"Go to Tulsa. Get on the bus. Chase the buckle."
"Elena—"
"But listen to me closely, Ryder." She shone the light on his face one last time, illuminating the desperation in his eyes.
"If you get on that bus... if you choose the rodeo over us one more time... you lose."
"Lose what?"
"Everything," she said. "You lose the right to know him. You lose the right to see him. I will tell him his father was a pirate who sailed away and never came back. And I will make sure he forgets your name."
Ryder felt the blood drain from his face. "You can't do that."
"Watch me," she said. "I protected him from your absence for six years. I will protect him from your selfishness for the rest of his life."
She turned around. She walked to the gate.
"The bus leaves at 6:00 AM from Billings," she said without looking back. "Don't miss it."
She walked into the darkness.
Ryder stood alone in the round pen. His horse nudged him, looking for a treat.
Ryder leaned his forehead against the saddle leather. He smelled the horse sweat and the cold night air.
He had the offer. He had the contract.
And he had just been given the price tag.
III. The Empty Bag
The guest room was silent, save for the sound of a zipper.
Zzzzzzt.
Ryder sat on the edge of the bed. His gear bag—a battered black canvas duffel that had traveled to forty states—sat open at his feet.
He was packing.
He moved with the mechanical efficiency of a soldier breaking camp. He folded his jeans. He rolled his socks. He packed the knee braces, the ace bandages, and the rolls of athletic tape.
He picked up his bull rope.
It was a heavy, braided instrument of violence. The leather handle was stained dark with sweat and rosin. It smelled ofadrenaline and fear. He coiled it carefully, placing it in the bottom of the bag like a sleeping snake.
Then he reached for his spurs.
He held the rowels up to the dim light of the lamp. They were dull. Steel. Cold.
He put them in the bag.
He looked at the nightstand.
There were two objects there.
One was his 2019 Rookie of the Year buckle. It was silver and gold, heavy as a brick, engraved with scrolling vines and a bucking bull. It was the proof that he was somebody. It was the currency of his world.
The other was the plastic bull.Bodacious.The one Leo had given him.
