Page 16 of The Undercover Cowboy

“Have camera will travel.” She waggled her phone at him.

“I suppose it’s as good of a cover as any. Can Reba get us close to the new bulls?”

“Sure. She’s probably going to be doing drug testing on them. You’re not thinking of trying to ride one of them, are you?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” Nash replied, his eyebrow cocked defiantly.

“Because those bulls are crazy mean,” Dolly said.

Nash’s expression hardened, his jaw clenched. “Don’t you think I can handle it?”

Well, to be honest…no. But she wasn’t sure how to say that.

“You’d have a hard time getting access to them since you won’t be on the roster,” she said, hedging her answer.

“But if I can ride one for a reel of yours that could get somebuzz.” He flashed finger quotes at her.

Oh for Pete’s sake, he sounded just like her sister LeAnn. Were all bull riders this crazy? “You just stayed on for eight seconds today for the first time in forever. Build on that.”

“I plan on it.”

They glared at each other over the table.

“I just don’t want to see you get hurt,” she said.

“I’m not going to get hurt,” Nash snapped, his eyes narrowing. “Besides, it’ll make a good TikTok, right?”

“Fine. Do whatever you want.” Stubborn ass. It would serve him right if he got kicked in the head or something.

Nash’s expression softened for a moment, but he quickly masked it with a curt nod. “Anyway, there might be something to investigate with these new bulls coming in. If that’s the case, the closer I am to them, the better.”

“Blevins has to be behind it. He’s all about any press is good press. And these Mexican bulls are killers. Having them at the rodeo is going to bring up a lot of bad memories of last season when we lost Ronnie.” Dolly still missed the sweet cowboy who would have been one of the sport’s greatest riders had he lived after being thrown from an enraged steroid-injected bull.

“Looks like I’ve got two new situations to investigate. Let’s hope that between the petting zoo and the fighting bulls, there’s a connection…and something illegal I can pin on Blevins.”

Before Dolly could respond, she caught sight of a familiar figure approaching their table. It was Mick Mickelson, a former cowboy whose career had ended after he took a bad fall from a bull. He had made it his life’s mission to cause trouble for the UPRC, and her in particular, ever since. Was it too much to hope for that he’d get sidetracked by a beer or get hit in the head bya chair? She glanced over at the empty chair next to her, half considering it.

Mick sneered as he stood over them, arms crossed. “Look who we have here,” he drawled, his gaze locked on Dolly. “The rodeo’s very own spin doctor. I suppose you’ve got an answer for everything that’s been going on?”

“What’s been going on, Mick?” Nash asked, tensing. He met Mick’s hostile gaze head-on.

“Plenty,” Mick shot back, baring his teeth. “Like how this rodeo’s going to hell, and you two ain’t doing nothing but making it worse. You with your shitty riding and her spray-painting glitter all over the horseshit show that counts as entertainment these days.”

“Last I checked, you’re not part of the UPRC anymore or welcome at any of the events,” Dolly retorted, her patience wearing thin. She empathized that Mick’s life wasn’t going the way he had pictured it when he was a hotshot bull rider. But as he had also broken her baby sister LeAnn’s heart, her empathy only went so far. “And while I realize that you need to feel relevant, stop trying to cause trouble for the rodeo or I’ll put a restraining order on you so fast your head will spin.”

“A restraining order is just a piece of paper,” Mick said with an evil little smile she wanted to slap right off him.

“All right, that’s enough,” Nash growled, pushing back from the table and rising to his feet. His tall frame towered over Mick, but the former cowboy didn’t flinch. They faced each other, locked in a tense standoff. “You want to leave right now before I break your other leg.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

Dolly saw several camera phones come out. Some of them were from Mick’s friends who wouldn’t know their way around social media with a flashlight and a map.

“Stand down, Nash. This is a setup.”

“What?” he said, jerking his attention to her.

“Mick’s trying to start something and get it on video so he can build up a following or go viral. He’s looking for eight seconds of fame again. And he’s not going to get it here.”

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