BOAB CH46
The large group of riders, dogs and pack horses made their way to the bonfire pit a few hours before dusk settled in and they all got right to work, setting up the tents, the line for the horses, cordoning off the outhouse area's and everything that needed to be done before the serious business of eating and drinking, carousing and partying could begin. Tony and his friends started building the base of the bon fire, along with the joking and cursing it brought back memories of the times that Booth had gone to bonfires as a high school student. They were a lot of fun, invariably someone would get to close to fire and end up with scorched shoes, or burned coat tails, there was bound to be a misunderstanding or two between friends and someone was going to make the hook up mistake and regret it terribly the next day. All in all, a great time. While he helped, he kept glancing over at Brennan and how she was interacting with the rest of them. The girls had all set up make shift tables and we're pulling out the food, getting things ready to go on the open fire spit and be dished out. He loved how she laughed so freely, and how included she was. His heart swelled with pride thinking that was his girl. He turned back to the wood and saw that Curtis and Jayson were stopped, watching him watch her. Rolling his eyes without saying anything they all laughed and got back to work.
Roxie was laughing at Carrie who was trying not to explode over one of the overzealous girlfriends trying to help with the food. She'd offered two or three times to help her stir the large mixture of potato salad and was quite sure she could do it keeping it in the bowl, but the girl declined. "Carrie, could you help me a second?" Roxie asked just as the vein at her temple began to throb. "Sure Rox, what do you need?"
Roxie handed her a box of Oreo's "Will you open this for me?" The look on Carrie's face was priceless and Danni and Stefanie both broke into great peals of laughter, "That's not cool Roxie, not cool at all."
"I'm sorry, I thought it would be funny, and it would get your mind off of trying to help that girl, let her struggle, at least she's trying." Stefanie jumped in and agreed, "Yeah, Carrie this is supposed to be fun remember?" Chuck and Doug and Dirk came to the table looking at the spread and wanting the steaks and burgers for the grill. "Men are here, we need meat for fire," Dirk said and winked at the girl at the end of the table. It was a last minute thing inviting her, but she seemed to be having a good time, at least his sister hadn't glued her to anything yet. "Where's Jesse?" Danni asked absentmindedly grabbing the butcher packages from one of the coolers. Standing up she turned and blew her bangs out of her face, and handed them over to Dirk, "He'll be a little late," Chuck said grabbing some chips out of a bowl, "He had something to do this morning."
"Oh okay," Danni responded, turning now to look for the rest of the burgers, dismissed Chuck turned and left and Dirk remarked, "Wow Dan, looks like you may be over the Chuckmeister after all, there was hardly any drool or love in that interaction at all. Good on ya girl!" Rolling her eyes and glaring at him she said, "Is the flavor of the week you brought old enough to stay out past curfew D? Does her mommy know she's playing with the big kids tonight?" Her overly sweet response causing Lilah and Catherine to laugh with delight.
Dirk had the good sense to blush before he said, "She's old enough Danni." Grabbing the rest of the meat he and Doug walked back over to the BBQ pit and began unwrapping and getting things going on the grill. Almost as one a universal switch came on and everyone started pulling up saddles, coolers pop up chairs and even rolling over boulders to sit on around the BBQ area, beer and drinks were brought out and the party started rolling. A couple of guys got their guitars out and were singing popular songs with a few people from the crowd joining in as the sun began to go down below the mountain tops. Stars started popping out and although not full dark yet, it was turning out to be a beautiful night.
Just as the sun went behind the tallest peak, Jesse stopped, allowing Clay to put his jacket back on and they both used a convenient tree. "Not much further now buddy, then you can get some real chow and hang out with the cowboys."
"Thanks for bringing me Jesse; I didn't know it was so far up here, I don't think I would have made it alone."
"No problem kid, no problem at all. I just hope your aunt doesn't skin us both." He ruffled Clay's hair and then tightening the cinch on his own saddle he mounted back up. Clay climbed back into the saddle and thought if he never rode this far again it would be too soon. Leo trotted along behind Scoot as they continued up the hill.
Once the cowboy cooks had the meat and beans done, the ladies lined up assembly line style and dished out salads and corn bread, chips and pickles to everyone and then once fed, they all sat back down, now facing the bonfire instead of the BBQ pit, more beer flowed and the flasks had begun to appear, along with the after dinner smokes. Booth looked up sharply as the sweet burning smell of marijuana leaves drifted through the wood smoke, looking around he wasn't able to see who it was, but did find it amusing that Curtis looked up sharply too. Catching his eye he shrugged and they both laughed. Jayson and Jake both whistled to get everyone's attention and Jake held up his beer, "To the prodigal son, welcome home and to everyone else a safe show, safe ride and let's keep the overall here in the town!" Everyone raised their cans, bottles and flasks to the toast and Jayson nodded back, tipping his can towards his friends. Throwing the lit box of matches on the soaked wood, everyone cheered and whistled or hollered when the flames leapt straight up into the now inky black sky. Almost like the starting gun being shot off, the party started. The guitarists starting playing dancing songs and most of the people began to dance and sing around the big fire. Booth stared into the flames and took a drink of his beer. Across the fire from him, Roxie was sitting between Carrie and Danni and seemed deep in discussion. Watching the shadows of the flames dancing on her face he was mesmerized by her beauty, he watched the light reflect in her eyes and his mind was drawn back to the last night they'd been together, her body in his hands. He sat back and adjusted himself and tried hard to will himself back to a more comfortable state.
"Just go talk to him Roxie; he's not going to bite you." Carrie said, throwing back a shot of tequila.
"What are you talking about?" Roxie asked.
"Tony, you've been mooning over him for the last half hour, you keep looking at him though you are pretending you aren't. What happened between you two anyway?"
"Yeah, a couple of days ago you two weren't gonna surface from the bed, now, you're acting like high school kids." Danni joined in.
"Nothing happened." Roxie started to say when Carrie interrupted, "Oh I'm sorry, see I thought you understand this is a no bullshit zone. So can the 'I'm fine' line and let us have the dirt sister!" She slugged back another shot and passed the bottle to Stefanie.
Roxie laughed and swallowing her own drink said, "He and I admittedly have some issues to resolve, I mean he's hot and smart and funny, but I don't know if I'm ready for anything. I mean, he's just here for the rodeo right? I can't get serious about someone that isn't even going to stick around."
"Hot?" Stefanie said, "He's beyond hot Roxie, he's likeā¦molten. Who cares if he's even here tomorrow girl? I say buy a ticket on that ride!" The three of them started laughing and then Roxie joined in, picturing the ride she and Tony had recently embarked on. They continued to chat about various features of the guys and when the second bottle of tequila was broke out, Roxie excused herself, "I have to pee." She said bluntly and staggered over to where they had set up tarps on clothesline to give people privacy. She giggled to herself thinking that she'd never announced a bodily function like that before. When she was done and was coming out from behind the tarp, she was looking down, buckling her belt and didn't see the immovable object in front of her. "Ooof," she said looking up. Jesse stood there and grabbed her arms, "Sorry Miss Roxie, I didn't know you'd be coming out. You okay there?" She grinned up at him and said, "Yes Jesse, I'm fine thanks."
Jesse turned to watch her make her way back to the bonfire and tied up Spider, unloading his saddle he ambled over to where Chuck and Tug were standing, "Hey boys." He said as he grabbed a beer from the cooler at their feet. "Jesus man, what took you so long?" Tug said clearly worried.
"Don't worry nervous Nell, I had a bit of a problem to take care of after the guys showed up, but it's all good now. Did I miss anything?"
Chuck looked over the rest of them partying and said contemptuously, "Nah, same old shit every year all these posers telling stories about who the better rider is, the ugly girls trying to get laid and everyone getting drunk." Jesse grinned and patted his friend on the shoulder, "Well, let's see what I can do to get in the middle of an ugly girl sandwich." He chugged the beer and grabbed another, heading towards the circle.
Saying hello and shaking hands of the cowboys he knew, tipping his hat at the ladies, Jesse made his way to stand next to Jayson, who had maneuvered himself next to Stefanie and the rest of the girls. "Hey bro, having' fun?" Jesse said, tipping his beer at his brother.
"Yeah J J Jesse, y y you j j just get h h here?" He knew that talking to his brother made Jesse irritated, so he tried to communicate with him as little as possible, they were never as close as the rest of their friends thought they were. Although a good calf roping team when younger, they had both moved onto single ride events as they got older. Jesse hated talking to his brother, he just wanted to smack the back of his head like he would a CD that skipped or something, but over the years he'd gotten that urge under control and now when he started to stutter he'd just nod and smile. The two of them chatted a bit and Stefanie moved over to talk to Jake, just as Tony decided he was going to try and talk to Roxie. She had come back from the makeshift bathrooms and he'd been watching her put a serious dent in the bottle of tequila the girls were passing, and if he had any hope of talking to her when she was somewhat coherent it needed to be now or never.
"Hey Roxie, you got a second?" He asked kneeling behind her and the rest of the girls.
Carrie saved her the chance to respond, "Oh yeah Tony, she's got lots of them, dontcha girl? Go on, talk to the pretty cowboy." She took the bottle from Roxie and pushed her slightly towards him, reaching out he caught her in his arms and she looked up and giggled, "Sure Tony, I got lots of seconds." He grinned and helped her up, making their way out of the light from the circle, but not leaving the warmth it put off. Curtis took this as his cue to go and break up the dynamic duo, the guitarists had moved into some slower songs and he wanted to dance with Danni. "Excuse me ladies," he bent down and bowed, "Danni would you like to dance?" She looked up mid swallow and coughed, the tequila that stayed in her mouth burned going down her throat and the rest sprayed out towards the fire. "Sure, yeah, uh okay." She said wiping her chin as Carrie laughed so hard she slid off the stump she'd been sitting on, wiping her eyes, she watched the tall cowboy escort her best friend over to where some other couples had been dancing. "Oh well Carrie, you'll meet someone someday too I'm sure." A smooth voice said from above her, looking up she saw that it was Jesse. "Thanks Jesse, it's always nice to get relationship advice from someone that's never had one lasting longer than a condom." Setting the stump back up she turned her back on him and hoped he'd take the hint. Laughing he tipped his beer towards her and made his way towards a clump of girls that looked way too young to be there and had no business with a man like him anyway.
"Pretty cowboy huh?" Tony said his arm around Roxie's waist as they settled down on the ground. "Yeah," she giggled, "they think you're hot." Booth loved her when she was like this, she wouldn't try to hide behind science and would actually say what she felt. "They think I'm hot? What about you? Do you think I'm hot?"
"I think your temperature is no more or no less than any other healthy male specimen Booth, I don't see the relevance in terms of heat."
"Guess you're not as drunk as I thought," he mumbled under his breath, causing her to giggle, "I wouldn't say I'm drunk, but I could be." She grinned and leaned against him. He leaned back and raised his arm from her waist to stroke the escaped tendrils of hair against her neck. "Bones, I'm sorry I called you a prostitute." He started when she interrupted him, "You didn't call me a prostitute Booth, you compared me to one and strictly speaking it was a good as analogy as any."
"Okay, I'm sorry I compared you to a prostitute and this is going to be hard enough as it is, so if you could just let me get through it okay?"
"Okay, yes sir Sergeant Major Booth," she said with exaggerated playfulness and a sharp salute. Booth took her hand in his and kissed the back of it and said, "Bones I love you, not only as my partner at work, not only as my best friend, but I'm in love with you. I want to be your partner at home, in bed and in your life." He plunged ahead as she opened her mouth to speak, "Let me finish Bones, I know that having sex on this assignment wasn't the best of ideas, but you were right, here is the place where we could be together physically except that somewhere along the line I stopped being Tony but you never stopped being Roxie. Bones, I can't be two people, I'm just me, I may play the part of an undercover cowboy or boxer or clown or whatever, but even then I'm still me, Seeley Joseph Booth and I want you to love me. Not Tony, me. I think I know what you are afraid of, and I don't know how to make you understand that I'm not your dad or your brother; I'm not going to go somewhere. I'm not using our relationship to get further ahead in my career like other men you've dated. I want you Bones, all of you, the tough brainy smurf, the sexy and smoldering hot woman I've come to know. But I'm not going to fight anymore; I don't have it in me anymore. I'm not making any ultimatums you do what you feel you can or is right however you have to justify it Bones, all I can say is I love you." She felt a tear slide across her lower lash at the picture his words were painting and she took his hand in hers, grasping it tightly.
She started to speak when there was a large crash from behind them where the horses were tethered, all the dogs began to bark at once, and Tony jumped up to look into the dark putting Bones behind him. Men pulled rifles and pistols out and joined where Booth was on the outer rim of the fires' circle. The women were holding the dogs back and a couple of guys had circled around to see if they could get close to the horses to try and prevent them from bolting. Snorting and pawing the ground, most of them were tossing their heads and calling. None more vocally than Wrath, it was as if the hounds of hell were nipping at his heels, he was rearing back, and trying desperately to break free of the secure tether line. "Tony, please let me check on Wrath," Roxie called across the fire, the only other sound that of the dogs still barking and the low murmur from the men and women as they tried to figure out what had spooked the horses.
"Roxie stay where you are. Carrie don't let her out of your sight." Tony said over his shoulder suddenly tense as he saw a creature emerge from the edge of the trees. Easily three feet tall, it lurched towards them and the men on the outer rim all drew a bead on it when suddenly there was a shout across the fire, "Leo?"
