Home of His Own by T. Chase (classic fiction .TXT) 📗

and Randy out on the circuit while we were competing.

This is my partner, Burt Tackett.”

“Does Les advertise in gay magazines to get you all to come out here? Or are all the rumors true about cowboys,” Brody joked.

Burt laughed. “Does seem to be a lot of us concentrated here, but trust me, a majority of the hands and cowboys you’ll meet around here are straight. The guys on the ranch won’t give you any trouble. The guys you meet in town might be a different story.”

“I appreciate the warning. Living in L.A. gives a person a rather jaded sense of the world. I understand not every place is as open-minded, so I won’t kiss Tony in public.”

Brody nodded.

“Well shit. You give him any more warnings, Burt, I won’t be getting any sex from him.” Tony winked at the men.

Brody shook his head while the two older cowboys chuckled.

“You are shameless, Romanos.” Dusty cuffed his head as the man walked past.

“Let’s get your rig on Megabeef there.”

“Megabeef? He’s a bit on the short side.” He looked at the bull with skepticism.

The bull was shorter than most he’d ridden and looked skinnier.

“Yep. He’s only a four year old and doesn’t ship well. He’ll fill out, put some inches on and he’ll be a good one.” Burt nudged Brody. “Isn’t it a little like the kettle calling the pot black?”

Tony shot Burt a scowl while he climbed up on the gate and straddled the top, one foot resting on a bar at each side of the bull. Brody leaned against the far fence, watching Tony tighten the rope around the bull’s stomach.

*

“What’s he doing?” Brody nodded towards Tony.

“He’s wrapping his bull rope. To be able to stay on the bull for eight seconds, a cowboy needs to have something to hold on to.”

“Isn’t that cheating? Wouldn’t having something to hang on to make it easier to stay on?” Brody shook his head, puzzled.

“Wait until you see them buck. The cowboys need all the help they can get to stick to these animals.” Burt gestured to the rope. “If you notice, a section of the rope has a kind of a handle on it. Tony’ll fit his hand in the handle and then wrap a section of the bull rope around his hand. He tucks it under his fingers, making sure it’s as tight as possible.”

Megabeef kicked the chute when Tony lowered himself down on the bull’s back.

Brody jumped. The bull bellowed and tossed its head, flinging snot all over the gate.

Nervousness shot through Brody. Having never seen any sort of rodeo, he worried about Tony.

No matter how much the others spoke about Megabeef being small for a bull, the animal still looked huge to Brody. What kind of person thought it was fun to get on the back of a one ton animal and try to ride it for eight seconds?

“What’s the bell for?” He pointed to the cowbell hanging from the rope under the bull’s stomach.

“It adds weight to the rope. When the cowboy pulls the tail of the rope free, it allows the rigging to fall off. That way the rider can get off, but also doesn’t have to chase the bull into the bull pen to get his gear back.”

Brody nodded. “Why do this? Why ride bulls?”

Burt shrugged. “Why do people jump out of airplanes or drive fast cars? It’s a matter of adrenaline and fear. Also, when you make it to eight seconds without taking a header off the bull, you know you’ve accomplished something most people never have.”

“I still think it’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.”

The ex-bull rider chuckled. “You’re right there. It is crazy, but it’s becoming one of the most popular sports in the country.”

The chute banged open and Megabeef exploded from the gate. First leap out landed them ten feet from the chute. The bull ducked to the left and spun. Tony sat tight, rocking his hips with the movement of the bull’s kicks. Bellowing, the brindle bull stopped, shot to the right with a huge jump and gave a belly roll to try and dislodge the man on his back.

“Fuck, that brindle is rank.” Burt whistled.

Tony slid to the left. His free arm flailed as the cowboy tried to find his balance again.

“Megabeef has him back off his rope and off balance. That’s never a good combination.” Burt winked at Brody.

Another quick stop, but this time the bull shot sideways to the right, leaving Tony face first in the dirt. Brody started forward to help Tony, but Burt’s arm shot across Brody’s chest, stopping him.

“Let James get the bull out of the arena.” Burt nodded over to where a young man herded the brindle animal towards the large gate.

Tony scrambled to his feet and ran over to Brody. He wore a huge grin, flung his arms around Brody’s waist and gave him a big hug.

“Wasn’t that awesome?” Tony let go and spun around to Burt. “He’ll be great when he gains weight and gets a little bigger.”

Burt agreed. “I thought so. Take a minute to catch your breath while we run the next one in.”

Brody checked out Tony’s ass framed by the black leather chaps he wore. Reaching out, he palmed one of those firm cheeks and squeezed. Tony gasped and pushed back.

Brody leaned down to whisper in Tony’s ear. “I think I’ll be fantasizing about you riding me while wearing these.”

Tony pressed tight to him, rubbing his bubble butt against Brody’s groin. They both moaned.

“Stop it, you two. There’s innocent kids around and you can’t be riding with a hard-on,” Dusty shouted from the chutes.

Brody nipped Tony’s earlobe before letting the bull rider go and turning around to smile at the older men. “I don’t think you’ve seen young or innocent in a long time, Dusty.”

The red-haired cowboy flipped him the finger and he laughed, slapping Tony’s ass.

“Get up there and show me how it’s done.”

Tony shot a smirk over his shoulder at Brody and sauntered up to the bucking chute, swinging