Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
Brynn
Inside Olivia is washing dishes while I finish wiping down and cleaning up the kitchen and dining room after dinner. I hear her gasp and look up to see her staring in horror out the window.
“Oh no, Popo!”
She stops what she’s doing and rushes out the door. I follow on instinct, my stomach in knots. Olivia doesn’t react to a lot, but the white tint to her face has me concerned.
My heart skips a beat as I break into a run behind her.
When I round the corner, I see my dad on the ground, clutching his arm. One of the horses is rearing up, its eyes wide and wild. Jack and Paulo are nearby, trying to calm the animal down.
“What happened?” I shout, skidding to a stop beside Dad.
“Snake,” Paulo says, pointing to the edge of the paddock. “It must’ve spooked him. Jumped the fence, and John tried to grab him. He freaked out.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Jack is saying on repeat as his hands are out and he’s trying to calm the horse. His voice is low and soothing; the horse is panting heavily, but it seems to be calming down.
“Paulo, get the horse back in its stall.”
“Yes, sir,” he says as he grabs the reins and leads the horse away.
I crouch beside Dad, my eyes scanning him for injuries. There’s a small gash on his forehead, and he’s cradling his arm like it hurts to move. “You okay?”
“I’m fine,” he grunts, but his face is pale, and there’s a tightness around his eyes that says otherwise.
“You sure, John?” Jack says as he drops down beside me. “You took a nasty kick there.”
“Nothing I ain’t had happen before. Usually able to calm him down, though.”
“Something had him spooked good.”
Jack moves over, giving his hand to my dad.
“We shouldn’t move him. We should call an ambulance and…” I ramble, panic clawing at my chest.
What if he’s got a concussion or whiplash from getting hit in the head? What if it’s worse than just the gash on his head?
“We’re not calling an ambulance,” Dad spits. “I’m fine.”
“Horse got him in the shoulder,” Jack adds.
“He’s got a gash on his head. If he got hit in the head—”
“I’m fine, stop fussing,” Dad says.
Jack helps Dad get off the ground, and I feel like my heart is in my throat. I’m close enough to catch him if he falls, but he seems to be steady.
“Stop fussing? You can’t be serious! You know how dangerous it is when you get hit by a horse. People have died from it.”
“If it’s my time, then it’s my time,” Dad says flippantly.
I gasp, and my mouth drops open right before anger takes over. “Dad! Why would you say that?”
I can see Olivia out of the corner of my eye, and she’s white as a ghost.
“Because it’s true.” He shrugs. “I’m fine, Larsa. Stop…”
Jack’s eyes flit to mine just as my stomach drops with the mistaken name. Tears prick at my eyes, and I try my best to fight them back.
“Dad,” I start slowly as I reach toward him.
He shrugs me off, and Jack takes a step closer to him.
“You sure you’re okay?” Jack asks him again. He looks Dad directly in the eyes, as if he’s surveying the damage.
“Yeah, just a little sore already.”
“I think he’s going to be fine. Just rattled his cage a bit,” Jack says.
“So you’re a doctor now?” I hiss.
“No, but I’ve been around enough injuries to know when one is serious or not.”
“I’m not putting him at risk because you think you know everything.”
I’m so angry as I look between Jack and my father.
I can feel how hot my face is right now, the tears threatening to escape as they always do when I’m mad.
My dad’s eyes are glassy, and he looks more confused than normal.
I’m not going to take a risk on this being worse and him dying in his sleep or something because this audacious bastard thinks he’s God.
He blows out a breath slowly as he glances back at my dad.
“Olivia,” Jack says over his shoulder. “Take your grandpa inside. Get the first aid kit and clean him up.”
“She’s twelve,” I snap as I take a step toward my dad.
He waves me off, muttering something about being fine, but he leans on Olivia as she guides him toward the house. I check my pockets and realize that I left my phone inside.
Shit.
I start to follow behind them and I feel Jack’s hand on my wrist, tugging me back.
“You need to calm down,” he says quickly.
I spin around on my heel. “Don’t tell me to calm down!”
“Brynn,” he growls.
The flash in his eyes immediately sets my entire body on fire, in a good way, not the cowering way you’d expect.
Umm, what’s that about? Why is my body betraying me right now?
The tension in my chest eases slightly, but my hands are still shaking. I clench my fists, trying to regain some of the fire I had earlier. I’m not going to let him run the show; he’s here to run the ranch, and I will not allow him to bully me, especially concerning my dad’s health.
“He’s okay,” he says, stepping closer. “It’s just a scratch.”
“It’s not just a scratch!” I hiss. “I’m calling 9-1-1, and I’m going to have a professional check him over.”
“Yeah, that’s a waste of money,” he chuckles drily. “They’ll get out here, and he’ll refuse to go with them. So, you’ll be wasting everyone’s time, too.”
“You have a lot of nerve,” I say just as my chest tightens worse. My breath is coming too fast, and I can feel the panic pulling me under fast.
“Hey,” Jack says softly, reaching out to touch my arm. “Look at me.”
I do, my eyes locking onto his.
“He’s fine, Brynn. I promise. Olivia’s got him, and he’ll be back out here grumbling about something before you know it,” he continues.
My shoulders start to shake, and before I know what I’m doing, tears are pouring down my cheeks. He instinctively pulls me into his arms. I stiffen for a moment, then melt against him, my hands clutching at his shirt.
What am I doing? Why am I crying in front of this man?
The panic takes over, but the way I feel in his arms is like…home. It feels like there’s an unspoken promise that nothing can harm me right now. The warmth of his body grounds me in the moment.
“It’s okay,” he murmurs, his hand running up and down my back. “It’s all okay.”
I take a shuddering breath, then another, my grip on him loosening slightly. I don’t want to look up into his eyes because I’m afraid of what I’ll see there.
I’m afraid he’ll kiss me again, and that…that can’t happen. I cannot kiss this jerk of a man ever again. Cowboys are off-limits, and I’m technically his boss.
“I just…I got scared,” I whisper. “Seeing him like that…”
“I know,” he says, pulling back just enough to look at me. “But he’s tough. You know that. It’ll take more than a spooked horse to keep him down.”
Don’t look into his eyes. Don’t do it! Keep your eyes down and pull away from him. Do it now!
I nod, a small, shaky laugh escaping my lips. “You’re right. He’s stubborn as hell.”
“Runs in the family,” he teases.
And he has the audacity to crack jokes to make me feel like I didn’t just break all kinds of rules that I’ve set for myself by letting this man see my emotions.
Normally, I’d feel embarrassed and even a little guilty for not having my emotions in check, but for whatever reason, I don’t feel that way now.
For a moment, we just stand there, the world around us fading into the background. I take a step back and remove myself from his arms. I immediately feel empty and cold, so I wrap my arms around myself.
“Thanks. I…I don’t know what I would do if…anything happened to him.”
“I get it,” he says quietly.
The sound of the screen door slamming breaks the silence, and we both step back further. Olivia is walking toward us, a determined look on her face. She smiles and giggles for a second. As she shakes her head, I can feel the anxiety slipping away.
“Grandpa’s fine,” she announces. “He’s already complaining about the taste of the antiseptic.”
“That sounds about right,” I say with a laugh.
I can feel the tightness in my chest breaking loose as I smile back at my daughter. Relief washes over me.
“Told you he’d be okay,” Jack says with a chuckle.
“Yeah. You did,” I reply with a roll of my eyes.
He flashes a cocky grin at me before he winks and walks off toward the barn. I suck in a quick breath at how that simple thing just made my entire body heat up.
He’s off-limits. He’s off-limits. He’s off-limits.
Jack Renfrew can be such an asshole and extremely off-limits for a variety of reasons, but why in the hell can’t my body get on track with my brain?