Her Rider His Rebel

Chapter 1

"And we've got the second cray-ziest match-up of the season. Alison Monroe versus Casanova. Eight seconds darlin'!" He announces, voice excited and deep.

"Eight seconds." She murmurs, hiking up her sleeve and making sure her hand is as tightly tied as possible. "Ready, set-" she stuffs her mouth guard into her mouth and her hips up to meet her wrist. The gate squeals open and Casanova takes off, swinging around, tossing her stiff body with him. Before she knows it, the buzzer blares through the arena. Slipping her gloved hand from the rope, she backflips off the beast and jumps onto the fence. Tipping her hat to the crowd, a wave of cheers erupts from the stands.

"Oh! I don't believe it! Casanova is in no mood to be messed with! He seems to be tearing right into Artie!" Shouts Ty Murray, getting her attention. She turns to see Casanova ramming his head into Artie's chest, his arms flailing. Her mind kicks in, knowing what she needs to do. Pulling off her hat and chucking it into the crowd, she drops back into the ring. Her heart pounds in her ears as she focuses her attention to the bull ramming the rodeo clown into the dusty floor.

"Hey! C'mon! Casanova!" She shouts, waving her arms to get the beast's attention. The large bull turns his head, eyes narrowing on her. 'There you go.' She thinks, waving at the animal again.

"Alison! Get your ass outta there!" LB shouts, noticing what she is attempting. He clings to the gate from his elbows, heels digging into the bottom rung.

"I've got this!" She snips back, holding her hand out to LB as her eyes never leave the furious creature that currently has its sights set on her.

LB's heart thunders as he watches his fellow female rider put herself in harms way to save a clown. 

"Be safe, Ali." He mutters under his breath. Blue eyes lock on her. His gaze burns into the bull's eyes, begging the animal to leave her unscathed.

"LB! What the holy hell is she doing?" Fires a shocked, and rather angry, Duncan Byrnes from the row behind LB.

"I don't know!" He shouts back as she jumps onto the fence and scrambles to the top, kicking her feet to maintain the beast's attention. Slowly, she reaches her hand down, letting Casanova sniff her fingers.

"Please, Jesus." LB prays, leaning forward to get a better look.

Easing herself down from the metal bar, she presses her entire back just as close to gate as possible. The smooth, cool metal was quickly becoming a coffin in mind as the thoughts of the bull's full potential fills her wandering mind. Carefully, her feet find the ground, hand still in front of the bull, his heavy breaths hitting her palm, along with some saliva.

"Careful girl." LB murmurs, pressing his lips together tightly. White knuckles gripping the gate rung at his chest, feeling his own heart slam into his chest wildly.

She carefully lets the large animal sniff her face. She knows he smells no fear on her because she  has none. Her boots planted in the dirt, her hand moving slowly towards him, she couldn't be afraid. There was no room for fear, or a single wrong move. 

"Hi," she croons to the animal, careful to use a soft tone. "Well dear, it's good to see that you've calmed down." She smiles, voice still high and soft. "You hurt that guy, ya know. You better make like a banana and split." She whispers, reaching carefully up to pat his head. Once her fingers touch the bull's head, the beast seems to calm down much more; almost to the docility of a dog or cat. With Casanova's trust, she runs her hand down his neck, shoulder, back, and stopping on the flank strap. Untying the flank strap, she takes the strap and smiles as the bull trots through the open gate.

The brim of her hat catches her attention from her peripheral and she turns, climbing up a couple rungs. A small, round face with rosy red cheeks and bright eyes meets hers. "I wanna talk to animals too." She whispers, a twinkle in her bright green eyes. Taking her hat, she leans over the bar further to whisper to the girl.