Page 124 of Spur It On

He pushed a hand across his mouth, then actually nodded. "Yeah, I am. Well, was."

"Was?"

"Right up until she told me to get lost," he admitted, glancing over to actually meet my eyes. "But don't you dare think I'm gonna get in her way."

"You could," I pointed out.

He shrugged that off. "Not interested. She's good. She's damned good. She also doesn't need me."

"And that's where you're wrong," I told him. "You made her feel like she was seen."

"With J.D. around?" He laughed once, the kind that proved he wasn't buying it. "Right."

"No,hemakes her feel invincible. You made her feel seen."

"And you?" Ty asked.

"Fuck if I know," I admitted. "I'm also not dumb enough to throw away a chance with a woman like that. I know I'm hitting out of my class, but I don't give a shit. So long as she'll give me the time of day, I'll make sure I treat her the way she deserves."

"Good," Ty said. "Just let me know if she needs anything? I mean, she won't want to talk to me anymore, but I'm still rooting for her."

"You know what she wants?" I paused, making sure he was listening. "Respect, Ty. She wants you boys to figure out that she's the real deal, and that's one thing I can't help with. I'm just the idiot out there saving all your asses. You? You're the one people listen to, so figure out real fast if helping her means chasing off her fans, or maybe - just maybe - it means you need to fucking do something. Not just let shit keep on happening around you."

"Yeah," he breathed. "I hear ya. We still good?"

I had to think about that for a second. "Good might be a stretch," I admitted, "but we're still ok. Figure you can convince me we should be good again at some point. Granted, you really pissed off J.D., you know that, right?"

"Shit," Ty grumbled. "I did that this morning when she turned into a bitch."

So I turned a bit so there was no way Austin could even see my next words. "Stop and think about that.Sheturned into a bitch? Or has she been screaming all weekend about you smothering her? She just wanted your help, Ty. She's here to ride bulls."

"Not get ridden," he groaned, ducking his head.

"Exactly. And that?" I leaned a bit to glance at his replacement girl.

He shoved a hand across his mouth. "I'm trying to get Cody out of my head."

"No," I assured him. "You're trying to make her pay for not doing things your way. You wanted to be seen with someone else, and it happened. Shit call."

"Yeah," he mumbled, "kinda was."

"Thing is, now you get to live with it." I patted his arm. "Next time, try dealing with shit instead of running from it."

Chapter48

Outside,the night air was cool. It was a drastic change from the heat of the fight we'd just left, pushing away the warm comfort of the alcohol thrumming in my veins. As the doors closed behind us, the swell of music faded away to a barely perceptible hum and the singing of crickets took over.

My fingers were still laced with J.D.'s, and I didn't stop until we were away from the door and off to the side. Cigarette butts on the ground proved this was the smoking section, but I didn't care. No one was out here right now, and I needed a little space. A bit of silence. A moment to just fuckingthink!

"Cody?" J.D. asked, pulling his hand free so he could clasp both of my shoulders.

I pushed out a heavy breath and flopped my back against the wall. "Please tell me this is a bad dream?" I begged.

"Fuck," he grumbled. "I'm sorry. It's just that he said that, and I didn't think none. I didn't mean - "

"No," I said, cutting him off. "Fucking Ty deserved to get hit. Shit, I would've let you hit him more, but I have a funny feeling that getting arrested would be a problem."

"Lil' bit, yeah," he agreed.

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