“What am I supposed to do?” I snapped, starting to get annoyed at how discouraging he was.
I thought I caught a hint of a smile there, but it disappeared as he stepped forwards. “Sit farther forward, for a start,” he said. “You’re not in a saddle. There’s no reason for you to be back that far. And sit up. Your weight should be in your thighs, not down on your butt like that. Think of when you’re riding a horse, if you were just bouncing on your ass, you’d be in for a pretty unpleasant ride. It’s the same principle here.”
“Like this?” I asked.
“Yeah, something like that,” Larry said, sounding almost disinterested as he went to start the bull.
We only got through a couple bucks at a relatively easy level before Larry shut the thing off with a noise of disgust. “You’re doing it all wrong,” he said, shaking his head and folding his arms across his chest.
With a growl, I got down off the bull, moving off to the side and standing with my arms folded. Larry got up on the bull and nodded at me. “Go on,” he said.
I sneered at him and cranked the dial up so that the bull would be going full speed right from the start. But that didn’t seem to faze Larry, who rode the thing with practiced ease.
“See the difference?” he called.
I scowled, but nodded shortly, watching him. After a few more rotations, I shut off the bull. Larry rode it until it stilled and then looked over at me.
“You’re clinging to the thing,” he said. “Which works when you’re at the bar, I’m sure. But that’s not the way you ride. You’ve got to keep your hand up, like this. You’ll be disqualified if you touch either your leg or the bull during the competition. Trick is to let it relax and move with the bull’s movement. As you drop forward, let your arm go up. As the bull settles back, let your arm come down a bit. Not all the way down, though.”
I nodded stiffly and got back up on the bull. As soon as one arm was up in the air, the thing became a lot more difficult to stay on top of as it bucked and whirled. It wasn’t even going at its highest speed, and I still came flying off, hitting the ground hard in surprise.
“I knew this was a mistake,” Larry muttered under his breath.
I got up, feeling winded. “Come on, that was my first try,” I told him. “Coach me. Quit just giving me negative comments about my performance.”
“Fine,” he said. “Get on.” I did, and he came over and moved my legs. “There,” he said. “Hold on with your legs, not your arms. Keep your toes pointed in. If you dig in with your heels, you’re only going to spur the bull to buck harder.”
I nodded and went for another round, but again, I went flying quickly after Larry started it. He made a frustrated noise and cranked the intensity down even further as I climbed back on the thing. We kept going like that for another hour, until I was bruised and sore — but starting to make some progress.
As I pulled myself up off the floor one more time, Larry finally nodded. “Come on,” he said, gesturing for me to follow him. I did, frowning when I saw the live bull in the pen leading into one of the arenas. Was he really going to have me ride a live bull for the first time after I’d already taken such a beating that day? I wondered. But it appeared that he was.
“Get on,” he said, nodding toward the animal.
I did as he said, not even bothering to question him at that point. I was exhausted, but I wanted to prove that I could do this. I clung to the idea that he wouldn’t have me out there if he didn’t think I could do this. He was reluctant to let me injure myself; that would reflect badly on the new school.
A horn sounded, and a couple guys pulled the gate open in front of us. The bull ran straight out into the ring, bucking in a mostly front-to-back motion rather than whirling like the mechanical bull did.
It was incredible, feeling such a powerful beast in between my legs like that. I struggled to stay on top of him. It was exhilarating, like winning a fight or like-
My train of thought broke as I found myself unexpectedly flying through the air. I’d leaned a little too far forward when the bull went down, and I couldn’t keep hold with my legs as the bull went back onto its hind legs. I rolled through the fall and stayed there in a crouch for a moment. Then, suddenly it clicked: the beast was turning toward me, a look of murder in its eyes. This was no mechanical bull.
I ran as fast as I could toward the edge of the ring, jumping high on the fence and scrambling out of the thing’s reach. The handlers got the thing back under control. I sat there for a long moment, trying to catch my breath, feeling my heart hammering as adrenaline coursed through me.
“You did better than I thought you would,” Larry said from outside the ring, his arms folded across his chest. “That wasn’t anything impressive, of course. You only made it three seconds, and that’s five seconds short of what you need in competition. But I guess it’s a starting point.” He spat off to the side and then turned on his heel, stalking off.
I stared after him and then looked back toward the bull. I was going to need to practice hard if I wanted to bring home the prize money. But as an image of Vanessa swam into my mind’s eye, I knew that the bruises would all be worth it.
Chapter Thirty
Vanessa
I felt restless after spending most of the morning poring over information about how to open an art gallery. I decided to go for a walk around the ranch. If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll even see Trethan. I shook my head. I thought about him a little too often. It wouldn’t be bad if we were actually in a relationship, but we definitely weren’t.
Despite our vague plans to meet up sometime that week, I hadn’t heard from Trethan in four days. I knew he’d started training with Larry, but I didn’t know how that was going. I had sent him a couple messages asking about it, but I hadn’t heard back from him at all. I wanted to know what was going on, but I didn’t know if approaching him on the ranch was the best idea, not when Dad could come across us at any point. And, I didn’t want to seem clingy if Trethan was trying to put space between us.
It was hot outside, and after a little walking, I made my way into one of the barns. It was musty in there, but at least I was out of the sun. I should have worn a hat.
I froze when I saw Trethan was there, in the same barn, filling up the troughs with food for the pigs. He glanced toward me and smiled with half his face, turning toward me.