her. "This thing. Well, and Tanner, but he's not here to point at."
"Wait," I begged. "What do you mean?"
Jackson just scoffed at me. "Shit. The three of you have been fucking inseparable for what, a month now? More?"
"And?" Cody pressed.
But Djalu heard and leaned in to join this conversation. "We're not blind. Most of us aren't stupid."
"That," Jackson said, flashing me a devious little grin. "Kinda why I made a big deal out of trying to let Tanner know it was ok. You know, because if I said that about him, then maybe all three of you would figure it out. Polyamory's becoming more popular."
"Yeah, but being bi still isn't done in the PBR," I shot back, my annoyance showing.
Djalu chuckled once. "Is now. And so you know, most of us don't give a shit. I asked my Aussies. Don't hit on them and they don't care. Some don't care if you do hit on them." Then he smirked at Cody. "You can hit on all of 'em."
"No," I jumped in, "she can't."
"I am taken," Cody insisted.
"Mhm," Jake said as he moved to collect his gear from her other side. "Is that what you're calling it now?"
"Fuck off!" I snapped.
"She," Jake told me, "isn't yours. She's hers. I mean, that's about how that talk went, right?"
All I could do was sigh, but in some weird way, his taunting was making me feel better. Maybe it was just pushing back the hurt from seeing that look on Jaxon's face.
But this Jackson, the sweet little Canadian kid my rookie had corrupted? Yeah, he'd just moved up a whole lot in my book. Then again, I was getting the impression I was about to have to do a whole rethink of what I thought of everyone here.
"Look," Djalu said, reaching out to smack my shoulder in reassurance, "you three have been doing a shit job of hiding it."
"Could've been like Ty and Renato," Jackson countered. "I mean, still polyamory, but less LGBTQ."
