Page 85 of Leading the Blind
“Butthead. I will puke on your shoes.” Out of pure adoration, of course.
“No way. I wore my Lucheses today.” Bax eased him out of the cab of the truck, hands hard and steady.
“Mmm…I like how those make your butt tight.”
“Now he perks up. Just took my butt. I got my earpiece in still, but I think everyone is still at the show. You just put one foot in front of the other.” Bax got him in the elevator.
He leaned and swallowed hard as it went up. “Lord, I’m tired.”
“I got you. Just lean on me, babe.”
Story of his life, right there.
Bax had him. All he had to do was let it happen. Jason swallowed hard against the nausea, glad when the world stopped moving. Bax led him to their room, and he sat with a groan.
“Let’s get you in the shower, babe. You’re covered in blood. I need to get it off your chaps.”
“Just— I need to sit a minute. Get the water going.”
“Okay.” Bax kissed the corner of his lips.
He sat there for a second, trying to remember how to breathe. In and out. In and out. One breath, then another. He head pounded like one of them monkey toys that clapped the cymbals. He might just puke for real, now that Bax’s boots were out of the way.
He leaned back, trying hard not to cry, because damn, he wanted to.
“Hey.” Bax was there again, easing off his boots, unbuckling his chaps.
“I’m sorry, Bax.” He just couldn’t make himself move.
“I know. You gotta get through it. I get it.” Bax helped him up, his hands gentle. “The shower is hot, but not too steamy. Don’t want you getting sick or getting a bleed.”
“I just… I’m so tired. Seriously. I want to go home so bad, but I can’t. I have to do this.” He let Bax lead him, knowing that he had diarrhea of the mouth. This sucked— Why couldn’t he stay healthy? What else was riding going to take from him?
“Two more rides, then we’re on the road. Doc set us up with that guy in Corpus, and we’ll see him, huh?” Bax was the reasonable one now, which just made him laugh.
“You know it. Two more, then it’s over.”
“No, Mini. No. Two more, then it starts.”
He closed his eyes and swayed. “From your lips to God’s ears.”
“I love you.” Bax folded him into the gentlest hug ever.
“I know. I count on it.”
Two more rides. He had this.
Chapter Twenty-Four
There was no fucking way Jason was riding again. The son of a bitch had puked all goddamn night, he was barely walking straight—and he’d already missed the first round today. It was over.
“I’m riding in the short go, Bax.”
Coke nodded. “He has to, to clench the championship. He don’t have to ride good, but he has to ride. He does the eight, and it’s all she wrote.”
“But—”
“Statistically, Kynan or Raul could still edge him out, Andy.” That was Dillon, who had been an accountant and knew his numbers. “But not if he rides.”
