Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Coke turned the corner, truck bouncing along the drive toward AJ’s rambling old house.
Good Lord, it’d been a long couple weeks—what with Dillon being out with his poor legs, Nate’s boy getting pneumonia, and the bulls being mean as shit.
He’d was ready for a few weeks off, helping the boys, sleeping in, seeing the kids.
Not wondering whether he’d done the right thing by letting Dillon fall asleep in the hot tub that night while he’d ordered room service. By the time things were settled, Dillon’d needed Doc, and then the man had gone home to Idaho. Boom.
It was prob’ly for the best, really. Dillon’d been out of it, and no one needed to have to explain shit and…
He parked, turned the lights off, and tried to decide whether to wake Missy up or just sleep in the truck or what.
Coke didn’t have to ponder on it too long.
Before he could even rest his head on the steering wheel, someone was knocking on his window, AJ’s tooth missing, fool face grinning in at him.
“Hey there, son. You got a room for an old man?” Dork.
“I sure do. Come on. The boys are still up, having a beer.”
“Excellent.” He grabbed his duffle out of the back, humping his gear easily. “How’s the family?”
“Okay. Everyone is over the ear thing that went around. Missy’s doing good.” AJ led the way, babbling until they got inside. Then he hushed a little.
Jason was laughing; he could hear it—a full, deep sound that made him grin.
“He wakes that baby and Missy will kill him.” They detoured through Missy’s bright white kitchen and got a beer before heading to the front room.
“Coke.” Missy’s smile was warm, welcoming.
“Hey, old man!” Andy Baxter waved at him from that monstrosity of a couch, man still wearing a face that was about as mean as could be. “How’s it hanging?”
“It’s hanging. Y’all been working hard?”
Jason smiled through that mat of hair on his face. “You know it, Gramps.”
“Hardly workin’ is more like it.” Bax looked better every day. Jason was still damned skinny. Tiny. Like he could just blow away.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” He headed over, eased himself down, the worn cushions cradling his ass. “Good to be outta that truck, yessir.”
“I bet. You been on the road a bit.” They all stared expectantly at him, watching and waiting.
“Yep.” He nodded. “Dillon’s in. We got a floor team.”
“Well, there you go.” Bax shook his head. “Even if he does freak me out a little.”
“Just a little?” They all laughed, even Missy, who never traveled with them, got the joke.
“So, we got Dillon and Nate.” Bax bit at his thumbnail. “Mini’s doing pretty good.”
“You been on more bulls?”
Jase shrugged. “A couple. I been driv—riding.”
“Driving the truck, too, huh?” Bax elbowed the man, giving Coke raised eyebrows. “Asshole nearly did her in.”
“I did not. I did good!”
AJ and Missy glanced at each other, then spoke. “For a blind guy.”
Lord have mercy on them all. “Well, why did I need to bring everyone in on this if you was just gonna kill yourself, then?”
“I didn’t, god damn it. I thought…for a second there I could. Fuck.” Jason’s lips went tight, cheeks dark red.
Oh, fuck a duck sideways. That shit wasn’t fair.
Bax grabbed Jason’s hand, and Missy suddenly had to go check on the baby, and it was AJ who broke that ice. “Well, now we know what Jason will do when his sight comes back. He’ll go to Disneyland!”
Coke blinked at AJ, then he started laughing, deep, hard belly-laughs.
Bax and Jason joined in, and soon enough they were all howling, slapping legs and all but spilling their beer. Which was, naturally, when Benji came in, rubbing his eyes and blinking.
“Uncle Poppy?”
“Hey, buddy.” He opened his arms and got a hug and a kiss on the cheek before the sweet boy went to Jason, pushing into the man’s lap like he belonged there.
Jason didn’t even stiffen a moment, just pulled Ben right on up on his thighs, kissing the bright head. “Hey, kiddo. Did we scare you?”
“Uh-uh. Just woke me up.”
Man, that boy had Jason’s number.
“Well, buddy, you can sit here a bit with me.”
“Okay.” Benji snuggled in, and Coke thought it was a shame for a minute, how Jase would probably never have kids. Course, that little bit of decency only really shone for Benji. The rest of the world got the growl and snap.
“So, somebody tell me there’s going to be burgers on the grill tomorrow.” AJ looked hopeful and Missy chuckled, swatted him.
“Sure.” Bax waved a hand. “You’re the grill master, Aje. You do it.”
“I’ll help. I haven’t gotten to grill since I left here.” He thought for a second about his pool, his hot tub, his big-assed fancy-pants grill. Man, he missed home.
Come to think of it, he missed Dillon, too. He could picture that man in his hot tub, for sure. He’d bet Dillon would be a hoot—hell, he’d seen it, that hard little body all bubbly and wet and…
Man. Coke. Ease up.
“You okay, Coke? You went away there for a minute.” Bax didn’t miss nothing.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Woolgathering.” Fantasizing. Whatever.
“You tired, man? Missy made up the green room again.” AJ smiled at him, all sympathetic.
“I can sit and jaw a little. I more got road doze, yeah? How’s that baby girl doing?”
Missy beamed. “She’s walking good, Poppy. I imagine she’ll crow to see you. Although, I have to say, Andy’s her favorite.”
“Andy? Uncle Candy?” That was a hoot. Who woulda guessed that little Daisy would pick the crotchety-est rider ever.
“Yup. She follows him around, tugging on his jeans. It’s sorta cute, so they tell me.” Jason’s lips twisted a little, went tight.
“Unca Candy is funny when he looks at her,” Benji piped up. “He looks like he hasta go to the bathroom.”
They all blinked, then stared, then Missy just cackled. “I think that’s love, son. I do.”
“No, that’s how Daddy looks at you, Momma.” Benji made the most extraordinary face, all AJ when he gazed upon his woman.
Missy smiled on Benji, then AJ, eyes getting all teary. “He’s a good boy.”
“He is, huh? Okay, bub, time for bed.” AJ went and plucked Benji out of Jason’s lap, smiling down into that little face.
He was a good daddy. Of course, that girl was right behind her man, looking on him like AJ was pure magic.
It sort of blew Coke’s mind, but he reckoned there was someone for everyone.
“Y’all going back to the guest house, or am I gonna get to have one more beer with you?”
“Shit, Coke. We’ll have a beer. How’s things?”
He smiled at Jase, even if the man couldn’t see him. “Lord. Billy got himself a gal—one that ain’t his wife, mind you—knocked up, Kynan got real drunk in Cheyenne and picked a fight with a carny, got his nose broke…”
Bax and Jason both cracked up over that, and they talked for a bit, distracting him from his wandering thoughts and unruly body. Thank God.
By the time the beers were done, he was about ready to fall into the bed, crash like a lead balloon. “I’m off, y’all. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Night, Coke.” Bax went to help Jason up, both of them waving, Jason’s just a little off.
Coke nodded, wandering back to the green room to unload his pockets. His phone was blinking with one of them text-dealies, and he flipped the thing open, fumbling with it.
There was a little message on the screen once he got it open, the letters tiny enough that he had to play trombone to read them. They said, “Miss you. Boo. D.”
It took him a goddamn hour to reply. “Me too. Use your salve. Boo back. Night. Coke.”
Still, he hoped it made Dillon’s night better to hear from him, just like Dillon’s message had done for him.
Lord, Lord. Maybe there really was someone for everyone.