Chapter 16 #2
Seamus had to laugh at that. He was starting to feel more alert.
While his ankle was hurting a little bit, at least now he felt like he wasn’t so stupid.
“Yeah. I mean I love my mom, but I don’t want her to come fuss over me and be here all the damn time.
And she wants to meet you. She wants to have dinner this week and then come to the bullriding on Sunday. ”
“Ah, she’s pulling the mommy card, eh?”
“She totally is. And it’s kind of maddening, but God knows I love her, so…”
“You said she’s great, so I’m totally down. As long as we go someplace that doesn’t just have your weird macrobiotic shit that Nick wants you to eat.”
“Oh, love, in California, everything has the weird macrobiotic shit, but it also has good food, too.” Just talking to Dawson was making him feel better.
This man always made him smile. And he loved that Dawson was just willing to go with things, which was so strange considering how grumpy he had been when they’d met.
“Well, good deal then. My old boss, Sterling, is gonna be coming down for one of the shows, too. Do you think you’d be willing to meet him?”
Seamus mouthed, “Oh my god,” to the ceiling.
That was like meeting Dawson’s family, right?
“Of course I would. I totally want to meet your people. We’ll just have a big dinner.
Or two small ones. Either way is fine, or maybe both.
” Seamus chuckled at himself, and Dawson hooted right along.
“At any rate, who do I talk to about getting tickets? I want to come to all nine of your events in California.”
“Three events, nine shows,” Dawson corrected.
“Right. All nine of your shows.” He rolled his eyes.
“You know where I go, Topher goes, where Topher goes, Nick goes. I know for sure in Anaheim there’s also going to be Jess and whoever she decides to bring.
Then my mom will want to come on the short go in Anaheim, plus she’ll have her security.
I’m going to be on crutches still by then, so who do I call? ”
“Oh shit, I lost count of how many people that was. It may take pencil and paper.” Dawson chuckled softly, and Seamus missed him all of the sudden, the ache deep and wild in his chest. “I think maybe we should talk to the people at the head office to see what we can do about getting you something. I’ll call Greg. ”
“Who’s Greg?” He loved all the different ins and outs of people, and the business end of bullriding was utterly complex.
“Sandy is the CEO of the company, and Greg is his son. He’s kind of a little shit really and totally not a cowboy, but he is the guy who can get us tickets, and I think that’s the smartest way to go.”
“Okay, cool. Mom was already talking about getting some group-rate seats or something, or seeing if you had a VIP section. So I’m totally down with that.”
“Good deal. Now, if you still need me to run interference, just let me know. But honestly, sometimes I’m not the most popular guy with the top brass.” Dawson’s wry chuckle had him smiling.
“Really? Why not?”
Dawson seemed like the kind of guy they would want on their team.
“Because I don’t exactly agree with some of their policies. I’m there for the cowboys, not for the corporate.”
“Ah, yeah I hear that.” Seamus shook his head. “I try to be a team player with the studios, but sometimes it’s really tough to reconcile what’s best for the actors and the writers and all that stuff and what’s best for the money-making corporations.”
“Exactly, Scott, man. He’s all right, but we are sometimes diametrically opposed.”
“Listen to your twenty-five cent words.”
“Yeah, well I gotta impress my fancy lover.”
“Oi! You mean you got yourself another lover?” He snapped a picture of himself real quick in his ratty old sweatpants, foot in a boot, flip-flop on the other foot, and then sent it. “I know you’re not talking about me.”
“That poor foot! So, you just tripped?”
He rolled his eyes. “I wish. I fell off the stage. Wasn’t sure if that was worse or better than just rolling an ankle.”
“Ouch. Poor baby.”
He rolled his eyes at himself and his self-pity. “Yeah, but it’s booted now. It’s not too bad. Not allowed to walk on it for two weeks. I got a seat for my shower at least, right? I can just bag the foot up and go chill in my fancy shower.”
“You are going to make a pretty picture coming into Cowboy Country.”
Oh, he always made a pretty picture. “Tell me if I have to wear something better than a decent T-shirt.”
“Well, you can wear whatever you want, honey. But if you’re going VIP you might put on one of them fancy button-up shirts you wear. The ones that show off your chest and feel so soft when I touch you.”
Seamus’s cheeks heated. That tone in Dawson’s voice meant he was missing Seamus something fierce. “I can do that. I’ll let you pick it out when you come to the house.”
Dawson would come stay with him before the first event and then between them, so they had time to play around with that shit in person. He kind of thought Dawes liked to play dress-the-Seamus.
“I would love that. In fact, that sounds like more fun than a frog in a glass of milk.”
Seamus snorted and nodded. He was stupid for this wild son of a bitch. “So, you going somewhere fun for dinner?”
“Steakhouse.” There was zero excitement in the tone, which was weird, because Dawes could eat some meat.
“You going with the other bullfighters?”
“Yeah, there’s a sponsor taking us out.”
Ah.
That explained a lot.
“He wants to get us all new shoes or some such shit, so I have to go be nice.”
“I understand that.”
Dawes hummed for him, the sound sweet and low. “I bet you do, honey. You do way more of that than I do. I’m sorry you’re hurt. I’ll be there—today’s Friday, I’ll be there day after tomorrow.”
“Okay, I’m counting on it. I’m counting on you.”
“Don’t cheat on the ankle. I’ll give you a bath when you get home, when I get there.”
“I promise.” Seamus loved the heat that filled him whenever Dawes proved he cared. “You tell me when you’re flying in, and I’ll send you a car. Les would love to see you.” Les always did the airport pickup and was becoming one hell of a rodeo fan. Great guy.
“I do love having a wild affair with a Hollywood superstar.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I kind of love having a torrid affair with a top-of-his-game bullfighter, so it’s fair.”
They laughed together, and then he reluctantly said his goodbyes and hung up the phone.
Eventually he’d have to get up and go to the toilet and go to his own bed where he could be comfortable.
Not yet though.
He grabbed the remote and started searching to see if he could find a replay of the event somewhere on streaming and catch sight of his lover working. He could call it research.