Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
There was no way he was going to survive this. Jason puked up his guts, showered then got himself ready to enter the lion’s den. He had no doubt that Randy would be there with Ace, along with Steele and Cash and a handful of the other founders.
Not Coke, though. Coke was in the fucking hospital.
He wore his sponsor shirt—the good white one that made him look taller, and a pair of Luccheses that sounded strong when he walked.
Bax never spoke a word.
Jase wasn’t sure what had happened out on the arena floor. He’d been confused and overwhelmed and…and it had been over. He’d planned for this minute for the last two years, and now it was here and he’d lost himself.
He was sure as shit found now, though.
A knock came to the door, and when Bax answered it, he heard Emmy’s voice. “Hey, guys. I brought Daniel. We’re going to formulate a plan. Talked to Dillon. Coke is still in surgery, but it looks real good.”
He closed his eyes a minute. Thank God for that.
“Come on in,” Bax said. “I ordered up a catering tray. Should be here soon. I’m Andy Baxter, sir. Nice to meet you.”
“Daniel Goodnight. Pleasure to meet you boys. Sorry it’s under these circumstances. Let’s all have a sit.”
That smooth Texas drawl put Jason at ease. This was someone he could work with.
“I’ve spoken to Balta and to Miss Emmy here. Now I need to speak to you. What are your priorities?”
“I want my money and my title. I’m willing to announce my retirement today, but I’m not giving up the chance to tell my story.” Dillon had told him that, and the sponsorships from that would be his money.
“That’s more than fair,” Daniel said. “The league will want to spin this in their favor, and if it’s the money and the title that’s important, I think you might be well served doing that—working together with them.”
Jason nodded. “If they will, I will. If they want to play hardball, I will do that too.”
Emmy was murmuring quietly to Bax, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. Not too much later, he heard her pounding something—maybe with her shoe—then the toilet flushed.
Daniel chuckled but was all business. “Good deal. So, we take the line first and foremost, that you clawed your way back up with no more help than anyone who had a catastrophic injury would get.”
“You know it. I rode those bulls. Me. No one else.” And he’d be damned if anyone argued.
“That’s it. They’re gonna argue all kinds of crap. You just keep that line. No spurs in the bull rope. Your rope is like everyone else’s.”
Emmy chuckled. “Yeah, they already examined it. You keep everyone but Coke out of it. That’s what Dillon said. He knew. Coke knew. Andy knew. That’s it.”
“They’re not going to believe that.”
“Doesn’t matter. They can’t prove it.” Emmy squeezed his fingers. “Coke knew. Andy knew. Dillon has an ironclad contract. You rode. Stick to that.”
“I will.” Jason could do that. That was a simple-ass story, and as far as not keeping Coke out, everyone would believe he wasn’t gonna let something pass by. And Dillon knew if Coke knew. But they could keep it at that.
“I’ll be in the meeting with you, Jason,” Daniel said. “Emmy needs to stay out of it, as much as she can. She has a job to protect, and Cotton is still riding.”
“Of course. How are the babies?”
“Beautiful. They’re beautiful, and tomorrow I want you to meet them both. Adam and Brandon.”
“I will. What does Taggart think of that?”
“Adam is tickled. Brian is mad at me.” She chuckled. “Cotton’s daddy was an Adam.”
“That’s sweet, honey.” He was going to throw up again, and he knew he couldn’t—not until after the press conference.
“You need a Coke, Mini?”
Maybe a little sugar would do him good. He was feeling shocky.
“Sprite?”
“I’m on it.” Daniel moved fast. The man’s shoes clicked and the door shut.
“You trust him, Em?” Bax asked.
“Yeah, so does Balta, and Balta’s a biggie-wow.”
“I know.” Jason tilted his head. “What were y’all doing?”
“When?”
“With the smashing and the flushing.”
Bax snorted. “Earpieces.”
Oh. “Was that cheating? It didn’t keep me on the bull.”
“It’s not, but we’re not giving anyone anything, Jason.”
“Okay.” He nodded, making his head ache, and nausea burned again.
There was a soft knock at the door, Daniel coming back with drinks, he reckoned.
“Here, Mini.” Bax handed him an open Sprite, and he took a grateful sip. The bubbles burned all the way down, clearing away the acid.
“When this is over, Daniel can set up interviews, all the complicated shit. You can go home. Get a dog. Learn braille. Enjoy your house. This is a blip, man. A little blip. Remember that. It seems big now, but…a little hiccup. You won.” Emmy’s voice was like an amazing preacher’s, ringing with power and faith.
“You fucking won, man. Blind and hurt and everything, and you kicked their asses. Remember that. You did this.”
He took one deep breath, then another. Right. This was his. His and Bax’s, and they couldn’t take it, even if they tried. He was a fighter.
“She’s right,” Bax said quietly. “I’m right here. We got this.”
“We do.” They did. “I can’t wait to go home and celebrate.”
Bax gave him a one-armed hug. “So, Mister Daniel, do we let you do most of the talking?”
“Yep. Let me get the lay of the land. We can see what way the wind is blowing, since the big dogs have also had time to talk. But we stand firm.”
“Bring it on.” Jason was ready now. Get it over with. Rip off the Band-Aid.
They headed out, Bax at his side. If he had his way, Bax would be right here from now on, and damn the consequences. The room felt big, the voices echoing more, the air colder. There was more than Ace too, which he expected, but he was hoping for not too many folks.
“Jason, come, sit. Andy. Daniel, bom dia.” Balta sure filled up all the available goddamn space.
He was damn relieved to hear that booming voice and know he had the big Brazilian in his corner.
“Hello, gents.” Daniel helped him find his chair, Bax settling on his other side. “Ace. Cash. Steele. Been awhile.”
“Figures he’d get a freaking Goodnight to look after him,” Steele muttered.
Jason bit back a grin. He hadn’t even thought about that. Looked like Daniel was cowboy royalty. That would help.
“Only the best, y’all.” Daniel chuckled softly. “So, make your offer.”
Yeah. Always get them to make their offer first, if possible.
“Offer?” Ace drawled out the word, and Jason could feel those eyes on him. He knew it like he knew his own hand.
“Yes, Ace. You want things. Spell it out.”
Ace snorted. “Well, we want you to retire from riding.”
“Jason is ready to announce,” Daniel countered. “Tonight.”
He nodded. He was. He was done with that part, and he wanted to go love on Bax forever.
“Okay, good. You can come with your sponsors, do signings for us even, but no more time behind the chutes, even to help other riders.”
“The liability is a huge thing, son,” Cash said.
“No problem.” Cotton and Raul had Balta and Joa. “I’m good with doing signings.”
“This could be disastrous for us as a league,” Ace finally said. “We won’t dispute your title or the payout, but we want a gag order. No books or movies or TV interviews or shows.”
He started to holler, but Bax patted his thigh.
“No deal,” Daniel said. “This is Jason’s story to tell. You can decide how you want to play it, but the story is coming out. You want to be the good guys? You can say you knew. You can say you had zero idea. But no gag order. Period.”
There was a long silence. Then Ace sighed. “We didn’t know, and we can’t act like we did. That would show preferential treatment. The main thing we have to show is that everyone had the same chance at the title.”
“Well,” Bax drawled. “They all had the same chances as Jason. ‘Cept they could see.”
Balta laughed, a booming sound. “Raul says he is fine with it. So who is to complain? Kynan? It was not his year. This we know because he fell off more than Jason.”
“I rode those bulls. Y’all saw me. I rode. I wasn’t superglued on. I rode those bulls.” He didn’t yell, because he didn’t have to. He was right.
He heard Steele sigh too. “I told you, bud. You have to decide whose side you’re on. Are you a cowboy or are you a suit?”
“Fuck you, Steele.”
Daniel chuckled. “Well, he’s got a point.
You’re here instead of the CEO because they’re expecting you to protect their interests, Ace.
I, on the other hand, have known you since your first junior bull riding.
I expect you to protect the league only insofar as you want it to be a safe place for riders to do what they love. ”
“I hate all y’all,” Ace grumbled. “And I don’t believe for one minute that Andy here, and Pharris and the clown, are the only ones who knew.
We’ll say we had no idea and so will you.
We’ll make our own deal with Pharris. And we’ll let the gag order go.
Unofficially, however, I would like a consult on any projects you do, Jason.
Not approval. Just a heads up about who, what and when. ”
“That’s fair. I don’t want to hurt bull riding. It’s how I made my living. I love this sport. I paid dearly for it.” And he wasn’t paying any more.
“We can work with that, gentlemen. We’ll draw something up, though, so the scope of your future involvement is clear.” Daniel was a pro.
“What are you going to say to the press, Jason?” Cash asked.
“That I’m tickled I won, and I’m announcing my retirement.” That was all he needed to say, right?
“I’ll be giving the press the opportunities to ask me questions tonight, and I’ll set up interviews starting next week, after he has a chance to get home.” Daniel was slick as shit. Impressive.
“I’ll be at the conference tonight,” Ace said. “Just to have plausible deniability from the get-go.”
“Sounds good. I’m glad we were able to come to a reasonable conclusion.”
“I’m not a fucker, Dan. You know that,” Ace said. “I just don’t want to get fucked here, and I feel a little raw.”
“Would you have let me ride, if you’d known?” Jason asked.
“Of course not.”
“Then you understand why I didn’t say.”
“Hell, we all understand, Jason.” That was Cash. “Ace woulda done the same thing. But we gotta make all these noises or we lose our jobs.”
Steele cackled like a big old bird. “I personally love that you kicked everyone’s asses, kid. I love it. You start a blind bull riding league, and I’ll sponsor it.”
“You are an asshole.” Ace bit out every word, and Jason grinned. No one could tell they were best friends.
“I’ll have something tentative drawn up by morning, y’all,” Daniel said. “For right now, I need to get ready to meet the press.”
“I’ll see you here,” Ace said. “Congratulations, Jason. Really.”
“Thanks. Weirdest fucking finals yet.”
Bax began to chuckle, the sound as familiar as his own breath.
Ace snorted. “I thought last year was pretty weird.”
“Last two years,” Cash muttered.
“No such thing as normal in bull riding, boys,” Steele said. “I need to get to the hospital to see if Pharris needs anything.”
“Can you take Dillon a burger or something? He’ll be starving.” He knew how hard Dillon had worked. He’d heard it.
“Absolutely. I’ll call Nate on the way and see what they need.” Steele clapped him on the shoulder, making him jump, then those boots clomped off.
Cash grunted. “I need to get back. Bulls to move. Holler if you need me, Ace.”
“Rats deserting the sinking ship,” Ace said.
“Nothing’s sinking. We’ll make a splash, that’s all. There will be the flurry, then I get to have a real life. Hiding this was a bitch. I need to learn how to be functional, get the help I deserve.”
Ace was silent a long moment, then he just said, “If you need help, you know where to find us.”
“We do.” Bax was right there. Solid as a rock.
“We do.” He held out his hand. “Thanks, Ace.”
Ace shook hands, then Daniel was hustling them back out of the room, on the phone before they were halfway back.
“You did good, Mini,” Bax whispered.
“I need to hear about Gramps. I got him hurt.”
“No. It could have been Kynan. Or Raul. That bull got him hurt.” Bax said it fiercely, and it was partly true, but he’d frozen up and he knew it.
“I’ll call Dillon again. He’ll want to know what Ace said before Steele gets there.”
Daniel left them at their room. “See you in an hour, boys.”
He went in and sat, listening to Bax chatter to Dillon, but not hearing a single word.
He was done. He’d won…against the bulls and against his body.
Why didn’t it feel better?
Why didn’t he feel proud?
“Coke is out of surgery. He’s resting.”
“He going to be okay?” He needed to hear that.
“Dillon says he’ll recover just fine.” Bax sat next to him, then took his hand.
“I’m sorry.”
“Coke says to smack you if you say that. They want us to come by on the way out of town.”
“So you talked to him?”
“Yeah. He’s just getting older, Mini. He’s fixin’ to go the way of us, I bet.”
“I bet Ace asks him to.” He sighed. “You heard what Cash said about liability.”
“I did. And our liability is over. We do this thing, then it’s over, Jason.”
“It is. Can we leave in the morning after we see Coke?”
“Mini, you cain’t see him, you’re blind.”
The words hit him just right and he started chuckling, then that laughter turned wild and happy.
Bax leaned into him and laughed with him, each one sending the other into new spasms when they stopped.
Finally they were clinging together, and Jason took a hard, happy kiss. “I love you, Bax. We did it. We won. Now we get to walk away.”
“We do, babe. We do. I love you.” Bax just hung on and knew exactly what his man was feeling.
Relief.
They’d survived.
Better than that, they’d won.