Page 86 of Leading the Blind
“Goddammit!” Bax hit the rail with one hand.
“I’m riding.”
“You cain’t.”
Jason’s lips firmed, his chin lifting. “Watch me. We didn’t risk all this for second place.”
“Mini.”
“Stop it,” Dillon snapped. “People are noticing, and the cameras won’t be far behind.”
Jason wasn’t ready to ride. Bax just wanted to scream with frustration.
“My last ride, Bax. I need you behind me.”
Jesus, that was blackmail. He wanted to just walk away and say he was sitting his ass in the locker room until this was over. But he couldn’t do that.
“You know I’m right here, Mini. You know I am. But I ain’t got to like it.”
“Nope. Some things are out of our hands.”
Jase stood there and waited. He was the last to go, and damn if Raul didn’t ride for an eighty-nine, overtaking Jason in the standings.
“Goddamn it.”
“It’s going to be all right, Bax.” Jase was pure-D gray.
“Sure it is.” His jaw hurt from clenching it so hard. Kynan was up next, and that son of a bitch was a clutch rider. The bigger the pressure, the better he did.
The little shit did what he said he would too. Eight seconds, spurring and solid, and Bax would be damned if he didn’t ride for a ninety-three-eight. “Motherfucker.”
“All you got to do is ride. Just make the eight,” Dillon said in their ears, and Jason nodded, wincing as he did, and Bax thought he saw a tear on those white-blond eyelashes.
He was gonna lose his shit.
Jason turned those blank eyes to him. “Pull my rope?”
“I’m right here. I got you.” How the fuck could he say no? Jason had pulled a big, rawboned bull named Chiggergrass, and that damn animal was a chute buster. He would try to bash Jason against the bar.
“Good deal.”
Beau was there, and so was Sammy—and Sammy knew this. That rattled Texan could talk. “…and we go to the water and have a beer together. We fish the big uns and we make Beau laugh.You make this cow a bitch, and you ride him so hard he cain’t breathe no more…”
Bax was glad Sam was taking the talking, because when Jason climbed over the top rail and started to lower his knees down, Chigger went nuts, bucking back and forth in the chute like one of those old spring-loaded ducks in the playground, head down, then up.
“Please,” he prayed, and he had no goddamn idea what he was praying for.
“Motherfuck!” Jason’s hand got slammed against the chute, and they damn near lost him under the bull’s hooves.
“Jesus!” That was Dillon in a rare moment of blasphemy. “Get that bull set!”
Bax knew he was talking to Coke. Gramps and Nate moved in to make the bull stand, and Bax held Jason up in the air, just dangling.
“I got you,” he bit out. “I got you, Mini.”
“I trust you.” And Jason had, over and over. No question.
God, he wanted to tell Jason to quit. Now. But Jason was trusting him. Was basically begging him to keep his head on straight and get them through this. So Bax held on for dear life, then helped Jason settle on the bull again.
