AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Two
Shane Calland
If Shane had still been bull riding, he would have just rolled out of bed and swaggered down to the bullpens so he could talk shit and check out which of the bulls looked like they were going to give him the best scores.
But those days were gone.
Wandering around backstage at the rodeo, Shane pushed down feelings of resentment and what he refused to acknowledge as a little jealousy. Did he miss this? Hell yeah. A part of him did, but another part sure as shit didn’t miss getting bounced around on his tailbone by a two-thousand-pound bull or getting thrown off the back of a horse that didn’t want a rider on top of him. Shane certainly didn’t relish the memory of coming down on his ankle and having his foot go east while his body went west.
Shane now walked with a permanent limp because of it. On good days, the pain in his ankle made him irritable. On bad days, even he didn’t want to be around himself. When it first happened, he took pain medication, but he didn’t like the way it made him feel, disoriented and loopy, like he was out of his body looking down. Eventually, he just learned to suck it up, but it did make his temper short, especially with idiots. Even worse with idiots who didn’t know how to treat their animals right.
Five years ago, he had been on top of the rodeo world. He had an exciting career that made him a boatload of money for doing something he loved—riding bulls. Shane didn’t have to work his parents’ ranch with his brother. He got to travel the world, party all night, and sleep with a lot of beautiful women. Then he had gotten married, and a bull had ended his rodeo career. Some days Shane wasn’t sure which had screwed up his life more.
Abigail hadn’t stayed with him to nurse him back to health. She had divorced Shane after his ankle injury assured he’d never compete in the rodeo again. She had been back on the circuit the very next season. He had stayed home to help his father and brother run Viking Ranch.
Eventually, Shane had convinced his father get their bulls into the small, local rodeos. After a few years, they had some interest with the bigger national ones. And then last year, he had scored the UPRC. It had been a great win for the Viking Ranch. They agreed to contract with them for their five best bulls. Shane’s family still had some bulls in the local Montana rodeos and some of the smaller, amateur ones, but those were greener bulls that needed more experience before Shane could decide if they were destined for the spotlight.
This year, however, the UPRC decided to pull this shit with drug testing the bulls. What a waste of time—and it was completely unnecessary. But Shane wanted his bulls to compete in the big league, so he was willing to jump through a few hoops. It was a good thing that the UPRC paid almost double for the use of their bulls. It made up for some of the bullshit. Not by much, though.
By the time Shane unloaded his bulls and saw that they had food and water, he got a text from the UPRC acknowledging that his bulls were cleared to compete.
No shit.
He probably shouldn’t have given the pretty doctor such a hard time. It just pissed him off that the UPRC didn’t trust him not to shoot his bulls up with performance-enhancement drugs. None of the other rodeos did that.
Still, it hadn’t been Reba Keller’s fault. From everything he had seen, she was professional and truly understood the animals in her care. She was a head turner, and sometimes he’d find himself searching for her at each of the rodeo check-ins. One of these days, he’d ask her out for a beer. It was just that his schedule had been so hectic that Shane had barely enough time to get what he needed done before grabbing a little shut-eye and then hustling off to the next rodeo.
He listened to the backstage banter between the bull riders. Some were showing off for their girls, others were scrutinizing the bulls and bickering over which one they wanted to ride today. It all came down to chance, though. Every rider picked a bull from a blind drawing. They could trade amongst themselves, but that generally didn’t happen.
The Viking Ranch’s bulls that were currently on the roster for today’s rodeo were his father’s pride and joy. Sverre, Ingvar, Vidar, Balder, and Torkel were his father’s berserkers. His family was third-generation Norwegian. Their last name Calland meant calf and land in old Norse. When his grandfather had moved to Montana to build his ranch, he’d wanted to keep some of his heritage alive. All of their bulls had Norwegian or Old Norse names. Their animals were like family, so he found it offensive that the UPRC had to test their bulls for performance-enhancing drugs. His family had never resorted to that kind of foul play. But the UPRC almost lost a cowboy last year to a doped-up bull, so Shane understood why they had to do it. He just didn’t like it.
Of the thirty or so bulls here today, Shane thought his were the most competitive rides, but he was probably biased. He made his way to the stands after getting a hotdog and a beer. Sitting down on the bleachers, he ignored the customary squawk his knee gave him at bending. He was interested in seeing how their bulls performed today and how they compared to the competition.
“Shane, how the hell are you?”
Still chewing his hotdog, Shane looked over and saw his old pal Barney Keating. Barney was a bullfighter, turned more rodeo clown these days. He dressed up to entertain the crowd while the younger guys chased the bull around the arena and put their bodies on the line. Right now, though, he was wearing Levi’s and a T-shirt.
“Why aren’t you in your makeup and heels?” Shane asked after he swallowed.
“I’m not working today,” Barney said. “I’m here to see my son win.”
“What’s his name?”
“Taylor.” Barney pointed him out. “He’s usually bullfighting, but today he wanted to try to win the bull-riding purse.”
Shane nodded politely. It would probably be a good chunk of change. Shane remembered the thrill of earning thousands of dollars on the outcome of two rides. He would have half of it already spent by the next rodeo, though. Damn, he missed being young and irresponsible. A part of him wondered if it was worth it to try and get back on a bull again. Then his knee or his ankle warned him not to be an idiot. One of these days, his brain would get on board, but not during the rodeo days like this one.
“I hear Abigail is back around,” Barney said, with an elbow nudge and a waggle of his eyebrows.
“So?” Shane rolled his eyes. Abigail was always going to be around. If there was a rodeo, she’d be following the hottest new thing.
“Your ex-wife’s looking good—that’s all I’m saying.”
It been a fast wedding. They got married in Vegas after he had won the men’s finals five years ago. He didn’t remember much about the wedding, just that Elvis had officiated. The honeymoon had been pretty good, but it hadn’t made up for the months of fighting and nagging that followed. Since he hadn’t had a lot of money left after his career-ending injury, it had been a fast divorce as well. Six months from start to finish. Abigail never looked back. But to be fair, neither had Shane.
“She’s engaged to another bull rider.”
“Who’s the unlucky fella?” he asked, in spite of himself.
