A Wild Ride (17 page)

D
ANTE
knew there was a lot riding on this personal appearance. He’d even heard an advertisement for it on the radio as he’d driven from the ranch toward Calvers, the huge sporting goods store outside Houston. These events were usually a big hit, and he certainly hoped this one was as well. If people showed up, it would give him a boost and a bit of hope that he would be able to keep his endorsement for one more year. That was all he really wanted. Over the past few days, Dante had come to realize that, realistically, he only had one more year to ride. Gramps was doing better, thank the Lord, but he wasn’t going to last forever, and Dante wanted to spend as much time with him as he could. He also needed to figure out what he was going to do to make the ranch as prosperous as possible. No, all he wanted was one more year. When riding bulls, thirty was old, and Dante figured all he really wanted was one more chance at that championship.

He pulled into the parking lot of the store and noticed a decided absence of cars. There were customers, but nowhere near what he’d been expecting. Usually people were lining up. Dante parked and got the bag with his gear, carrying it with him as he walked toward the entrance.

Harvey met him as he approached. “What’s going on?” Dante asked, but in his heart he already knew.

“We publicized this with everything we had, but it doesn’t look like many people are showing up. There are a few people inside who are waiting, but not the kind of crowd we need. It is still early and more people could show up, but….”

Dante sighed as he walked into the store with Harvey. The manager met them and they shook hands. He led them to the back and into one of the offices, where Dante could change. The manager and Harvey continued talking as they left him alone, and Dante changed into his riding chaps, shirt, hat, and boots. He also grabbed his bull rope and threw it over his shoulder. When he stepped out into the store, he saw Ryan heading toward him.

“Doesn’t look like many people,” Ryan observed.

“It looks like you may get your wish,” Dante said without heat. From their talk a few days earlier, Dante knew Ryan would be happy if he didn’t ride again, and losing his sponsor would most likely ensure that happened.

“This isn’t what I wished,” Ryan said. “I want what will make you happy.” Ryan walked away, and Dante saw him pull out his phone.

“We need to get started. A few more people have shown up,” the manager said, and Dante followed him to the table. Dante waved to the crowd, seeing a few kids jump up and down in excitement. So what if it wasn’t a huge crowd? If he made a few people happy, that was worth it.

Dante made sure the kids came first, and he talked to each one as they stood in front of his table. He laughed with them and showed them his bull rope. He even explained how his vest worked to help stop the bull’s horns. But while no one said anything, he knew there weren’t enough people here to make a difference with his sponsors, and he knew it was because of the rumors.

“I saw you at the finals,” a blond boy told him as he peered up from in front of the table. Dante leaned forward and saw the hugest pair of eyes filled with hero worship, shining at him. “You almost winned!”

“Won, buddy,” his father corrected gently, resting his hands on his son’s shoulders. “The rumors have been flying,” the father began, “and my partner and I brought Reggie to meet you just to let you know we think it’s great.” He leaned forward a little. “Don’t let all the crap being talked around get to you. It’ll die down and the gossips will be going after someone else in two days.”

“I won’t, thanks,” Dante said, and he looked for Harvey, wondering just what kind of things were being said about him. He turned his attention back to the boy and signed his new hat for him. Dante also signed the father’s hat, as well as the brand-new one the man’s partner bought and brought over to him. “Thank you all for coming out.”

“Will you be riding next season?” the boy’s father asked.

Dante smiled his biggest smile. “I certainly hope so.”

“We’ll be rooting for you,” he said, and the small family all smiled at him. “Could we get a picture?”

“Of course,” Dante said, standing up. He grabbed his bull rope and put it over his shoulder. The manager came over, took their camera, and stepped back. Dante posed with the boy, and they all smiled as the manager snapped some pictures. Dante lifted off his rope and they all thanked him, the boy waving as they left the store. As the next people approached, Dante saw a familiar face near the table. Harvey hurried over, and they shook hands before standing back. Dante went back to signing, but he knew the representative from Dunbar’s had just arrived, and from the look on his face, he wasn’t happy.

The number of families with young children petered out pretty quickly, but Dante kept signing as men brought their hats up to him to autograph. Some seemed a bit shy, while others were very outgoing, even flirty, with one guy brazenly asking for his phone number.

“I don’t think my boyfriend would appreciate that,” Dante told him softly.

“Well, hot damn, them rumors are true,” the huge man said with a grin. “Would you sign my chaps for me?” The man stepped back, and Dante walked around the table and signed down his leg in a big flowing signature. Some of the people in line whooped, and Dante looked at the now long line that snaked through the store. And they were all men, each of them holding a hatbox and other purchases. “Thanks, darlin’,” the man in the chaps said, and he walked away as the next man approached the table.

Dante took his seat once again, and Harvey walked up from behind him. “Where did all these people come from?” Harvey asked softly. Dante shook his head and signed inside the white hat the customer had just bought. Dante talked to each one of them and answered their questions, signing hats and smiling.

“Mr. Rivers is going to take a ten-minute break,” the manager said from in front of the line as Dante finished signing hats for a couple of men. “I promise he’ll be right back, so stay in line. He’ll sign for another hour when he gets back.”

Dante stood up and followed the manager through the store to the office. Harvey handed him a bottle of water, and he gulped half of it down. He’d been talking and signing for so long his throat ached. “Have you seen Ryan?” Dante asked Harvey softly.

“A few times, but he’s had his phone plastered to his ear for hours.”

“What the hell is going on?” Lyle Dunbar asked as he burst into the office. “I’ve never seen so many fags in one place in my life.”

“Keep your voice down,” Dante said. “Those people out there are your customers, and they’re buying your hats—a lot of them, by the look of it.” He was about ready to punch Lyle in the nose, sponsorship be damned.

“It looks like the goddamned Village People out there,” Lyle said, more softly this time, but with the same vehemence.

“So what?” Harvey said, stepping in front of Dante, who had his fists balled and ready. “Their money is just as green as anyone else’s.”

“And I’m having the best Thursday in weeks,” the manager said as he looked at a computer screen. “From the looks of it, we’ve sold dozens of hats.” He refreshed the screen. “Make that over a hundred hats, and the registers are still ringing.” He stood up with a mile-wide grin on his face. “Whatever problem you have,” the manager said, turning to Lyle, “get rid of it. We have disposable income and that’s the kind of customer you want.” The manager bored his gaze into Lyle like there was no tomorrow. “And we have a nondiscrimination policy, so if you wish to continue with that kind of hateful speech, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

Lyle went white, and Dante hid his smile behind the bottle of water. “I think I need to get back out there,” Dante said with a nod to Harvey, and they turned to leave. Just before he left, Dante turned to see Lyle and the store manager staring bullets at each other. Then the office door closed, and Dante breathed a small sigh.

“Those two are apt to kill each other,” Harvey commented, and Dante scoffed before leaning close.

“Either that or they end up fucking each other into next week.” Dante had felt the heat between them even if neither of them recognized it.

Harvey shuddered. “You didn’t have to tell me that.” Dante laughed as he took his place at the table and the first man in line approached the table.

Dante talked and signed, and laughed with the people in line until the store closed and the last customer had left. He was supposed to have been done an hour earlier, but Dante wasn’t about to leave until he’d gotten a chance to talk to everyone. They had come out here to see him, and he was determined to give everyone a chance. Just like at the rodeos, when the other guys paid the fine but he came out at the end to sign programs, the fans were the reason he got to compete. Dante’s legs were stiff, and his ass hurt from sitting on a folding chair for hours, but he didn’t mind.

“Are you ready to go?” Ryan asked from behind him, and Dante turned with a huge smile.

“Where have you been?” Dante asked, mindful of where they were or he’d have pulled Ryan into a hug. “I kept looking around for you. Were you on the phone all evening?”

“No. I spent part of the time wandering around. I didn’t want to get in your way,” Ryan said. Dante didn’t respond. He didn’t know what to say. If Ryan felt it was more important to spend the evening on the phone and wander around the store than to even stop by and say hello, then that was his choice. Ryan’s phone rang, and Dante walked back toward the office to get his stuff. “I didn’t see you,” Ryan said into his phone from behind Dante. “Yes, I know, you’re jealous, but you need to find your own. He’s mine.” Ryan laughed, and as Dante approached the office door, the manager let him inside. The door muffled the rest of Ryan’s conversation.

“Thank you for coming,” the store manager said as Dante grabbed his things.

“You’re very welcome,” Dante said, extending his hand, and Roger, according to his name tag, shook it.

“I was wondering if you’d be willing to do a demonstration some Saturday. We could set up a tent and bring in a mechanical bull. I bet we could get quite a crowd if you’d show up and demonstrate how you train and ride,” Roger said.

“I’d be happy to. Did Harvey give you one of his cards?” Roger nodded. “Then give him a call and set it up.”

“How much would you want?” Roger asked a bit nervously.

Dante shook his head. “Nothing. It’s part of what I do for the fans,” Dante said as he walked toward the door. “If you’re serious, hold a contest for a half-hour personal bull-riding lesson. I’ll spend half an hour teaching the winner how to ride.”

“That’s so cool. I’ll contact Harvey right away so we can get this set up. I’ll also contact Dunbar”—he practically spat the name—“to see if he’ll sponsor it.”

Dante scoffed loudly. “Don’t count on it.” He pulled open the door, and Ryan was waiting for him. They walked through the office door, and Harvey joined them as they reached the front. A guard opened the door and held it for the three of them. He said good night and then closed it once they were through. Dante heard it lock behind them. “Well, that was a surprise,” Dante said once they’d stepped out into the nearly empty, but overhead-lit parking lot.

“Yeah. Dunbar was fit to be tied. He figured tonight would be a bust, but even he admitted that this was one of the best promotional events they’ve had in years. I thought the homophobic prick was going to swallow his teeth when he saw all those men buying everything in sight to have it signed,” Harvey said.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t get us any closer to a sponsorship,” Dante said.

“Don’t be so sure. Dunbar may be a closed-minded ass, but he’s an ass who loves money, and tonight he saw plenty of it. I’ll give him until Monday to think about it and then I’ll be at his office so he can sign the sponsorship agreement. What happened tonight was too good for the money-grubber to ignore.”

“While you’re at it, get him to sponsor a riding event here. Roger is going to call you,” Dante said, going on to explain the conversation he’d had with the store manager. “If nothing else, get him to kick in some promotional product and stuff.”

“Leave it all to me,” Harvey said as he stepped out of the circle of light where they’d been standing and started walking toward his car. “I’ll call soon,” Harvey said. Dante watched as he got in his car, and soon the taillights shone as he drove away.

“Do you want to come to my place for the night?” Ryan asked.

“I should probably get home to Gramps,” Dante said.

“I talked to him an hour ago. He said he was going to bed,” Ryan said with an almost evil grin.

“Is that who you were talking to?” Dante asked suspiciously.

“Part of the time. My friend Jacky called a while ago. He said he got you to sign some stuff for him. He told me he also wanted you to sign his chest, but you refused.”

“He was a friend of yours? Man, that guy has no shame,” Dante said, remembering the small man with the room-size presence.

“That’s Jacky. He said he and his friends had a good time,” Ryan added as he started across the parking lot to his car.

“Ryan,” Dante called. “How many of the people here were Jacky’s friends?”

“I don’t know. Jacky has lots of friends… and ex-boyfriends,” Ryan said, and a niggling twitch wriggled up Dante’s spine.

“How many of those phone calls that Harvey said he saw you making were to friends to tell them to come out tonight?” Dante pressed.

“I may have mentioned it to a few people,” Ryan said, continuing toward his car. They weren’t parked very far from each other, and Dante headed for his car. He had his hand on the door handle when angry voices reached his ears. Dante stopped and turned around in time to see a baseball bat swing, and then he heard it clang to the concrete and Ryan fell to the ground, with two men standing over him.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Dante yelled and dropped his bag on the concrete, rushing to where Ryan had collapsed.

“You that fag bull rider?” one of the men yelled as Dante approached, but he didn’t say anything more because Dante’s fist connected with his mouth and the crunch of bone and teeth breaking was followed by the man screaming as he covered his face. Dante punched him again, this time hearing the satisfying sounds of the fucker’s nose and fingers breaking, then turned on the other man, who was already backing away.