Page 9 of Rainbow Rodeo

“So, Tank, you have to have seen some stuff. Start talking.” Deb looked like a little girl waiting for her story.

Tank laughed right out loud. “What kinds of stories do you want to hear, baby girl? You want to hear about Ryan Lartner and the elevator?” he asked, referring to a well-known bull rider from Georgia.

“Lord yes.” Suddenly there were cowboys coming from everywhere, eyes all shining like he was Santa. His team was there, his fellow bullfighters grinning at him.

“Well, there I was, getting into an elevator with the man and some of his buddies, and he was spitting tobacco juice on the floor!”

“Oh, ew.” That was Miss Candace, the world’s oldest barrel racer. She was kickass. “Tell me you beat his butt.”

“Oh, I didn’t have to. The boys with him recognized me and gave him hell. I think they was trying to impress me.”

“Well, you’re famous and shit now, man.” Dalton bumped shoulders with him, and he swore electricity jolted through him.

“Yeah.” He shrugged, trying not to be ungrateful. He loved his job. Famous was less wonderful, even if it was only in the bull riding world.

Dustin chuckled softly. “Who wants to be famous when you can be a rodeo man in peace, Dee?”

“No shit on that, Bubba.”

Tank nodded. “Amen.”

Hat brims bobbed with him. Some of the younger ones, the new guys with shiny spurs, didn’t get it, but once you passed a certain spot and you hadn’t grabbed that gold ring, you knew the chances were… slim.

Sometimes a man had to know where he belonged.

Chapter Four

“DUDE, DEE.Tank is… he’s back.”

“Come on in, Dustin. I don’t mind.”

“Of course you don’t. I brought Shiners and chips and salsa.” Oh, when Bubba brought the snacks, it was time for a heart-to-heart.

“I got queso I can warm up.”

“I’ll lock the door and put the TV on.”

Yeah, these walls were thin enough, and if the door was unlocked, folks waltzed right in. That was his bad; he tended to have an open-door policy.

He heated up the cheese, and they settled together on the sofa, Dustin staring at him. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it was a long time ago. I was stupid. But seeing him all over the place is wow….” Dalton’s cheeks heated on him.

“Nah. He’s hotter than the Fourth of July, Dee. I can see why you had to try.”

“Yeah. Still…. It’s hard to look at him, what with him knowing….” He gave Dustin a look. “And thanks for making me feel less self-conscious. Tank is family. He deserves to be here.”

“Sure he does, but why didn’t Pops say so? That seems… big.”

Dustin’s words actually helped, a lot, because if Bubba had known and not warned him, not told him—

“Stop it. I would have said. You know that.”

Dalton nodded. Right. He did know that. Tank had been his first heartbreak. He’d had a couple three since, but Tank had been the center of his universe for a little bit.

The man was still so fine he made Dalton ache.

“He was kind about it. I did wonder if he left because of me.”

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