Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Bax woke up when the truck stopped. He sat in the back seat, his leg stretched out longways on the seat, the cast all propped on pillows. Lord, he was groggy and his mouth tasted like cotton.
Stupid fucking bull. Stupid fucking leg. At least he’d won the event, covering all three bulls with a high score of eighty-nine.
“Coke? We’re home, right? I’m not hallucinating?” God, his voice sounded like shit.
“No, son. We’re at Miz Scott’s.”
They pulled in, Momma and Jack pouring out of the house, Momma wrenching the car door open and looking at him.
“Andy. Son. Lord, you worried me. So glad you’re home.”
“Hi, Momma.” Oh, she looked tired. About as tired as he felt. Poor Brenda.
“What did the Doc say? Are you hungry? I made y’all supper. Coke, honey, you’ll eat chicken and dumplings, won’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am. How’s Jase?”
Momma’s face fell, and she shook her head, lips tight.
“That good, huh? Well, help me inside, so I can see for myself.” He’d gotten crutches, but the Doc didn’t even want him using those for nearly two weeks because of the shoulder he’d separated the night Jason got hurt.
“Sure, honey.” She reached for him, and he heard the sound of a swat.
“Woman, last thing we need is you hurtin’ yourself. Let me and Mr. Coke do it.”
Momma’s eyes went wide and she blushed.
Dark.
Well, well.
Bax blushed a little, too, not wanting to think on that too much. He let Coke and Jack haul him out, carrying him easily to the house. Strong old bastards.
“Mini! Where in Hell are you?”
Jack sighed, shook his head. “Pro’bly sleeping off another drunk. He ain’t been real jolly.”
“Well, he can get his unjolly ass out here,” Bax growled before raising his voice to a bellow. “Jason!”
“Whut? Bax?” Jason stumbled out of the middle bedroom, looking like hammered shit. Mini hadn’t shaved, was about gray, and was skinny as if he hadn’t eaten in a month. “Bax?”
“Yeah. They put me on the couch. Come on over and say hey.” Damn it. Nobody better help Jason come to him.
“You come by yourself?”
“No. No, Jase. I brought him home.” Coke sighed as Jason stepped back. “Jase, buddy. I know, okay? Come see Andy.”
Jason swayed a half second, then Mini slunk down the hallway, heading for him, slow and careful.
Jesus, it near broke his heart. But Bax hurt too bad to let the sympathy get to him. He wanted to have Jason close enough to touch.
“Hey, man. How’s the leg?” Mini got there, hand on the back of the couch. “Doc say anything?”
“I’m out for the season. It was fairly clean, but it will take six to eight weeks just to get the cast off.” He reached right up with his good hand, patting Jason’s arm. It eased him.
“Damn.” Jason looked down at him, then those poor eyes moved away, just like that. “You hurtin’?”
“Andy, Mr. Coke. You want me to fix y’all some plates?” Momma wouldn’t even give Jason a glance.
“That’d be nice, ma’am,” Coke said, hauling Jack out of the room. Leaving them alone.
“I got my foot up on a stool. Come sit with me, Mini.”
“Momma said you won the round.” Jason came around, sat carefully, hand sliding over to him like it was searching him out.
“I did. I didn’t win the short go, with an eighty-three, but I was the only one to cover all of them.” He bit back all the things he wanted to say about how Jason looked, about how skinny he was. “You been up to no good?”
“Just been here. You… I guess you told Coke?”
“Yeah. He’s… Well, Hell, Jase. You know Coke. He’s not human.” The man could make you tell him the combination to your sister’s chastity belt.
It was a relief to see Mini grin, nod. “No. He’d make one hell of a spy or something. A priest.”
They both snorted. Jesus, a bullfighter in a collar.
“Hey, that’s it,” Bax said, patting Jason’s hand. “He’s the Cowboy Confessor.”
“Yeah.” Jason’s face went still again, and he ducked his head. “Sorry about the leg, man. You were riding good.”
“Well, I was good enough to get in for next season.” He wasn’t sorry. He’d been missing Jason like a sore tooth. “Mini, you look like Hell.”
“Yeah? Good thing I don’t have to worry about that.”
“Fuck you. I got to look at you, don’t I? I like the way you look healthy. A lot.” Jason couldn’t see him blush, at least.
“Yeah.” Jason sighed, rubbed his forehead. “I go tomorrow for another CAT scan to look at the swelling.”
“Well, that’s good, right?” That might mean the swelling was going down. “I missed you, Mini.”
“Yeah. It was weird, not going with.”
“I bet. I swear to God, I kept waking up, looking for you.” Okay, enough sap. No, really.
Jason squeezed his hand hard, then nodded. “I hear you. I… I reckon it’s like anything else. Hopefully you won’t have to get used to it.”
“There you go.” They just sat there, shoulder to shoulder, holding hands, until he started dozing off. Well, until he woke up, drooling on Jason’s shoulder.
“Come on, son. You need to eat and take another pill.” Momma was there, a plate of chicken and dumplings for him. “Coke can take the bed in the guest room. I’ll let you have my…”
Jason grunted, waved his hand. “He’ll be fine in my room, Momma.”
“I will.” He didn’t want to stay anywhere else. “I just… I’m sorry, y’all. They gave me all those pills.”
“It’s cool, Bax. Come on. Eat whatever she made you, and you can nap.”
Momma looked over at Jason, shaking her head. “You could have some, too, son.”
“No, Momma. I’m not hungry.”
“Eat with me, Jase. Just a little, huh?” Chicken and dumplings. Lord, Momma was going all out, trying to get Jason to eat. “There’s a biscuit here.”
Jason waved him off. “Nah. I’m not in the mood, man. Later, Momma. I promise.”
“Bullshit. You’re going to starve. Just because you got embarrassed with—”
“That’s enough, Momma.”
“Don’t you snap at me.”
“Then quit fucking nagging, Momma!” Jason growled, stood up. “I said I wasn’t hungry. I’m not a fucking kid. I know when to eat.”
“Then why won’t you?” Momma was crying now, tears just sliding down her face. “Andy, he won’t eat. He got all messed up with the silverware and the plate and not being able to see and—”
“Momma!” Jason was fucking fixing to lose it.
Bax tried to struggle to his feet…foot. Whatever. “Momma, you’re a good woman. Putting up with him. Go on and have a sit with Jack and relax a minute. Jason, you get your ass back here and help me to your room.” He wasn’t gonna let Jase wander off, fists all clenched.
“Isn’t that the blind leading the fucking gimpy?”
Someone was gonna lose it. It might not be him, the way Jack and Coke were just staring at them with stony faces. “Mini, please. I need to lie down, and I need to just talk with you a bit. Come on.”
Jason closed his eyes, throat working, and Bax could see him counting, calming himself down, settling his shit. “Okay. Okay, Bax. You gotta tell me what you need.”
“Come over here.” He held out his hand so Jason could catch it, then he reeled Jase in. “Now get over here on this side so I can lean. Kinda like New Orleans. You remember that ride?”
He got a grin that just stunned him for the few seconds it lasted. “Yeah. C’mon.” Jason settled under his arm, stood strong for him.
That was more like it. “Okay, so. Turn right, yeah?” Slow and steady. They could do it. Jason had fine legs, he had good eyes.
“Tell me they ain’t all staring at me, Bax. I’m so fucking tired of being a freak.”
“Nope. They all went to the kitchen.” They had when he’d waved them all off. Hell, he knew what Jason meant, and he’d only been laid up a few days. Working slow but sure, they made their way to the hall. “Right a little.”
He could feel Mini relax under his arm, move easier. That was it. Just like that. Everyone just needed to stop freaking out and trying to baby the man. It took him getting all bent and mangled for Bax to get that, though. So he could hardly blame Momma.
“Okay, now, we have to turn sideways to get through the door. Swing to your left and step to the side three times.” One, two, three… It was a weird, shuffly waltz.
Jason snorted a little, but listened, drawing him into the room. Jesus. How many fucking bottles of booze could Jason drink? They were fucking everywhere.
Bax considered it kind of a triumph when he got settled on the bed, his leg up and a pillow tucked under it. “You’ve been hittin’ the sauce hard, Mini.”
“Yep.” Jason didn’t even apologize for it.
“Well. I ain’t gonna bitch, I suppose. But it makes me worry.” There. He’d shut up now, but damn.
“It’s better than thinking, Bax. It ain’t like I’m driving.” The bark of laughter was all hurt. “Tell me about your rides.”
“Come and sit, instead of standing there like a stranger.” He wanted to hold on to Jason. To feel him, right there and solid and warm. Crazy as it was.
Jason came over right close, scooting up to his side. “You holler if I’m crowding you.”
“Not a bit.” Resettling his leg, Bax looped an arm around Jason’s back, loving the man for all he was worth. “I did good the first ride. Right in the middle the whole way.”
“I bet the crowd was going nuts. They love you, man.”
“It was good. I edged Beau out for the round. The second ride I did okay, but Baltazar Silva won the go-round. It was the short go that did me in.” Damn, the sound of his own leg snapping had been gross.
“Beau’s number one now, huh?” Jason and Beau’d been good friends. Real good friends. Once.
“Yeah. He’s pushing hard. Gonna make a run on it, I think.” He stroked the line of Jason’s spine, up and down, not even thinking about it.
“Yeah. I… I been doing a lot of thinking, Bax, about what I’m gonna do if they tell me the swelling’s all gone down tomorrow.”
His throat tightened up, fear making ice slide down his back. “Yeah? What’s that?”
Those eyes shot over to him, sure as shit seeming as if they were looking right at him. “I’m gonna need you to take care of Momma. She’s gonna marry Jack, I think.”
No. Oh, Hell no.
“Jase. That’s crazy talk. We’ll figure it.” He tightened his grip when Jason would have pulled away. “Call me selfish, but no way.”
“I ain’t living like this. I can’t cowboy up, I can’t ride, I can’t fucking drive my truck. Shit, Bax. What am I gonna do? Have Momma take care of me my whole life? I can’t even shave.”
“You have to give it some time, Jason.” Shit. Oh, Jesus. He was gonna break down and bawl. “I cain’t know what it feels like, I know it. But I need you, man.”
“Shit. You did good without me. I heard.” Jason grinned at him. “Hard-assed cowboy.”
Bax grinned back, even though Jase couldn’t see him. “I was riding hard to get a few weekends off. So I could come see you.”
“I want to see you.” The words were bit out, just near growled. “More than— Fuck. I do.”
“I want that, too, Mini.” Bax swallowed hard, trying to get the lump out of his throat. “I been wanting all sorts of…” Fuck. Now wasn’t the time, was it?
Jason nodded, squeezed his hand. “Yeah, and we ain’t never had half a chance and now we’re both broke dick.”
“Broke something.” He had to laugh. Just a little. What the Hell else could he do? “Just promise me you’ll talk with me on it before you do nothin’.”
“You got my word, buddy. I ain’t looking to cause no big thing.”
No big thing. Jesus fuck.
Bax leaned a little, not really snuggling. Not really. “Rest with me a bit. You ain’t gonna hurt me.”
“You need a pill or something?” Jason’s hand was moving like it had a mind of its own, petting his arm in long, slow strokes.
“No. No, I’m good.” His leg ached like crazy, but he didn’t want either of them to move. And God knew he lived with hurt all the time. “This is fine. Just fine.”
“‘kay.” Jason nodded, leaned right back. “Glad you’re home, Bax.”
“Me, too, Mini. Me, too.” He was. More than Jason would ever know.
Looked like he’d gotten home just in time.