Page 8 of Buck This (Battle of the Bulls #6)

The barrel racers were Torrey’s second favorite part of this competition, but now a second round of bull riding for the Battle of the Bulls portion of the event was happening, and her heart was in her throat.

For the tenth time, she scanned the crowd in the bleachers, but the arena was so large, she couldn’t see past the first couple of sections on either side.

Reece had ditched her again.

God, it had stung this time. She’d told her the new friends were saving Reece a spot on the front row in the bleachers, but there wasn’t enough room for Torrey. She’d thought about reprimanding Reece but what was the point? It wouldn’t change anything. Mostly she was just tired and felt defeated.

Reece sure was different nowadays.

They’d been friends off and on for ten years, and she’d been a caring friend when she was around.

Usually, she only disappeared when she had a boyfriend, but Torrey had grown desensitized to that pattern.

One thing about Reece…Torrey had always felt like their friendship was equal on both sides and both of them worked at it, but lately, she was realizing it may never be like that again.

It cut her deep.

“Is this seat taken?” a deep voice asked from right behind her.

Startled, Torrey twisted around in her seat to find Buck. His face held a somber expression under his baseball cap with the brim pulled down low.

“What happened to your cowboy hat?” she asked.

“I dropped it at my trailer with my gear.” He cleared his throat and gestured to the empty chair beside her. “May I?”

Well, this was a change. Was he being polite right now? Maybe he had a concussion or something.

She glanced back at Raven, but she was just watching the bull riders with a soft smile on her lips.

“I guess it’s okay,” she told him. “How did you get back here?”

“I bought the ticket checker a couple beers. Some city slicker said it would work.”

She snorted and rested her feet on the railing.

“What’s wrong?” he asked after a couple of minutes of quiet.

“With me? Nothing.”

“Mmm, I can hear lies.”

“Well, that seems unfair. I love lying.”

He took a sip from a bottle of water. “That’s another lie. You’re probably terrible at it.”

“You don’t know me,” she said softly, eyes on the bull that was being loaded in the chute nearest to their box.

“That bull is named Justified,” he said, pointing at the bull. “He’s good, but he always pulls to the right when the gate opens, and the riders have figured that out. It’s getting harder for him to buck them because he’s holding onto old habits.”

“Why don’t you tell him that?” she asked.

“I don’t know him.”

“But you know how he bucks?”

“I know how all the bulls buck.”

She frowned. “How?”

“I study my competition. Them and the riders.” He took another sip of water.

“I like the baseball cap,” she complimented him before she remembered he hated compliments.

He grunted, but she didn’t know what it meant. Maybe that was a cowboy’s way of saying ‘thank you,’ she didn’t know.

“Listen, can I ask you something?” he asked.

“Uhh, I think they’re all still signing autographs.”

“What? No, I’m not asking about Quickdraw and his herd. I need to talk to you about something else.”

She sighed and crossed her arms. “Why does this sound like a break-up speech? I told you, I don’t expect anything. We made out. It was fun. The end.”

“The end,” he repeated softly. He cleared his throat and ran his hand down his facial scruff, then pulled her chair closer to his. “Listen, I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind hanging around here for the next couple of days.”

Whatever she’d expected him to say, that wasn’t it. She parted her lips to say something, lost her words, and then closed her mouth again. She tried again, “Are you okay?”

“I hate when people ask me that.”

“Okay, noted, but you are very hot and cold, and I must admit, I’m having trouble keeping up.”

He swallowed audibly and gritted his teeth so hard, his jaw twitched. “What?” he demanded, looking over into the next box.

She hadn’t even noticed they were staring at Buck This until he popped at them. One of them had a camera up, like they were taking video.

“Hey,” she said, patting his leg. “Switch me spots.”

“That’s not going to block the fucking video.”

“Then it’s up to you to ignore them. Come on. Switch me.”

He inhaled deeply and the look on his face was full of anger, but also something more. Helplessness? There was a pleading for understanding there in the depths of the bright green hue.

“I’ll stick around until tomorrow on two conditions.”

“Name them,” he gritted out.

“One, you explain to me why.”

He cast another glance at the box beside them and then gave them his back, draped his arm over her chair, and glared at the arena where another bull was bucking.

“Quickdraw said he will coach me through the next two days of this competition, but he wants you around in case you can manage me or something. I don’t really understand it. ”

She let off a single, sarcastic laugh. “Me? Manage you? You kissed me and then you tried to kill me.”

“I said I don’t know why,” he gritted out. “I answered your question as best I could. Name the other condition.”

“You switch me sides and make the rest of my night here fun, and not stressful, and then maybe I will stay until tomorrow afternoon. I have a hotel room for tonight.”

“Tomorrow afternoon won’t work. Quickdraw wants you here the whole time.”

“The whole time—”

“Woman, I will share half the purse with you if you stay and I win this thing.”

Well, that shut her up.

She blinked at him hard and then dragged her attention to the arena, where they were trying to coax the bull through the gate to leave. “How much is it for first place?”

“A million dollars—”

“A million dollars!” she yelled. “In money?”

“Shhh.” He cast another dirty look to the box beside them. There were two camera phones up now. It really was annoying. “It’s not like I’m going to win. I got a penalty tonight that dinged my score, and I have to pull nearly perfect rides the next two nights to catch up.”

“I guess it’s easy to offer me half a million dollars if you don’t actually think you’ll win,” she muttered. “Doesn’t sound like a great deal to me. Plus, I have work.”

“On Sunday? You work at a bank. Nice try.”

“Well…I have to get home to my feral cats.”

“You have automatic feeders for them.”

Her mouth fell open. “How do you know that, stalker?”

“I guessed.”

“Well…” She crossed her arms over her chest defensively. “My awesome friend who keeps ditching me is staying the entire time. I guess I could get a hotel for another night if they have rooms available.”

“They won’t,” came a deep voice behind them. Quickdraw Slow Burn was leading his friends into the box. “Hotels around here are sold out completely. You can stay in Buck’s trailer with him.”

“Um, no thanks.”

“You’ll be fine,” he rumbled as he took a seat on the other side of Buck This. “Do you mind?” he asked loudly to the adjacent box, and the six people in there all turned right to the arena and put their stupid phones down. Quickdraw was blocking their entire view of Buck This.

Quickdraw rested his elbows on his knees. “I just put in an order for merch.”

“I don’t even know what that means,” Buck said.

“I’m having a local printer work through the night to put together some designs for you and print some T-shirts for tomorrow.”

“Ain’t nobody gonna buy those T-shirts. That’s a waste of your money.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Tessa, could you pick them up from the printer in the morning?”

“My name is Torrey, and what is happening right now? Do you want me to run errands for you? I don’t know anything about rodeos.”

“This isn’t a rodeo. This is the Battle of the Bulls.

Do you realize how many people are watching this live on their tv’s right now?

This is the equivalent bull rider and bull shifter nationals.

It’s man versus shifter, and the winner not only gets a stupid amount of money, but they also get bragging rights.

They can get sponsorships and life-changing money here.

Enormous opportunities can happen here. Buck will be training with me in the morning.

I need you to pick up the T-shirts and bring them here to the merchandise table.

They will give you paperwork to fill out, just do the best you can.

After that, I need you to meet us for lunch. What’s your phone number.”

“One eight hundred none of your freaking business—”

“Four zero six,” Raven recited.

The betrayal was real as Raven recited her phone number she’d given to her half an hour ago to Quickdraw.

The audacity. Buck looked amused at whatever he saw on her face, and her phone dinged. Twice. One was an unknown number that gave her an address and a simple caption of Printer. And the other was from Reece.

Where are you, ho? Someone left the seat behind us. You can sit with me now.

“Oh, can I?” she muttered.

I have a seat but thank you for thinking of me at the end of the night , she typed out sarcastically. Send.

Buck was openly reading her text, and she yanked her phone away. “Rude. This is an A and B conversation.”

“What does that—”

“So, C your way out of it.”

He laughed. “I haven’t heard that since about fourth grade. Your friend sure ditches you a lot.”

The crowd was cheering loud around them because a rider was making it to eight seconds.

Raven snatched her phone and held it up for a selfie. “Smile you cretins.”

Torrey didn’t even have time to make sure her boobs were still in her sundress before Raven was poking around in her phone.

“Has everyone lost their minds?” she asked, grabbing her phone back.

“You’re welcome,” Raven said with a smirk on her lips.