Chapter 6
Chapter Six
“Man, look at Andy! He’s gonna get him some!” AJ handed Jason a beer, Buck coming to stand on the other side of him.
“Yeah, it’s about time.” Bastard, out there dancing with that little blonde gal like he hadn’t blown the hell out of his knee in the short go. Amazing what a fucking cortisone shot would do for a man who came in third for the event.
That part was okay—the third part. Bax needed a couple of rides.
But the blonde part? The dancing part on that knee?
Not so much.
Asshole.
Bax had a goofy smile frozen on his face, swinging that gal around to The Fireman like she was a ball on a rope.
Jesus, that knee was gonna be three times its normal size.
Hell, Jason’s heart had about stopped when Bax had gotten hung up on the dismount, doing a full-on helicopter to the ground.
He’d seen Bax’s face go pale as milk, and he’d just barely kept himself from doing more than meeting the stubborn bastard at the gate.
Now that damned fool was chugging Jack and Coke and acting like he was a fifteen-year-old at his first barn dance.
The song ended and Bax gave the little buckle bunny a kiss on the cheek, walking her back to her giggling friends before huffing and puffing back to Jason.
“Hey.” He scooted over, gave Bax a place to prop. The boys were hooting and slapping Bax’s back, giving him shit.
Bax grinned, but the man wasn’t blushing a bit, so Jason relaxed. That meant it was just a little blowing off steam.
He sucked back his beer, the liquid break hitting his empty belly hard. “You want another, man? I need a beer.”
Or four.
“Yeah. I’d better switch to beer, though.” Yeah, Bax was more than a little blinky.
“‘kay.” Jason headed over to the line, only having to talk to thirty people on the way.
Jesus.
Ten bucks for two beers and he still had to wait half an hour for it.
Bax had found them a sitting table by the time he got back, and that leg was propped up on another chair. Yeah, and Bax’s mouth was set in a hard line.
The boys had deserted him, AJ on the dance floor, Buck with an arm around some buckle bunny. He handed the beer over, nodded. “There’s pills up in the room, if you need it.”
“I’ll think on it.” Winking, Bax toasted him with the beer. “I been hittin’ the sauce a bit too much for the good pills.”
“Yeah. Least for a couple hours. You were sure shaking a leg, man.” He slugged some back, the cold brew just what he needed.
“Well, you know I have to once in a while.” Now Bax was ducking his head, not quite meeting Jason’s eyes.
“Yep. Good ride today, huh?” Fuck, this was weird.
And dark.
And loud.
“Yeah. Yeah, for both of us. You rocked it out on Booger.” That had Bax looking at him again, that deep pleasure Bax took in his riding right there.
“Yeah. It felt good. Damn good.” He gave Bax a grin, a nod. Hell, Momma’d called them both, just squealing.
“Nothing wrong with first and third at all, Mini.” They knocked fists together, laughing like fools.
“No, sir. Nothing wrong with that at all.” Hell, no. They couldn’t hardly ask for more.
They sat a bit, Bax turning down a couple of pretty, sparkly girls who sidled up to ask him to dance. By the time the third girl had wandered off, Jason was noticing at the lines carved out around Bax’s mouth.
“It’s time to go up, buddy. Take one of them pills.” He knew that look, knew it bone deep.
“Yeah. Yeah, I think it is. I’ve been off the booze long enough now, huh?” Hell, Bax could outdrink most of the young kids, still.
“Yeah. Come on. Let’s go.” They’d walk out then he could help some when they got away from the damn crowd.
Bax stood up real careful like, but seeming pretty damned normal.
Only Jason knew what it cost, because he could see those hands he loved so much clench almost white.
They got out of the crush and in an empty hallway before he scooted up, gave Bax a shoulder to lean on. “Come on. We’re right by the elevator.”
“‘Kay.” Man, Bax was panting by now, stumbling a little. Good thing they didn’t have to chance the escalator.
“I got you.” Shit. Shit, don’t let it be something worse than… Well, don’t let it be something real bad.
“Stop your mother-henning, Mini. I just twisted it up, is all. God knows I been hurt enough to know.” That would have been way more convincing if Bax wasn’t leaning on him so hard.
“Yeah, yeah. You know me, all sensitive and shit.” He propped Bax up, hit the button for the nineteenth floor.
Chuckling, Bax nodded. “Yep. You’re some kind of sweetheart…” They slipped in before someone else joined them, heading right on up to the room.
“That’s me. Sweetness and fucking light. Pure joy to be around.” They both got to snorting, leaning into each other with it.
They managed to finagle Bax into the room, and Jason eased him down on the bed, making sure not to jostle. Bax groaned, leaning back on his elbows, eyes closed. He grabbed two of the good pills, handed them over along with the fucking remote then started working on getting Bax’s boots off.
“Thanks, man. Oh. Oh, easy.” Shit, that leg went like stone, hard as hell under those jeans. Bax was hurtin’ some.
He straddled Bax’s calf, squeezing it good and firm between his legs so he could pull without jostling that knee too bad.
“Jesus!” The sound exploded right out of Bax, but the boot popped off finally, leaving him with a gnarly damned sock.
“Sorry, man. Had to be done.” He wet a couple of rags, tossed one in the ice bucket with the melted ice and the other in the little microwave. “Get yer jeans off.”
“Okay.” Wiggling, Bax shimmied out of the jeans, grunting a little as the tight denim tried to slide past the swollen knee. “Man, I did it up right.”
“Yup. Hot first, then cold.” They both knew the drill and Jason brought over one of the big bath towels to prop Bax up on.
“You could go back and party with the guys if you wanted,” Bax said, rolling the towel up and putting it gingerly under his leg. “You don’t have to take care of me, Mini.”
“Shut up.” Jason grabbed the hot washrag, bouncing it back and forth between his hands before dropping it on that swolled up knee.
“Oh. Fuck a duck.” The heat worked, though. It surely did. He could see all of Bax’s muscles start to uncurl.
Jason gave it five minutes before switching to the cold and getting the rag heated up again. Bax winced at the icy-cold one.
“Weenie. Shit, that’s just water. I need to go refill the bucket.”
“Okay. I… Thanks, Jase. Sorry.” Okay, what was Bax’s deal now? Moody bastard.
“Sorry for what?” He whapped Bax’s shoulder. “Stop it, butthead. I’ll grab a couple Cokes, some ice. We’ll play cards for a few hours.”
Just like always.
“Sounds good, man. I’m just a little blinky.” Poor Bax sounded on the stupid side of slow, not quite drunk, but better than tipsy.
“Yeah. Yeah. You just sit a minute. I’ll get you set up right and tight.” That was what a friend was good for.
“Okay. Can we have ice cream?” Lord, that man was an addict. Really, really.
“Shit, yeah. Call down to room service. Tell ‘em to bring that and coffee.”
“Gotcha.” Fumbling, Bax grabbed the phone and punched in room service. Jason almost bust a gut trying not to laugh at the man’s rambling order, and the fact that suddenly they were getting onion rings and cheesecake and some fruit thing, too.
Still, onion rings sounded damned good. Jason waited until Bax gave their room number before heading to get ice. Not that he didn’t trust Mister Stoned, but they didn’t need him ordering a fucking rack of lamb or some shit.
When he got back, Bax was sprawled out on the bed, arms and legs flung wide, naked as a jaybird. The only thing he had on was the wet washcloth.
Lord, lord. “Man, did your clothes explode while I was down the hall?”
“Huh?” One dark brown eye peered at him, cracking open with effort. “No… Got hot. Like burny.”
“You gotta have some water, man.” Jason moved the cold rag up to Bax’s chest, hot rag back on the knee. See him. See him not looking at Andy’s privates.
Not.
Not not not.
“You think? Fuck, I hate those pills.” They worked, though. Bax’s color was better, even if he was sweating like a lathered bronc.
“Yeah, I know. Let me get another rag cooled off. You can wipe down.” Wipe down. Cool off. Put some fucking shorts on before he embarrassed himself.
“‘Kay.” Sitting up, Bax glanced around, blinking. “We’re in a hotel.”
“Yep. Not a bad one, either. Have something to drink.” He opened the top of the Coke, started wiping Bax’s shoulders.
“Thanks.” That tanned throat worked as Bax swallowed, giving Jason more to gawk at. Thank God, really, because he didn’t need to be sneaking any more peeks at Bax’s dangly parts. Which were nice.
“Anytime.”
Nice and looking as if they needed someone to touch them.
Lick them.
Yeah.
Nice.
“You okay?” Bax’s eyes popped open, staring right into his, one hand coming up to steady him when he all but fell over.
“Uh-huh.” He was fixin’ to just…blow.
“Okay. Did you know that the bed is all spinny, Jase? Feels like I’m back on Lawnmower.”
Oh, that would be funny if Jason hadn’t been so horny. “Yeah, man. But you’re not hurting, huh?” He could just…back off. “Let me get a cold rag.”
“No! Mini, I swear. I’m going to fly right off the bed.” Andy’s hand tightened on his shoulder as if he was the one solid thing in Bax’s world.
“I ain’t gonna let you fall, buddy.” He eased Bax back, one knee resting beside that lean hip.
“Oh. Okay.” Hand sliding to rest on his leg, Bax laid back and let him do some pampering, smiling like a fool at him.
His cock beat against his zipper, hands running that damn rag over Bax’s chest.
Look at those little nipples…
“No sense in looking at me that way, Mini. Someone will just knock on the door. It’s like, the universe is against us.” Okay, now Bax was babbling.
“Yeah. Yeah, room service. With your fucking ice cream.” It actually made it easier—he didn’t want to take advantage of Bax when the bastard was stoned.
He wanted to take advantage when Bax knew which end was, uh, up.
“Sure would be nice, though. To not have to go jack off in the shower.” Patting him, Bax kinda wandered, switching off to talk about Momma and how she needed to marry Jack, who had been there for her for years.
Lord, lord. He chuckled, nodded, listening to that stupid son of a bitch go on. One of these days, man. They’d both be fucked up at the same time again and get a little something.
The ice cream and shit came, and that seemed to perk Bax up, getting some food in his stomach. Perked him up enough that Bax finally looked down at himself and blushed, grabbing some sweats.
Jason didn’t bother saying nothing. There wasn’t nothing to say.
Not yet.