Two to Wrangle (10 page)

M
onica arrived with Ty at the Thomas & Mack Center filled with childlike anticipation. She also felt almost as if she were on the arm of a celebrity. They were among thousands of people, but everyone seemed to recognize Ty Morgan. “I had no idea you were so well-connected, Ty.”

He shrugged. “It's partly my father's reputation that follows me. He was kind of a legend in his time. The other part is probably my connection to Tom. Everyone knew and loved Tom Brandt.”

“I know Tom was as generous as he was gregarious, but that doesn't explain how everyone seems to know you,” Monica insisted.

Although he no longer competed, it was obvious that Ty still dominated in this world. Monica had already known that he was as generous and loyal as Tom, but now she realized that Ty was as highly respected in his circle of acquaintances as Evan was in his. But Ty had an endearing humility that Evan lacked.

“Your father was a legend?” she said. “You never told me that.”

“Yeah,” Ty laughed. “My ol' man did some crazy shit in his time. He'd do anything for a laugh, especially when he hit the bottle. That's what eventually killed him.”

“Then I'm doubly surprised you decided to follow in his shoes,” she remarked.

“Do you mean the bulls or the bottle?”

“Both, I guess,” Monica said.

“I fought it for a while,” he said. “But in the end it wasn't a choice. I am who I am—just a plain ol' Okie cowboy.” Ty tipped his hat to several more people as they made their way down the crowded aisle to their VIP chute seats.

“Wow. I had no idea how close we'd be to the bulls.” Monica wrinkled her nose. “Close enough even to smell them.”

Ty laughed. “This is the stock contractor section. I always sit where the action is.”

“Seats this close must be pretty hard to come by.”

“They are,” he admitted, “but I still know a few people from the old days. I s'pose they tend to remember the man who puts himself between a fallen cowboy and a charging bull.”

“I would sure hope so,” Monica said. This was Ty's world. There was no doubt he was in his element. He'd had no trouble getting an extra ticket at the sold-out event. That alone was testimony of the clout Ty kept understating.

“We've got a few minutes yet before the preshow,” Ty said. “Do you mind if I run on down to the chutes? I'd like a quick word with Zac.”

“I don't mind,” she replied. “Please wish him luck for me.”

“Will do. Can I get you a drink on the way back?” he asked.

“No thanks. I'm fine.”

Monica was hyperaware of the countless feminine stares that followed Ty down to the chutes; her own eyes lingered indecently long on his perfectly sculpted ass. The interest in Ty filled her with pride. Was he really hers, this incredibly sexy, swaggering cowboy? It would seem so. The idea of them together should seem ludicrous, but somehow it wasn't. Deep down they seemed to suit each other so much better than she and Evan ever had.

He was talking with two other cowboys now, one smaller and leaner and dressed in athletic clothes. When he turned to face in her direction, she recognized him as Kade McDaniel. The other, bigger and beefier cowboy had to be his brother, Zac. He and Ty shook hands and then exchanged a few words. Ty looked grim. Zac shrugged, and then they both turned their backs. She couldn't tell what he was doing, but it looked like Ty was helping Zac with his preparations.

She watched below as the bulls—huge, snorting, slobbering beasts were loaded into their chutes. One rammed itself against the panels. Her breath stuck in her throat as another one leaped into the air and tried to climb over the metal rails. The sheer brute strength they demonstrated brought home the danger Ty spoke of. As a spectator, she now understood the fascination, but she was still far from comprehending why these men would risk their lives by taking on such a potentially deadly animal.

Ty returned a few minutes later with a beer in a red Solo cup.

“What were you doing down there?” Monica asked.

“Zac broke his wrist on his last ride. He asked me to help him tape it up.”

“He's going to ride with a
broken wrist
?”

“Sure. Could be a lot worse. He's ridden with a broken leg before. Zac is iron to the core.”

“Cowboys.” Monica shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“Bull riders,” he clarified. “They are a breed apart, Monica.”

“Are they stupid too?” she asked. “How can he hold onto the bull if his wrist is broken?”

“He's gonna swap riding hands. It'll be awkward as hell, but he can't afford to forfeit. He only gets a paycheck if he rides.”

The lights dimmed for the preshow, an elaborate pyrotechnic extravaganza with shooting flames and a pounding, hard-rock beat. The crowd went wild when the riders appeared, entering the arena through circles of flames like some kind of superheroes. The pageantry of it all brought to mind once more the vision of the Roman Coliseum. In the fans' eyes these cowboys were surely modern-day gladiators.

“Enjoying the show?” Ty asked with a grin.

“It's quite a spectacle,” she laughed.

“You ain't seen nothing yet.” He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, eyes bright with anticipation. His excitement was both palpable and contagious. “Look down there.” Ty pointed. “See that little guy in the black hat? That's Guilherme Alvaro. He's the high point leader. Has been for three years running. Damned good bull rider. He drew X-Treme Vortex, one of the rankest bulls of the tour.”

“Drew?” she asked. “The riders don't get to choose?”

“Nope.” Ty shook his head. “It's literally the luck of the draw, and the rankest bulls make for the best rides—if you can make the whistle.”

“I don't understand. I thought the goal was just to stay on the bull for eight seconds.”

“It's more than that,” Ty explained. “Every rider gets scored on his ride, and every bull gets scored on his bucking. The judges combine those scores for the total ride score.”

“So you're saying that making eight seconds doesn't count for much if the bull's a dud? Where's their equipment?” Monica asked. “Isn't there some kind of special saddle or something?”

Ty laughed. “The only equipment a bull rider uses is a rope, a glove, and his spurs.”

“What's that bell for?” she asked, pointing to the first rider's bull rope.

“It gives the rope some weight so that it falls off as soon as the rider comes off the bull's back.”

“Is it true they tie it around the bull's genitals to make him buck?”

“No, Monica. What you're thinking of is called the flank strap. It goes around the bull at the level of his flanks and never touches his testicles. That's a total fallacy propagated by ignorant animal activists,” Ty scoffed. “The flank strap acts as a minor irritant to encourage bucking, but it doesn't hurt 'em a lick. These bulls love to buck. It's what they live for. They're bred purely for athletic performance and are treated as well as any high-dollar thoroughbred race horse.”

“I had no idea.”

“Well, now you do,” he said with a curt nod.

The announcer's voice interrupted to introduce the first bull and rider. “Keep your eyes on the middle chute down there.” Ty nodded to where a cowboy was poised above the animal's back. “When that gate flies open you're going to see bovine hell breaking loose.”

Music blasted their ears as the rider gave a nod and the gate swung free. Monica perched on the edge of her seat as the bull exploded from the chute, spinning, kicking, and bucking, his every movement whipping the rider's body. Halfway into the ride, the cowboy's balance began to falter. The next buck tossed him to the ground like a ragdoll.

“No ride for that cowboy.” Ty shook his head with a look of disgust. “I figured the bull was gonna take that round.” Ty nudged her side, nodding to the bullfighters as they sprang into action. “That's Kade down there. There's usually three or four guys protecting the rider, plus another one on horseback just in case reinforcement is needed to get the bull back in the pen.”

Kade had interposed himself between the animal and the fallen rider, while two others flanked the bull on either side. Waving and yelling, the three men distracted the manically bucking animal while the rider scrambled out of the danger zone. He spun and charged Kade, who barely dodged a horn. The bull then froze, stared down the arena and snorted a stream of snot before trotting back to the chute leading to the holding pens.

Ty chuckled. “That's one badass bull. Least the rider didn't wreck.”

“What do you mean ‘wreck'?” she asked.

“A wreck is when bad shit happens, but it's inevitable if you ride long enough. Everybody knows that. At its best, bull riding is beautiful to behold, but when things go bad, it makes your blood run cold.”

“I still can't understand why you did it,” she said.

“Ever heard of an adrenaline junkie?” Ty asked.

“Of course,” she said. “But I always picture those as the crazy people who free-climb buildings and cliff faces.”

“Not the same at all,” Ty said. “I'm not sayin' you can't get hurt or even killed climbing rocks or buildings, but it's not like the rock is out to get you. If you mess with a fifteen-hundred-pound bull, you're eventually gonna get the horns. Knowing he can kill you is the ultimate adrenaline rush.”

“You've never struck me as a thrill seeker, Ty.”

“I'm a different man now than what I was back then. Part of the change is age and wisdom. Part of it's a lifestyle choice. Eight years ago I chose to leave it behind.”

“Do you miss it?” she asked. “The adrenaline? The excitement?”

“Sometimes I do,” he admitted. “The bull arena is purely a male domain. There's something raw and primitive about it. There's not much of that kind of thing left in our modern world. I guess that's part of the appeal—for both the competitors and the spectators.”

His words made her think again of the ancient Roman gladiators.

Ty tilted his head back to the chutes. “Zac's up next. Even with a bad wrist, that ol' geezer will show you how it's s'posed to be done.”

“Old geezer? He doesn't look any older than you, Ty,” Monica remarked.

“He's thirty-four, but that equates to 'bout a hundred and two in bull-rider years. It's not the years but the mileage that counts in this game, and Zac's got a lot of long, hard miles. He's broken a dozen bones, or maybe I should say a baker's dozen now, and had half as many concussions. Don't know how much longer he can last in this business.”

“Why doesn't he retire and do something else?” Monica asked.

“ 'Cause he needs the money. He can turn his hand to most any kind of ranch work, but the pay is shitty. Trouble is, he isn't in the money as often as he used to be. It's that hard mileage I was talkin' about.”

The announcer broke in again, introducing Zac and his bull, Super Spin Cycle. Once more, Monica's eyes were glued to the chutes as Zac raised his arm and gave a nod to the gateman. True to his name, the bull came out of the gate twisting and turning like a cyclone, but this time the rider held his own.

Monica sucked in a breath and mentally counted down the seconds. As the buzzer sounded, she leaped up from her seat with a squeal, only to have it die in her throat. “My God, Ty! What's wrong? Why isn't he getting off?”

 

Ty had watched his buddy with pride. Even riding with the wrong hand, Zac's body had moved in near-perfect synchrony with the bull, foiling the animal's every frantic attempt to unseat him. Zac might not finish at the top of the rider pyramid, but at least he wouldn't be going home with empty pockets. As the whistle sounded, Zac glanced up in triumph, but his moment of victory was transformed almost instantly into a cataclysm of chaos.

“He's hung up.” Ty bit out, eyes glued to the scene below. Zac was hanging from the bull's side, feet scrambling for purchase as the animal continued to plunge and kick. He'd seen his share of hangups over the years, but this one was going south real fast.

Once more, the bullfighters surrounded the bull, but none seemed to be able to get close enough to untie the rope. While one cowboy moved in to release the flank strap, Kade distracted the front end of the bull, moving in toward its head, only to get hooked by a horn and tossed ten feet into the air.

“Fuck this!” Instincts firing, Ty took to his feet, vaulting over seats and spectators, then climbing the panels surrounding the arena. With his heart pounding in his chest, Ty ran straight to the bull's head and grabbed both horns. While he wrestled with the front end of the animal, two bullfighters climbed onto its back in an attempt to subdue the bucking beast.

Zac came free, slumping to the ground. The bull promptly spun on the fallen cowboy. Ty shouted, frantically waving his hat. The bull hesitated, staring Ty in the eye for a seemingly endless moment, as if deciding where to target his rage, then charged. Ty leaped to the side, but his booted foot slipped in the dirt. Next came the sound of crunching bone as their two bodies collided, followed by the sensation of his body hitting the ground in a chest-crushing impact that left him gasping in agony for his next breath. The vision of his lifeless father, lying likewise covered in dirt and manure, invaded his memory just before the world faded to black.

 

Monica sat frozen in terror as the bull, now freed of its rider, turned on Ty. Her stomach twisted and her fingernails pierced her palms as the enraged animal lowered its horned head in a stare-down. The bull charged, but rather than hooking and tossing Ty as he had Kade, he plowed straight into Ty's chest.