Which let me breathe a sigh of relief. "And your head?"
He grimaced. "Yeah. Doc says I might have a little bit of a concussion, but it's borderline, so could go either way. He made me vape a bit, so I ain't gonna be riding real good. Hope you got me an easy bull."
"Middle of the pack," I assured him.
He nodded, "That'll do."
"And things are still ok from last night?" Jake asked.
J.D. lifted his hand to waggle a finger between us. "You two been worrying?"
"A bit," I admitted.
J.D. bobbed his head a few times as if thinking through how to answer that. "Well, Tanner's real sweet, right?"
"Very," I agreed.
"Cool's the word I'd use," Jake said.
"Yeah, but sweet guys?" J.D. continued. "They're the ones who don't know how fucking amazing they are. Cody, he's not pissed. He's worried he can't keep up, knows that's bullshit, and is trying not to make you feel bad for the bit that doesn't bother him at all."
"So what does bother him?" I asked.
"Me?" Jake asked.
"Nah," J.D. said, waving Jake down. "Cody, he's got that little voice tellin' him he ain't good enough. He's tryin' to get it to shut up, but it's persistent, and he needed a real good excuse for why you wouldn't think Jake's better, replace him, and all those other stupid thoughts everyone gets. So I gave him one."
"Like that I wouldn't do that to him?" Jake offered.
"Naw, don't work that way," J.D. pointed out. "If she likes you more, then she does. Sayingyouwon't do anything about it won't stop her from liking you more. But more's the wrong word."
"Different," I realized.
"Love ain't pie," J.D. agreed. "So he's good. He's just human. Ain't no different from shit you worried about, babe."
"Well, let me at least do my part to help," Jake said, moving around me so he could get to J.D.'s shit. "I'm sure you're hurting, so I can at least warm your rope."
"Mm, and keep your hands busy and off our girl, right?" J.D. taunted.
"Flirty friends," I said. "That's what I'm going with."
"And I'm damned proud of y-"
"J.D.!" The sound of Jaxon's voice cut him off.
"What?!" J.D. snapped, turning to where that had come from, just in time to see Jaxon and Kaleb hurrying over.
"The fuck?" Jaxon asked. "Ty said Austin jumped you?"
"For being a sick fuck," J.D. snarled.
But Jaxon lifted a hand. "I didn't - "
"What happened?" Kaleb asked, ignoring him. "You good, J.D.?"
"I'm good," J.D. promised. "Still riding."
Jaxon pushed out a sigh. "Yeah, so..." He looked at the rest of us. "Can I get a minute, y'all?"
