was it. Now was the time.
She nodded, and Twisty Tie blew out of the chute like a tornado.
One.
He went left hard with a buck in the back.
Two.
Twisty reared up again, but she leaned forward just enough to find the center.
Three.
He bucked in the back again. Every fiber in June’s body wanted to lean back to find the balance, but something told her to hold. Hold? Was she insane? In less than a heartbeat, she decided to go with the hunch over instinct.
Four.
She kept her body forward. Shit, she was going to fall forward, smack her jaw on the bull—
Five.
Midbuck, Twisty did something she couldn’t see, but it felt like instead of his haunches going all the way up, his whole rear end went sideways. When he hit the ground again, June was perfectly balanced for the next buck.
Six.
Whatever the hell that little skip had been, he didn’t do it again.
Seven.
It was almost like riding a horse now—an even-paced bucking that held no surprises.
Eight.
When the buzzer came, she pulled her rope and rolled off to the right, landing on her feet at a fast walk.
The crowd was still roaring, but this time there wasn’t any laughter in the mix. Instead, they were all cheering.
“The judges have given that talented young lady an 84 for riding Twisty Tie!”
Some people started to boo, and the rodeo clown said, “An 84? She was robbed! I’ve never seen a bull do what ol’ Twisty Tie pulled on her!”
What the hell were they complaining about? She’d gotten an 84 on her first official ride! She’d made the short go! With a triumphant “Hiiieyeee!” she flung her hat into the arena. The crowd applauded her effort as several flashes went off.
By the time she made it back to the chutes again, most of the cowboys were staring at her. Red scowled as she walked back to her duffel. “I bet she wouldn’t land on her feet if I bucked her off,” he sneered after she passed.
She wanted to go over and break his arm, but she kept going. She wasn’t going to sink to Red’s level.
The rest of the long go moved on, and then it was time for the short go. She was in the middle of a pack of seven that had made the time and far ahead of the three guys who’d made the cut, but this was round two. She needed to stay on again to stay in the running.
This time, she went third, riding some green bull named Hi Fructose. This time, Travis worked her rope by himself, with Mitch doing the flank strap. And again, she got no answer when she said, “Thanks.”
Hi Fructose was green in more ways than one. At the six-second mark, he got tired of bucking and just stood there until the bullfighters startled him enough that he finished out the time. The 79 she got was more a reflection of the bad draw than the bad ride but it was enough to put her in fourth for the night, behind Travis, Red and Mitch.
She’d take it.
As she gathered her stuff up to head for the ladies’ room to change, Mitch snagged her arm and pulled her into a sideways hug. “Girlie, I’m buying you a drink tonight!”
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