Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
“Are you sure I look okay?” Seamus had Nick do a fit check.
Dawson had been on his way to get his work done a couple of hours ago, and so Nick, Chris, and Seamus were heading out separately.
He’d ride home with his cowboy. That would be more than good enough.
Seamus was feeling a little self-conscious, to be honest. He was still on the damn crutches, and any sort of cowboy boots had been nixed right away when he tried crutching in them and immediately fell on his ass.
But he did have on a nice, white, button-down shirt shot through with silver threads, and jeans. So he figured that would work.
Nick rolled his eyes. “You look great. You always look great. It’s my job to make you look that way.”
“It’s my stylist’s job to make me look great, but this isn’t a red carpet event.” Hell, they were getting snuck in the back and taken to the VIP section by the suits. Jessica had called and had it all arranged.
Speaking of.
“Where’s Jess?”
“She’s already at the event. She wanted to check out the situation, so she rode in with Dawson.”
“No fair.” He winked, giving Topher his best pout.
“Well, she is his best girl. You know, they have that weird symbiotic relationship.”
“I know! They get along so well.” He had to grin at that because it was kind of odd. Dawson and Jess were just buddies or something, and she respected the hell out of him, which was really nice.
And he treated her as if she was made of spun glass, which was so sweet to see. Almost like a little sister.
“Anyway, she seems to think that all is going to be well. I got a text from her just a few minutes ago. When we get there, though, you stay in the car with Nick and Les, and I go in and just check everything. We don’t want any repeats of what happened at the restaurant.”
“Well, Mum isn’t going to be at this event, so that shouldn’t be so much of a trouble.” He started crutching out toward the car because they really needed to get a move on.
Nick chuckled. “Yes, we don’t want any kind of weird shit like that happening.”
Topher jostled Nick on the way out of the door. “You’re just pissed because you weren’t there to see it.”
“No, no. I would have probably freaked out. I mean, I would have jumped to your defense. Of course, Shay.” Nick smiled at him.
“But, dude, no. I mean you… What if it was blood? What if there were chunks in it? Or paint, you know, paint has chemicals and those are bad. No. I just… nobody’s going to do something like that to us, right? ”
Seamus rolled his eyes. “We’re going to be fine.
We’re going to go up in the VIP section.
We’re going to talk to the suits. Dawson will be there along with all of his friends.
And then afterward, we’re going to leave, and I’m going to have supper with Dawes and Sterling and his other two bullfighters…
” He tilted his head, using the moment to catch his breath.
Crutches sucked. “Or three. I think there might be three here because there’s an alternate.
But there’s going to be a nice big steak dinner in a private room without Mom, and you know it’ll be fine. ”
He wasn’t nervous because he did this all the time, function in public. It was a chunk of his job.
And if somebody threw paint on him, he’d just hit them with his crutch. Really, he thought the worst that was going to happen was that the other bullfighters were going to interrogate him and make sure that he had the best of all possible intentions for Dawson.
“Avoid the baked potato,” Nick told him.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. No bread basket, no potato. Broccolini or something on the side that makes me sad.” He was only half-teasing, and he might have a few bites of Dawson’s baked potato. He knew his lover would be super hungry after he worked an event.
“You can have some Brussels sprouts with bacon if you want. That’ll be a splurge.”
“Let’s see what they have. If they have an appetizer that’s like mussels or scallops, that’ll be my big indulgence.”
“Oh, that’s even better. It’ll keep your blood sugars nice and steady.”
They settled in the car, teasing each other unmercifully all the way. Christopher and Nick were both in exceptional moods, he thought, which was great because he was going to abandon them, and that would probably make Christopher a little tense.
But Nick had it well in hand. Nick had been incredibly attentive, in fact after the whole restaurant incident. The amazing thing was Christopher had let him be that way.
At the venue, things went exactly like Christopher predicted. Topher got out of the car, he headed inside with the security from the event, checked everything out, and then came back and got Nick and Seamus.
Excitement flared in his gut because he was finally going see Dawson in his element and not on TV.
He shook hands and glad-handed and talked as much as he could being on crutches.
He had to admit the suits were really nice about getting him to his seat pretty quick so that he could stretch his leg out and not have to be uncomfortable.
Their names were all kind of a blur though, and he knew Dawson thought they were all sort of not-real cowboys.
He understood dealing with suits and the people who had the money. In fact, his mother was periodically one of those suits who had money.
He had wealth; he didn’t have any real power.
A smarmy-looking guy came and sat with him, all gray-headed and wearing the fanciest suit jacket that, if Seamus had to guess, was Armani. The man was followed by a dark-haired carbon copy. He held out a hand. “I’m Sandy Larimer. This is my son, Greg. I’m CEO of the corporation, a majority owner.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” Seamus smiled, leaning to shake both men’s hands. “I’d stand up, but—” He waved to his foot. “—It’s a little awkward.”
“No, no, please,” Greg rolled his eyes. “I’m impressed you made it up here. It’s challenging.”
Sandy gave him a smile. “It’s really nice to see you here. I hear you’re making a movie about rodeo.”
No, he was going to be onscreen for about six minutes. “I had a small part in a movie, yes. I went to the Coke Pharris Bull Riding School to train.”
Sandy’s nose wrinkled the tiniest bit, not enough for anyone else to notice, but enough that Seamus got it.
Okay. He’d remember that.
“Did you learn a lot?”
“I learned a ton of things. I’m a huge fan of the bullfighters.”
“Of course,” Sandy said. “They do amazing work protecting the cowboys who make this whole enterprise a great thing.”
Okay, wow. That was really specific. He got the feeling from that statement that Sandy didn’t like the bullfighters at all. But, hey, he wasn’t here to judge anybody. He just had to get through this so he could have dinner with his man.
Greg gave him a slightly apologetic smile. “I’m glad you had the opportunity to work with our bullfighters. They’re great guys.”
“They really are. I enjoyed my time in New Mexico immensely.” He knew the last word sort of drawled out, but Sandy was giving him bad vibes, and he didn’t like that.
Jess came hurrying up. “Hey boss. Do you need anything? A drink?”
She had the best timing.
“Oh, thank you. Sir, could you let me know where to go and get Mr. Givens a drink.”
Sandy stood. “Well. I’ll move on and let you enjoy the show. Have a good night.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it.” He watched them walk away, then turned to look at Nick and Chris, raising his eyebrows.
Nick pitched his voice super low. “Wow, that guy does not have the best interests of these guys at heart, does he?”
“He sure doesn’t seem like it, no.”
“Hi, can I get you guys something to drink?” A cute lady in a T-shirt bearing a liquor brand on it and a pair of jeans with shapes over top of them stopped by their seating area, holding a drink tray with napkins on it and a little pad with a paper and a pencil.
“I would love a Diet Coke, please. Guys, do you want anything?”
They put their orders in, and the gal smiled, even though it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “There’s gonna be a little buffet set up over at the other end of the VIP area soon too.” She glanced down at his leg and gave him a sympathetic look. “If you need me to bring you anything, just holler.”
“Thanks.” He might eat some popcorn or something if Nick let him, but really he was waiting for his dinner with Dawes. He could do that.
The worst thing would be if he had to go to the bathroom during all of this. Topher and Nick would have to work hard to haul his ass to the head.
The Greg guy was still there and didn’t appear to be going anywhere, so Seamus offered the guy a warm smile.
“So you’ve been charged with babysitting me, huh?”
“Think of it less as babysitting and more as seducing—” The guy’s cheeks pinked, and he rolled his eyes like dice.
“No, not that. I’m supposed to make sure you have a good time and that you enjoy it.
That’s all. We love to have influential people enjoy the sport, especially since you have a movie tie-in. ”
“Fair enough.” Seamus settled back, taking the Diet Coke when offered. “I do enjoy it, believe it or not. This is not my first event.”
Greg’s eyes went wide. “No? I don’t remember seeing you before.”
“I’ve been coming for quite a while. I used to come with my father, especially in Australia. We went many times to rodeos and bullriding.”
“Oh, yes, do you know Parker? He’s Australian.”
Yes, because he knew all Aussies, on a deep personal level.
“I met them both. The fact is, Parker was kind enough to let me come out to his ranch and see how it all worked. He talked to me for a while about the differences between Australia and here. It was a great help. And then, of course, Mr. Pharris’ bull fighting school is top-notch. ”
“Yeah, he’s been around a long time.”
“Yeah, he’s a hero. I know so many, mainly bullfighters and cowboys in general, owe him their life.”
Greg bobbed his head. “I can’t argue with that. Not at all. He was sort of forcibly retired, after that third broken neck.”