Page 24 of Buck This (Battle of the Bulls #6)

The buzzer sounded harshly signifying the end of the eight seconds, but the rider had been on the ground since two-seconds in.

He was scrambling for the fences while the bullfighters were trying desperately to keep Buck This’s attention on them.

There were five of them, working as a team to draw his attention.

The event had brought in even more pickup men, gatemen, and bullfighters for tonight’s final event. She was fairly sure that was because of Buck This and his aggression issues, but she could be wrong.

The box was going crazy cheering for him, but for Torrey, she couldn’t feel a second of relief until two men on horseback got a rope around Buck This’s neck and dragged him through the exit gate. Quickdraw and the boys would meet him the second they had him back there.

She clapped and hugged Raven, and they jumped up and down together cheering when they announced the score for his ride.

Ninety, and the commentator was explaining the score had been lower for Buck This Storme tonight because he’d bucked the rider off so early.

“Too easy,” Raven said over the noise from the crowd.

Her proud smile probably mirrored Torrey’s right now.

“Go meet your man,” she said. “I’ll text you the second they announce the final results.

There are five more bulls to buck before we know who is taking this thing. ”

“Okay! I have my phone turned up,” she said, clicking the volume on the side of her phone before she shoved it back into her pocket. “Do you think it’s enough? Is ninety enough?”

Raven tried to stifle a smile. “We aren’t jinxing anything.” The wink she gave Torrey said she was hopeful though.

Torrey bolted out of the box and down past Gary Wade.

“He did good!” Gary Wade called.

“So freaking good!” she cheered as she kept running.

“He’s already Changed and in the recovery room,” Quickdraw said as she made it to him.

He angled his body in front of the media and made room for her to get past them.

The second she rounded the corner into the recovery room, Buck This stood up and caught her up in his hug.

“Ninety,” she said breathlessly, hugging him so tight.

“Is it enough?”

“We don’t know yet. I wish they had a tv in here!”

“They have one in the rider’s locker room, but no one is supposed to be hanging out in here for long. It’s just to dress quick after a Change.”

“Well, we’re going to stay in here as long as we want,” she murmured, searching on her phone for footage of the event.

He pulled a T-shirt over his head and pulled his cowboy hat on and then grabbed her by the hips and eased her down onto his lap, then leaned against the wall. He pulled her hand up to his chest, and she felt the fast pounding of his heart.

When she looked back up to his face, he was smiling.

“You had fun, didn’t you?”

“First time in two years.”

“You feel lighter?”

He nodded.

Torrey leaned in and kissed him, and his arms tightened around her. God, she’d never felt so safe with another person.

“That may have been the end,” he murmured. “But thank you.”

Torrey frowned, confused. “Why are you thanking me?”

“For doing that interview. For explaining. For giving people a chance to understand. For giving me a shot at tonight.”

She smiled and kissed him again, softly this time. When she eased back, she told him, “I’d do it again just to see you smiling like this.”

“You were supposed to run,” he murmured softly.

“Blood Lust just got ridden,” Quickdraw announced from around the corner. “The rider scored eighty-four. Not enough.”

“Not enough for what?”

“Finals. Justin Thorton rode Too Much Baggage for an eighty-eight and his scores were higher for the rest of the event too. So far, it’s Justin for finals.”

His unspoken words were loud though. Cobalt hadn’t ridden yet. That was who he wanted.

“Bucked off,” Quickdraw announced.

“Bucked off who?” Buck This asked.

“Death To All.”

Buck sat up and his face went serious. Oh, he must’ve been a contender.

Quickdraw was quiet.

“Quickdraw?”

“Judges are taking their time,” Quickdraw said.

“Hey, he isn’t taking interviews. You can’t go in there.

What? I don’t care. Fuck off.” There was another few seconds of silence and then, “Eighty! He was missing the height and bucked in the same direction almost the whole time. Eighty isn’t enough. You are still in first.”

Buck This clapped once and eased her off his lap, paced the small room. “Who’s up?” he asked.

“You know who.”

Cobalt’s turn on Iron Will.

“Come on,” Torrey muttered under her breath. “Ride him.”

She knew Buck needed this. He had a vendetta. What Cobalt had done had left a gash on Buck’s soul, and the only cure was vengeance.

He squatted down as the seconds of silence ticked by. Torrey stared at the old school clock on the wall and tried to imagine what was happening as the crowd outside cheered. The stadium went up in an uproar, and Quickdraw burst into the room.

“What?” Buck demanded, standing.

Quickdraw was staring at his phone, wide-eyed. “Hang on.”

“Did he ride him?” Buck asked.

“Hang on.”

“Did he ride him or not?” Buck asked, trying to see the phone.

Quickdraw showed him.

“Oh, fuck, he did it. He rode him out.”

Buck’s hands went to his hair as he watched the phone, and Torrey just had this feeling…she had a feeling she needed to capture whatever was happening.

She lifted her phone and put the video on, and just in time.

A slow, wicked smile spread across Buck’s lips and he and Quickdraw locked eyes and nodded. He backed up a few steps and rested his shoulders against the wall, eyes on Quickdraw.

“He gets it,” Quickdraw said, swinging his attention to Torrey.

“He’s going to get his match-up, and that cheering,” he said, jamming his finger out toward the arena.

“It’s not for Cobalt. It’s for the matchup the crowd wants.

They’re hyping it up on the big TV now.” Quickdraw arched his dark eyebrows. “That cheer is for Buck This Storme.”

Buck was looking at the corner of the room, the smile still faint on his lips. Torrey looked, but there was nothing there.

Buck nodded once at the corner, and chills rippled up Torrey’s spine.

Buck strong.

She could just hear the whisper.

Buck’s gaze drifted to her, and he inhaled deeply, and that smile got bigger on his lips.

Nothing needed to be said here in this room. She knew. She could feel the readiness coming off him in waves.

Everyone here knew how big this was.

How life changing.

Everyone knew what was at stake. It wasn’t just the money. It was pride. It was doing something big in his brother’s name. It was taking his life back.

It was the turnaround.

“I’m going to see if they need you back out there for the fanfare, or if they’re going right into finals,” Quickdraw said, and left them alone.

“It’s your time,” she murmured softly.

Buck nodded slightly.

He knew. Oh, he knew.

Quickdraw appeared around the corner. “We’re going right into it. No interviews, no fanfare. They’re riding the high from the crowd.” He grinned and asked it again. “You ready?”

And just like before the last buck, Buck This Storme said, “I’m ready.”

And there was weight to it, she could tell.

He wasn’t just ready for this ride.

He was ready to move on.

He was ready to heal.

He was ready to pay tribute to his brother.

It all started now. Here. In this arena, in front of thousands of fans. It started with ghosts in the corner, and Torrey believing more in him than she had ever believed in any man.

It started with a make-shift team that was determined to aim him in the right direction.

After everything he’d been through, Buck This Storme was ready to become the man he was meant to be, scars and all.