19 The Interaction

Billie Bob Jones

"If there's an emergency you call me or Clyde. Do you understand Cody?" I looked down to him as he gingerly nodded, he was too excited to be left in charge, "Every day you will go to Ma and tell her what you've done for the day. If you don't she will call me and I'll come back just to kick your ass."

"Bobby you've left me in charge before," he rolled his eyes.

"I don't understand why Cody is always left in charge. Why can't it be me or Willie?" Ben pouted as he sat on a block of hay with a piece of straw in his mouth.

"For that exact reason," I kicked his boots making him hiss, "You two are lazier than Rob after eating turkey on thanksgiving. Plus Cody is the only one with brain cells that are actually working."

"Ouch," Willie hissed as he held his chest, "Just to let you know I had the highest GPA in my grade."

"When? In eighth grade," Ben hollered and tilted back so far he fell off the block then landed on the ground. We all burst out laughing at his embarrassed face.

"Promise me you won't burn down the ranch. Willie you can make sure construction on the fence is going well," I pointed to him.

"Yes Sir," he saluted, seemingly happy I had actually given him a task.

"What can I do?" Ben frowned.

"You check on the cattle and horses every day with the other workers. Clyde, Rob and I will be back in three days. I'm sure that leaves you very little time to do damage," I chuckled.

After listening to a few more complaints from Ben and Willie, I finally mounted Lettie and rode her back to the house. One of the ranch workers took her back to the staples as I rushed up the stairs to pack my bag for the rodeo.

We would be leaving in two hours and even though that sounded like a lot of time, I had a lot of equipment to pack for the hour drive.

"Bobby do you think I should pack my straight leg jeans, shorts or the bootleg ones?" Rob entered my room. He had recently cut his ginger hair so flat that he almost looked bald. When we asked him why, he replied that he wanted to know what it felt like.

"The straight leg, please pack normal clothes for once Rob. I don't have time for dealing with people's stares," I glared making him hold his hands up.

"What crawled up your ass and died?"

"Rob," I growled.

"I'm just saying, you've been a bit hissy for the past two weeks," he folded his arms over his chest, "is it because you haven't been seeing that billionaire of yours?" he wiggled his eyebrows making my bloody boil.

"I'll kill you with my bare hands if you don't get out now and go pack you bag," I pointed to the door indicating if he did not leave I was going to stay true to my word.

"Fine, fine. You're no fun," he rolled his eyes dramatically and stomped out my bedroom.

The stress before a rodeo was always incredibly high that I often did not want anyone teasing me. Especially for this rodeo, Benedito, Dita, Ronaldo and José would be attending. It was my job to win the rodeo so that the directors would be keener in doing business with our ranch.

I had an excellent reputation of riding ninety and I had to make sure it stayed that way.

It was true that I had not seen nor spoken to Benedito in over two weeks but I did not care. Dita and I had meetings twice a week which meant we had covered a lot of work as well. I found it more convenient to do business with her. She did not ask me dumb questions halfway through a conversation or try to touch me.

Even though my first impression of her was wary I started to like her. She kept everything extremely professional and I thanked her for that. Unlike Tamara she knew how to conduct herself in a work environment.

Benedito had barely crossed my mind. "Shit," I hissed as I dropped the rowels of my spurs onto the floor. They rolled underneath my bed and it took me valuable two minutes to get them.

After I threw them in my bag I pressed my hand against forehead and tried to calm down my breathing. "What is going on with me?" I whispered to myself as I threw off my hat and sat down on my bed. I had finished packing my equipment and all that was left were my clothes but that even seemed irrelevant to me.

A soft knock on my door pulled me out of my thoughts. Ma stood there dressed in a pink summer dress with green boots; where she always got unique colours from I would never know.

"Hey there champ," she smiled, "can I join you?" I wordlessly nodded as I looked back to my clasped hands. Her gentle fingers combed through my hair helping calm down my nerves, "What's on your mind?"

"I don't know Ma," I shrugged, "I just haven't been feeling like myself lately."

She nodded then took my hand in hers. Even though Ma and I looked very different I had her brown eyes, structured face and big smile. I towered over her but that did not mean she was any less tough. She was the one who taught me how to shoot my first shotgun and how to follow animal tracks.

"I've noticed Bobby," she breathed out heavily, "I'm not going to pressure you into telling me what's been going on but come to me as soon as you feel like everything is too much for you. Let's not repeat what happened last time. This is our fresh start."

"I know Ma," I looked to her with a sad smile, "I'll come to you as soon as I figure it out."

"There's my champ. Now go make me proud by doing what you do best. Leave everything behind. Your only focus should be winning because that's what my Bobby does. Don't give your competitors the satisfaction of winning by allowing your emotions to run all over the place."

Ma always knew how to get me out of the slumps and I was grateful. The last thing I needed was to feel unstable before a rodeo. Everyone played mind games with each other before they climbed onto the bull and in a situation of life or death, the last thing you needed was doubt.

"Thank you Ma," I kissed her forehead making her beam.

"When you come back home I'll make you all your favorite pies," she clapped.

"You're going to make me so fat," I laughed as she squeezed my cheeks.

"It will be good you need some weight on you," she grinned. "Do you need any help packing?"

"Just my clothes."

"I'm right on it. Plus your style is horrendous can't let Benedito see you in those ugly patterned shirts," she stuck her tongue out before disappearing into my closet.

An hour later, after a large lunch and packing our bags in Clyde Ford SUV we were on our way to the town the rodeo would be taking place. I had no idea that Benedito had booked the fanciest hotel in the area but I figured it would be expected coming from him.

"The man doesn't play when it comes to security," Rob whistled as we saw the convoy of black cars with guards in front of the hotel.

"Most definitely," Clyde gaped as he parked the car. We grabbed our bags and walked inside where Benedito, Dita, Ronaldo and José were waiting for us in the lobby.

"The man himself," Ronaldo cheered as he jumped from the couch and instantly walked towards us, "Billie Bob Jones the rodeo legend," he clapped.

"It's good to see you Ronaldo," I laughed as he gave me a quick hug. He was most definitely dressed for the occasion, in brown boots, denim straight legs jeans, a blue button up shirt and a brown cowboy hat.

"Unlike my uncivilised friends there I wanted to blend in," he raised his tattooed arms which was the exact reason he did not blend in. Especially now that they were on full display.

"A man with excellent taste," Rob chirped in. It was the first time he and Ronaldo met but I could tell from their smiles they were going to give us all a headache.

Everyone greeted each other and unlike Ronaldo, José was dressed in a plain black outfit, Dita was dressed in a red dress that matched her hair that definitely got everyone's attention as they entered the hotel and Benedito as usual in an all-black outfit as well.

"Bobby," Benedito lowly said whilst everyone was too distracted talking to one another.

"Dito," I responded curtly.

His eyes burned through my sunglasses and it felt like the temperature of the room had instantly increased when he took a step closer to me. "It's good to see you."

"That's nice, I'm happy for you," I plastered a fake smile on my face. I had no idea what had come over me but his presence had seemed too brought out a side of me I did not know fully existed.

"Are you upset with me?" he frowned and took another step closer to me.

"There would be no reason," I folded my arms over my chest.

"We should probably show you to your rooms," Ronaldo popped our little bubble by speaking loudly as usual.

"I'll show Bobby to his," Benedito announced. Dita looked at him with an arched eyebrow but he barely seemed to pay any attention to her as he called over a bell boy to take my bags. Before I could even protest he was already walking with his confident stride.

Everyone stared at him in awe making me frown. Only if they knew behind that pretty face was a jerk. I quickly followed behind him to the elevator despite my head protesting against it.