Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
The crowd was pumped. Clapping, screaming, ready to rumble.
The mood behind the chutes was about as jumped up. The guys were like a bunch of long-tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs, everyone knowing that the best bulls in the business were right there tonight.
Bax sat on the rail, watching Jason warm up. He’d done his own calisthenics already, as he was two rides ahead of Jase on the order. That was good, though. He’d get to pull the man’s rope. Watching Jason rough up his glove was like watching a porno tape of a man jacking off.
They’d done the intro, the singing and the praying, and now all that was left was the riding. Bax had drawn Hamburger, which he wasn’t thrilled about. That damned bull would pull you down and try to put your eye out.
Jason bent and rolled, shoulders working, tight little ass shifting. “You feeling it, cowboy?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I am. Gonna be a Hell of a night.” It was always really good or really bad when that kind of energy was pumping through an arena. “You ready? You pulled Ghostrider.”
“You know it. He’s a good ‘un.” Hell, yes. Jason’d ridden that big old beast for 86.25 points last year, sweet as honey.
“Well, you keep your mind in the middle.” The announcer called up AJ, and he and Jason both leaned over the fence, shouting Aje on.
Round and round…six, seven…
“Yes!” They both started hooting and clapping, Jason slapping his shoulder. “Look at that! AJ! You might feed them babies!”
Bax pumped a fist in the air, cheering hard himself. “I told you, didn’t I? He’s a good ’un. And he needed the ride.”
“No shit.” AJ hopped up, trailing his bull rope and grinning ear-to-ear.
“Look at you, man. You almost acted like a bull rider.” Jason chuckled, winked at AJ.
“Way to go, man.” He clapped AJ on the back. “Now, someone come on and pull my damned rope.” Bax was up in two more rides.
“Bitch, bitch, bitch.” Jason was right there with him, hand on his shoulder. “Keep your fucking head up on this one.”
Like he didn’t know that.
“Chin down, chest out, blah blah.” He’d been on his first fucking calf before Mini was even born. Asshole. He climbed over the rail, balancing on his hands while he dropped his knees and let the bull know he was there.
“Smart-ass. You break your jaw, you’ll be sucking chicken from a straw.” Jason’s hands were in his vest.
Good thing, too, because that big bastard reared up and yanked down, trying to bash his brains in on the rail. Fuck. Bax clenched his jaw, getting set, his rope good and tight in his riding hand.
Then he gave the nod.
He got one good leap, then that little bastard started spinning, solid as a top.
Hot damn. The G-forces yanked at him, pulling his riding arm almost out of the damned socket, but his free arm stayed nice and up, his outside leg spurred without him even trying, and when the fucking buzzer sounded he was still on top.
Goddamn.
The fucking crowd went wild, Nate waving his arms as Bax fought to let loose of his rope.
His hand just didn’t want to let go, Goddamn it, and just about the time he thought he’d ride another eight seconds, his legs flipped over and he went down in the well, hanging off the side like a tick on a dog.
Fuck. Fuck, he ran like a moonshiner with a posse after him. He could hear Jeff and Nate hollering, feel somebody’s hands tugging the living shit out of him. His hand finally popped free, his chest bouncing off the bull’s ribs, sending him reeling.
He heard bellaring, heard the bull’s hooves hitting the dirt, but what he heard above all that was Jason’s voice. “Goddamn it, Baxter! Move your slow ass!”
Scrambling, he crawled as fast as he could, Coke finally grabbing his vest and hauling him off toward the chutes. Jesus.
Jason and AJ yanked him up, holding him against the fence. “You good? Bax? Talk to me, man. You rode that mean bastard!”
“Huh?” Shaking it off, he tested all his muscles, trying to see if everything worked. “Yeah, yeah, it’s good.”
“You fucking know it! Eighty-nine-point-five, cowboy. Go tip your hat to your fans!”
Bax jumped off the fence and stepped back out into the arena and threw his hat, pumping his arms to get the crowd screaming for him.
Hot damn.
The fans went fucking crazy, Cooper Riley bouncing over with his hat, Coke slapping his ass. Goddamn. That was it. Just fucking like that, top of the leader board for now and almost surely in the money.
He climbed back up the fence instead of going through the gate. He’d be pulling rope for Mini soon.
The chutes were buzzing, the guys giving him shit, teasing and laughing with him. Jason was nodding, the bastard waiting for him with a shit-eating grin.
“You see that, Mini?” He knew Jason had, because the fine son of a bitch had been right there when he’d almost gotten his ass stomped, but now everything wasn’t a blur. He could see that fucking million-dollar smile.
“You know it. You owned that fucker.”
He had. He hadn’t had a ride like that in months. “Felt good, Jase. Felt amazing. You have to do better. You ought to be the one to win the go-round.” His season was never gonna be as good as Jason’s. He wasn’t stupid enough to think it, either.
“Shut up and bask, Bax.” Jason winked, pulled his glove out. “Come on. Let’s get this one down.”
“You got it.” Grinning, he sort of wallowed in his almost ninety-point ride. Goddamn, it felt good. He stepped over the rails to the stand on the outside of the gate, ready to pull.
Jason hopped over, all business, eyes on the prize.
It took some nudging and pushing—that bull was wanting to crouch, not happy at all about this whole working deal.
Spoiled thing. AJ wedged a boot in between the bull and the fence, and Kyle got the four by four out, and soon enough they got Mini settled, that loose old bull rope settled in place.
Man rode on the fucking end of his fingers.
He got a look, serious as all get out. “Let’s do it.”
Then, as soon as he was out of the way, Mini nodded, the gate swinging open.
The bull turned right out away from Jason’s hand, which was always a tough ride, the force pulling down and across. Jason had better balance than anyone Bax had ever seen, though. He could do it. The seconds stretched out. One…two…three…
He could fucking see it, when the ride went south, the bull jerking back into Jason’s hand, the tug pulling that bull rope almost out of Jason’s grip, Jason heading right over to the side of the bull. Six… Seven…
Shit. Shit, Mini was gonna make the ride, but there was no way there was gonna be a good get off. Bax started yelling at about eight and a half seconds, when Jason’s legs both flipped to the same side of the bull.
“Mini! Goddamn it, Jason! Get out of there!”
About that time, Jason spun, feet blown right out from under him, head connecting with horn with a thwack the whole arena could hear almost as well as the thud as Jason hit the ground, right under those hooves.
Bax was off the fence and in the arena before he even thought about it. Coke was shouting the bull’s name, bouncing like a jack in the box, but he saw the bull moving away out of the corner of his eye. He slid to his knees next to Jason, reaching for the man, babbling something like a prayer.
There wasn’t anything in those open eyes—not a fucking thing, which was the creepiest thing on Earth up till the second Jason when stiff as a board, legs thrumming on the dirt.
Oh. Oh, no. Oh, fuck no.
All he could do was kneel at Jason’s head and try to hold that convulsing body as still as he could. The sports medicine guys got there just as Jason’s hands started clenching and unclenching, the weirdest sound coming from him.
“Get me the backboard. Jason? Jason, you know where you are, son?”
The guys were all around, hiding Mini from the crowd, from the cameras, as best they could.
“Jason!” Bax barked it out, knowing Jason would never respond to all that gentle coaxing. “Damn it, Mini. Talk to me.”
One hand came up, Doc grabbing it. “Keep talking.”
Those eyes just kept rolling.
Fuck, he felt sick. His belly just heaved, but Bax wasn’t gonna stop to think about his own shit. “Jason. Come on, buddy. You want to hear your score, right? You need to come on and say something so I know you’re not all broke, you asshole.”
“Out.” He could just hear the word, forced past that clenched jaw and he could just hoot with it.
Yes. Yes, that’s right, you stubborn motherfucker. Don’t let yourself get embarrassed out here on the floor.
“We got to get him up, get him out of here.” If Jason could move and talk then he could get upright enough to get dragged out. And not on the backboard. “We’re gonna lift you now, Jason. I swear to God, you don’t stay straight, I’ll let AJ drive your truck.”
“Out.”
They got him moving, the silent crowd going wild all around them. AJ had one arm and he had the other, his shoulder pushed up into Jason’s armpit, holding the man up.
Those legs were moving, Jason trying to walk, and Bax tried hard not to sag with relief. That probably meant Mini’s back was okay. Or at least not broken up in pieces. Not that he still wasn’t worried, but Bax figured Jason could out-stubborn anything that wasn’t spinal.
They made it to sports medicine, got Mini laid out on a bed. Doc Madding nodded toward the door, lips in a tight line. “Y’all get.”
“Not leaving.” No way. Bax stared the Doc down, then nodded at AJ. “Keep everyone out.”
“You got it.”
AJ was a good ‘un. He’d do what they asked.
Doc was in Jason’s face, shaking his shoulder a little, trying to get the son of a bitch to wake up right.
“Out. Out. Out!” Now that was fucked.
“Okay. Get the EMTs in here. He needs a CAT scan. Now.” Doc Madding never snapped at his staff like that.
The doc was snarling, turning to get his assistant to move faster, and Bax leaned down quick like, trying to get Jason to focus on him. “Mini? Come on, Mini. Say my name.”
Jason’s eyes rolled like dice, moving faster, as if Mini was dreaming, was looking for him. “B—”
“That’s it.” He grabbed the one hand that kept flailing. “Don’t do this to me, Jason. Don’t you get all messed up on me now.”
“Ba…”
“We need to move him, Andy. Get out of the way, now. He’s got to go.” Doc moved between them, just like that.
“Doc. I… He needs me.” He met the doc’s worried eyes, trying to get the man to understand. “Let me go with him.” He’d throw a fit like no one would believe, the doc made him stay behind.
Doc stared at him a long second, gray eyes moving back and forth, and he could feel that fit building when Doc nodded. “Go get his stuff, meet me in two minutes in the loading dock.”
Yeah, they’d need Jason’s information and he’d have to call Momma. The wreck’d be on the TV in an hour. He got his ass in gear, heading out, nodding at AJ again. “I’m going with him. You just tell them all he’ll be fine.”
He went to get Jason’s gear and his own, keeping his eyes down so he didn’t have to answer questions.
Goddamn it, Jason would have to be fine.
Anything else just wasn’t gonna fly.