I never really understood what it was about White Bluff that seemed to attract so many tourists, but maybe that was just because I’d grown up around there. Maybe they were seasonal workers.
I trailed my eyes down the hotter girl’s form, t
aking in her narrow waist and round behind. Yeah, I’d be pretty lucky if she was a seasonal worker, I thought. I wasn’t normally the type of guy to sleep with the same girl over and over again, but it was always nice to have a backup plan in case there was nothing happening at the bars.
“Oh, fuck yeah, buddy,” Brent said, coming back to me at the bar after having stepped outside to have a smoke. He eyed the girls as well, shaking his head. “How the fuck did we get so lucky in this bum-fuck little town?”
I snorted and glanced over at him. “We haven’t gotten lucky yet,” I pointed out.
He gave me a look as though he thought I was a moron. “What, you don’t think you have what it takes?” he taunted. “Maybe you need to try something different this time.”
I shrugged, not quite sure what I needed to try. “I think I’ve tried every play in the book at this point.”
“Maybe,” he said. Then, he got a wicked look in his eye. “But you haven’t tried using the mechanical bull to pull girls before.”
“Sure, I have,” I said. “Remember a few years ago on the Fourth of July? We were all in here getting smashed, and someone — I think it was Jerry — challenged everyone to some rounds to decide who was going to have to pay the tab?” I smirked. “But of course, you don’t remember that night because you had to pay the tab, and after that, when you saw how much it was, you drank yourself under the table trying to forget about it.”
Brent rolled his eyes, a sour look on his face at having been reminded of that night, which had been considerably less fun for him than it had been for the rest of us. “Getting on the bull to decide who has to pay the tab isn’t what I said. I said, you haven’t tried getting on the bull as a way to pick up chicks.”
“I’m getting there, I’m getting there,” I said, holding up both hands in a placating gesture. “You don’t remember this part because you were three sheets to the wind at the time, but I scored that night.” I grinned at his shocked face. “Come on, you have to remember. I know I told you about it. There was that hot brunette, can’t remember her name. Maybe Sharon? She came up to me in the last round of the night and was like, ‘Yeah, I saw you on the bull, and you were so sexy, so in control, and I bet you could control a woman the same way, couldn’t you?’ And I was like, well, yeah, honey, of course I could.” I winked.
Brent shook his head. “So why exactly haven’t you used that since?” he asked. “I mean, hell, if I was that smooth when it came to riding the bull-”
“Then you would remember that night,” I couldn’t resist interjecting.
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Well, I dare you to get on there again tonight. But tonight, I dare you to crank it up to the highest setting!”
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” I said, even though I hated to back down from a challenge. Thing was, I’d never even ridden a real bull before, and I had a feeling the mechanical one on its highest setting was a lot worse, and it could do a lot of damage if I fell wrong. The last thing I needed was to injure myself the night before I was due to work at the Lazy J Ranch.
At the same time, something in Brent’s words sparked a fire inside me and made me want to prove I could ride it. The longer he stared at me, waiting for me to relent, the more determined I became.
He started laughing. “You’re really going to do it, aren’t you?” he asked gleefully.
“Let me get another couple drinks in me, and we’ll see,” I told him, even though I’d already made up my mind. And sure, having another couple of drinks before hopping on the thing was basically signing my death warrant, but I didn’t want to get on it sober. The alcohol would preemptively dull the pain when I went flying off, right?
I couldn’t help thinking what my father would have said about the idea. He would have taunted me for even considering getting on the thing. I could practically hear him now: “You lazy son of a bitch, instead of going out and picking up a girl the honest way, you think you can ride your way to glory? You’re just a good-for-nothing kid with a bad attitude and a chip on his shoulder the size of Montana. You’re never going to survive that, and then everyone in this whole godforsaken town is going to know what a worthless piece of shit you are!”
“You getting cold feet?” Brent taunted, and god, for a minute there, it was like the angel and the devil on my shoulders — but I didn’t know which was which.
I laughed and tried to play off the feeling. “Nah, man,” I said. “Come on, let’s talk to these chicks some before I get on the bull.”
“Sure thing,” he agreed, draining his drink and waiting for another before leading me over. “You ladies in from out of town?” he asked them.
Of course, they were. Otherwise, we would know them. We would have grown up with them.
The girls giggled to one another and nodded. “Yeah, we’re from New York,” the girl in the pink shirt said. She was hot as hell, and she eyed me with a smile on her face. “So, you’re, like, real cowboys or something?”
“Aw, he is,” Brent said, jerking his thumb at me. “Actually, Trethan here was just bragging how he’s going to set a record time on the mechanical bull tonight. He rides it at the highest setting, too. And, I bet you can guess what a wild ride he is in the sheets, with all that, eh?” He winked at the two women.
They both blushed, but they were giggling. “Well, go on then,” the hot chick said, checking me out. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
“Oh, come on now,” I said, shaking my head and holding up my half-finished beer. “Let a man quench his thirst first before you start challenging him to get on the bull.”
“Ain’t like it’s a challenge for you,” Brent reminded me, grinning.
That bastard.
“I’m going home with the cute one,” he told me in an undertone as the girls started singing and dancing along to the song the band was playing. “The one in the pink top. She looks good enough to eat.”