I lifted my eyes to look at him through the rearview mirror. "You know, you could use this to convince her to come to finals. I bet your sister would love a few days in Vegas."
That made him smile, and damn, was that a good look on him. J.D. had this hard thing about him. From the sharp-cut line on his beard to the tattoos across his body, he did not look like a sweet and gentle sort of man. He looked beautifully dangerous, but that smile?
It was the sort that came from the heart. That it was for his mother? I couldn't think of anything more adorable. It was cute enough I had to bite my lips together to keep from giggling at him. Unfortunately, Tanner saw.
"What?" he asked.
"J.D.'s being cute," I said.
So Tanner turned in the passenger seat to see for himself. "What are you doing this time?"
"I didn't do shit!" J.D. insisted.
I decided to change the subject a little. "So, do you think the strike is helping Max or hurting whatever it is he's trying to do? To get Tanner back, I mean. Not his new business."
That made Tanner groan and turn back around to the front. "I thinkallof this sucks. I know Jorge and Isaac can't go forever without getting paid. I also know the PBR clearly wants me out, and somehow Austin is all caught up in the middle of that."
"I think Merrill's using him," J.D. said. "Maybe Sousa, but I'm voting for Merrill after the way he snapped at Cody back in Des Moines."
"And Austin keeps bragging that getting us out of the way will give him the chance to finally place well," I told the guys. "Imean, he ended up fourth back in North Carolina, but it's like he just can't believe he's not that good!"
"None of them are," Tanner said. "Casey may have been the best of that group, and he still wasn't that good - not to speak ill of the dead or anything. And Eli? He's too weak in the core, so he always tips around. Austin has no technique. The fucker trusts his upper body strength to keep him on the bull."
"Derek?" I asked.
J.D. scoffed. "If he put in some effort, he could learn, but he ain't been doing this too long. Three years, I think? He had the money to chase the rodeos, so he got his points by attrition. And yeah, he's ok, but the sort of 'ok' that needs time to figure out how to keep his chin tucked and not roll back on his pockets."
"They want it to be easy," I realized.
"Mhm," J.D. agreed, "and this shit ain't easy. That's why it works for some of us. We got a real big fight to work out inside, and the bulls let us fight them. Now, I don't know what everyone's fight is, but I know mine, and I know yours, Cody."
"Ty wanted to make a name for himself," I countered, because that didn't sound like a fight to me.
J.D. grunted like I was missing the obvious. "Rookie, Ty wanted toprovehimself, and that's not the same thing. See, some men get shit on and think we need to prove it's wrong, that we don't deserve it, and all that. Others, like Ty? They get it too easy and need to prove they didn't succeed because of their privilege. They want to make sure they're as much a man as the ones who clawed their way up from nothing. I'm the first. Ty's the second."
"Cody's the first too," Tanner pointed out. "Not a man, but she's proving she deserves this even though the boys shit on her because she sits to pee."
"Do ya?" J.D. teased. "I mean, Cody might be a shower pisser, Tanner. Unless you got a kink I don't know about yet?"
Beside me, Tanner rolled his eyes and lifted his middle finger. "Notthatone!"
Which made J.D. cackle. "Well, I ain't that kinky. I mean, unless you count threesomes, and I really don't."
I groaned. "You arenottelling your mother that, ok?"
There was a pause for just a little too long. "Which part?" J.D. asked, honestly confused.
"She means the threesomes," Tanner clarified for me.
Which made J.D. chuckle. "Babes, I'm pretty sure my mama can figure that part out on her own. She said we're sharing a room. Don't take a whole lot of thinkin' to put that all together."
"But that's not the same as her knowing about it," I insisted. "I mean, there's a huge difference between 'in theory' and giving her details!"
J.D. murmured in that way that made me think he didn't really agree, but also wasn't going to fight me on this. Instead, he shifted a few pillows so he could lean into the corner behind me. That made it easier for him to see Tanner, but didn't move him so far sideways that he wasn't still visible in the mirror.
For a while, we drove on. Sometimes, we talked about the PBR, but so many other things came up. Silly things, like favorite car colors, which led to the types of trucks we all liked most. Mostly, it was just travel talk. The sort of easy conversation that made the hours fly by.
But when the sun started to go down, J.D. shifted again, sitting up so he could see both of us. "So..." he said. "Y'all ain't scared of dogs, are ya?"
