“Look at you, boy! You might could do this!”
Mini stopped, grinning like a fool, then stepped toward AJ and tripped, falling flat on his face.
“Shit!” Bax waved AJ off, going to help Jase up. “You gotta watch that, Mini. That thinking.”
“Huh?” Jase sat up, wiping his faceoff.
“Nothing. I say we have a drink and a snack. AJ?”
“Oh, yeah. I got the cooler right here.”
“So, I passed the test, huh?”
“You did, son,” Coke said, coming up to clap him on the back. “With flying colors.”
“Okay. Okay, cool.”
AJ came around handing out Cokes. “Shit, man. You damn near looked like a pro.”
They all laughed at that one, Jason’s face creasing in that famous sharp smile. Bax felt good, all the way down to his bones. They could do this.
And if they couldn’t, they could keep Mini fucking busy until he figured something else out.
“You ready for the mechanical bull, man?” Might as well be hung for a wolf instead of a sheep.
“Okay. I’ll try it.” Mini stood up, reached for his arm. “Lead the way.”
“Good man. We can break for lunch after. Missy says she has leftover mac and cheese.” Jason would do near anything for mac and cheese of it was homemade.
“Real stuff or the glow in the dark box shit?”
AJ snorted. “Have you ever known my Missy to make shit from a box?”
Coke just shook his head. “Y’all are so spoiled. If you add some Ro-Tel, the boxed stuff ain’t half bad.”
Jason gagged a little and AJ just looked…flummoxed.
Bax groaned. “Now you’ve put us all off our feed.” He nudged Jason with his elbow. “Still want to try?”
The mechanical bull had a smaller range of movement than the barrel, but it could go a hell of a lot faster.
“Yeah. Yeah, I guess I’d better.” Jase grabbed his arm and they walked, Jason’s face turned up toward the sun. “You think I’m gonna have to start wearing sunglasses all the time, Bax?”
“No.” Sometimes, maybe, but Jason’s eyes only did the crazy wandering thing part of the time. There had to be a way to train them. Somehow.
“Cool.” He got another one of those smiles. “Sun feels good. Makes a guy want to go fishing.”
“We could do that after lunch.” Laughing, he leaned close to Jason’s ear. “Pray the fish don’t bite.”
Damn, but he did like that laugh.
It was harder work getting Jason up on the mechanical bull. He’d never noticed how fucking complicated it was.
There was the damned mats, which made it hard as hell to walk. Then you had to get up, and it wasn’t basically flat, like a bull. It was all tilty like a bull that was down in the chute.
Jase was growling by the time they got him settled, looking mean as a wet hen. “I don’t like this.”
“Well, I don’t think I would either. I’d forgotten how wicked the thing is. Take a turn on it anyway. Tell us when you’re ready.”
