Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
“Jason! Goddamn it, Jason Scott, we got to talk!” Ace was shouting at him.
Jason stopped, jaw set tight. “Go on, Bax. I got this.”
“Jase…”
“Go on.”
“I’ll walk him back out, Andy.” Dillon’s voice was sure in his ear.
Bax reluctantly left, because that was what he would do, and it would look weird as hell if he stayed to hold Jason’s hand just to talk to Ace.
He turned, his dark glasses pushed up. “What you need, man?”
“You’ve been avoiding me, son.” Ace was front and center, so he tried to ‘look’.
“Why? I got nothing to avoid. I just been trying to stay healthy.” That was the truth. Sorta. “What’s up?”
“Jason! Bom dia! That was a good ride, sim? So good?” Balta’s voice filled the tunnel, the sound of the man’s hand clapping on Ace’s shoulder like a shot.
“Balta and Raul are there. Raul’s right at your shoulder. Joao is still out, remember.” Thank God for the clown.
“Hey, guys. Ace was just about to dress me down.” He grinned, rolling his shoulders and bouncing on his toes.
“I wasn’t— I just wanted to make contact, dammit. I haven’t seen you since the accident.”
“Bah.” Raul’s voice was soft, but sure. “Always here. Jason rides always.”
Fuck yeah.
“Well, I ain’t seen him.” Ace’s drawl deepened. He and Balta loved each other, but man could they bump chests, and Ace always took Raul’s little insubordinations out on Balta. It was kinda great.
“Sorry, Boss,” Jason said. “Really. I’m doing right by the association, yeah?”
“Suck up,” Dillon whispered, and Jason fought to keep a straight face.
“You’re doing fine, Jason. I just wanted to put eyes on you. What does Doc say about your new injuries?”
Jason fought again, this time not to roll his eyes, which he knew he still did. Ace knew damn well what Doc thought. He met with the man daily.
“I’m right as rain. Leave it all in sport medicine, you know?” Fuck right off, boss. You don’t get to make that call.
“Well, all right then. You just keep your mind in the middle.”
He wondered if Ace knew. He really did. The man walked a fine line between cowboys and corporate, but he did try to have their backs.
Still, once it was out, he’d have to quit, so he was admitting nothing.
Raul and Balta moved Jason off down the hall, the huge Brazilians about as subtle as, well, Bax.
“Thanks, y’all. You were welcome as the rain in spring.”
“Ace smells things on the air,” Balta said. “Like a hound dog. I will always help if I can.”
“I appreciate it. How’s Joao, man?”
“He is in therapy. The riding, it is done for him, I think. For me too. Raul can ride for all of us.”
“Damn.” Joao had been like Sammy—great if he rode, hurt as hell if he didn’t.
“He’s sad, but he will do well raising horses, I think.” Raul’s English was probably as good as it would get now, but Jason was pretty proud of him for trying so hard.
“Did you hear we bought a house in Corpus? On the water. Y’all should come.”
“Oh, we should! Did you get a hot tub?” Balta did love anything that soothed his poor back.
Jason chuckled, and there was Bax, the smell of Stetson and Irish Spring like home. “We did. Seats six. And there’s a little suite with a sitting area and a kitchenette deal for visitors.”
“Well, then, you tell us when we can come, and we will.”
Bax chuckled, a hand on Jason’s back. “We even got one of them adjustable medical beds, man. How about after Billings? We got two weeks between there and KC.”
“We’ll come. We will make feijoada and laugh together.” Balta sounded tickled.
“I’m in,” Jason said. “As long as Raul makes that salad with the hearts of whatever.”
“Palm,” Raul said, laughter in his voice. “Thank you for inviting us, amigo.”
“You know it. I’ll text you all the address and stuff, so y’all have it. We’ll have fun.”
Shit, the Brazilians were a hoot and a half, and Joao could translate.
“We will. Doc is coming, huh? Run.”
Jason laughed, but he did just that, Bax guiding him toward the exit.
“One more event down. We did it.”
“We did. That was a good ride, babe, just like Balta said. You were way more solid.” Bax sounded proud and a tiny bit relieved.
“Yeah. I’m feeling less like I got trampled now.” Handy, given that he had been less stepped on this week.
“Imagine that. Your balance was way better.”
“Cool.” He took out his earpiece once they got to the truck. No sense in Dillon hearing everything they said in private. “I stink. I swear to God, Bax. I didn’t used to stink so bad after work.”
“I think you just notice shit more, Mini. I think you smell fine.” Bax took his hand for a moment.
“Oh, maybe. I don’t know.” He guessed it had to be at least a little real, right?
That idea that other senses got all sharper and shit?
He sure felt like he could hear every damn noise at the new house, and he had to put on the TV sometimes to drown it out.
Thank God Bax could sleep through any damn thing.
“You handled Ace okay?”
Jason nodded. He thought so. He hoped so. “I had help from the guys.”
The story of his fucking life. He would do his best to return the favor. He’d already made a donation to the rider help fund in Joao’s name…
“Where’d you go?” Bax asked. “You here with me?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m here. I was thinking about how the guys help me out.”
“They’re good friends.” Bax paused, and Jason heard a jaw-cracking yawn. “And some of them are just returning the favor, mind. Remember when Balta broke his shoulder? Who did he have then?”
Jason snorted. He’d spent two weeks in a hotel in Dallas right after Balta had gotten out of the hospital, doing Balta’s therapy exercises with him until a spot opened up at a sports rehab place. That man could curse fluently in both Portuguese and English.
“We do what we got to.” He let out a long breath. “Do you think Ace guessed?”
“Nah, he’d pull you. They got all insurance and stuff.”
“Yeah.” Now he could inhale again. “Yeah, okay. I just need Doc to stay quiet.”
“As long as you’re winning, he will. He knows better than anyone what’s at stake here.” Bax reached over to hold his hand again.
“Eh, I ain’t getting any blinder.”
Bax snorted, because they both knew that wasn’t exactly true. His eyes worked fine. It was the connection between brain and eyeballs that didn’t work. It was one of the reasons he figured shit out so easy.
It could be a lot worse, he guessed. Some days that meant something. Others, not so much.
But he knew Bax worried. It wouldn’t take much. It never did. Sam Bell had proved that. Sammy had taken that horn for Beau, and—Sam was never going to be okay again.
Sam was home, Beau had him, but the Sammy they’d known was someone else now.
He guessed he was too. Maybe they all were.
Bulls left their mark.
Bax hummed along with the music, and they both jumped a mile when Bax’s phone rang, Garth’s Rodeo blaring.
“Can you get that, babe?”
“Surely.” He tapped the bottom of the phone, sliding his finger. He got it, nine times out of ten. “‘Lo?”
“We’re heading to the hospital with Em. Her water broke.” Dillon chuckled softly, and the sound was pure evil. “All over Ace.”
“Oh fuck.” Talk about poetic goddamn justice. “Cotton with y’all?”
“He’s taking his truck. Coke just carried her. Total panic mode. Cotton was a little out of his league.”
“Oh. Do y’all need help?” Bax asked, and Jason tilted his head. What were they supposed to do, exactly? Helping pregnant ladies pop them out wasn’t in their repertoire.
“Well, y’all could call Cotton. He’s freaking out, and that way he can have some company on the drive.” Dillon was chuckling. They heard the GPS talking, then Coke. “I got this, babe. You just hold on.”
“Holding. Breathe, Emmy-girl, and cross your legs.” Coke’s voice was as dry as dust.
Jason barked out a sharp laugh. “Right on. Calling Cotton.”
“Good deal. We’ll keep you posted.”
“We’ll be at the hotel,” Bax said.
They hung up with Dillon, and he hit the button so Bax could tell his phone, “Call Cotton.”
“She squirted on Ace, y’all. On Ace!”
Wow, not even a hello. “Coke’s got her. She’s in good hands.”
“Bullshit. She should be in my hands. Those babies are mine.” Okay, little fierce Cotton was adorable.
“She will be. You know Gramps. He just does shit.” Jason grinned, but only because Cotton couldn’t see him.
“You just focus on getting to the hospital in one piece,” Bax added.
“Yeah. I told her not to work this event. I told her she was the size of a goddamn house! ‘I’ll be fine,’ she says. ‘You worry too much, Cotton,’ she says.”
They both chuckled. “She’s a stubborn one,” Jason murmured. “She’s gonna be bossing those docs and nurses around, no problem.”
“You know it.” Bax snorted. “Then you got the clown.”
Cotton sighed. “You have no idea. None. He threw her baby shower. It was Monster High themed.”
“What’s a Monster High?” Jason imagined a Frankenstein smoking a doobie.
“The dolls. Like Barbie, but they’re vampires and shit.”
“That clown freaks me out,” Bax teased.
Vampire Barbies…whoa. That was…for a baby?
“I’m guessing they’re girls?” he asked.
“No. No, they’re boys.” Cotton sighed. “Okay, I’ve got to park. Thanks, guys. I’ll keep you posted.”
“Holler if you need anything.” Like they would. Coke and Dillon were in their element, for fuck’s sake, and he would bet AJ was on his way to the hospital. That man was stupid for babies.
“I will. Later, y’all.” Cotton hung up, and Bax started to chuckle.
“Lord have mercy, that man is in for it.”
Jason nodded. “You know it. We’re going to have many nieces and nephews…”
Between that, dogs and horses, they were gonna be busy.
He liked busy. A lot. That would keep him from thinking, for sure.
Hell, being busy and loving life was what they were here for, right? He sure hoped so. If not, then he was doing all this shit wrong.