Bullheaded

side of the fence with Reese and Vern, Johnny felt inconspicuous and yet right at home despite the cheering, which wasn’t for them anyway. He had gotten more used to the indoor arenas where the top circuit rode, and here they were outside, but it was nice to be under the night sky. It had cooled down after a hot day, and the noise and applause didn’t echo out here in quite the same way.
    It was time to introduce the riders. Each man had his name read out by the announcer over the loudspeaker and had his chance to run into the ring and wave his hat at the fans. There were more than thirty riders, so it was going to take a while to get through the list as they came out one by one. Each rider ran past the bullfighters, the younger ones without so much as a glance. Most of the older riders high-fived the team as they went by. When he’d first started working for Vern, the lead bullfighter had suggested he clip his braided hair up under his hat to avoid getting his neck broken if it got caught on something, so maybe it wasn’t surprising neither Aubrey nor Tommy recognized him. Zane gave him a brief grin and slapped his palm as he galloped into the ring.
    Then Johnny’s body stiffened when he heard the name Bobby Blue Chandler.
    Like any good stock handler, of course Vern noticed. “You heard of this kid?”
    Nodding, Johnny tried to be fair. “Raw, but cocky. Shows signs of being good someday.”
    “Great.” Reese rolled his eyes. “Cocky guys are the fuckers that drag our asses into the hurting with them.”
    “Be careful of the cocky ones,” Vern agreed. “Get set and stay on your toes. It’s all we can do.”
    Even though he hadn’t gotten much sleep after leaving Jeff’s room the night before, Johnny wasn’t tired. Just putting on his protective gear pumped his energy, and as the youngest and most athletic of the team, he knew he’d get to handle his fair share of the fighting.
    The riding was certainly not of the caliber he had gotten used to on the Top Cut circuit, but neither were the bulls, although there were a few promising young ones. Judging by their riding, he was surprised to see Aubrey and Tommy on the list. He would have thought they would still be on the county fair circuit, but maybe Cody’s training had helped more than he’d expected. When Aubrey rode, his buckoff time was three seconds. Tommy went off a little more excruciatingly at just under eight seconds. It gave Johnny a twinge of sympathy pain reminiscent of his own bull riding days.
    Neither of the riders appeared to recognize him in his bullfighter role as he jinked and dodged around the bulls. It annoyed Johnny that he kept making a mental note to mention some bit of information about each bull to Cody until he remembered he wouldn’t be talking to Cody after the show.
    During some of the downtime, his thoughts wandered onto exactly how the bulls were contracted for each show. It was something he might have learned if he’d stuck around the ranch. Val and Davis had been training and contracting bucking horses ever since she retired from riding, so Cody must have gotten some idea from them about how to do it.
    At this level, these bulls weren’t as challenging as the ones Johnny and his team were used to, but that was no reason to fall asleep at the wheel. The three bullfighters congregated near the exit gate whenever a cowboy was getting ready in the chute so they could hover at a distance that didn’t distract him, but be handy to rush in when the rider dismounted, however and whenever he happened to dismount.
    It wasn’t until Bobby Blue was in the chute that Johnny actually paid more attention to the rider than the bull, even though this bull was demanding notice, bashing around as if it was trying to crush Bobby Blue’s leg against the fence.
    “You called it, he’s an ass,” Reese joked, “Seems like he’s even pissing the bull off.”
    “Yeah, that bull ain’t normally so bad in the box.” Vern touched fists with each of his team members. “Get ready now.”
    “And not wearing a damn helmet after he’s been told. Idiot,” Johnny grumbled. He could see his team earning their pay today.
    Watching closely, Johnny began to see the raw ability Cody had recognized in Bobby Blue back at the ranch. When the gate opened, Bobby Blue was laid out almost on his back by the speed of the bull, but he appeared to have actually learned something from Cody. He fought his way upright again, but then the bull tossed