“Well...” He swallowed nervously and edged away from Travis. “You know. No Man’s Land.”
That bull. Lord help him, if he had a gun— Travis had never wished ill on any animal, but that bull wasn’t an animal. He was the Devil in bovine form. Why were they talking about it?
“Randy, I swear, I’m gonna give you one more chance to answer the damn question.”
The look Randy was giving him—scared and worried together—wasn’t helping. “You don’t know? She didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?” Now Travis was as nervous as Randy looked.
“She’s going to ride No Man’s Land tonight after the long gos! Like, in an hour! She’s probably already gone in the long!”
Nope, Travis concluded, he was dreaming. Because no way, no how was June going to get on that bull. She knew what that animal had done to him, to Mitch. She wouldn’t risk it.
Would she?
Travis tried to punch Randy’s arm, but the kid was already up and backing out of range. “No, I’m serious! Mr. Soleus has had her doing interviews for the last two days—she says she’s going to ride that bull and give the money to Mitch!”
She was going to ride that bull for Mitch? Travis rubbed his eyes, now actively hoping this was a dream. Any second now, he would wake up.
It didn’t happen.
“Jeez, Travis—and you aren’t even going to be there? Who’s working her ropes?”
“Uh...” He stumbled to his feet and turned on the TV.
The announcer’s voice filled the room. “—a 78 for that pretty little lady. Jimbo, can you believe she’s going to give No Man’s Land a go?”
“Seeing is believing,” Jimbo replied. “Here’s what the talented June Spotted Elk had to say about No Man’s Land earlier.” Before his eyes, some unknown interviewer shoved a microphone in June’s face.
“I’ve seen the tape on this bull and I know I can ride him,” she said. She looked horrible—eyes ringed in black circles, lips pale. She looked like she’d been sitting in a waiting room for days. “And when I do, I’m donating the entire bonus to the Mitch Jenner Trust Fund, care of the TCB. If any of the viewers want to contribute, they can go to the TCB website and go through the links there. This is for Mitch.”
“You really think you can ride this bull?”
She had the nerve to smile at the camera, like she was flirting with the world. “His name is No Man’s Land. That leaves a lot of room for interpretation, don’t you think?” Travis swore she winked.
No. No. He shook his head. It wasn’t going to work out—it would never work out where that bull was concerned.
Jimbo was talking again. “Danny, she’s one determined gal. She’ll be taking on No Man’s Land in just under an hour, so stay with us here on ESPN!” And the screen cut to flashy graphics of that damn bull and June.
She had her own graphics.
Travis snapped the TV off with enough force that the button broke. Just under an hour. He really didn’t know where he was or how long it would take to get there. “Randy—I need to get to the arena. Now.”
“To work her ropes?”
“No, you idiot. To keep her off that bull.”
* * *
AFTER THE LONG GO, June headed back to her dressing room. It was just a bathroom that no one else was allowed to use. Mark had made sure she had a place where she could get her head in the game.
A 78 wasn’t great, but she’d made the time on that bull—Beef Frank—and that was enough to keep her in the running. And that had been a good draw. Good draws here at the finals were ten times worse than Hallowed Ground had been all those months ago. She’d come a long way since that first ride. Enough to keep her in the chase for the money.
But she couldn’t think about the chase right now.
No Man’s Land was waiting.
And if she survived the bull, Travis was waiting. She wasn’t sure which one would be more dangerous to her long-term well-being.
She needed to focus. She went through her entire preride ritual, rosining up her rope until it practically glowed superblack.
Her mind almost cleared. But not quite.
No matter how many times she ran the rosin over the braid of the rope, she couldn’t get Travis’s face out of her mind.
He’d been little more than a zombie when she’d pulled him out of the hospital to kiss him goodbye and tell him that, no matter what, she loved him. She wasn’t sure if he’d heard her. He had mumbled something about after her ride, things would be different, but she was sure he hadn’t really known how much.
Focus, she scolded herself. Mitch needed this. That was the important thing right now. She couldn’t let what happened to Travis happen to Mitch.
She redid her braid, looping the tie around her belt a few extra times as she tried to block out the vision of Mitch’s gurney wheeling out of the ambulance. The only part of Mitch she could afford to think about right now was the 6.74 seconds he’d managed. Just the tape of his ride—and the others.
No Man’s Land’s hind legs had cleared a good ten feet in the back, and then dropped down so far that his haunches had scraped the ground. She needed to find the balance to keep her head from smacking against the bull—that was how the guy after Travis had wound up in the hospital. No Man’s Land had knocked him cold and ground him into the dirt before the bullfighters could get to him.
That wasn’t how June would go down. She was going to land on her feet. She always did.
Heavy metal music seeped into the bathroom from the arena. The long gos were done. She felt a little odd—she had no idea what her competition had done or where she stood in the rankings—but, really, right now, those guys weren’t her competition.
She checked her spurs’ ties again, and then her braid. This was it. She was ready. Confident that everything was as locked down as it was going to get, she turned to go.
But she wasn’t ready for what was waiting for her.
Less than a foot away, Travis stood glowering at her. She hadn’t heard him come in—but then, she never did.
Oh, he was so mad. Mad and worried and exhausted, but mostly mad. She needed to talk fast, before he got started. “Babe—”
“No.” He looked like hell, but he sounded as sure as he ever had. “You are not getting on that bull.”
How had he found out? She thought she’d been in the clear—he hadn’t let anyone turn on the television, and Mark had kept his word. Someone had squealed.
“I can do this, Travis.” She tried to pivot around him, but he counter-stepped, keeping his body between her and the door.
“Don’t do this,” he begged, and she heard the pain in his voice as it wavered.
“I have to—for Mitch.” That’s what she’d been telling herself for two and a half days. She had to do this. It would be okay. If she believed it enough, it was bound to come true. “I have to do it for me.”
“That bull will destroy you.”
Echoes of an argument they’d had back at the beginning came back to her. “I’ll ride what I draw, Travis. That’s always been the deal. It’s never mattered if it was some green bull or No Man’s Land.”
“But you didn’t draw this bull, June. You didn’t draw him.”
“That doesn’t change things,” she told him even though a small part of her realized he was right. “I’m a bull rider. I’m going to ride a bull. This isn’t about you, Travis. It never has been.”
He wasn’t buying that—not that she’d ever really thought he would.
“Isn’t it? Aren’t I important, June?” He grabbed her arms, pulled her in tight and kissed her. Not a loving, tender touch; not a hot, sweet moment of need; but a gesture of possession. A gesture of ownership. So when he broke away, the terrified words that came out of his mouth seemed even odde
r. “Don’t I get a say?”
“Mitch needs me. Caroline needs me.” The harder he held on to her, the weaker her excuses seemed, but she wasn’t going to back down. She wasn’t going to let Mitch’s bills drag Caroline under. Not while she could help.
“To hell with them.” His fingers dug into her biceps, and for a second, she thought he really was going to haul her off and lock her away, caveman style. “I need you.”
She tried to jerk out of his grasp—and failed. “It’s too late to back out now.” She could see those headlines, too—the lady bull rider got cold feet. “I have to do this—and I’m going to.”
He held her arms even tighter. “No, you’re not. You can’t do this, sweetheart, and it’s stupid-crazy to try.”
Not since the very beginning had he told her she couldn’t. “Look, I know the risks.” He snorted in disbelief. “But I can do it. I just... I just want you to believe I can do it. Believe in me.”
The look of anguish that rolled over him hit her like a slap. “What makes you think you can, huh? I couldn’t, damn it. And I’m not going to stand by and watch you get killed.”
All of her anxiety flipped on her in a heartbeat. Suddenly, she was mad—freaking furious. This was exactly why she had to ride this bull—to prove that she could. “How dare you tell me what I can and cannot do?”
“I dare because I love you.” His voice was dangerously soft and gentle. “I dare because you love me.”
Whatever argument she was going to make got stuck in her throat. He’d never said the words out loud before. If she were a normal girl in a normal situation, she’d throw her arms around his neck and kiss the hell out of him. But because he’d thrown those words down in the middle of a fight, she couldn’t even come up with a normal response.
“Don’t you love me?” Something flashed in his eyes and was gone. Less soft and gentle, but still dangerous. For the first time, she was afraid of him. “Or maybe you don’t. Maybe I’m not as important as the bulls are. Maybe I never was.”
“Travis—”
“If you loved me, you’d walk away with me, June.” This time, he looked scared of what she would say. “Not walk away from me.”
“I’m not walking away from you, Travis. I have to ride this bull and then—”
A shadow of pain crossed his face. “Are you telling me that the bull is more important than I am?”
“That’s not fair!” She knew immediately that it was the wrong thing to say.
“Not fair? Let me tell you what’s not fair, sweetheart. It’s not fair to be in love with a woman who’ll always put herself in front of us.”
The pain in her stomach cut like a knife, but she wasn’t about to let him guilt-trip her. Not when she’d come this far. “Yeah? Well, it’s not fair to be with a man who’s always trying to hold me back, who doesn’t believe in me.”
The look on his face said it all. It was the worst thing she could have said to him and she knew it.
“June?” Mark called into the furious silence that took hold of them. “It’s time.”
It was time. She had to choose.
“Babe, please, all I need is five minutes. Just let me show you I can do this thing, and then we—”
“No,” he cut her off. Then he was pushing past her. “We can’t.”
And he was gone, leaving nothing but a hint of panic and Old Spice behind.
She could feel the hysteria swirling just below the surface. She was getting damn tired of people—of him—thinking she couldn’t do this. She’d earned her place at the table, by God. She rode bulls—any bull, anytime.
She could ride No Man’s Land. No one—not even Travis—was going to stop her.
“June?” Mark poked his head in, looking guiltier than a promoter had a right to. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Yes.”
She’d better be sure. There was no room in the arena for doubt. Doubt got a girl killed.
As she and Mark walked down the tunnel to the arena, music blared—a song about strippers—and the lights began to flash.
Seriously? She was no stripper. Her blood began to boil, and she let it. Anger was good. The adrenaline gave her a little more of that precious focus.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the Total Championship Bulls presents the top-ranked bull in the world, No Man’s Land!”
Sure, she thought, smothering down the last of the pain that seemed to start midchest and radiate out. Give the bull top billing.
The crowd was eerily quiet, and the silence seemed to echo off the cavernous arena. No doubt most of these people had seen Mitch’s wreck— either in person or on the replay. Some people halfheartedly clapped as the announcer screamed out her name.
Well, she’d show them. She’d show them all.
Focus. She didn’t know who was working her ropes—she had been so busy with the hospital and the media that she hadn’t gotten to meet any of the pro riders, except for passing them going to and from interviews. But a few guys were up there. One of them was praying.
“Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name,” he said as he braced her when she swung her legs over the rail.
Another guy—couldn’t be over twenty—joined in as he pulled her rope. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done—” Like she was receiving last rites. Like she had less than eight seconds left. Like they agreed with Travis.
Focus! This isn’t about Travis. This isn’t even about Mitch. This is about you and a bull, so get your head in the game!
As if it could sense her weakness, No Man’s Land reared up a good eight feet or so in the chute. And her rope wasn’t even set!
“Whoa!” But the guy who was praying had her by the vest and kept her from sliding off the back and under those hooves.
“Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.”
This was worse than last rites. They were treating her like she was already dead and just didn’t know it yet.
Well, screw them. She looked at the guy holding her rope. “Pull it,” she ordered over the praying, “and I mean tight.” He gave it a halfhearted pull. “Tighter, damn it! Are you trying to get me killed?”
“No, ma’am. Trying not to,” he muttered, and then he pulled with what looked like everything he had.
“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us...”
She had her grip. She needed to get out of the chute before this monster crushed her in it.
Forgive me, Travis.
She nodded her head.
If riding bulls like Beef Frank or Twisty Tie were like the world spinning off its axis, this was like the world being sucked into a black hole of nothing but pain.
One.
Holy hell, No Man’s Land kicked so hard that her crotch slammed down onto her rope with enough force to rip her breath away.
Two.
In an instant, the black hole turned inside out as the bull reared back. Trying to find the center, June instead found herself nose-to-neck. But just when she thought she was going to smack into him, the bull shifted.
Three.
His front feet landed so hard that she saw stars. And then he whipped to the right. His back end felt like it went three directions at once, and was determined to take her with him.
Four.
Somehow, she managed to get her spurs dug in right before the next hit. Because the hits were going to keep on coming.
Five.
Any second now, it was coming—that extra oomph that got everyone else an ambulance ride to the nearest hospital. She was betting on right. She was betting it all on right.
Six.
No Man’s Land’s entire body torqued right with enough force that the stars she’d been seeing blacked out. No! She screamed at herself. Don’t go to
the black!
Seven.
And deliver me from evil, the one cognizant part of her brain stuttered out against the fear as the bull torqued right again. This is where Mitch had gone down.
Deliver me from evil. Please.
Eight.
The buzzer! She heard the buzzer! She made it! She pulled the rope and was instantly launched through the air.
This time, she couldn’t push it back. The black swallowed her whole.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“HEY—THEY’RE RUNNING it again!”
The elbow jammed into Travis’s shoulder for what felt like the fortieth time since—since, well, since whenever he’d gotten to this bar. “Buddy, have you seen this? This chick can ride!”
Travis didn’t want to see, but his head was operating on autopilot.
There she was. Riding that damn bull.
Just because he didn’t want to see the best thing he’d ever walked away from do the one thing he couldn’t do, didn’t mean he didn’t watch. Every time the clip played—on all seventeen sports channels playing on forty-nine big-screen TVs in the bar he’d stumbled into—he watched.
The girl he didn’t have making the eight seconds he couldn’t make. Sweet Jesus, it hurt to watch more every time they played it. And they were playing it about once every three minutes.
She hadn’t gotten away scot-free, but that wasn’t helping his mood. Just a hair after the buzzer, No Man’s Land had sent her flying, but—miracle of miracles—she’d landed safely. Two hands, one foot, and one knee down, she’d been scraping the ground to get away. And had almost made it before that monster had come down squarely on her exposed ankle. Didn’t look so bad at regular speed, but when the tape ran in slo-mo—and it always ran in slo-mo—he could see her whole ankle flatten like a pancake.
She’d still gotten up and back to the safety of the gate. Then—Travis couldn’t believe it—she’d stood in the middle of that arena and given a live interview. The money was for Mitch, just like she’d promised.
“Gimme another one,” he said, his voice sounding slurred even to him. Screw this “done drinking” thing. He needed the blackout he was angling for and he needed it bad.
Rodeo Dreams Page 24
