Mr. Sam stood him up. “Broke you cow damn it with the bells.”
“No shit on that, Mr. Sam. That was some bad juju.” He brushed the dirt off his shirt, wincing as his sliced palm left a nasty swatch of blood. The knife had cut him up right good.
He turned to see who was doing the roping, and his heart did a little flip-flop when he saw Adam Taggart on horseback. Oh,good Lord in Heaven, look at that. There weren’t nothing finer. Was Adam really there, or was that a hallucination?
Dillon Walsh streaked by, going to Mr. Pharris, arms waving wildly.
He stumbled to the fence, eyes searching out Jason who was up and moving, Andy Baxter having his own snit while Nate and AJ played the ‘No shit, there I was’ game.
Okay. Okay, damn. He shook more blood off his hand, then grabbed his kerchief out of his back pocket.
The big gelding Adam rode fetched up beside him so fast he almost fell right over, that big old head nudging him. He looked up into Adam’s clear eyes, which burned with something that sure seemed like anger. “What the hell, Landon? Throwing yourself on that bull?”
“Jason needed help.” No ‘Howdy,’ no ‘You okay?’ No nothing. Just screaming.
“You coulda got yourself killed, damn it!” Adam clenched the reins so hard Landon heard his knuckles creak.
“So?” He stared at Adam, his own temper flaring. Christ, he was so dumb he couldn’t even help now? “What does it matter to you?” Adam’s lips opened and Landon snarled. “Tuat t’en grosse bueche. No more talking. I ain’t worth shit no ways, according to y’all, and Jason Scott can ride and has schooling and things and is worth more blind than ever I’ll be whole, so I helped. I didn’t hurt none of the horses, didn’t even hurt nothing but the fucking bull rope and it was Beau’s spare! Us fucking bayou rats is a dime a dozen and won’t never amount to nothing but spawning a thousand more lying bastards, eh? Why you keep going with us, then? Pic kee toi. You don’t get to yell at me, no more! I ain’t worth standing with, I ain’t worth cussing. You go straight to hell, feet pue tan.”
He spit through his fingers and spun on his heel, pulling himself on Sammy’s horse and letting her have her head andrun. Mr. Sam knew Cajuns. No one would believe he wouldn’t be back with her.
Eventually.
Adam watchedLandon gallop off into—well, not the sunset. It was still the fucking hottest part of the day, the sun watery and heavy overhead. Fuck, Landon could ride. There was no separation between that tight Cajun ass and the horse. Just seeing Landon made him happy, even if his heart had almost stopped when the fool man jumped on the bull.
“You goin’ after him?” Beau asked, whacking his booted foot.
“Not until you tell me what all that French was about.” Adam felt a grin stretch his cheeks for the first time in days. Maybe weeks.
“Well, I can tell you it weren’t pretty or polite, Tag.”
Sammy just hooted like a giant, goofy owl. “Boug, you’d best do with the etoufée. He drink it lots and good.”
“Good idea.” Beau chuckled. “Landon does like the etoufée. If you ain’t riding out after him, help us put the bulls up.”
Adam pushed the gelding into the pen, nodding. “I’ll say my piece later. Hey, Jase. You were looking good until you weren’t.”
“Uh-huh. Shit got a little cockeyed.” Jason grinned like a monkey. “It was fun.”
“It was a disaster.” Andy Baxter seemed like he was fixin’ to explode, all red ears and clenched teeth. Adam might have teased him once upon a time, but now he knew what it was like to worry that much about someone.
“Yep.” That grin didn’t fade a bit. “Everyone okay?” Jason asked.
“AJ took a hit, but he’s okay. Nate? Coke?” Adam surveyed everyone else. He had the freshest eyes.
Nate waved him off, and Pharris rolled his eyes and let the clown rant and foam.
“I’ll get the bulls back to grazing, then. Landon will be okay?”
Beau shrugged. “He’ll run for a bit, then find his way back. He’s staying in the little room behind the barn.”
“Does he stay over a lot?” Adam raised an eyebrow, reeling in his rope, which AJ had gotten off the bull.
“Often as we need him to, I reckon.” Well, that was a non-answer.
He shook his head, deciding to let it go for now. Adam knew he had to make it up to Landon, but he had time. Unless the kid kept tossing himself on top of moving targets.
He heard Jason’s voice, carrying over the air. “Is Tag fucking the little wee Cajun?”
