Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
“Holy shit, he’s gonna do it!” AJ sounded utterly floored, which always made him sound a little like that old Howdy Doody puppet had made a baby with Matthew McConaughey.
Bax just nodded, eyes on Jason as he spun up to five and a half seconds on the old but not too placid practice bull.
Mini had been getting on bulls again for a few weeks now, and he was making some rides. And Bax was damn fucking proud of him, even if every time he watched it, he wanted to puke his guts out on his boots.
Hell, half the time he did it, Mini spewed chunks. The fine bastard was going to have to learn to keep his goddamn eyes open. When he did that? He looked like classic Jason Scott. Balanced. One with the damn bull. A champion.
“It’s still weird, eh?” AJ leaned against the fence, banging on it, encouraging Jason to head their direction. “This way, man. Don’t fall over your bullrope!”
Denver moved in so he could get the bull moving away from Jason, but that old boy wasn’t going to try to hook anyone. He just wanted his grass and hay.
Jason came jogging up, managing to stop short of the fence. “I looked all right?”
“You looked grand, Mini.” He wanted to grab Jason and run, but he clapped a hand on that skinny-ass shoulder instead.
“Good. Good. I want to do it again. It felt pretty good, you know? I mean, I felt like my mind was in the middle.”
Bax thought he was going to scream. He didn’t, though, because he didn’t want Mini to believe for a second that he doubted. “All right, but you got maybe one more round before I’m gonna need lunch.”
There, that was a compromise, wasn’t it?
“Cool. That works. I could so eat.”
Well, that was surprising. Nine times out of ten, Mini turned food down these days, especially if someone was watching.
So this was a damn good thing.
“All right, Aje. Load ’em up again.”
“Den, let’s give him Ole Miss.”
Denver glanced at his brother. “You sure, man?”
“Granny could ride him, for fuck’s sake.”
“I don’t want a granny bull.” Jason’s eyes moved as if he was searching for AJ.
Bax rolled his own eyes. “He spins, Mini. Flat, but he spins. You need to work on that.”
“You know it. I need to make sure I got all my bases covered. The spinning is hard, jostles my innards somehow.”
“Well, sure.” AJ sounded completely unsurprised. “You got to be able to focus your eyes on a point to be able to spin, and you cain’t.”
“So what do I do? I gotta reckon this.” Mini blew out a frustrated breath, then his lips twisted. “Bax? What do you think?”
I think you need to stop asking me to deal with things I don’t fucking understand. All I want is for you not to fucking get hurt again.
When he answered, though, he tried for calm and reasonable. “Well, when you was riding before you used balance, right? So how did you do it? Did you focus on something?”
Jason tilted his head. “I had to keep my chin up, so I usually focused on the cage every time I came around. Or the rail if the bull never got out far enough for me to see the cage.”
“All right, then. This time, keep your eyes open. Every time you come around to the chutes, I’m gonna whoop like a Brazilian. I want you to act like you’re looking right at me. Can you do that?”
“I can, yeah. I can try, for sure.” Jason nodded to him, lips tight. “God knows you’re damn good at hollering.”
“And catching your attention, eh?” AJ was grinning like a damn monkey.
Bax snorted, but he was pleased. “Well, good. That will make it easier. Now come on, let’s move.’
Mini flushed a little, high on his cheekbones. “Something like that, yeah.”
He didn’t help Mini climb the chutes, but he did stay right there, just in case. His lover might not be fragile, but… he didn’t need any extra help. Jason needed confidence. He needed faith in himself.
And Bax needed to not be overprotective now, so he would be all casual once they started events.
He did get up and pull that rope, though. That was his job. “Chin up. Eyes open. Listen to me. Got it?”
“Chin open. Listen to the eyes. You’re up. Got it.” Fucker.
Bax pulled the rope, muttering to himself, because he always talked to keep Jason calm. Always. That had started long ago.
Jason seemed so relaxed, so easy in his skin. Bax wasn’t sure what had changed, if the change was permanent, or what, but he’d take it.
Finally, Jason nodded, and Denver pulled the gate. The bull came out snorting and kicking, then settled into a spin, just as they knew he would.
And when Jason started to come about to the chutes, Bax whooped. Loud.
Jason lifted his chin, and he swore the son of a bitch was searching for him, hunting for him, and it still made his heart race.
Mini trusted him, all the way, and that carried a heavy weight in his soul.
The bull came around again, Jason’s head swiveling, and he whooped again. This time, it was like Mini was staring right at him.
“Five, six, seven, eight. Off, Jason!” AJ clicked the stopwatch.
“Now, Mini! Jump!”
Jason hopped off, landing on his feet and turning in a tight circle. “Bax?”
The bull whooshed right by him and Mini shoved the boofy-headed fucker out of the way without a single blink.
“Come on, Jason. The rail is to me!”
Jason jogged over as Denver pushed the bull back behind the gate, barely dodging one last kick. Denver laughed at the old guy as he closed the gate.
“You seriously were going to play tag with the fucking bull?”
Mini blinked at him. “What? What the hell are you going on about?”
“You slapped him out of the way, Jason. Like nothing going.”
“Well, he’s old.”
Ugh. He might have to kill the man.
“Not as old as you, dude,” AJ whapped him right on the butt.
“Hey! I am not that old.” Though he was getting older and goddamn grayer every day.
“Not old at all. Just grumpy as fuck from having to deal with my happy ass.” Jason stood there next to the fence, eyes moving wildly.
“Yep. Not that I was all sunshine and rainbows to begin with.” He had to laugh at that. “Close your eyes, Jason. You need to get them calmed down.”
“Right. I’m fixin’ to start carrying sunglasses in my pocket so I can be safer, you know?” Jason shook his head, rubbing his eyes some.
“Yeah. I think that’s a good idea. And when you’re done with your ride, once you start doing events, you just wear them all the way through the outdoor events, and at indoor ones, you put them on when they hand you your hat and all.”
“Yeah, I’ll tell them I got light sensitivity or some shit.” Jason’s lips twisted. “I looked good out there, right?”
“You looked fucking amazing.” And Bax wanted to kiss Jason all of a sudden. A lot. Badly.
AJ cleared his throat. “You two go on up to the house and tell Missy we’re coming in for lunch. Denny and I will put the bulls out.”
“Yeah, cool.” He didn’t bother with a ‘are you sure?’ He was sure.
He was damn sure.
“Thanks, man. Come on, Mini. Move your butt.”
“Yessir.” Jason laughed, brushing dust off his jeans before grabbing Bax’s arm. “I think I can do this, Bax. I really do.”
“I think you can too, Mini. I really do. I’m fucking amazed at how well you did today.”
“That’s important.” Jason shrugged, stumbling over a rock hidden there in the grass. “I wouldn’t want to do this without you.”
Not that Mini couldn’t, but that he didn’t want to.
He helped Jason right himself. “I wouldn’t want you to either.” His leg twinged, reminding him how long they’d been standing.
“Yeah. Come on. Let’s go tell Missy what’s what. I promised Benji I’d listen to him tell me a story.”
“Oh, he’ll love that.” Benji was a sweet kid, and told long, rambling tales of nothingness like all little ones did.
Mini would sit and listen like there was nothing else on earth he wanted to do.
Bax grinned, because he knew better than that. There was always something him and Jason could do together that beat just about everything else.
And once lunch was over, then he’d tempt Mini into just that, come hell or high water.