Sadly, Austin heard. "Hey, bitch! Haven't you already made enough problems for me with the sponsors?" Then he jerked his chin at Rhaven. "I play Deviant games, you know."
"Yeah?" she asked. "Which one?"
"Eternal Combat."
"Oh?" She nodded. "You any good?"
"I mean, not bad."
"Ever heard of QQ?"
"No?"
"Then you don't really play," she told him, turning to gesture for me to lead on.
J.D. chuckled and followed. "I didn't understand half of what you said," he told Rhaven, "but that's Austin. He's the one who tried to fuck with me and Tanner. Donotbe alone around him."
"Heard loud and clear," she promised.
Then we stepped into the warm-up area. At least half the guys looked up with smiles for Rhaven. Well, clearly a little money went a long way with these boys. The thing that surprisedme, though? Over where I usually set my gear, Jake had Braden wearing a glove and warming his rope.
"Thought you weren't riding," I teased as I set my stuff down.
"Something like that," Jake said. "But it seems our new friend wanted to play cowboy. Figured the worst he can do is get it real sticky."
"He's good at that," Rhaven mumbled, making me giggle.
"And Jake here seems tolikeme making his shit sticky," Braden said.
Which made J.D. turn away.
"Myrope," Jake told us. "Rope. I'm not exactly sure how you all are twisting that, butIam talking about my bull rope."
"He likes it when you tug it," I told Braden.
That was enough to make J.D. snort. He couldn't hold it back, but the sound that came out was not the laugh he was fighting. And when I looked, his cheeks were much too tight.
"Didn't know you were into that, Jake!"
"Rope!" Jake said again, then sighed. "I'm losing this, aren't I?"
"Probably," I told him. "But, there's a rumor going around that Ty's going to sign with Deviant."
"Heard the same," he assured me. "Jackson too."
Rhaven groaned. "You do realize I'm not supposed to be sharing that information with you, right?"
"Riders talk," Jake assured her. "We're just not holding back in front of you, because you made sure we don't need to." Then he shifted closer. "J.D.? You two should know we can't send the bulls out without riders today."
"What?" Rhaven asked. "But we're - "
"We're still not riding," Jake assured her. "We're just bailing instead of giving Merrill anything else to use against us. So when you see guys climbing on..."
"Noted," I told him. "We're also going to need to work out who's pulling for us. Pretty sure we're all right in a row."
"I'd offer to help..." Braden said.
"I'd prefer not to break the rope," Jake told him with a teasing smirk. "But sounds like this was Wes's idea. He told Ty..."
