Page 38 of Destry

She chuckled, crossing her arms. “That horse isn’t on loan.”

My stomach dropped slightly and confusion rushed through me.

Shore smirked. “Destry bought him from Beauden Phox and paid a lot of money for him, too.”

I stared hard and my lips parted, but no words came out.

“He didn’t tell you?” she asked, clearly amused.

I shook my head. Destry had bought the damn horse? For me?

“When you have a cowboy’s focus, he goes all out and you damn sure have Destry’s.”

I felt my cheeks blaze and something warm spread through my chest. I looked away for a second, trying to gather myself. I thought about my horse. She was surely one of the best and Phox had the most elite and expensive horses in Millers Pointe. It all made sense now.

Shore just grinned, clearly enjoying this too much, before she patted my shoulder and turned to walk off, leaving me standing there, stunned, blushing, and smiling like an idiot.

A few hours later I was finishing up for the day and stretching out the stiffness in my shoulders when I heard shouting which wasn’t unusual out here. Between the handlers, riders, and event staff, things got loud and heated sometimes but something about this argument felt different. One voice stood out.

My boots kicked up dust as I hurried toward the area near the bull riders’ chutes, where a crowd was starting to gather. The moment I got there, I saw Destry and some guy in a Cavender’s shirt, one of his sponsors, facing off.

The guy was pissed and his face twisted as he swung his hands wildly, letting his voice rise with frustration. “We’ve put a lot of money behind you, Callahan! You need to do the wild card and get back in the damn competition!”

Destry stood, calm as ever, with arms loose at his sides, a quiet warning in his stance.

“You need to go find something safe to do because I’m not doing wild card and raising your fucking voice at me is a gotdamn problem.”

The rep snorted. “You’re just throwing away your career and wasting our money?”

Destry’s jaw flexed, but he didn’t lose his cool. Instead, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a thick fold of cash held together by a money clip, and tossed it on the ground right at the guy’s feet.

“You worried about money? There you go. Take that. I’ll wire the rest.” He took a step forward and his eyes narrowed on the man’s face. “I don’t need your sponsorship if it has your ass confused about who the fuck I am and how you need to address me.”

The guy’s face twisted more and his hands curled into fists at his sides. The crowd mumbled, shifting closer, waiting for whatever was about to happen next.

“You arrogant son of a?—”

Before I could process what was happening, the rep shoved Destry, pushing him back a step, and Destry swung at him. One hard, clean punch that landed square on the guy’s jaw.

The rep hit the ground, coughing as he struggled to sit up while Destry walked over and leaned down and spoke with his voice low and lethal.

“You might want to think twice before you put your hands on a real man, city boy. The rules are different around here.”

The crowd erupted, some laughed, some gasped but I didn’t stick around to see what else was about to happen. I gently wrapped a hand around Destry’s arm and tugged him back.

His muscles were still tight but after a moment he relaxed and let me pull him away. Just as I opened my mouth to say something, another woman stepped forward, approaching Destry with purpose.

Before she could even speak, he snapped, “If you want your money back too?—”

She cut him off with a soft laugh.

“I don’t want my money back. I just want to know you’ll be in Dallas after this.”

Destry’s expression shifted and some of the tension in his shoulders loosened.

“This is only one rodeo, Callahan,” she continued. “I assume you’re not calling it quits?”

He shook his head. “No, I’ll be back.”

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