The Cowboy's Prize

Chapter 1

"Can't we just stay at the Bar?" I whined as Jake dragged me out to the dance floor.

"No girl, we're joining in with the joiners and having fun!" He said with a mischievous grin, his sparkling eyes letting me know he was more than half way to being completely plastered.

Well I was definitely going to suck at line dancing. I so did not need this. The alcohol and the promise of cute boys were the only reasons I'd said yes to Jake's suggestion of attending the Rodeo, along with the promise of being able to leave if it totally sucked.

Well I had to admit the Rodeo hadn't sucked the whole time.

.......

The dirt and the smell had been amazingly off-putting to the Diva in me, but once Jake had sat me down next to some giggling girls and put something heavy on the alcohol in my hand I'd given it a chance.

The first events had been kids showing off their roping and a livestock auction.

The auction had been kind of fun, especially listening to the caller run his spiel egging on those doing the bidding on the livestock. Jake and I had tried to imitate him with little success, although I'd done a fairly good job imitating another caller at one point. OK she was easier and it was all in good fun. That's when I'd started feeling the punch and we'd gone to get something to eat.

The choices had been severely limited for my delicate stomach and I'd ended up with spiral cut potato chip skewer that was actually really good, not for my hips but all the cheering would make up for it.

The kids had been cute but terrifying. How on earth their parents let them into that ring with those huge (compared to them) animals in there had made me cringe. Then they'd announced the main event, the bull riding.

Huge, manly boys and men started appearing seemingly from out of nowhere at that announcement and the empty seats in the stands began filling up with their wives and girlfriends. Jake and I realized that we had some of the best seats in the house when they began loading up the chute nearest us with loudly complaining, huge snorting beasts.

Our eyes opened wider as we saw the clowns enter the ring, their outfits were hilarious, but they looked serious and agile as they warmed up and began flexing their muscles in preparation for wrangling the bulls.

"Oh, that one's cute." Jake exclaimed over a tall brunette whose face paint was Groucho Marx inspired. I looked over at the tall man and admired the perfect shoulders, flat abs and biceps shown off to perfection by the red checked shirt he was wearing rolled up high on his arms. He rotated his neck and then shrugged his shoulders before stretching out his quads and then bouncing up and down on the spot in his well-worn boots.

Jake appeared mesmerised by the sight but I wasn't as entranced. I was too busy worrying about the huge animals being manhandled next to us.

The first rider took us by complete surprise because it was all over so quickly. He lasted a mere three seconds once the explosive force that was the bull under him began bucking its rider off when the chute door swung open to release the whirling dervish. The huge stopwatch clock on the main podium that was counting down the seconds and partial seconds blared out a loud horn sound as he fell on the ground.

"Woah!" Jake said loudly next to me as I inhaled again reflexively. "That was..."

"Yeah!" I responded not really knowing what to say. Then the announcer told us another cowboy was about to try his luck with another bull.

We looked at each other and prepared to cheer on the next lunatic who was going to try and stay on his bucking steak on legs for 8 seconds.

He only lasted 5.

The next one went the full 8 seconds, he was an impressive example of a bearded backcountry manly man. His exultant smile lit his face at his victory and then he threw his hat in the air and whooped out a huge holler at the cheering girls in the stands. They started cheering for the good looking male, and Jake whistled and stomped his feet along with the rest. It was crazy, fun and the rest of the parade of serious looking cowboys seemed to be modern day gladiators, competing against each other and the bulls they were trying to conquer.

There were a few who made it the whole 8 seconds, but even to my untrained eye, some had much better form on top of their bulls than others.

Jake and I got into the spirit of the thing and cheered along, until the final bull was announced and then there was a sudden hush over the crowd. I guess he was the toughest bull there that day because he certainly appeared to be loud in the chute while the cowboy about to ride him prepared to get into the box with it. The bull snorted, let out the loudest bellow I'd ever heard in my life and crashed against the sides of the steel pen. The tall cowboy leaning over it, preparing to take his seat threw a grin at the other guy there giving him advice I surmised and then secured his right hand under the rope handle.

That smile made my breath catch in my throat and it wasn't even directed towards me. I focused intently on the man as he tugged his hat down on his head with his other hand and then looked up before giving the signal to loose the caged monster.

It tore out of the cage like a tornado, spinning and bucking trying to get the man off its back. The noises coming from the huge beast were seriously loud, as if it had a microphone to its mouth and that piece of equipment was set at full blast. It spun, bucked and moved under the rider, almost 2 tonnes of angry animal trying to dislodge the skilled rider who moved like a rubber man, his arm high in the air signalling he was the one who was going to beat the beast.

The horn blared and the rider was sill astride the bull. He'd made it to 8 seconds and now was the time to dismount, but the bull was still whipping itself into a frenzy and Jake and I looked at each other as we wondered how the rider would get off.

It wasn't pretty, but he let go of the hand hold and slid down the side of the bucking creature while the clowns came in to distract it. It bucked him off as he slid against the heaving side of beef which flung him at least 20 feet into the ring before the cowboy landed flat in the dirt.

Everyone inhaled deeply and held their breath, waiting for the man to move.