“No, this one was done right.”
Joa gave him a ghost of a smile. “That’s not funny, Balta. What am I going to do?”
“Heal,” Raul said, striding back in with a big cup in his hand, a long straw sticking up. “Water.”
“Thank you.” Joa sipped, then took a deeper drink, throat working hard.
“Not too much.” Balta remembered that from surgery on his arm. “It will make you sick.”
“We don’t want that.” Raul backed the straw away, chuckling as Joa chased the glass. “Eager.”
“So sore.”
“The anesthesia makes you dry.” Balta dared to stroke Joa’s hair.
“Sim. The tube down your throat. You’d think I’d be used to that, huh?”
He and Raul both laughed, Raul’s hip crowding his shoulder. “You should,” Raul said. “That is way more fun.”
“Sim. Sim, this sucks in the bad way.” Joa sighed, stretching his shoulders. Balta thought of how Joa always massaged his back when he was laid up, and he wanted to help, damn it.
“Will y’all be here tomorrow?” Joa asked, so young, so sweet that Balta was tempted to smack him for being stupid.
“Of course,” Raul murmured. “We will stay until we have to leave for California.”
Balta nodded, though he thought he might take a bye. He had a few coming to him, thanks to winning two events in May.
He couldn’t leave Joa here. How could he?
Raul was at the top of his career, Balta was…not fading. Never fading. But he’d won all the awards, all the money. What did he have to ride for? He had nothing left to prove but that he loved Joa?
No, he would stay until they took Joa to Texas. He could put Joa in the back of the truck or rent one of those fifth wheels.
Perhaps a van.
Yes, a van with room in the back, something that would make Joa embarrassed with his jokes. Oh, or something like the Suburban Nate had rented. Raul could take Joa’s truck on the road.
Balta grinned when Joa poked him, the arm he extended all full of tubes. “Pay attention, Balta.”
“I am! I was thinking about things.”
“It is hard for him, Joa,” Raul teased. “He is an old man.”
He smacked Raul’s ass, since it was right there. “I can still best you.”
Raul chuckled softly, bared his teeth. “Perhaps, but not two out of three.”
Joa shook his head. “Hush, you two. I’m tired.”
“Do you want us to go?” Balta asked, frowning.
“No. Never. No fighting. Roosters, the both of you.”
“Aww, our baby chick is growing up.” Balta winked, but he was certain now that he would stay. Joa needed him more than the tour.
“I’m the same age as Raul, Balta.”
“Not in your soul,doce.” No, deep within there was an innocence, a goodness to Joaquim, something that he couldn’t have inside him, so he was drawn to it.
