If my guesstimations were right, the death of his parents and siblings happened four days after his birthday. No wonder he didn’t like it or really seem all that excited about it.
For once, I was glad when one of his brothers interrupted us.
“Scooby is up fifth.” Banks came walking up with a grin on his face. “And ol’ Hector there drew him.”
Ace and I turned to see ‘Hector’ glaring daggers at Scooby.
I bit my lip at the man’s obvious displeasure at the situation. I mean, I understood completely. Nobody wanted to ride a bull that wasn’t proven. Sure, Scooby looked good, but he was also quite young compared to some of the bulls here tonight.
“Why’d I let you talk me into this?” I whispered loudly.
He looked at me with a gleam in his eye.
“Trust me.”
I sighed and looked away. The sad thing was, I trusted him with everything I had.
***
I sat nervously on Ace’s lap and kept my eyes closed.
I would’ve rathered we sit somewhere that I could sit on the bleachers instead of Ace’s lap, but somewhere in between now and five minutes ago, the whole damn crew had arrived. Colt. Darby and Callum. Georgia and Nico, sans their kids, thank God. Then there was Desi. Desi who was so anti-violence that it was almost comical. I couldn’t wait to see what she thought of this mess we were about to find ourselves in.
Banks was up, and he looked as if he was in the zone.
The crowd didn’t bother him. Nor did the screaming. Honestly, it was the most serious I’d ever seen him.
“When did he start doing this?” I asked, peeking out from between my fingers.
I wasn’t sure what I was so scared of. It was probably going to be fine, but I’d made the stupid decision to look up the professional bull riding statistics and happened to see how many professional bull riders died every year. Then I started thinking about how awful I would feel if Scooby killed someone.
“When we were teens. Actually, we all did it but he was the one to keep it up when we all moved on. He’s really good. Could be the best if he put his mind to it… but something’s held him back from actually giving it his all. Now all he does is ride recreationally when there’s a rodeo in town.”
“You used to ride?” I turned my head so I could stare at him from between splayed fingers.
He grinned and pried my hands from my eyes.
“Yes,” he answered, amusement lacing his tone. “What’s really the problem here?”
I bit my lip and thought about that.
“There’s actually quite a few of them,” I admitted. “Would you like me to list them alphabetically?”
Darby, who was sitting next to me, scoffed. I shot him a killing look.
He pantomimed zipping his lips with his fingers.
I turned back to Ace who was watching the exchange with glee in his eyes.
“No,” he finally said. “I’d just really like you to tell me what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours.”
I drew in a breath then blew it back out.
Here it goes…
“One, I’m wondering if I’ll recover the money I spent on him.” I ticked off the first finger. “Two, I’m wondering what happens to my bull if he kills someone.” I held up a third finger. “Three, I’m thinking that me sitting in your lap is garnering quite a bit of attention and it’s making me queasy.” Fourth finger. “Four, my grandfather is bad mouthing me to the other bull riders.” I blew out a breath. “Five.” I paused. “I’m kind of fond of your brother now and I don’t want him to get hurt.”
He slowly clasped his hand over mine and then tugged me closer until I was so close that I was underneath the brim of his hat.
“The bull riders know damn well what they’re getting into when they go into that arena on the bulls’ backs,” he informed me, his breath lightly brushing over my lips and nose. He smelled like chocolate and coffee. Two of my most favorite things in the world. Well, three if you counted the scent of Ace himself. He was my most favoritest—yeah, yeah, I know it’s not proper grammar—thing in the world. “Therefore, if anything happens, nothing will happen to the bull. And, if he manages to fuck some of the riders up, even more of the riders will be more than willing to try their hand at riding the beast. Which is what you want.”
I bit my lip.
“The money you spent on him will come back with time. He’s new. He’s gotta prove himself,” he continued as if he hadn’t just made me weak in the knees. “And let’s just hope, for now, that he doesn’t go killing anybody.” He paused. “As for your grandfather, he’s spooked. He sees Scooby and he sees dollar signs, just not dollar signs when it comes to him.” Then his beautiful mouth crooked up into a smile before pressing that mouth to my own. “As for my brother? He’ll be fine. He’s too ornery to get hurt.”