"Barely," Wes admitted. "Might mean I can't make it to Anaheim, though."
"We'll figure it out," Jake assured them. "We made a fund for a reason, right? Just..." He patted the air. "Let me work this out, ok?"
"You can't," Gustavo said. "Look, Brazil will take care of ourselves, but even we can't handle that."
"I got a kid on the way any day now," Renato said. "I can't just throw tens of thousands around like that."
"And we don't expect it," I assured him. "I also get it if y'all ride tomorrow. Look, I know you were trying to help me and J.D., but this is our fight."
"It's fucking all of ours!" Wes snapped. "That's what they don't get. How does that poem go? First they came for something, and I wasn't that, so I didn't think anything of it?"
"The Holocaust one," Kaleb said. "Yeah, I've heard it."
"But it's not wrong," Wes insisted. "The whole point is that it's ok when it happens to someone else, but eventually, we'll all be the 'someone else.' And if we don't stick together..."
"United we stand," Ty said, "divided we fall."
"I prefer 'teamwork is overpowered,'" I told them, but the words were barely out of my mouth before I had an idea. "Shit. J.D., can you pass me my phone?"
"Yeah?" Confusion was on his face for a second, then vanished. "Right. Gotta call your dad."
"Something like that," I told him, swiping at the screen and moving out of the middle of that conversation.
I couldn't help them figure it out, not when I was the one getting all the benefits and suffering none of the consequences. But I could do something to help. The sort that meant I was going to need to lean on my newest sponsor a little more than I liked, but Rhaven was cool, and there was a slim chance she might not tell me no.
"Rhaven here," she answered.
"Rhaven, it's Cody," I told her.
"Oh, that display today wasamazing," she told me. "And Braden just about pissed himself when Jorge punched Austin. I can't wait to hear what that asshole was saying!"
"Yeah," I said. "Um, about that. Rhaven, is there any way Deviant might give me an advance on my sponsorship fees?"
"Ok?" She sounded confused. "Maybe. How much, Cody?"
"Uh, enough to pay the ten-thousand-dollar fine for everyone who didn't ride today? We just got hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct fine. I mean, not me because I rode. Hell, I didn't even know they were doing that! But these men who stood up for me and J.D.? Yeah, the PBR has figured out how to make sure this doesn't happen again. That's the only reason I'm asking."
"I can't promise that," she said. "Cody, that's like three hundred thousand dollars."
"Yeah," I breathed. "I know. And it'll be more tomorrow. But they did this for me, and I feel responsible."
"You also didn't ask them to," she reminded me. "You said you didn't even know."
"I didn't, but that whole teamwork phrase y'all have? Yeah, it's kinda like that."
"I see." She made a little noise. "I can come up to your suite tonight and we can talk about it."
"Actually," I said, "most of us are heading to a bar right now to figure this out. I have to wait for Tanner to get done with the closing ceremony, but you should come. At least see why I feel like I have to do this?"
There was a muffled sound, like she'd just put her hand over the speaker. "Hey, Brae? How do you feel about a shitkicker bar?"
"Not what they call it, and could be fun," a man said in the background.
Then Rhaven was back. "Send me the location. I'm bringing my boyfriend. Cody, I'm not safe at those places."
"You'll be safe at this one," I assured her. "I'll make sure of it."
"Then we'll be there," she promised, ending the call.
