Page 29 of Spurred On

“Calm down, Doug. She’ll lay low. She needs more rodeo experience.” He turns back to wink at me, and I can’t hide the little bit of smile that turns up. He starts walking down the hall with a swagger that is hard to miss. He has built this confidence brick by brick. Watching him do his thing sends little butterflies in my stomach. I haven’t seen him ride since the National Finals Rodeo, and then I didn’t really care what happened to him. But now, I can feel a wave of nerves wash over me. He has one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. I didn’t think I would feel like this when I saw him ride.

“See you when I cash out,” Mav hollers before heading in a different direction to get ready. I roll my eyes but know he is probably right.

“Follow me,” Weston says. “Doug is an ass, so try and stay away from him. If you have any questions tonight, just find me. We're heading over to the chute. Mav will be in his dressing room until it’s his turn.”

“Do they always get dressing rooms?” I figured they would all roam around until their time came.

“Just at the bigger arenas. This is one of the bigger rodeos he does. He will only be riding tonight though.”

“So, he just has to ride the one tonight?” Clearly, I have no clue how any of this works, and Weston is quick to pick up on it.

“You really don’t know anything about bull riding.” My cheeks heat, a little bit embarrassed, and he picks up on it, “Sorry. I didn’t mean that in a bad way.”

“Oh, no. It’s okay. I don’t know a whole lot, but I’d like to learn.”

“Well, we will use tonight as education night. He’s only riding one bull tonight, unless he gets a re-ride, then he gets on another bull.”

“And what makes him get a re-ride?” My stride matches Weston’s, which takes more effort than I care to admit. He is long and tall, and my five-foot-five self is struggling to keep up.

“He gets a re-ride if the bull underperforms or doesn’t come out the chute right or if his knee his the ground.” Okay, simple enough.

I nod as we move down to what feels like a backstage area, where people are mingling all over. Most of them seem to be riders in their sponsor vests, waiting for their turn.

The closer we get to the pen where they ride, the stronger the smell of livestock and kicked up dirt is. Bull riders aren’t the only ones competing tonight, Mav did tell me that. He warned me that I might get bored because we arrived fairly early today, and there are at least three events before bull riding.

Time goes by fast; I find other people to chat with—girlfriends of other riders and team members. I’m definitely the only one who has no clue what is going on here, and though Weston is doing a good job of explaining things, I am going to have to do some serious research so I don’t feel like an idiot if I ever come back here again.

“Alright, come on up to the chute. Mav will be riding soon.” Suddenly, I feel a little sick from the nerves. I shake it off and walk up to the team.

Mav is surrounded by his team. His manager and his coach sit with serious faces, talking his ear off. But as soon as I come into view, his eyes look up from the dirt floor and find mine, and the smile he sends me makes me feel nervous for a whole other reason. I shouldn’t like him. I can’t. We will be going our separate ways in a few months, and I’ll never see him again. I’m comfortable with loss, sure, but I try to avoid it where I can.

I give him a thumbs up, and he chuckles before Doug turns his head and glares at me. It is becoming very evident that Doug is dick, and I hate him.

Doug's haughty tone floats its way over to me. “She can’t be here if you can’t focus.”

Maverick dramatically rolls his eyes. “Calm down, Doug. Once again, this isn’t my first rodeo.” His nonchalant answer does nothing to cool Doug down. If anything, it makes him madder. He turns on his heels and stomps off, glaring at me the whole time.

“When are you up?” Weston asks Maverick.

“I’ll be going after Gonzales,” Mav says. His eyes move to mine as his tone turns playful. “Are you getting your need for a change of scenery met?”

“Yes, thank you for bringing me.” The nerves rattling inside me won’t let him out of my sight without saying, “Be safe tonight.”

He dramatically huffs. “Don’t worry, wifey. I am always safe.” My mind can’t help but wander to the night I had to keep heat on his back for hours. Nothing about that felt safe.

“Ryder, come on up.” The voice comes from a man I am guessing is his coach. He’s older and has a big ol’ cowboy hat.

Maverick gives us a nod, but not before placing his hat on my head. “Hold on to this for me, sweetheart.” He turns to start walking closer to the pin, and we follow. The grin stretching across my face almost hurts as I pull the hat from my head and hold it against my chest while we walk along the dirt path.

Over the intercom, I hear, “Up next, we have Maverickkkkk Ryderrrrrr.” The crowd starts hooting and hollering, and when I think I can’t smile any bigger, I do. Suddenly, I feel a little proud to be a part of his entourage today.

I stand a few feet back from the chute as Maverick hops over the rails and onto the bull. They use a rope to practically strap him to the bull, which seems like a shoulder dislocation waiting to happen. I take half a step forward, wanting to see what is going on. Coach is yelling something at him, and he nods, his head angling up just enough to see me. I send him a thumbs up.

A thumbs up? Really? How lame am I?

Mav nods his head, and the bull is out of the chute. I hop up on the fence next to Weston, wanting a better view. My grip on his hat becomes deadly as the seconds tick by. I thought running on a treadmill was slow, but it’s nothing compared to watching Maverick on the back of this bull. Time seems to all but stop as he rides. His free hand stays in the air as he rides the bull with grace, if it’s even something that can be graceful. But he looks good doing it. Really, he looks good doing anything, and I hate that.

The eight-second buzzer goes off, and I feel a crash of relief. The bullfighters come out to distract the bull, something I also learned about today, and Mav runs to safety.

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