Page 17 of Buck This
“I don’t know how.”
“They’re going to kick you out of the circuit, Buck This.”
“What?” he asked, his heart dropping right out of his chest.
“I was in the meeting today. That was before the chaos of your Change, and you trying to jump a fence tonight. You’re a liability, man. Everyone is traumatized by what your bull did in Albuquerque. You hurt people. You’re so exciting to watch, but you’re just as dangerous. Why are you looking to the fences after you buck?”
Buck shrugged.
“Why? Explain it so I understand.”
“I feel trapped after I buck. I feel panicked, like I can’t settle down.”
Quickdraw’s nostrils flared with his deep inhalation of breath. He relaxed back. “Does it have to do with what happened to your brother?”
“Don’t bring that up again,” he snapped. “That’s mine.” That story, no one had a right to ask about, and fuck Quickdraw for even bringing it up.
Quickdraw glared at him for a three-count. “Who is the girl?”
“What girl?”
“The girl who knew to call me when you were fighting. She was in the box with us tonight, but I’ve never seen her before. Who is she?”
“I don’t know. Her name is Torrey. I just met her tonight.”
“You just met her tonight, but you were making out with her to force a Change? I saw you. Kissed her and then went after her for about three seconds before your bull pulled off and did what your handlers needed you to do. You were going to jump the fence, and you saw her, didn’t you. She stopped the jump?”
“Maybe you fuckin’ screaming at me stopped the jump.”
“Mmm no. I saw your animal. He had his eyes on her and then pulled off the fence. My yelling didn’t stop shit, and you know it.”
“I don’t know who she is,” Buck This said, frustration building in his chest. “I just met her tonight.”
“Tell me about her.”
“Why are you asking me these questions,” he asked, standing. He walked down a few stalls and back. “I had a bad buck tonight, again. I had a hundred insults hurled at me, again. Look,” he said, pointing to a group of guys at the end of this row staring at them and talking low. “Everywhere I go I get this attention, and I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. I wish I could come here and drown out the noise and Change easy and buck well and go home with a wad of cash winnings in my pocket, but it’s not like that.”
“Yet.”
“Or ever. You said it yourself. They’re talking about kicking me off the circuit and honestly, I’m shocked it hasn’t happened sooner.”
“You sell tickets.”
“Bullshit.”
“You do.” Quickdraw sighed and stared at the guys at the end of the stables thoughtfully. “People like seeing disasters. It’s like the people who see a car wreck and slow down to check it out. You’re the car wreck. Who is your coach?”
“Me, myself, and I.”
“Good.”
“Why is that good?”
“Now I don’t have to ruffle any feathers. Let me coach you for the next two days. This is not an offer for sponsorship. There is a ninety-nine percent chance you are going to piss me off and prove my instincts wrong and I will never fucking speak to you again.”
But that one percent chance…
Hope swelled in his chest. “Why me? You said it yourself. I have to buck perfectly for the next two days. I can’t do that. No one can.”
