Candy Hearts, Vol. 2

Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Treat was at the rail, fixing to go flying over, when someone caught him. “Cowboy, you can’t! You have to stay out of the way.”

“Jake!” He shouted like he’d been shouting for God knew how long. Probably less than a minute, really, but it felt like a fucking eternity.

Jake was just lying there, flat on his back, the bullfighter covering him. The safety man had the bull roped and was dragging him away. Treat could see sports medicine running in. It didn’t make him feel any better.

He wanted to see Jake get up. He wanted Jake to wake up and stand up and wave like he was supposed to.

That was how this was supposed to work.

A group of cowboys surrounded Jake while he lay there on the ground. The bullfighters started to pray as soon as the medics got out there.

Treat couldn’t see anything, so he focused on getting his stuff together. He might not be able to get out there on the dirt, but he could get down close to the ground so that he knew which hospital they were taking Jake to, and know that he could get to his truck in short order.

“He’s going to be all right.”

Treat wasn’t sure which cowboy talked to him. He didn’t care. “I know he will be. He doesn’t have a choice.”

That was his man. Goddammit, Treat had just gotten him back in his life. Fuck, they were going to have a come to Jesus meeting if anyone thought that they were going to take Jake away from him now.

Jake wasn’t getting up. The EMTs were coming with the backboard and the neck brace.

Jake wasn’t waking up.

“What hospital?” He hollered. “Doc, it’s me. Treat Halloran. What hospital are y’all going to?”

“University,” Doc hollered back.

“I’m right behind you.” Treat headed for his truck at a flat, dead run, praying every step.

Please God. I’m gonna take him home. I’m gonna make him mine. I’m going to give him everything he ever asked for. I’m going to make him happy. Let him wake up. Please let him wake up. I’ll take him however I can get him. I need it to be him. They won’t even let me…they won’t let me do anything if he’s not him. I need to be able to tell them he wants to go home with me. I’m in big trouble. I promise… I promise to be good to him and give him anything he wants. I bought him fucking miniature yaks. That’s love. That’s real love. Just let him wake up. Let him wake up and be him. In Jesus name, Amen.

He drove like the hounds of hell were on his heels, hoping to God he didn’t get pulled over. He raced to the hospital, and he heard the ambulance blaring as he pulled in and parked. He would bet that was Jake.

He parked and ran in, going straight to the little intake person, who had on this amazing eye makeup that would have fascinated him if he wasn’t so worried.

“I’m here because they just brought my cowboy in the ambulance.” His heart was thrumming in his chest, and he didn’t think he’d ever catch his breath again.

To her credit, she didn’t argue, she just nodded. “Have a seat. As soon as I know something, I’ll come get you. What’s your name?”

That was a question he could answer. “Treat Halloran.”

“Do you have his information?” she asked, and he nodded.

“I do.”

“Cool, as soon as I know anything, I’ll have the nurse come get you, and then you can help with the paperwork. You’re his?”

“Fiancé.” Whether or not Jake knew it, it was true. He’d already promised the good Lord. “He was riding at the rodeo, got thrown from a bull.”

“Okay, cool. A bull? Really?” She shook her head at his nod, her eyes rolling in between the winged black eyeliner and the huge fake eyelashes. It was like looking at a spider. “He knows that this is not good for him, right? Because, Lord, I don’t know that I’d let my guy do that.”

“I’m taking him home to the ranch. We’re gonna be fine.” Dammit, they were .

“Do y’all got a place close?” she asked.

“Colorado.” Texas didn’t love a gay cowboy.

“Whoa.” Her eyes went wide. “What on earth are you doing here?”

He shrugged. “I came to watch him ride. He’s fixing to retire.”

“Oh, well I guess that’s fair…” Someone in line cleared their throat, and she rolled her eyes again. Somewhere in the back of his head he could hear his momma saying, You roll those eyes at me, I’ll pick them up and roll them back . “Anyways, have a seat. Um, there’s vending machines down the hall, coffee’s in that little cubby thing over there. Or you can go down to the cafeteria, but I’d wait until you talk to the nurse before you do that.”

“Fair enough. Thanks, honey. I appreciate it.”

“Of course.” She called up the next person in line, and he moved to a chair away from most of the others, not wanting to hook up with all the germs of a hundred of his closest San Antonio friends.

God, he hated hospitals.

He hated waiting.

He hated that Jake was hurt and that he couldn’t fix it.

Wasn’t even as if Jake had done anything wrong. It wasn’t as if he could go in there, stomp and holler and go Goddammit, why didn’t you do X or Y or even Z? Jake was a cowboy. Accidents happened.

Hell, he’d seen some miserable ones happen at the ranch, at the roping pen, at auction. Anytime that someone was dealing with two-thousand-pound animals that had a will of their own, shit happened. He just didn’t want it to happen to his guy.

For fuck’s sake, he’d just gotten Jake back. The son of a bitch was the best damn Valentine’s present he was ever going to get, and he knew it. He’d driven down here through eighty percent of Texas to get Jake back, and he’d be damned if he didn’t do it.

Treat closed his eyes, forcing himself to just breathe. In and out. Nice and slow.

Jake was going to be fine. As soon as they got out of this hospital, Treat was going to take—Oh, he could call somebody from the ranch down.

His foreman answered on the first ring. “Hey, Boss. What’s up?”

“Jake’s hurt. We’re in the hospital.”

“Dammit.”

“Yeah.” God help him, he was so tied up inside. “Listen, do me a solid. Send an extra guy down to drive Jake’s truck to the ranch while you’re bringing the livestock home.”

“Not a problem. I’ve got them building a pen for the little critters. I’ll send them down in the morning. They’ll be there ready to load cattle Monday morning.”

He found himself nodding. “Good deal.”

“I’ll pray for your man, boss.”

“He needs it.”

He hung up, more settled now that he’d dealt with that. He’d get Jake home, and then? And then he could listen to Jake bitch about how it was snowing and how it was cold. He’d get to hear about how amazing the mountains were, and Jake could get snow tires on his truck. Chains. Jake could help those damn yaks get all settled.

Because everything was going to be okay, right? Jake was gonna be all right.

It didn’t take long before a nurse came out, called for him, and he popped up like a big jack-in-the-box, heading over. “How is he?”

“Still unconscious. He’s got a pretty messed up shoulder slash arm situation going on. As far as we can tell, the big thing at this point is he’s got to wake up. I’m going to need some information from you.”

“Absolutely.” Treat didn’t have a single problem doing that.

He did his thing—allergies, name. He didn’t know Jake’s social off of the top of his head, but he knew all the rest because he gave his address as Jake’s address and it worked.

Then finally, blessedly, she let him in to see Jake.

They had his shoulder and arm stabilized, he guessed. He was sure it was just waiting for the surgeon. That was how these sort of things worked.

But when he took Jake’s free hand and said, “Baby, it’s me. I’m here,” Jake squeezed his hand.

Treat’s heart damn near stopped. “Oh, good deal. So you are in there. You’re just hiding away. Figures. Well, come on. I need you. We got yaks; we have stuff to do. I need you to get your shit together and wake up. Now, they’re gonna have to do surgery on your shoulder. No doubt you mangled that up, but good. As soon as that’s all done, though, we’re going home.”

It was honestly the only logical thing to do.

Jake swallowed convulsively, frowned. “Water,” he croaked out.

“Nope. You know they’re fixin’ to surge on you. I can’t give you any water. I’ll ask the nurse, if you want, if I can get you ice chips.” But the rules were the rules. And the sooner he got his shoulder fixed, sooner Jake could come home.

Jake nodded slightly, his lips pressing together with a pained grimace. Shoulder shit always made the neck hurt. “Please. So dry.”

“All right, let me go check.” He stood and stuck his head out the door, catching a nurse’s eye. “He’s awake, he’s thirsty, and I told him he couldn’t have water.”

“Good job! We should have brought you in earlier. I’ll bring the doctor in ASAP, and we’ll get him some ice chips. He’s not really thirsty. He’s hooked up to an IV, but his mouth has got to be dry as hell.”

He headed back in and sat. “The doctor and the nurse are coming in. She’s going to bring ice chips.”

“Cool. What was my score?”

“What?” He didn’t follow.

Jake opened his eyes this time, and Treat loved to see it. “My score. Did I get the money for the round?”

Treat rolled his eyes so hard that they were like dice rattling in his head. “I tell you what, you are rodeo man to the core. I didn’t check. I was busy.”

“I want to make enough on a purse to at least not be broke dick when I come to you, man. I want to be enough. To be the cowboy you can be proud of.”

Treat opened his mouth to start arguing that Jake was everything he needed, but the doc rushed in and there was the nurse and they pushed him out, so he ended up just sort of standing there in the hallway, gaping like a landed fish.

That was what this was all was about?

All of this shit, all of the months of not seeing one another and aching for each other was because Jake had some kind of pride thing?

Jake was the finest son of a bitch he’d ever known, and he loved the bastard.

Well, now that he knew, he was gonna nip this in the bud. There was no way Jake was gonna be all woe is me. Life was too fucking short for that.

A tech came out, and he caught her before she could turn off. “Is he?—”

“They’re prepping him for surgery. They’ll take him up as soon as there’s a free surgery room.”

“But I can go in and see him, right?”

The tech nodded. “Totally. He’s a little dozy, because they sedated him, gave him something for the pain. He’s hurting pretty good now that he’s awake, though, and they know that his brain, you know, is solid. No swelling, no nausea, pupils are good. That’s amazing news.”

He nodded, gave her a real smile. Okay, he could handle all was well. He could handle it to the bone.

Right now, what he needed to do was go in and hold his lover’s hand until they took him up for surgery.