Page 9 of Buck This
“Why are his horns messed up?” Torrey asked. The other bulls had uniform horns.
“It had to have happened after he sawed them for rodeos. Those types of injuries could come from a number of things. Frostbite if he was Changed in a storm and got stuck in the weather. He’s a Montana boy so that could be possible.”
“You know he didn’t damage them in weather,” Two Shots Down said. “Look at him. He’s a fighter.”
“I bet he did it fighting,” Quickdraw guessed as he clapped for another bull bucking. “I’d bet a thousand dollars he did it scrapping outside of a bar.”
Dead of Winter said, “Leave it up to you to only be interested in sponsoring the problem child of the circuit.”
“Yeah, well you used to be the problem child, and look how that turned out,” Quickdraw spat out. “You did just fine. You leveraged your bad boy reputation to your advantage. He could too if he can get out of his own damn way.”
Torrey’s heart was in her throat as she saw who was getting on his back. The announcer said his name right as she realized what was happening. Cobalt Blue would be riding Buck This Storme out of chute six.
Shhhit.
Torrey looked around, searching for Reece, but she couldn’t find her. Torrey wouldn’t be able to be with a man who did this kind of competing. She couldn’t watch the man she loved get onto an animal like that. She would worry herself to death.
The two cowboys in the arena pulled the rope on that gate, and the crowd, including Torrey, held their breath as…nothing happened.
“Fuck,” Quickdraw cussed, standing up beside her. “Buck This, go!” he roared.
And then that frozen bull exploded out of that chute like a tornado. He spun fast and bucked high, kicking his back legs. He switched directions. Once, twice, and Cobalt went flying through the air.
The bull was charging him before that cowboy even hit the ground, and the bullfighters were desperately trying to distract Buck This while they bought time for Cobalt to get up.
One of the bullfighters grabbed him by his sponsor vest and dragged him out of the way, but the bull was right on them.
The crowd was going wild with excitement as the pickup men collapsed inward in an effort to assist.
Buck This was still bucking, and almost landed his back hooves on Cobalt’s leg.
“Oh no, oh no,” she murmured, horrified.
There was chaos, and then Cobalt was running for the fences, and Buck This went after a couple of bullfighters before he circled the outer edge of the arena.
“No, no, no!” Quickdraw yelled.
“What’s happening?” Torrey asked Raven.
“He’s a fence jumper,” she said somberly. “He’s looking for a place to jump.”
“Jump into the crowd?” Torrey asked, terrified as the enormous bull galloped right for them.
Quickdraw blocked her view completely as he yelled, “Don’t you fucking do it!”
Raven pulled Torrey backward, but when Quickdraw moved to the side, she could see Buck This hadn’t jumped. Now, he was pacing in front of their box.
“What’s he doing?” Two Shots Down asked.
“Hell if I know,” Quickdraw muttered. He cursed as a rope loop sailed right past Buck This’s head and hit the panel.
The other cowboy on a horse tossed his loop of rope over Buck This’s head and the bull went mad as soon as that loop was tightened. He went to bucking again, dragging horse and rider toward the center of the arena before the rider let the rope go. He looked pissed as he kicked his horse into a gallop to grab another rope someone was offering near the chutes.
He didn’t even have a rider, but he was bucking so hard, dust was flying off his flanks.
It took another minute before they could get him coaxed to the exit gate, and it wasn’t until he was through that Torrey let out the breath she was holding.
Everyone in the box was frozen, staring toward the gate.
