Page 11 of Rainbow Rodeo

“Ha-ha!” Robin did a burpee to get to his feet. “You boys hearing this?”

“Oh, impressive!” Tank applauded, right along with Tony and Greg. The guys had welcomed him home like it was nothing, even though they all knew it was, even though they had to be wondering why he came home.

He would tell them eventually. Tony was still young enough to get the vote if he played his cards right. Greg, not so much, and he was just gruff enough not to get the popularity with the riders.

“You hooligans ready to warm up?” They had to keep themselves loose, keep the twitch muscles working and ready to go.

“Yessir,” Greg said, firing off a salute. “Good to have you back. I didn’t like being senior bullfighter.”

“No? Well, I’m tickled as a pig in shit to be home. Anything y’all need me to know?” They started on their laps.

The boys started slow, working up to faster laps, but Tank knew he could maintain a moderate pace all day and get his muscles loose.

They all chatted about the bulls, about the newest guys that were reckless, the ones that were scared, the ones who weren’t going to last long because they were good and they’d go for the money.

“Watch out for Falling Rocks,” Tony said. “Just up from the futurity, and he’s a head flinger.”

“I hate those.” How many times had he had his chin smacked? Too fucking many.

“Yeah. I hear he’s got some Bodacious blood.”

Shit. That bull was still a legend, and he’d been a killer.

“I’ll watch. Is he one of Gene’s bulls?” Gene Major was decent to his stock, and Tank liked that.

“He is. Gene says if he gets worse, he goes to stud, but we’ll see.” Tony shook his head. “He’s awful fond.”

“That man does get all personal about them bulls, boss,” Greg said. “He sobbed when Dandylyin passed.”

“I missed that. I’ll have to tell him how sorry I am.” Tank had liked that bull a lot.

“He was a solid old bastard, wasn’t he? Did his job, bucked the hell of it, then went to eat.” Tony grinned over. “I like those types.”

“Yeah. Easy-peasy.” Greg was panting a little, and Tank looked him over sharply. “You got a cold, buddy?”

“Allergies, huh?”

“He’s got a broke rib, boss. He ain’t telling Doc.”

“Why the hell not?”

“We was down a man,” Greg said, staring him down. “We didn’t know you were coming.”

“And now I’m here.”

“It’s fine.”

“Have Doc check it out. I mean it. You’re huffing and puffing.” Him and Greg, they got each other.

“Just hurts some. I’ll go. Swear.”

“I’ll hold you to it.” Tank spread his hands. “I should have called, boys. I wasn’t sure I would make it this weekend, so I left it open.”

“Next time, call. We ain’t kids. We can handle disappointment.” Tony didn’t give him a bit of quarter.

“God, bitter much?” Robin ran when Tony went after him.

“Oh, boss. Robin’s fixin’ to get his ass handed to him. He’s been riding Tony like a prized pony.”

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