“Huh?” Shaking it off, he tested all his muscles, trying to see if everything worked. “Yeah, yeah, it’s good.”
“You fucking know it! Eighty-nine-point-five, cowboy. Go tip your hat to your fans!”
Bax jumped off the fence and stepped back out into the arena and threw his hat, pumping his arms to get the crowd screaming for him.
Hot damn.
The fans went fucking crazy, Cooper Riley bouncing over with his hat, Coke slapping his ass. Goddamn. That was it. Just fucking like that, top of the leader board for now and almost surely in the money.
He climbed back up the fence instead of going through the gate. He’d be pulling rope for Mini soon.
The chutes were buzzing, the guys giving him shit, teasing and laughing with him. Jason was nodding, the bastard waiting for him with a shit-eating grin.
“You see that, Mini?” He knew Jason had, because the fine son of a bitch had been right there when he’d almost gotten his ass stomped, but now everything wasn’t a blur. He could see that fucking million-dollar smile.
“You know it. You owned that fucker.”
He had. He hadn’t had a ride like that in months. “Felt good, Jase. Felt amazing. You have to do better. You ought to be the one to win the go-round.” His season was never gonna be as good as Jason’s. He wasn’t stupid enough to think it, either.
“Shut up and bask, Bax.” Jason winked, pulled his glove out. “Come on. Let’s get this one down.”
“You got it.” Grinning, he sort of wallowed in his almost ninety-point ride. Goddamn, it felt good. He stepped over the rails to the stand on the outside of the gate, ready to pull.
Jason hopped over, all business, eyes on the prize. It took some nudging and pushing—that bull was wanting to crouch, not happy at all about this whole working deal. Spoiled thing. AJ wedged a boot in between the bull and the fence, and Kyle got the four by four out, and soon enough they got Mini settled, that loose old bull rope settled in place. Man rode on the fucking end of his fingers.
He got a look, serious as all get out. “Let’s do it.”
Then, as soon as he was out of the way, Mini nodded, the gate swinging open.
The bull turned right out away from Jason’s hand, which was always a tough ride, the force pulling down and across. Jason had better balance than anyone Bax had ever seen, though. He could do it. The seconds stretched out. One…two…three…
He could fucking see it, when the ride went south, the bull jerking back into Jason’s hand, the tug pulling that bull rope almost out of Jason’s grip, Jason heading right over to the side of the bull. Six… Seven…
Shit. Shit, Mini was gonna make the ride, but there was no way there was gonna be a good get off. Bax started yelling at about eight and a half seconds, when Jason’s legs both flipped to the same side of the bull.
“Mini! Goddamn it, Jason! Get out of there!”
About that time, Jason spun, feet blown right out from under him, head connecting with horn with a thwack the whole arena could hear almost as well as the thud as Jason hit the ground, right under those hooves.
Bax was off the fence and in the arena before he even thought about it. Coke was shouting the bull’s name, bouncing like a jack in the box, but he saw the bull moving away out of the corner of his eye. He slid to his knees next to Jason, reaching for the man, babbling something like a prayer.
There wasn’t anything in those open eyes—not a fucking thing, which was the creepiest thing on Earth up till the second Jason when stiff as a board, legs thrumming on the dirt.
Oh. Oh, no. Oh, fuck no.
All he could do was kneel at Jason’s head and try to hold that convulsing body as still as he could. The sports medicine guys got there just as Jason’s hands started clenching and unclenching, the weirdest sound coming from him.
“Get me the backboard. Jason? Jason, you know where you are, son?”
The guys were all around, hiding Mini from the crowd, from the cameras, as best they could.
“Jason!” Bax barked it out, knowing Jason would never respond to all that gentle coaxing. “Damn it, Mini. Talk to me.”
One hand came up, Doc grabbing it. “Keep talking.”
Those eyes just kept rolling.
Fuck, he felt sick. His belly just heaved, but Bax wasn’t gonna stop to think about his own shit. “Jason. Come on, buddy. You want to hear your score, right? You need to come on and say something so I know you’re not all broke, you asshole.”
