The moment my eyes saw the rider score, all that rage slammed into me. They'd fucked him worse than they'd ever fucked me. That? It was soblatantI couldn't believe they'd tried - let alone done - it. And behind me, the other riders were whispering in the same shock I was struggling with.
"That's got to be an error," someone said.
"No fucking way!" That sounded like Jackson.
"It's because he kissed Tanner."
That last made me turn to see Wes standing there, gaping at the scoreboard like everyone else, but his words were the onesthat made sense. That was the only reason I could think of for the shit score. Considering they'd been doing the same to me?
"Oh, fuck no," I growled - then snagged J.D.'s hat and turned for the stairs.
"Cody!" Jackson called. "Where are you going?"
"To get J.D.," Wes told him, clearly following along.
"To get the fucking reporters!" I shot back. "Because this shit? Not onmywatch!"
"Fuck, they pissed her off," Jackson muttered before hurrying after me.
And he wasn't the only one. Wes followed him, and a few others were moving our way. It was almost like a plug had been pulled and now all the cowboys who'd been around me during the ride - about five or six of us - were flowing toward the gate where J.D. would come out.
So I stretched my legs a bit. I needed to get there first, to find out what the fuck had happened, and make sure J.D. had seen that. He'd been talking to Tanner, so he must've, but I wanted to make sure he'd checked the breakdown.
Just as I reached the bottom of the stairs and the press of bodies clamoring around the arena gate, the metal opened. I saw J.D. slip through it, and angled my feet to meet him. Sadly, I wasn't fast enough. When I was still four bodies away, the first reporter shoved his microphone into J.D.'s face, but his question wasn't the usual crap we got about our ride.
"Is it true you kissed Tanner Burns during the opening ceremony?" the reporter demanded.
"The fuck?" J.D. replied.
But another reporter pushed in from the other side. "J.D. Adkins, are you gay?"
"J.D.!" I called, waving his hat over my head.
He shifted my way. I shifted his. I had just enough room to pass his hat over before yet another reporter was there, trying to get his microphone into J.D.'s face.
"J.D., how long have you and Tanner Burns been dating?"
"Really?" I asked, taking over while J.D. got his helmet-hair covered with his hat. "All of you really missed the point. All you want to know is if he kissed Tanner?"
"There has never been a gay bull rider in the PBR," a woman asked, making her the fourth reporter here in this cluster of stupidity.
"Ain't never been one who could admit it," J.D. said. "And no, I'm not gay. I'm bisexual. Now, y'all let me know if I need to explain that part to you. MeansI am not gay. I like women just fine. Happen to like a few men too. And yeah, I kissed Tanner," he said.
"Which is why he got that score!" I roared, demanding the reporters pay attention to that. "You're allsportsreporters. I see ESPN here, and CBS Sports there. Yours is Fox, and hers is CW. Now, I'm pretty sure those are supposed to be sports channels, right? Not entertainment TV? Or did TMZ offer all of y'all a side gig or something?"
Behind me, someone chuckled, proving at least a few of those riders were listening in.
"History-making is important in sports," the ESPN guy pointed out. "So, J.D., is it true? You and Tanner are a thing?"
"Yeah, Tanner and I are a thing. Cody too," he said. "And that's where y'all get all shocked, right? I mean, ya don't think a damned thing of Ty having one-nighters with every woman in the continental United States, so what's the big deal? Thought it was supposed to be one man and one woman, not one of each - or in Ty's case, one man and all the women."
"He's not wrong," Ty said, proving he was down here too. "Never got grilled about it either."
"Now explain to me," I demanded, "how the person he dates affects his score?"
"Shit," J.D. drawled. "I ain'tneverscored that low. Not even as a kid at the rodeo! They gave me a twenty-three!"
"So Speed Bump wouldn't be penalized," I said, making sure the reporters were getting this. "The bull got a fair score, the rider didn't - and J.D. should've won tonight's event."
