"Been tellin' ya," I agreed.
Which made Isabella giggle.
Cody kept going. "Seems the moment Austin started talking, she started recording."
And right on cue, my sister passed over her unlocked phone. On the screen was a video, and while the image was of the ground, I quickly pressed play and lifted it to my face in the hopes I'd hear over the sound system in here.
Austin's voice rang out. This time, I got to hear each and every thing he'd said to Cody. It was there, recorded in high definition. Even better, Isabella had managed to catch a shot of his face as he held Cody against the wall, making it impossible for him to say it was someone else.
"Keep that," I told her.
"Oh, I was gonna TikTok it," she said. "I mean, unless I shouldn't?"
"Not under your main profile," I told her. "Do it all anonymous. You can share it after that, but I don't want the original comin' back to you,muñequita."
"Can do," she hurried to agree. "I can tag you two in it, doing like a 'look at this' thing?"
"Don't have Tiktok," Cody admitted.
I gave her an incredulous look. "Really?"
"When have I had the time to doomscroll?" she asked. "Been a little busy!"
Ok, that was fair. Still, I wanted to get my hands on that video. "Tag me," I told Isabella. "Hell, tag all the bull riders you know."
"Ok!"
"And go back to your seat," I ordered. "These fuckers ain't safe, Isa'."
My sister just shrugged. "Yeah, but I'm not scared of 'em. I have you to chase them off." She looked at Cody. "Don't let him grump." Then back to me. "And smoke more."
"Not when riding," I reminded her. "Good way to get dead. Not into dyin'."
"Details," she taunted before wiggling her fingers in the girliest wave she could manage. "Ride good, José."
"Pain in my ass," I called after her.
But Cody was standing there with her lips pressed together, struggling not to giggle. I tried to ignore it, jerking my head toward our side of this alley. She made a little noise, the kind that sounded like she was fighting it hard, and moved to follow.
"Ok, what?!" I demanded.
"You are so fucking cute with her!" Cody tittered, spilling out all her giggles. "And she has you so whipped."
"Fuck off. She's my sister."
"Mhm. And here I thought I was the one who'd made you all nice and shit."
"Naw," I admitted. "I'm just a real good guard dog, rookie. I bite on command."
Which made her flash me a smile. "Sure explains the thing with the good boys. Now who's the goodest boy ever?"
"Fuck off," I said, but it came out wrapped up in a laugh.
But that video was playing in the back of my mind. The things Austin had said to Cody didn't feel like he was just talking shit. That felt personal. And if I was honest, it was scary as fuck. Then again, Cody didn't seem real worried about it.
That made me think she'd heard that shit far too many times.
Andthatpissed me off all over again, but I was barely up the stairs before Kaleb found me. "Ty says your bull's loaded," he panted, making it clear he'd run. "J.D., you're up."
