Rider’s Block

8. Chapter Eight

Chapter eight

“Blow My Mind,” Big & Rich

I f the front of the arena is chaos, the back of the arena is just absolute mayhem. Organized mayhem, mind you, but mayhem all the same.

I stick close to the group after I almost get trampled by a steer. Well, it really wasn’t all that close, I just didn’t expect to see it right there . Everyone is on a mission doing something. The animals are being moved to their designated locations, and it’s a little unnerving that all the animals present are larger than I am. Eric’s earlier words ring true in my ear, and the events haven’t even started yet.

Trevor walks us back to where they have their horses, and Christine casually points out the other animals used for the rough stock events like Bareback and Bull Riding. She and Trevor fall back into conversation as I take everything in. The bulls look large and mean, but the rough stock horses are gorgeous. They’re sleek, a little wild, and rippling with muscle. They look like trouble, but the pretty kind of trouble.

I make my way over to their corral to get a better look, but I’m intercepted by what looks to be another contestant based on the bib he’s wearing. I’m so startled I barely register my hat flying off…and in the process it flies straight into the pen with the horses. Seconds later, I watch it get crushed under the hooves of the pretty blond horse I was just admiring. Jerk.

“Sorry about that, ’fraid that hat is a goner. You look a little lost there, sweetheart, need help finding the right direction?” I look over to the man next to me, and objectively he’s attractive, sure. But there’s something about his tone that makes me pause.

“Just taking a look, I’m here with—” I turn to try and point out Christine, Trevor, and Eric, but they’re nowhere to be found. “Oh, well they seem to have moved on, but I’ll just hang out here for a second.” I figure staying along a fence line is the best bet, right? Would it be bad if I held on to the pen?

“You sure you don’t need some help?” He raises one eyebrow in a cocky way that I assume sends most girls swooning, but maybe it’s the savior complex that bugs me or something else entirely, but my hackles shoot straight up. I shake my head and look back to the horses. “How about I stick around until your friends come back for you? I’m Jed, by the way. I’m a bull rider.” He holds out his hand for me to shake and I oblige. Knowing he’s a bull rider makes Christine’s scoffing at the event make a bit more sense. This guy seems flashy.

“Amelia. Nice to meet you.” Out of the corner of my eye I spot a few girls eyeing the two of us suspiciously. I’m dying to get out of here, but I don’t know where to go. Looking around desperately for Christine I know my searching is obvious, but I’m not leaving this fence until I know where to go. I just need Jed to leave.

“You from around here?” Clearly not taking the hint, Jed leans against the fence himself in a casual but a little too close for comfort stance.

“Visiting some friends.”

“Who are you here with?” I notice from the corner of my eye that he looks me up and down, snagging for a second on my red cowgirl boots.

“The Randalls.” At that his eyebrows shoot straight up to his hairline, but before I can add anything else I feel someone come up behind me and put a hand on the small of my back.

“Probably shouldn’t wander off like that, Red, easy to get lost out here.” Eric’s deep voice comes from close to my ear, and the wave of goosebumps it erupts up and down my arms is almost embarrassing, but I’m too relieved to be anything but grateful.

“Eric,” Jed greets through tight lips. “Good to see you back here.”

“Good to be back.” Eric’s simple response leaves no room for reply, and Jed dips his head and turns to walk away.

I manage to shake myself from the second adrenaline rush I experienced in less than five minutes and see Eric close behind me, one hand propped up on the fence.

“Where’d your hat go?” It’s only then I remember the loss and point to the corral of horses, innocently standing there as if they didn’t just cause me to waste seventy-five dollars. Eric follows my stare. “Pity, the palomino get it?”

“What’s a palomino?”

“Um, well that one right there. The blond horse.”

“That’s the one.”

“That’s Ringo. He’s beautiful, but he’s a mean one. You probably shouldn’t be this close to the fence.” He pulls me back slightly… and how he went from ignoring me to repeatedly manhandling me in one day is beyond me. But I have zero complaints.

“Where are Trevor and Christine?”

“They’re getting Trevor’s horse saddled and ready. I better get you back to your seat, my event is in the first half, so I need to get going.”

“That’s okay, I can probably…well, I might be able to…” I don’t want to have to inconvenience him any further, but I’m so lost I wouldn’t know the first place to even look for my seat. Shoulders slumping, I admit defeat. “I have no idea where to sit… so actually that would be greatly appreciated.”

Eric lets out a small huff of a laugh as he uses the hand closest to me to guide me in the right direction. I dutifully follow because for the brief three minutes that I was on my own I managed to anger a bucking bronco, meet a cocky cowboy, and lose my hat. I know when I am out of my element, and this moment is it.

He walks me up the steps of the stadium, and I feel multiple eyes not just on me, but on him. In all of my research, I hadn’t thought to look up the family I’m staying with, but seeing the general respect they’re constantly greeted with, I’m inclined to think I accidentally found my way into the home of Rodeo Royalty. The minute we spot Nancy, I see a herd of women all coming up to talk to her briefly, George is shaking hands with people left and right, and no matter how much I try to ignore it, everyone is staring at Eric. Like, everyone.

We finally reach Nancy and the look she gives me is pure relief, and looking at one of the women whose hair height is trying to reach God’s ear talking to her, I can understand why I’d be a welcome reprieve. But then I see Nancy’s eyes snag on Eric, and the wave of brief concern is there and gone again in a flash. He gives her a dutiful hug, mumbles his goodbye, and looks at me one last time over his shoulder…and I catch his eyes scan back down to my boots before he heads back. I take my seat next to Nancy and her crew of heavy talkers disintegrates.

“Have fun back there?” Nancy moves over to give me room even though there’s plenty of space in my chair.

“Well, it was interesting. That’s quite the operation.”

“Where’d your hat go?”

“Lost it to the broncos sadly.”

“How on earth did that happen?”

“Honestly, I don’t even know. Has Christine come back?”

“No, but she’ll be up here in a bit, she doesn’t like to miss any of the events.”

“What’s up first?”

“By far the most adorable of the night—mutton bustin’.” Then seeing the confused look on my face, Nancy blessedly elaborates. “It’s an event for children. Basically, you throw a heavily padded child onto the back of a sheep and see how long they can hold on while the sheep runs across the arena.”

“I thought I heard sheep! That would explain it.”

“It’s my favorite event. I remember when the boys all got their turn. They begged me for years, but despite my best efforts I couldn’t change the age they were allowed to start the event. Those three are tenacious.”

“I can imagine, must have been chaos at the house with three boys.”

“The good kind of chaos.” The look in her eye holds nothing but truth at the sentiment. I can only imagine it, but the way her voice holds adoring nostalgia, I bet it was a blast.

Before I can ask another question, the lights in the stadium go down just as Christine is climbing the stairs. She looks at me questioningly, but the music has started and it’s too loud to explain where I went.

The mutton bustin’ is wildly adorable. I could watch that all day. The little helmets and vests hide any features of the kids so they all kind of look the same, but the way they hold onto that sheep for dear life is adorable. They bounce right up when they fall down as if it was the best thing they’d experienced in their whole life.

Christine also managed to grab a program and hands me one right as the next event comes up. Bareback is first followed by Steer-Wrestling and my mind is truly blown that people voluntarily fall off their horse onto a steer and bring it to the ground. Team Roping is the next event, and I thought all things considered everyone was fast…until Trevor and Dean shot out of the gate and beat all the other contestants by a solid second.

By the time Saddle Bronc is up, I’m on the edge of my seat. I don’t know whether to be thankful or not that Eric isn’t the first contestant out of the gate. On one hand, had he been first I wouldn’t have known what to expect. But on the other hand, now that I do know what to expect, I’m terrified. Nancy is stiff as a board next to me but doesn’t say a word, and George looks calm on the outside, but I see the way his leg is subtly bouncing up and down.

There are four more riders before Eric’s name gets called out, and the minute he’s out the gate my jaw hits the floor. The other riders were impressive in their own right, but the way Eric moves with the horse—who I see to be the palomino who trampled my hat earlier—is a whole other level. It’s the most graceful, powerful thing I’ve ever seen.

Ringo jumps and kicks with an agility improbable for a horse of his size, but the way Eric spurs him on gets him spinning, leaping, and moving with such power it’s hard to look away. I don’t understand how he stays put even with a saddle, but it’s something I don’t have time to think about. The buzzer goes off before I know it, and Eric jumps off the side as if he had control over the horse the whole time. And I think he did. The other cowboys would wave or acknowledge the crowd, but Eric just walks back to the gate as calm as if he’d just gone for a brief walk, not ridden a wild, bucking animal.

Nancy lets out a breath and I see George visibly slouch in his seat. The relief pouring off them is palpable.

“This is his first year back, so everyone is a little jumpy,” Christine says from next to me.

“When did the accident happen again?”

“Two years ago. He took last season off, but we knew he’d be back. He’ll team rope a little this year too, but mainly he’s just doing Saddle Bronc.”

“Is he as good at team roping as Dean and Trevor are?”

“I won’t say this out loud in front of my husband, who I will always have unwavering support for, but Eric might be better than both of them. Don’t tell Trevor I admitted that,” she adds with a light-hearted laugh. “Dean got really good last year, but Trevor is excited to have Eric back.”

“Do people normally do more than one event?”

“Not usually, and rarely crossing over from the rough stock to team events, but Eric does both.”

“If I haven’t thanked you lately for answering my million questions, thank you again, Christine.”

“Happy to,” she answers with a sincere smile. “Most people get it wrong, I’d like to see someone get it right finally.”

The rest of the rodeo continues to have a chokehold on me. With each event, I learn a little more about the tactical skills that apply to the trade of ranching. But the way the cowboys all move with their horses is by far my favorite part. The fluidity is beyond impressive to me.

By the time we reach the bull riding, I’m not entirely sure what to expect. The intro music and light show before the first rider set the mood for the whole stadium, and everyone is amped and ready to go. When the first contestant flies out of the gate, I expect the same shock and awe that happened with Saddle Bronc riding, but a bull is so much less agile that it almost feels clunky. It’s still more than impressive, but the lack of agility has me wondering why it’s so frequently the main event.

That is, until I watch the first cowboy—who is announced as the Jed that I met in the back—and the bull squares off before the bull starts to charge him on the ground. That is terrifying. People step in and get him quickly out of there, but it’s almost like the challenge doesn’t stop once the buzzer rings.

Christine dutifully explains every event, and when it’s all over I feel a buzz of excitement I rarely feel. I used to love going to soccer games with my dad, and this feels like a last-minute tiebreaker at each event. My body is buzzed on suspense.

Following Christine’s lead, we say our goodbyes to Nancy and George and I follow her back to what I assume to be the contestant parking lot. She spots Trevor immediately and launches herself at him, and just like before the rodeo Trevor drops whatever he’s doing to say hello.

I feel a nudge at my shoulder and look back to see Dean grinning at me from ear to ear. “How’d you like your first rodeo, darlin’?”

“It was so exciting!” I tell him honestly. “I had no idea I’d get such an adrenaline spike from each event, but my blood is boiling.” From the corner of my eye, I see Eric round the back of the trailer to join our conversation. Dean is still grinning like a kid in a candy store at my response.

“You’ve got the bug, you’re stuck now,” he says with a wink, then looking up at Trevor and Christine he adds, “Everyone’s going to the dance hall after this, what do you say we show West Coast over here how we celebrate?”