Page 17 of Drunk Dialing

One more ride with the sponsor shirt on. It was a thing.

Chapter Five

Treat met Jake for lunch, and he could tell something was off right away. Jake had the dazed look of a man who had just lost his best friend or his dog.

Or both.

He stood facing Jake, looking him over with a critical eye. “What’s wrong?” he asked right away.

“I lost my sponsor.” Bald and raw as anything. Damn.

“Oh, shit.” Treat moved a little closer. “What can I do?”

“Don’t ask me anything else here, okay? I’m trying to be cool.”

“Okay. Okay, come on. We’ll get lunch.”

“I’m riding tonight,” Jake blurted. “I guess word got around. They offered me a spot where someone pulled out.”

Treat nodded. “Sounds great. You’ll get your ride done and then we can go have TexMex.”

“Sounds fine.” But Jake didn’t look fine. He looked like he was gonna barf.

“Babe, do you want to go back to the hotel for a bit?”

“God, I don’t know what I want. Just give me a second.” Jake stared at him like he was fixin’ to have a complete and utter meltdown. “Okay, you know what? You just drove all the way out here. Let’s go look at cattle.”

Treat sighed. “Okay, babe. I hate that you’re hurting.”

“I hate I got fired. I hate that I’m getting old. I hate that my body’s not what it used to be, and that I never made the big leagues. I hate that, no matter how much I fucking try, I’m never going to be enough to actually contribute and be the guy that I need to be for you. But you know what? That doesn’t really matter, does it?” Jake’s voice was flat. Not even angry, just the sort of resigned deadness.

And it made Treat want to scream. “What the hell does that mean? Seriously, what does it mean?”

Jake was exactly what he wanted. It wasn’t like the son of a bitch was going to be a kept man or something. There was always work. They always had work to do.

Was it so much to ask to have Jake work with him instead of against him?

“It means I’m having a fucking pity party. It means that I honestly thought she was gonna offer me a contract for another three years, and then I was going to have to think about it. See whether or not I have thought I was really gonna be riding for another three years, or whether or not I was gonna hook my wagon to yours. But instead, I got a final paycheck and one more ride with my sponsor shirt on. That’s what it means.”

Treat had gotten lost back somewhere when Jake said, “hitch my wagon to yours”. That really seemed to just stop the entire conversation.

“Can we go look at cattle now? What is it you’re hunting?”

Treat couldn’t help himself. He tilted his head, fluttered his eyelashes and said, “Moo cows.”

Jake’s eyes flashed. “I’m not in the mood, man. I will beat your ass down. I’m serious, what the fuck are you looking for in livestock?”

Super adult angry Jake was actually kinda hot.

“Well, like I said, I need some calves, and I want a couple of good breeding cows. And I want to see a guy about a horse, too.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “Going to see a man about a horse?” That earned him a little bit of a laugh. “Good thing you’re pretty. Is it a special horse or do you just want a horse?”

Treat shrugged, and his cheeks heated, but he didn’t deny anything. He could have hobbies. “This guy has got a good line of draft horses.”

“Draft horses? Really?”

Treat rolled his eyes, but he had to nod. “I know, I know. It seems odd, but I think it would be cool to get a team of draft horses and train them up. I could do teams of six and teams of four.” He felt himself warming to the topic. “I tell you what, there’s some neat competitions out there. And let’s be honest, there’s not a lot of draft horses where we are.”

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