Page 37 of Rough Stock
Jimmy shook his head. “I saw the figures. That’s all I need to know.”
“And you’re a damn idiot. I read the contract. Do you know what they want us to do? They want their pharmaceuticals to be used exclusively on our event grounds. And because they won’t have every medication our animals need, we’ll have?”
“A lot of money, that’s what we’ll have! If somebody has an animal who needs a med that we can’t supply because of the contract, they can fucking leave!” Jimmy bellowed. “Don’t you get it? This could let us do some of the things we’ve been wanting to do for our competitors! And offer bigger prizes so we canattract bigger names! Don’t you think we need to do this for them?”
“We’ve got some good guys coming up through the ranks. Max and Tilford. And we’ve got Strader. The guy is pure gold. He needs to get through this year and when he does, he’ll be on top in rough stock. We can put all his success to work for us. But we can’t ruin everything with greed.”
Jimmy shook his head. “We need that money. Sign the damn contract.”
“I can’t sign that contract. We can negotiate it.”
“And let them walk away? Are youcrazy? If we don’t take it, there are other rodeo associations that’ll jump on it.”
“They came to us because we’re smaller, Jim. They want to take us over. There’s something more going on here, and if we’re smart, we’ll step back from this and figure it out.”
Jimmy Fuller shook his head. “No. They’re going to walk and we’re going to lose out. I can’t believe you’re so goddamn… Never mind. I’ll figure it out.”
“You’ll do nothing without my okay. We’re partners,” Dale reminded him.
“Yeah, yeah. Partners.” With that, Jimmy picked up the contract and stormed out of the room. He headed straight to the parking lot and climbed into his Escalade, then touched the button on his steering wheel and spoke the name of his contact into the air. As soon as the call was answered, he said, “He won’t sign it.”
“What do you mean, he won’t sign it? You were supposed to convince him!” the voice on the other end said. “Let me remind you, if you don’t give them a signed contract pretty soon, they’ll?”
“I know what will happen. We’ll figure this out. In the meantime, be thinking about another plan. This is a lot of money. We can’t let this slip through our fingers.”
“You’re absolutely right. I’ll give it thought. In the meantime, try to think of ways to talk Dale into signing. I’ve got to go. The guys will be wondering where I am, and I’ve got a buckle bunny staring me down from across the room.”
“Fine, fine. Go party. That’s good cover for you. Talk to you later,” Jimmy said and hit the button.
On the other end of the call, MaxBarlow sighed and slipped his phone into his back pocket. Shit. He had to do well in all his events, keep up with the girls, and now he had to figure out what they were going to do to fix the situation. He hoped he didn’t have to get rough with somebody.
But he would if he had to.
The next twodays were pretty similar. Shyanna got up and went to the university without Jensen, and he showed up in time for lunch. By Friday, he wondered what he’d find when he got to the university farm.
And he was surprised. Roger had two big horses in the chutes and one of them had bareback rigging already strapped on. “Starting this today?”
“Yup.” Roger watched as the handlers got the horse calmed down enough for Shyanna to mount it, then watched as she gripped the sturdy suitcase-type handle in the rigging. “She’s putting that stuff you bought her to good use.”
“I see that.” Jensen sat down with a seat between the two of them and watched. “Think she’ll be okay with this?”
“She’s about to be reminded that bulls and horses buck completely differently,” Roger said into his travel mug of coffee.
“That’s sure as hell true,” Jensen mumbled. In an instant, he saw her nod and the gate flew open.
The big draft cross barreled out of the chute’s gate, twisting and bucking as hard as it could, and he could see Shyanna’s face as she concentrated, her free hand high in the air. That part she had, but she was having trouble getting her feet up high enough on the bronc’s shoulders. The brute tossed her off after five seconds, and a pickup rider rode alongside it to loosen the flank strap before her ride finally turned and disappeared into the holding pen.
She made her way slowly to them, brushing herself off as she came. “Well?” she yelled up.
“What did you do wrong?” Roger asked.
“Um, I didn’t get my feet up high enough on his shoulders.”
“Yep. What else?”
She stood there, staring at them, but Jensen could tell she barely saw them. She was deep in thought. “Didn’t keep my arm up?”
“No, you kept your arm up. But you want those feet up?” Roger asked, and Shyanna nodded. “Then when those front feet of his come down, you should be so far back that the back of your head would be on his rump if you didn’t have that neck roll on. If you do that, your feet will automatically come up. I was watching your arm. Nice. Not too straight, but not bent either. Perfect. Next up.” Roger pointed to the chutes and Shyanna turned to head that way.
