Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Coke was napping.
It was a good look for him, head back, sunglasses on, a quirky smile on his face… When he wasn’t snoring.
Dillon had slathered on the sunscreen and snoozed with Coke for a while, but now he was ready and rarin’ to go, his usual nervous energy asserting itself.
He needed to bounce. He got up on the diving board and stretched tall, reaching for the sky.
He bounced a little on his toes, feeling the sun beat down on his naked, and now almost brown, thank you, body.
He thought he heard something—something dinging or ringing or something—but it stopped and Coke never twitched, so he figured it must not be anything. It didn’t matter anyway. This place was like an oasis. Quiet, simple, easy.
He bounced a little more, the diving board balanced so damned well that he could probably use it like a trampoline. Huh. Maybe he should try it.
Sproing.
Sproing.
Sproing.
Oh, God, this was fun.
“Jesus Christ, Jase! Dillon’s here, and he’s naked!”
The shout made Dillon miss his footing on the board, and he flew out over the pool, arms and legs flailing. He landed in a spectacular belly flop that might just have ruined him for life. Poor Coke. He’d never get fucked again.
“God and Greyhound, what are y’all doing here without calling? You prob’ly killed the beautiful son of a bitch, and I just got him tanned up pretty, and he’s gonna take me to see snow come Thanksgiving!” Coke was bellaring as Dillon popped out of the water.
Oh. Oh, Jesus. He doubled over in the water, almost drowning himself as he howled, holding his belly. He barely managed to keep afloat by kicking his feet.
Andy Baxter was leading Jason over to a chair and that… Well, that stopped his laughter as if someone’d slapped a lid on it.
Blind.
Jase was really, really blind.
Somehow it had felt like a sick, stupid joke—like it couldn’t possibly be the truth, even though he knew Coke, knew the man didn’t lie.
Dillon was suddenly glad that he had to swim to the edge of the pool and grab his towel, which gave him time to think about what to say, what to do.
He studied Andy and Jason from under his lashes for a moment.
Bax seemed tired. A little drawn, but so much better than when he’d broken his leg.
Jason looked…skinnier. A lot more angular.
Still, he was grinning a little, hands dangling between his spread knees, just like when he sat on the fence at the events.
Clearing his throat, Dillon chuckled. “Well, hey, you two. Looks like you made it just in time for the How Not To Dive class.”
Coke laughed, and Jason rubbed the back of his neck, going sheepish as hell. “Looks like. You know, there’s benefits to this whole not-seeing thing. Only problem is, I’ll have nightmares featuring you flopping.”
“Yeah? I would say that’s more of an erotic dream.” Dillon winked at Bax, who went a little green around the gills.
Coke chuckled, grabbed four beers out of the mini fridge. “So, what’s up? I thought you was going to your momma’s”
“AJ.” Jason seemed like his eyes were following Coke from under the brim of the straw hat.
It was fucking creepy, because the man didn’t see the beer held in front of him.
Hell, he didn’t move until Coke put the cold one against the bare arm showing through the T-shirt. “He’s on Missy like a tomcat.”
Andy nodded and took his beer from Coke, the John Deere cap bobbing. “Jack took Jase’s momma and Granny Peters to Colorado on vacation. She was so tickled…”
“We couldn’t tell her, you know? She’d have stayed home. Jack was getting hotels and everything.” Jason leaned forward, elbows on his knees, bottle dangling between his fingers. “We had to come out, Gramps. We did. Benji’s been sleeping with us for a week.”
“Ah. Well, we promise not to crawl in bed with you.” Jesus, what was his problem? Nervousness, no doubt. Making sure his towel was secure, Dillon walked over and shook Bax’s hand, then grabbed Jason’s arm and squeezed.
“Good to see you up and about, man. Last time I saw you, I was fucking scared to death.”
“Yeah, that’s what they tell me. Coke says you know, huh? You’re gonna help?”
He stopped, stared a second.
A beard.
He’d never seen Jason Scott with a beard.
Coke poked him, and he jumped. “I am. I can do a lot for you, Jase. Run interference with the media, with the guys. I can deal with your sponsors. I have a good head for that.”
Andy was nodding thoughtfully. “I never thought once about you doing the sponsor thing, Dillon.”
“Yeah, they’ve started calling again. I… It’s cool, that we’re here, huh, Coke?”
Coke smiled, eyes wrinkling right up. “Don’t be an idiot, son. Y’all can have your blue room, just like always. It’s got the private bath and all. You want in the pool?”
Andy grinned and slapped Jason on the knee. “As long as there ain’t Dillon cooties.”
“Y’all be nice, now, or I’ll beat you both to death.” Coke winked at Dillon, swigged at his beer.
“You and what army, Gramps?” Jason’s eyes rolled, moving toward the sky, the pool, Andy.
Dillon bit back his instinctive snarl that Coke was no grandpa. Jason didn’t need someone sniping at him.
“Shit, son. I got Dillon at my back. Y’all want steaks or sausages for supper?”
“Oh, God. I told you, Bax. Coke is the man. Steaks, please.” Jason’s eyes crinkled up at the corners and that smile was honest, happy. “AJ got a case of Elgin sausages on the way home.”
“That cool with you, Dillon?” Coke brushed one hand over his shoulder, giving him a quick, apologetic glance.
“Sure. I can help out.” He smiled up at Coke, letting the man know it was okay. God knew he wouldn’t put Jason out just because he was a greedy bastard.
“I’ll just pull the meat out to defrost and get a suit, so’s as not to offend the kids.” Coke nodded, headed toward the house.
The kids. Dillon frowned. Andy Baxter frowned back, the expression complete with wildly exaggerated eyebrow movements.
“Coke’s not old, you know,” Dillon said, as casually as he could.
“Huh?” Jason’s head tilted, the expression comically confused.
“I said, he’s not old. He’s not that much older than me.” Listen to him, growling on Coke’s behalf. “You guys want another beer? Some pop?”
“Some whut?”
“A Coke, dumbass.” Andy whacked Jason playfully.
“Ah. Nah. We’ll grab our stuff. We brought a cooler full of stuff for Coke—Cokes, beer, milk. Oh! Hamburger meat! Coke, we brought you hamburger fixin’s. For lunch, huh?”
Andy nodded. “We brought a bunch of grapefruits and cantaloupe, too.”
“Cool. Grab your swim trunks, huh? We spend most of our time out here.” Jason could use the sun, too.
“Yeah, I know. I was here when he built it. He had my ass hauling rocks for days.”
Coke stood at the doorway, looking over at Jason, the weirdest expression in Coke’s eyes. “Yep. Now you get to enjoy your labors. Get moving, son.”
Andy and Jason headed back out to the truck, giving them a minute, and Dillon grabbed at it, going to wrap his arms around Coke’s waist. “You okay?”
Coke leaned into him, nodding. “Yeah. Yeah, I was just enjoying this, with only you. I wasn’t ready to get back to work yet.”
He hugged Coke tight, smiling a little. He got that. He so did. “I hear you. It’s been amazing. Can’t tell Jase no, though, huh?”
“No. Never have been able to. Shit, his daddy was my goddamn hero.”
“Yeah?” Tilting his head back, he blinked a little. “I never knew that.”
“Man, Daniel was an all-around cowboy—from roping to riding, roughstock, team events. When I was a kid, I wanted nothing more to be like him. I’m not built right for it, though, no matter how I tried, I couldn’t stick on them bulls.
Dan tells me, ‘Coke, man, you ain’t scared of nothing.
Let me introduce you to Punch and Zeke, they’ll set you up’. ”
Christ, Punch and Zeke had been working the arena way back when, before John Dalton, Lefty; hell, even Tanny Martin, the barrelman that he replaced, hadn’t been working that far back.
Dillon had his own heroes, just like that, so he got it.
Coke had just started way earlier than him.
Dillon took a quick kiss, cutting it off before he lost his towel.
“That’s a good hero to have, babe. I’m going to put on some shorts. ”
“Okay, honey.” Coke stroked his back, just a little.
“Mmm.” Dillon wiggled, just a little in return, wanting Coke to know he was happy, and that he still wanted to be there. “Don’t worry, babe. They can’t be with us every hour of every day.”
Coke chuckled softly. “Nope. They’ll spend a lot of time locked in the blue room.”
“There you go.” He could hear Andy’s distinct voice getting closer, the man teasing Jason about the blind and the dumb. He grinned, kissing Coke one more time. “Be right back.”
“’Kay, honey.” Coke opened the fridge again, the low whistling starting up.
Rubbing his sore belly, and wishing he was naked so he could rub everywhere else, Dillon headed off to get some clothes on. Damn, but he and Coke had been having fun.
Too bad he had to worry about Andy Baxter’s delicate sensibilities.
Of course, now he had something to tease Bax with unmercifully. Looked like the situation wasn’t all bad.