"Because they can't stop us now," I finished for him.
Chapter 36
I draggedmy ass into Nashville late Wednesday night. It had to be near midnight when I arrived, but then again, I'd left North Carolina later than I'd wanted thanks to my father. That bastard had cornered me, wanting to know what the fuck was going on.
So I'd made it clear the riders weren't joking around. Casey's death had galvanized something in them, and he'd be an idiot to ignore it. There had been a few threats tossed back and forth, although that wasn't new. But when he'd finished our little ‘chat’ by informing me the woman from Deviant Games wasn't exactly a woman?
That close-minded, backwoods-thinking, arrogant son of a bitch couldn't be my father. If he was, I sure hoped I hadn't inherited any genetics from him. Yeah, I knew that wasn't how it worked, but each time I talked to him made me hate him a little more than I had before.
It also gave me a whole new appreciation for the shit women went through. The men in the PBR thought nothing of throwing a woman in their bed and having a little fun. Those women? How many ended up having their lives changed forever because of it? How many babies were born wondering why their daddy wasn't in their lives?
And sure, I'd had my share of fun too, but I'd always left those women with my number at the very least. A few, I'd tried to start something with, but long-distance relationships weren't exactly easy. The ones started in the heat of the moment and finished before the passion became more than a flash in the pan? They didn't stand a chance. And so, I was a happily single man, doing my single thing, and making sure I always had enough condoms on hand so I wouldn't repeat my father's mistakes.
But a day of driving and thinking had worn me out. Even better, I slept hard. But when I woke the next morning and checked my phone, I saw a notification waiting for me from Ty. I checked it, realizing I'd missed a few messages from him while I'd been on the road.
I swiped at the screen, calling him even as I tossed off my blankets and got out of bed. He answered on the second ring.
"When are you getting here, Jake?"
"I got in late last night and passed out. Sorry, I just saw your texts. What's up?" I asked.
"What room?"
"Uh..." I headed over to the paperwork I'd gotten last night. "Twelve twenty-one."
"So twelfth floor." He murmured. "Ok, I'm on my way."
"The fuck?" I asked. "Ty, I literally just woke up."
"Then put on pants. Your timing is great. I'll buy the coffee upstairs."
"Up - " I stopped myself. "Yeah. Sure." But he'd already hung up.
I grumbled to myself as I found some clean clothes and my toothbrush. Looking in the mirror, my face was a little scruffier than I liked, but I wasn't trying to impress anyone yet. I just needed to look like a whole-ass person. Hopefully, one who was going to get a very large, very expensive coffee for this.
I'd just rinsed my mouth out when there was a heavy thump at the door. Heading over, I yanked that open, surprised to see Ty dressed like a normal person instead of the PBR's playboy. A grunt invited him in because I still needed boots and my hat. Then again, Ty didn't have his, so I wasn't sure what sort of thing he was dragging me to.
"What's going on?" I demanded. "And do I need my hat?"
"Nope," he assured me. "We're meeting with Peter McClain. You know, the bullfighter in blue."
And now he had my complete attention. "Why?"
"Because his father owns Black Hat Ranch." Ty lifted his chin proudly, waiting for me to put it all together.
"Speed Bump?" I asked, because yeah, I knew that ranch.
He nodded. "Yup, and I don't know how to get any reporters to come out here and talk to me about the shit in North Carolina. I have no clue how to make the news care about us, but I ran into Cletus, and he's playing ball. Well, as much as he can without getting fired."
"Makes sense," I agreed as I stomped my feet into my boots. "So how does Speed Bump play into this?"
"He's going to be in Nashville," Ty said. "Well, the whole damned string from Black Hat Ranch will. And you know what happened to those bulls last weekend? All of them dropped rankings. They're losing money, Jake, so we need to push the stock owners, not the media!"
Oh, shit. Ok, that was a damned good point, and not one I'd expected Ty to make. Fuck, how had I missed that? I'd even heard a few comments about the bull scores suffering because of us last weekend. But Ty? He'd used that.
"Nice job," I said, grabbing my wallet and room key, then gesturing for Ty to lead the way.
"Yeah?" he asked, heading out of my room.
