"You..." He shoved his hands against my shoulders, forcing me back a step. "Did..." Another hit. "Not!"
This time, I dodged, making the fucker stumble forward because he'd expected me to just stand there and take it. He also wasn't nearly as fast, powerful, or intimidating as a bull. Too bad for him.
When he caught himself, he turned back around. "How's your little butt buddy doing, Tanner? He dropped like a damned rock. You take the chance to fuck him while he was down?"
"You had atire iron!" I roared, forgetting all about my plan to be the pacifist.
"So quit!" he said. "We don't want your kind here."
"And we don't have to help you," I reminded him.
"You aren't!" And he shoved up in my face. "But I know your weak spot, faggot. I might not be able to touchyou, but I'm not giving up. I've got one more chance to make this work. You may have convinced my sponsors to run, but I'll make sure you fuckers are the ones running before the weekend's over."
"Try it," I growled, leaning in close enough to kiss him. "And I didn't know you liked getting all up and personal with guys. If you want, I'll take you behind the chutes, bend you over, and make you whimper like a little bitch. You just gotta beg, Austin. I mean, you know what they say. He doth protest too much?"
"You fucking..." And he tried to swing. I blocked his arm, hooked a leg behind his, and dropped him to the ground, then stepped back with my hands up.
But Austin wasn't done. He rolled to his feet and came back at me. Isaac blocked him, pushing him back. Jorge tried to grab his arm and turn him around, but Austin swung.
And from the crowd - on the opposite side from J.D.'s family - a woman yelled out, "Do it!"
That wasn't J.D.'s sister. Or his mother. It took me a whole second to put it together, but Jorge didn't have the same problem. Just as I realized the voice belonged to Rhaven, our Deviant rep, my teammate swung.
This wasn't a little punch, nor a gentle one. No, Jorge hit that asshole with the same amount of force he'd use on a one-ton bull. His fist crashed into Austin's cheek hard, snapped the idiot's head around, and knocked him over hard enough his feet flew out from under him.
And for a moment, Austin just laid there in the dirt, groaning.
The three of us pulled in, braced for the worst. At the side, I could see the gates opening and staff rushing in to separate this, but they wouldn't get here in time. I wanted to kick this fucker. I wanted to make him pay for hurting J.D. like he had.
But Jorge simply leaned down into Austin's face. "Never," he growled, "fuck with the wolf pack. We fuckingbite."
Chapter 73
J.D. hada point about avoiding Austin, Eli, and Derek. That didn't mean I had to like it, though. After Jaxon gave J.D. his apology, he then explained to me what he'd thought gay men did. That J.D. wasn't gay didn't quite make sense to him. J.D. was fucking a guy, so hehadto be gay, right?
Yeah, and I had no room to talk, since I'd made that same mistake with Tanner. But when it was J.D.'s turn to ride, Jaxon headed up to the chutes with him. Kaleb? He was busy running back and forth, keeping us informed of where we were in the riding order. It felt fast, though. Too fast, but Cletus was cracking jokes and the fans were laughing. I heard cheers and groans, so maybe it was just the difference of being back here, where time didn't slow down for those eight seconds?
After Jaxon came the other Jackson. After him was Ty, who told me how he'd found J.D. and Tanner that morning. Jake traded out with him, then hung around for a while. Since my score yesterday had me in sixth place, I had a real long wait before it was my turn.
Eventually, J.D. made his way over with a shit-eating grin. "So," he said. "Tanner just pissed off Austin. That prick tried shoving him out in the arena. Jorge dropped his ass bad."
"And?" I asked.
"And he tucked his tail and ran back to his mama," J.D. said, giving me a confused look.
"But what's the PBR going to do to Tanner?"
"Not a damned thing," J.D. assured me. "Mostly 'cause he didn't do shit. Jorge and Isaac did."
Which made me feel a whole lot better. And finally, Kaleb came running into the warm-up area, waving back at the chutes. He was panting hard enough he could barely talk, but this meant it had to be time.
"Cody!" he gasped. "You're next. I fucking looked away for a second..."
"Shit," I breathed, grabbing my rope, helmet, and tape. "Who's pulling?"
"Go!" J.D. said, shooing us. "Kaleb and I will catch up!"
I jogged that way, knowing they sure as shit wouldn't wait for me. I wasnext?Fuck, would I even have time to strap in? Dammit, I'd known waiting back there was a bad idea. I should've at least been watching the stream or something. Dad had the subscription for that, so I could get the password and shit. But nope, I hadn't even thought about it until now.
