Page 3 of Big Daddy Bull Riders

The words barely reached Slater over the sound of tires rolling atop the asphalt and the wild snickering that came from the horse, not to mention the rushing wind. But he still heard, making him laugh and reply, “You’re not my Daddy.”

“You just try me,” Jackson said.

Even under the grave circumstances, Slater couldn’t help but laugh a little. Jackson was probably right—he would bust his butt if anything happened to him. The two men were close, and Slater understood that the thought of him doing something dangerous and getting himself hurt was enough to drive Jackson crazy. Especially afterthe big injury. That was in the past though, and he was all healed up now. Practically as good as new.

He’d still be careful, though. Neither of them wanted to live through anything like that again.

The truck gained some ground and pulled up beside the horse.

“Are you sure about this?” Jackson yelled.

“Nothing I haven’t done before,” Slater replied.

“Yeah, and each time I nearly have a heart attack! But go on. Just remember what I said!”

Slater remembered and he’d be mindful. He’d yet to be spanked by his friend, but he could only imagine how bad it would hurt. With that in mind—and not wanting to break any bones today—he was extra cautious as he put one foot on the side of the truck’s bed. “Just a little closer. Almost there.”

The truck veered a little closer to the fleeing animal.

“Going… now!” Slater called out.

But he then realized it would have to wait. A woman was standing in the road, and they were approaching fast.

“Shit!” he heard Jackson yell.

“Move!” Slater said to the woman, using his hands to try and shoo her away.

Jackson swerved to avoid her, and Slater stumbled a bit, but quickly recovered.

“You good?” Jackson yelled.

“I’m fine. She is, too,” Slater said, realizing the woman was thankfully out of harm’s way.

Now, that’s who needed to have her butt busted. It was incredibly dangerous what she’d done. He didn’t know who her Daddy was, but he hoped whoever it was would teach her a lesson.

Now back to the horse,he thought, getting in position once more.

The truck did the same.

“Let’s try this again,” he said. “I’m going… now!”

With that, he leapt from the truck and somehow, as if miraculously guided, landed straight on the back of the horse as if he’d been riding it the whole time.

The jarring impact made him wince, and he shook his head, saying, “I’ll have to ice my damn balls later.”

He couldn’t focus on the pain right now, though. Instead, he put all his effort into getting the runaway beast under control.

Riding bareback wasn’t too difficult for him. So, the lack of a saddle and reins wasn’t the worst part of that fiasco. No, the worst part was that the horse—known affectionately as Rampage—was now pissed that he suddenly had a rider on his back. He stopped long enough to buck wildly, trying to toss the unwelcome guest off.

But this wasn’t Slater’s first rodeo.

He kept calm, even as the horse jerked and torqued. Things only got harder when Rampage turned three quick circles, too.

Slater knew that the magnificent animals had an almost supernatural ability to sense humans’ emotions. If you freaked out, a horse was more likely to freak out. If you stayed calm, chances are the horse would eventually calm down, too.

Even one as cantankerous as Rampage.

So Slater just stayed atop him, squeezing his legs just enough to keep him on and try to guide the animal, but certainly not hurt it.

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