He stayed silent.
“Hey, Romanos is friends with Cody Harwood, right? How’s the kid doing?”
Brody wasn’t sure how much he should say. “As good as could be expected. I’m sure if you talked to someone from the association, they could tell you more.”
“Maybe. I’ll find someone.” Sally eased forward in her seat as the first bull was run into the chute.
He relaxed slightly. With the round starting, she shouldn’t be interested in talking to him. He could concentrate on Tony and watching all that prime male flesh wander around the arena. Not only were the bull riders wonderful eye candy, so were a lot of the cowboys who came to the events simply to watch.
Ten riders in, it was Tony’s turn to ride. Brody checked the bull’s name. Chicken Little. He chuckled. “Where do they come up with some of these names?”
Sally turned to wink. “The contractors get a little desperate when they breed so many. Of course, it’s really only the ones who become classic bulls or big time bulls who get named.”
“I didn’t know it was such a big business.” He watched Tony pull his rope tight around Chicken Little’s red stomach.
“When it all started, there wasn’t money to be made doing this, or breeding bulls for that matter. Now a bull as good or as rank as Tank’s Reward could sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Not to mention stud fees.”
He nodded toward the medium sized bull Tony was getting a seat on. “What about Chicken Little?”
“He’s a money bull.”
“A money bull?” He needed to buy a notebook and start writing down these terms.
“Yep. The cowboys tend to win money when they ride him. He’s ridden a lot, but you can get high marks off him. There are four judges who award a hundred points. Fifty for the rider and fifty for the bull. You want a bull that bucks hard and spins well. You also would like him to do some direction changes. Mix things up a little.” Sally pointed to Tony. “I’d bet on Romanos riding this bull every time.”
Brody hoped it wasn’t bad luck. He gripped the back of the seat in front of him as Tony pushed down his hat and nodded to the gate man. The red bull leapt out of the gate and Tony rode the spin to the left perfectly. One huge jump rode Tony back off his bull rope.
“He’s losing the rope,” Sally pointed out.
“What does that mean?” Brody didn’t take his eyes off Tony.
“His grip is slipping.”
He nodded and air caught in his lungs as Tony’s hand popped out of the bull rope.
His lover went flying over the bull’s head and plowed face first into the dirt. The bullfighters came running in, sacrificing their own bodies to distract the bull from Tony.
Brody watched Tony jump to his feet and stagger to the fence. Brody didn’t take his eyes off Tony and bit back a groan when he saw blood drip off the end of Tony’s nose.
“I think he might have hurt his shoulder.”
He glanced at Sally with a frown. “What makes you think that?”
“Look at the way he’s holding his left arm close to his body.” She nodded down towards Tony.
Brody looked back at his bull rider. Tony cradled his left arm with his right and let the medical guys help him out of the arena. When Tony disappeared behind the chutes, Brody sat back and scrubbed his face with his hand.
“What should I do?” he asked, unsure what to do or where to go.
“Wait. Someone will come and get you. Especially if they send Romanos to the hospital for x-rays.” Sally reached out and patted his shoulder. “It’ll be okay.”
“Are you Brody MacCafferty?” A voice broke through Brody’s stunned focus.
He’d seen cowboys get hung up in their bull ropes. They’d been stomped on, tossed around like a salad and body slammed into the dirt. He still remembered how worried he’d been when Cody had nearly been killed by Tank’s Reward.
None of those emotions could top how he felt at the moment when he watched his lover helped out of the arena with blood pouring down his face. For the first time in his life, he wished he was a woman. Then he could freak out without anyone looking at him funny.
“Brody, breathe.” Sally jabbed her elbow in his side.
He sucked in a deep breath and nodded at the older cowboy.
“Yeah.”
“They want to transport Romanos to the hospital. He wants to see you before he leaves and I’ll get you directions.”
Brody nodded with a shaky smile. “It’s not serious, is it?”
The PBR official shook his head and turned, leading the way out of the arena seats and behind the bucking chutes. “Nah, it’s just precautionary. He has a separated shoulder and a cut over his eye. Shoulder will force him out for a month or so. Though I doubt he’ll take that long.”
Brody vowed to do whatever it took to keep Tony off the tour until his shoulder was fully healed. They arrived at the medical room on time to hear Tony complain.
“I don’t need to get x-rays, Doc. I’m fine. Nothing else is broken or dislocated. My shoulder’s killing me though.”
Brody walked in and his mouth dropped open. Tony stood bare chested, glaring up at the head doctor. Brody let his gaze trace over the rest of Tony’s body, noting new bruises and scratches, plus the way his lover held his left arm tight to his body.
“We don’t know for sure if your shoulder’s dislocated or if it’s broken. That’s why you need to get x-rays. We could do more damage if we put it back in now.” The doctor didn’t back down.
Tony’s chin tilted at a familiar stubborn angle and he knew he had to step in.
“Go to the hospital, Romanos. This event is fucked for you anyway. It won’t hurt and could save problems later.” Brody gave Tony’s uninjured shoulder a
