Cowboy Summer - 18. Big Time Cowboy

Rhydian walked with Bryce and Indi to the warm up arena. It was still a while before he’d be in the ring, so there was no point warming up either of his horses yet. He had stood with the trailer and petted Shura’s neck and touched Samson’s long ears. Boy-Latte and Sugar were in their stalls, munching and enjoying their rest.

“You’re sure you want me to meet them?” Rhydian hung back as they reached the practice school.

“Babe. They’re going to love you. Mum, Dad!” The three people turned to look at them. Rhydian recognised Julie-Ann, who waved in a slightly bored fashion, here to support her brother but not for any other reason, and waved back. Bryce’s mother was dressed in practical jeans and a Western shirt with an ID badge pinned to her front. Bryce had mentioned that she was showing and trading horses in the auction ring over the weekend.

“You must be the famous Rhyder whose been stealing our boy!” Bryce’s father clapped him on the shoulder and shook his hand firmly, “Not that we mind. We’ve heard so much about you.”

“Good to meet you sir.” Rhydian stood up a little straighter, and really wished his boyfriend wasn’t even now walking into the school with Indi.

“None of those formalities now: You can call me Joe, this is my wife Celia.” Rhydian shook Bryce’s mom’s hand, “Bryce tells us this is only your second ever rodeo?”

“Yeah. I’m kinda new at all this still.”

“You must have potential if Caleb and Moreta have brought you out here,” Celia smiled when she spoke, but she was watching Bryce with Indi, trotting around the outside of the school. “I think I am right in saying that you have been riding one of the horses we bred.”

“Shura. He’s dapple grey.”

“Oh yes, one of his sister’s birthed a foal this last spring. A fine and pretty thing he’s gonna turn out to be.”

“I love that horse more than about anything in the whole world. Him and Bryce.”

“Spoken like a true cowboy,” Celia smiled, “So what are you in for in this big time rodeo?”

They chatted genially for a while as Indi and Bryce worked up their stamina for the main event. It was easy and relaxing as long as no one mentioned what he was going to do with his life of what was going to happen when he returned home. Julie-Ann talked to him a bit about music and school, but found him to be too horse-orientated for her liking. Then it was time for Bryce to get in the ring and Rhydian was excited and nervous and happy.

“We’re gonna go watch from the low stands OK?”

“Sure thing Mum,” Bryce drew Indi to a halt next to them outside the ring, “Hey babe, you going to watch me?”

“Yeah.” Rhydian really wanted to kiss Bryce, but he was on the ground.

“Oh will you climb up on that fence and kiss me already Rhyder?” Bryce smiled and bit his lower lip. Rhydian had never made it up a wooden siding so quickly.

There was an area right by the wall of the rodeo arena for the competitors and their people to watch the proceedings. The adult women’s events were between category two and when Rhydian had to get in the ring, so he had the time to watch his boyfriend compete. Bryce did well in the roping, and Indi did right by him as he tied his steer, but it was the barrel racing where he excelled. The barrel racing was fun, fast and furious, and Indi whipped around the course like his life depended on it. Rhydian cheered and whooped and stamped his boots on the dusty ground when Indi and Bryce came in third. Bryce as looked pleased as he had the day after they’d lain and listened to the freight train as he sat on Indi in the centre of the school and received the shiny satin yellow ribbon and rosette. Indi stood with his head held high and his chest out as the neck sash was fastened around him. Rhyder jumped down from the fencing and ran around to the back of the area near the chutes where he could catch his boyfriend as he dismounted.

“You got third!” Rhydian hugged Bryce against his chest, wanting for ten seconds nothing more than to strip his boyfriend naked and ravish him.

“Yeah, we did, didn’t we Indi?” The blue dun snorted in reply, “I saw you watching.”

“Yeah?” Rhydian blushed. Suddenly his teenage brain was filled with thoughts of his boyfriend naked that morning, the feeling of Bryce inside him, of being inside Bryce, distracting him from where they were.

“Down boy,” Rhydian’s hard on was digging into Bryce’s crotch, “I’ll be good to you later, babe.” Bryce handed him Indi’s reins, “I gotta get set for bull riding. Can you take Indi back to the trailer for me?”

“I’ll run back!”

Moreta and Pal took Indi off him at the trailer and Rhydian was quizzed briefly by Jase. Sam and Caleb had gone for a look around the fair and Rhydian gave Shura and Samson both quick hugs before dashing back to the ring. Bryce was sitting in a chute on the back of what seemed like a big mottled tan wearing a thick body protector and a black bull riding helmet with a thick faceguard. There were two guys already standing on the sides of the chute and Rhydian clambered up the siding as fast as he could.

“Hey, get down from there boy!”

Bryce made a spitting noise and used his free ungloved hand to open the front of his helmet.

“No wait. I wanna good luck kiss before I start.”

The chute master sighed and Rhydian grabbed the quickest kiss he could.

“Good luck babe.”

Bryce grinned as he shoved his mouth guard back in, and one of the chute crew snapped his mask shut again. Rhydian stayed where he was as Bryce finished preparing. He was last in line to go, and Rhydian didn’t pay any attention to whoever was in the ring currently. Bryce got the rope settled and moved his bells down on the bull while the guys held the other end of the rope and spotted for him. Just as Bryce was getting the resin on his rope nice and hot with his gloved hand the klaxon went and the next chute opened and another rider went nuts in the ring.

“Last in line Hepply. You ready for this?”

Bryce nodded, settling his knuckles over the bull’s withers and the rope holder hauled the rope tight. He wrapped the rope over his palm, around the back and around again. A deep breath later and he nodded a second time.

“You’ll be an adult next year boy, and we’ll be putting you on the big bulls. You sure you don’t wanna quit and do something safer?”

Bryce shook his head, and the smile brightness in his eyes vanished as he looked down at the space beside his hand.

Rhydian knew the moment Bryce stopped seeing anything in his world apart from the task ahead. It was the same thing that happened when he and Shura cut a cow out of the herd, the focus and concentration in his eyes. The arena was clear, the last rider had stuck out for six seconds before coming off, and the announcer was calling out Bryce’s name and number. The chute master put a hand on Rhydian’s chest and made him lean back away from the bull his boyfriend was sitting on.

Six things happened at once: Bryce nodded, the chute door was hauled open, someone tightened the bull’s bucking rope, the klaxon sounded, the bull bucked and turned out of the chute and Rhydian’s heart leapt into his mouth. Surely there was no way anyone could survive this. Bryce would never stay on as the bull bucked and trounced, turning in circles, snorting, his eyes flashing with hate and rage. Bryce gripped the bull with his knees and leg, kept his other hand in the air as the bull did it’s very best to throw him off. Rhydian felt like he was going to die of panic just from watching. The bull twisted, thrashing its horns from side to side. The rodeo cowboys in the ring shouted and jumped making sure the bull didn’t try and take off running or shoot towards the sidings.

The klaxon went. Eight seconds, and Rhyder could hardly believe it had been so little time. The next big buck had Bryce cartwheeling from the bull. The bull bucked a bit more, running further away, and Bryce leapt onto his feet with a shout of triumph. The ring riders were rounding up the bull and sending him away and Bryce tore off his helmet and shouted in a wordless yell. Eight seconds and a sixty seven combined score was more than enough, and he’d won. Bull riders got prize money, and Bryce was grinning like an idiot as he hopped over the side of the ring, heading for Rhyder.

It was a bit like being hugged by Shura when the horse came to greet him with a whinny and a press against his chest, because Bryce collided with him with all his left over adrenaline from the ring and kissed him hard enough to see stars.

“I won!”

“Yes,” Rhydian smiled and hugged his boyfriend, wondering if he had any time to get Bryce out of his clothes, “Yes you did.”

“RHYDER!” Sam’s shout pulled him right back into his senses, “Get your ass back to the trailer and warm up those horses. You’ll be in the damn ring soon enough. Come on!” Rhydian kissed his boyfriend again and took off running with his hand on his hat.

Samson was already tacked up and ready to go. Rhyder dashed into the gooseneck of the trailer to grab Shura’s things and had the patient dapple grey suited in under three minutes. Shura whinnied and snickered in delight, and Rhydian took the time to rub his head and ears and whisper to him softly.

“It’s our big day bud. Rodeo time. You and me pretty boy.”

Caleb came in from warming up Boy-Latte and watched the boy walk off with his two horses, one in each hand.

“You’ve started something there y’know,” Jase was grinning at him, “He’s in love in more ways than one.”

“Don’t I know it! You all set for bulldogging?”

“Yeah. I swear if he beats me I’ll eat my hat.” Jase glanced up ruefully at the brim of his felt rancher’s hat.

“That may just happen. C’mon.”

No one wanted to miss Rhydian’s big debut, but Pal agreed to stay with Indi and the trailer and watch from the big screens. Sam held onto Samson and Jase and Sugar stayed with them, because the team penning rounds were first, and everyone else crowded into the space near the front or by the chutes to watch Caleb and Rhyder do their thing. They were up somewhere in the middle of the rankings, and Rhydian spent the whole time checking out the individual cows in the herd, picking out the ones with interesting markings or numbers that hadn’t yet been called. This was going to be a three cow pen, and Caleb had agreed Rhyder would be going back in for the last cow while Boy-Latte held them in.

But Bryce was watching a man moving around in the back area of the arena. He wasn’t family with anyone in the ring, but one look and he knew why the big man in the white ten gallon hat and the yellow waistcoat was there. He elbowed Sam softly and pointed.

“A scout.”

“I know.” Sam glanced quickly and returned to looking levelly at the arena, “Don’t say anything. He’ll get nervous and start using his head.”

Bryce nodded, and kept silent, but he made sure he watched the man in the yellow waistcoat when he sat down to watch the arena. The scout didn’t pay any attention to the much older riders, and Bryce knew he was looking out for guys just like Rhydian.

Rhyder and Caleb were called up, they were given their numbers and it was all go. There was barely time to holler as Shura broke a cow out of the herd and chased it down towards the pen. Caleb picked his out in very little time too and Rhyder went back in for the third. It was as though the two men and two horses were not four separate beings, but just two, because when the klaxon went at the end of their time, Rhydian simply patted Shura’s neck and trotted out of the arena. As the rest of the class followed, they went up the ranking until they’d earned themselves a pink ribbon in fifth. Rhydian beamed and Shura whinnied. The big dapple creature looked good with the sash around his neck.

When Rhyder came back out Bryce hugged him hard.

“You know we’re gonna need a picture of us and our horses with their ribbons on.” He grinned cheekily as he spoke.

“Yeah, but hopefully we’ll try for a matching colour eh?” Rhyder had the time to kiss him quickly before he mounted up on Samson. “I gotta get in the chute babe. Wish me luck.”

*

Jase scored a five point two with Rhydian as his outrider, and Samson proved well and sprung himself straight out, kept in line with the steer and they caught Sugar easily once Jase had leapt off of her back. Being the youngest, Rhyder somehow managed to end up going last in the bulldogging. Jase grinned and said it wasn’t bad, and at least he’d know what time he needed to score a blue ribbon. Rhyder didn’t want to keep an eye on the clock and the scoreboard, he wanted to concentrate on Shura, but he found his eye straying back there, looking for the numbers. Jase was in the top five, doing well and Rhydian mounted up and took Shura around to the chutes when they were called up.

It felt odd to be entering in swapped positions, odder to look down and see the steer, a pure black creature with a set of very straight horns and know he was going to leap off his horse and onto its back, knock it over with its head and pin it down. There were thousands of people watching, he was going to be on a big screen, and now the announcer wasn’t calling out Jase’s credentials, but his own.

“Ladies and gents, our last steer wrestler of the night! Number thirty four, our youngest adult rider who turned eighteen yesterday for his first big rodeo… Give it up for Rhyder Markey!”

Take a breath... Shura shifted under him, Rhydian moved with the horse.

The klaxon went. The gates broke apart.

Grip with your knees Rhyder, you know how to do this. Shura sprung out of the stall like the fastest horse in hell. Jase was there, very slightly ahead of him, keeping the steer in line. Rhydian dropped the reins, he didn’t need them.

Jump kiddo. He jumped, his feet hit the ground, and his body hit the steer’s shoulder. Find the horns. His fingers gripped the horns, his arms twisted to get better leverage and then the steer was going over, he was going down with it, the steer was under him, legs in the air and Rhydian had beat the animal.

The klaxon went. He jumped up, let the steer go, and looked for his time. Jase was whooping, Shura was trotting back and he’d done it, he won. Fastest time by less than half a second, but four point nine and a bit was better than five seconds dead. He roared with triumph.

There was a moment of quiet, where his brain wasn’t talking to the rest of him, then his eyes focused, his brain processed the image it was being sent, and by that time the steer was on top of him.