“I never said you didn’t.” Beau was getting snarly now. “Jesus, Sammy, could you give me some credit? I know better than what?—”
“What do you fucking want, Beau? Bywater pissed me off—I hit him. A lot. That’s it. I wasn’t riding on tour.”
“Well, when are you gonna be riding on the Goddamn tour instead of sitting your ass at my house and playing roper on the fucking weekend?”
He slammed down on the brakes, his truck fishtailing wildly, smoke going up as the tires screamed. “What?”
What thefuckdid Beau say?
“What, what? You’ve had some time off, yeah? That was what you said you wanted. I need you here.”
“Instead of sitting my ass at your house, huh?”
Not their house.
Beau’s house.
“Isn’t that what you’re doing? I mean, shit, Poot, if you’re gonna play rodeo, come play here. I’m sick of getting my balls busted.”
Jesus.
“Go fuck yourself, Lafitte. Don’t you worry about me in your fucking house. I’ll have my shit cleared out tonight. I paid for the little trailer with my play money. I’ll stay there. Why don’t you hunt around? I bet there’s cowboys out there way more on their games to protect your precious fucking balls.”
He didn’t wait for an answer—he threw the phone out the window and headed off to pack his shit.
He wasn’t riding nobody’s fucking coattails.
Never again.
“Bax saysyou look like crap, Lafitte. Says you can see it on the TV.”
“Thanks, Jay. Glad to hear from you, too.”
Jason chuckled, actually sounding happy for a change, so Beau didn’t bust his ass. Not much, anyway.
“Shut up, asshole.”
“Hey, I can’t help what Bax sees. At least I ain’t dreamin’ about you.”
“Thank God for small favors. What do you want?”
“Just checking in. I heard you and Sam had a big old fight, Bobo. That ain’t right. You haven’t… I mean, Adam. Shit.”
“No, I haven’t. Yeah, I been stupid about Sam, but not that stupid.” Fuck, he hadn’t even known Jason had known about him and Adam. What the hell else did that skinny bastard know?
“Oh, good. Bell will forgive a lot, but not that.”
“Shut up.” He was becoming one of them broken records. “I know that, stupid. You riding at all?”
“Some.” He heard Andy Baxter in the background, just sort of a low noise. “Anyway, I got to go. You need to eat and shit so Bax doesn’t bitch about looking at you.”
Jason hung up and Beau stared at the cell phone when he clicked it off, shaking his head. Asshole. He was surrounded by assholes.
He pushed the dialer button, peering at his contacts. Sam was right there, number one on his speed dial. Sam’s cell, not their home number, because he’d made Sam too damned uncomfortable to stay in their house.
Talk about an asshole. Beau knew himself to be a huge one.
He sighed, clicking the phone off and putting it back in his pocket. He couldn’t call. Not until he knew what the fuck to say.
