Page 109 of Ride or Die

CHAPTER 41

COLE

“Who’d you get?”

I look up from where I’ve been sitting on my tailgate, watching video footage of my bull’s last few rides. Wyatt, Brady, and Jagger approach, all three of them wearing their Rattlesnake Ranch pearl snap shirts, looking every bit official, stopping by me to get the run down.

“Hateful Dread,” I tell them, releasing a hard breath. Of all the bulls in the draw, I picked the meanest, most notorious one on the roster. Just my fuckin’ luck.

“Who’d Watson get?” Wyatt asks, pulling up to sit next to me.

“Brick,” I deadpan, thinking of Stanley Watson’s constant good luck when it comes to picking bulls.

Brady guffaws, throwing his head back. “It’s gotta be fuckin’ rigged.”

I shrug, glancing at Wyatt. “Girls here yet?”

“They should be pulling in any second,” he says, checking the time on his watch.

Clara and the kids were driving in from Summer with Darcy and Bailey, since I had to be here a few hours earlier for registration. And despite picking the biggest bull of the draw, I’m feeling pretty good about tonight. The purse is huge, as italways is at this event. All I gotta do is stay on the back of Hateful Dread for eight seconds and the ten grand’s as good as mine because ain’t no other fucker pull a bull worth as many points as I did.

“You seen that fucker around?” Brady asks, scanning the crowd.

“Watson?”

He nods, teeth gritted hard if his clenched jaw is any indication.

“Pfft, nah.” I shake my head. “Asshole’s probably snortin’ lines in his trailer.”

My phone vibrates against my thigh, and I tug it out of my pocket, unable to contain my shit-eating grin at the sight of Clara’s name on the screen.

Clara: We’re here.

I feel the tension I’d been storing in my shoulders ease—it’s the same tension that appears every time Clara and the kids aren’t nearby, where I know they’re safe. They’re here now. They’re safe. And fuck, I can’t wait to see them.

We’re still staying at the farrier’s cottage on the ranch despite no more than a few quick-passing thunderstorms during the week. I don’t know how much longer I can keep up the whole tornado lie—the weather’s been better than expected. There’s been no sighting of Cain, or anyone hanging around Summer who shouldn’t be, but I know someone’s out there because I’ve got the fuckin’ tracker I found tucked deep under the driver’s seat in Clara’s car as proof that I ain’t crazy. So I’m not comfortable sending them back to my house just yet. And Clara hasn’t mentioned it, so I haven’t brought it up either. Besides, Billie and Tommy love being at Rattlesnake. Every day after school I’ve taken them on an adventure in one of the Gators andthe way their faces light up, I know they’re having the time of their lives. Plus, Mama Joy loves having them there, and Austin said they’re welcome to stay as long as they want. Why leave?

Me: Come give your man a good luck kiss when you can, darlin.

Clara: Billie just spotted the ferris wheel… we might be a minute.

I chuckle, shaking my head.

“Chrissake, brother.” Brady snorts a laugh causing my head to snap up only to see that it’s me he’s laughing at.

I deadpan, glaring at Wyatt to see him biting back his own smirk. “What?”

Bringing his fist to his mouth, Brady fakes a cough. “Whipped.”Cough.

I roll my eyes, jumping down off my tailgate. “Fuck yeah, I am. So what?”

The hint of a smile cracks Jagger’s face when I throw him a conspiratorial wink on my way past. “Come on, dickheads,” I call over my shoulder, heading for the holding pens. “Let’s go size up this mean motherfucker.”

The steel rattles around me as Hateful Dread slams his shoulder against the chute, making the entire frame shudder, causing dust to shake loose from the rails. The bull’s hide is black as midnight, streaked with battle scars making every inch of him look even meaner.

Eight seconds.

That’s all.