"What?" I asked, giving him a look that made it clear he should fess up.
"Was worried about the kid." And he turned, clearly intending to keep walking.
So I crossed my arms and rested my hip on the railing beside me. "Nope. I'm not fucking moving, J.D., until you tell me what the fuck has you in a mood."
The muscle in his jaw clenched hard enough to bounce. For a second, he looked away, making me think he was going to tell me off, but then his eyes came back.
"Jaxon." He shoved a hand over his overly crisp beard. "He said I'm sick."
"And he's a dick," I soothed.
"He's my fucking friend!" J.D. snarled, struggling to keep his voice down at the same time. "He was supposed to be on my side, dammit!"
"Yeah," I said, clasping his arm. "But he's not. J.D., I can't fix that. I can't change his mind. I can't make him see sense unless he wants to." And I shifted over, moving before him and a little closer. "But you knew this wouldn't be easy. Not everyone's going to like it, but at least now you know, right?"
"Yeah," he mumbled.
"And all that?" I gestured at his chest, making a circle with my finger. "It goes down into your boots. Use it, J.D. Don't waste it. Use it to make sure you remind these idiots calling you names that you'retentimes better than them. Not a little, but a lot, and they will never be able to keep up."
And finally those dark brown eyes of his raised enough to hold mine. "Yeah," he said, sounding relieved this time. "That's what I needed."
"It's why I'm your rookie," I reminded him.
"So let's make sure you don't miss your bull," he said. "Gonna be interesting to see how you score, too."
"Yeah, it is," I agreed.
But the moment was over. He lifted his chin, rolled his shoulders back, and stopped looking like someone had just kicked his puppy. This time, when we walked down the path together, people moved. They looked up, stepped back, and dipped their heads at J.D. the way I was used to.
When we reached the far set of chutes, we paused at the second from the center in our block. I was getting used to my ranking. I knew where I'd be, and the truth was, I was sick of it. I wanted to start placing well again. I wanted to worry about my rides, my technique, and my scoring instead of knowing I'd end up stuck in the middle of the pack at the end of the night.
"Hey," J.D. said, tapping my arm. "That's Mama and Isabella." And he pointed.
I followed his finger to the front row on the left side. That was the side where J.D. would be riding tonight, since first place always came out over there, but at first I didn't see them. My eyes scanned the people - and stopped hard on a girl in neon pink. That was Isabella, and she was wearing my colors!
Beside her, Maria was in red and black, clearly supporting her son. But around them were other fans, leaning down and carrying on like they were all having a good time. Yeah, this crowd was a lot better than what we'd had in North Carolina.
"So..." I said, nudging J.D. with my shoulder. "Looks like your sister likes me more than you."
"Hell yeah," he agreed. "Babe, Isabella knows the real deal when she sees it. And I got the right bull for tonight. Speed Bump's gonna do me some good, and my mama's gonna see me win, gonna see Tanner doing his thing, and she'll watch you come in second place."
"Hey, I could win," I taunted.
He chuckled. "Should is different from could, Cody."
"True that," I agreed as another bull came out of his chute with a bang.
The music playing was the same down and dirty sort of stuff they always used for our rides. I watched just long enough to know this guy should stay on for eight, then started looking for Jackson. He'd decided I was his mentor, so the least I could do was cheer for him, right?
First I checked the scoreboard, surprised to see a lot of riders making high seventies and low eighties. Ok, so the scores were a bit lower than normal, but Jackson's name wasn't up there yet, so I started looking at the chutes.
My eyes had just found him when Ty moved to claim a spot on J.D.'s other side. A moment later, Jake appeared, making me think those two were spending more time together than I'd realized.
"So, that shit earlier wasn't cool," Ty told J.D.
"Nope," J.D. agreed.
"He means the Austin part, not the Tanner bit," Jake clarified.
