Page 4 of Rough Stock
“Nope. And she’s pretty good, but the guys are all giving her shit and?”
“Jensen Dirk Strader!” she cried out.
“Sorry. The guys are all giving her poop about being here. How’s that?” he asked and laughed.
“Sounds ridiculous. The poop part, not the guys harassing her. Are they really?” she asked.
“Yeah. She said they’ve even beaten her up, and a couple of them tried to ra… sexually assault her,” he said, changing his wording. His mother got hinky about the strangest things.
“Oh my goodness. That’s horrible! They really did that? No, that’s not right. I hope you were nice to her. You’d better have been. I’d better not find out you?”
“Geez, calm down, Mama! I was very nice to her. She wasn’t very nice to me at first, but when she figured out I was one of the good guys, she calmed right down. I’m looking forward to seeing her ride.”
“At least she’s not in any of your events,” she offered.
“Yeah. Don’t think so anyway. She’s made it this far, so I have to believe she’s pretty good.”
“Everything else going okay?” she asked, and he knew what she wanted to know.
“Yeah. Just fine.”
“Jensen, have you?”
“Stop, Mama. No. I’m not looking around at girls. Just give it a rest.” Why she wouldn’t shut up about him finding a woman was a mystery to him. He’d found one, and he wished he hadn’t. That was the last thing on his mind. Being left at the altar a second time wasn’t something he was eager to experience. Once was enough.
“Jensen?”
“No, Mama. End of discussion. Now I’ve got to get ready, exercise Cobra and Snowman, and check over all my equipment. Love you, Mama. Tell Pop I said hello. Leo too,” he said, thinking of his younger brother.
“Will do, son. Love you and we’ll see you soon,” she said. “Bye.”
Jensen stared at the phone after they’d hung up. His life as a cowboy meant everything to him, but so did his family. Owning a five-hundred-acre cattle ranch in SouthCarolina was unheard of, but it had been in their family for generations and they weren’t willing to give it up, even though his dad had been dealing with the aftermath of a badly broken leg. The drunk’s insurance had paid off, all the hospital bills were taken care of, and Leo had stepped up to the plate to help out, so it left Jensen free to rodeo. He kept hoping he’d win some of the bigger purses and make it to the top. Then he could really help out financially.
When he returned to the barn, he looked at the two horses, their heads hanging out over the top of the stall doors. “So, which one of you wants to compete today?” He’d always prided himself on being very in tune with them, and when Cobra snorted and stomped a front foot, Jensen smiled. “Okay, big boy, today’s your day. Let’s go.” He slipped an apple treat to Snowman as he opened Cobra’s door, snapped the lead on, and led him out to the breezeway. Saddled in just a few minutes, the horse stood stock-still as Jensen climbed up onto his broad backand they headed out to one of the small portable corrals in the far lot.
To his surprise, Shyanna was there, working with her horse. He let Cobra lope around the circle of the enclosure a dozen times, then turned him and went back the other way, allowing the horse’s muscles to warm up gently. As he watched, a cowboy walked up to the corral where Shyanna was working her mare. She stopped, spoke to him briefly, and he ambled away. Shyanna just sat there, not moving, watching him go, and Jensen wondered what was going on. When he turned to circle Cobra back around the other direction, she was sitting astride the mare right at the spot where his exercise pen and hers touched. Drawing near to her, he saw her lift a hand and press her palm flat toward him, motioning him to stop. He drew Cobra up short and walked the rest of the distance to her. “Hey! What’s up?”
She sat mute for a full minute, staring around like she was looking for something, then focused on him. “Did you mean all that bullshit you said last night?”
“Which bullshit? The bullshit about treating you with respect, or the bullshit about letting me know if anybody gave you any trouble?” he asked with a grin.
“The bullshit about sticking together,” she replied, and he couldn’t help but notice the despondent look on her face.
“Yep. Sure did. What’s wrong?”
She nodded toward the gate. “That was Bucky, my team roping partner. They got to him.”
Jensen was confused. “Who got to him?”
“Bunch of the guys. They cornered him this morning, told him if he rode with me they’d make his life miserable. I’ll have to withdraw from the competition because I don’t have a partner.”
Jensen was floored. “What the hell? Are you serious? What are you gonna do?” he asked, unsure what else to say.
“Well, I think I’m asking you to be my team roping partner, at least for today,” she said, looking away in embarrassment as her cheeks reddened.
Jensen sighed. “I hate to tell you this, but I’m not much at roping. Never have been.”
She shrugged, still casting her gaze off to the side. “I don’t care. It’s that or I have to withdraw. At least if you try, I show them that they can’t scare me off.”
