7. Tucker
TUCKER
“What time is it?” I ask my team.
One of them calls out, “Five-thirty.”
I grit my teeth. We’re running behind. I’m the last ride of the night, and as soon as I’m done, I’m going to go and pick up dinner and then head home to Ace and Dolly.
Thankfully, my team will take care of my horse for me. I sit astride Bullet and run my hand through his mane. “I know we haven’t done this in a while, but I thought it could be fun. What do you think, boy?”
The horse neighs. I haven’t participated in a barrel racing event in a long time, but when I got the call they were short a rider, I thought why not?
When the gun goes off, Bullet starts sprinting.
I grip him with my thighs, lie forward, and lean into the curves.
The first two barrels are a piece of cake, and from the roar of the crowd, I know my time is good.
It’s as we’re going around the third barrel that things go off the rail.
I’m leaning too close, and either Bullet or I trip up.
I remember a collective gasp from the arena… and then everything goes black.
When I come to, I’m surrounded by my team and emergency personnel that had been hired for the event.
Everyone is talking at once, and I’m trying to clear my vision to see who is saying what.
“He’s coming to.”
“He hit his head hard.”
“Pretty sure he cracked a rib.”
“Dude should stick to bull riding.”
I lean up, even though my head is spinning. “Fuck you. Where’s Bullet? Is he okay?”
Rick is crouched down beside me. “All right, take it slow, ol’ man. You don’t want to get up only to fall again. Put your arm around me.”
I do what he says, and he helps me to my feet. With every breath I take, my abdomen hurts, making me think that the assessment is correct. I might have a broken rib or two. Hopefully, they’re just bruised.
The doctor chimes in. “You really shouldn’t move until I’m able to assess you.”
I nod my head to the back. “Well, then follow me because I’m not being ‘assessed’ in front of a crowd.”
I force a smile to my face and wave to the crowd. Everyone cheers, and I try not to wince as I focus on putting one foot in front of the other and breathing.
“Bullet?” I ask again.
Rick is huffing, and I’m obviously leaning on him more than I thought. “He’s fine. I got the thumbs up from the vet. He’s good. You took the brunt of it all. Hit your head on the barrel.”
I use my free hand to wipe across my eyes. I guess that explains why everything is blurry. We get to behind the curtains, and I sit down in the closest chair. The doctor is in front of me immediately. He’s shining a light in my eyes, making me follow the path of his finger.
“Hospital,” he declares.
“Fuck that.” I grunt and try to stand up only to fall back into my chair.
The doctor glares at me. “You leave now without getting checked out, you’ll never ride in another circuit here again. You know the rules. You signed the contract. I say you need to go to the hospital, you go.”
I snarl my nose at him. “Fine. I’ll go, but I’m not getting into the back of any fuckin’ ambulance. Rick, give me your phone and go get the truck.”
“You want my phone?”
I open one eye and glare at him. He reaches into his pocket and hands me his phone. “My truck has the keys in it. Make sure someone is taking care of Bullet.”
As he walks away, I lift up the phone and start punching in numbers. The doctor is still hovering, so I stop and gesture to him. “Can you give me a minute?”
He nods. “Sure, but Tucker, I’ll know if you don’t go to the hospital.”
I just glare at him until he walks away. As soon as he’s gone, I finish typing in Dolly’s phone number.
She answers on the first ring tentatively. “Hello?”
I try to hide my pain. “Hey, Dolly…”
“Tuck, is that you? Oh my God, what’s wrong?”
I should have known she’d sense something was off. “I’m fine, honey. Just a bump to the head.”
“Oh my God, where are you? I’ll get Ace off the field and we’ll be right there.”
A warmth comes over me. Of course she’d come right to me if I was hurt. That’s who she is. “Honey, I need you to listen, okay? Rick is going to take me to the hospital, so I’m not going to be able to pick up dinner.”
“Dinner?” she screeches. “You think I’m worried about dinner? I need to know you’re okay, Tuck.”
I run a hand over my chest, right over my heart.
“I promise I’m okay. This is just part of the contract.
You get hurt, you get checked out. I won’t get to ride again until they get a clearance, so I’m just going to go get cleared and then I’ll be home.
Can you stay with Ace? Or if you’d rather take him to your house?—”
“Tucker Yates, I’m coming to where you are.”
I try to calm her. “Honey, you don’t know how much I appreciate that you want to be with me, but I promise I’m fine. I’m going to get checked out and then I’ll be home. That way Ace can finish his practice and you guys can eat.”
She blows out a breath. “Fine. After practice, I’ll pick up dinner, stop by my house and pick up an overnight bag, and then we’ll head out to the ranch.”
Even in the condition I’m in, my manhood hardens. “So you’ll stay the night? At the ranch?”
“Yes, is that okay?”
I’m nodding my head even though pain is shooting through it. “That’s more than okay. Look, honey, I gotta go. I’ll see you soon, okay?”
She sounds rushed, as if she wants to say something before she hangs up. “Yes, but if you need anything, anything at all, just call me, Tucker. I can get my mom to stay with Ace while I come there. I just need you to be okay.”
I’ve fallen hard for this girl, and I know it for sure now. There’s no turning back: One way or another, Dolly is going to be mine. “I promise. I’ll be fine.”
It’s two in the morning when I finally make it home. I had Rick drop me off at the hospital because I knew it was going to be a long wait and I wanted him to go and take care of Bullet for me, so I called my friend Jace to come and pick me up.
I should have known the moment I called him it was a mistake because he’s never going to let me live this down.
We’re almost to the ranch, but Jace still hasn’t let up. “What the hell were you thinking, man?”
I lean my head back on the seat with my eyes closed. “I was dumb to do the barrel racing event. It requires completely different skills than bull riding, and I hadn’t trained with Bullet for any of it. I knew better, but for charity, I couldn’t say no.”
I turn to look at Jace. “What are the chances of you not telling the guys about this?”
He starts to laugh. “I put your phone on silent at the hospital. You already made the group chat, Tuck.”
I grab my phone from the console and start to scroll. From the texts, the guys are all worried and were going to come to the hospital, but Jace told them I was fine. Stupid but fine.
I can’t even get mad about it. My actions were stupid.
Eyes tired, I stop scrolling. “Shit, I’m never going to live this down.”
Jace laughs again. “Nope, you’re not.” He clears his throat. “Ace know what happened?”
“Yep, he called me while I was at the hospital. He was worried, but he’s okay.”
Jace just grunts in response.
We pull into my long drive, and I’m looking at the house. When I see Dolly’s little car parked in front, my pulse starts to pick up.
I’ve been hurt many times. I get bandaged up and go on my way, but this was the first time that I wanted someone with me. And not just any someone: I wanted Dolly.
Something catches my eye, and I see Dolly coming out the front door and walking to the bottom step of the porch. She has on shorts and a T-shirt, and her feet are bare. Fuck, what I wouldn’t give to come home to her every day.
As we get closer, Jace starts to talk. “You ever going to get your head out of your ass?”
I don’t even take my eyes off Dolly. “What are you talking about?”
He points toward the house. “Her. She obviously loves you, and I know it’s complicated and messy, but trust me, a love like that is worth it.”
I know what he’s saying is true, but I still have to bust his balls. “I swear you’ve gotten all soft since you got with Delaney.”
He just chuckles, not taking any offense at all.
When he parks, we get out of the truck, and I walk straight up to Dolly. I wrap my arms around her shoulders, and she instantly buries herself into me. I’m not sure who is clinging to who, but neither of us seems to want to let go.
Her voice is a muffle. “What did the doctor say?”
When I don’t answer right away, she pulls back enough to look up at me. “Tucker Yates, what did the doctor say?”
“My ribs are bruised, not broken.”
Jace clears his throat and gives me a look. “AND he has a concussion. Someone needs to stay with him and wake him up every hour. No driving for two weeks, until he’s been rechecked.”
“I’m driving,” I state with a shrug of my shoulders.
Dolly pulls from my arms and points a finger at me. “No, you’re not. Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
She turns on her heel and marches up the steps and back inside the house, leaving Jace and me to follow.
As soon as we’re inside the lighted room, Dolly’s mouth drops looking at me. I’m covered in sweat, dirt, sawdust, and dried blood. I know I’m a mess.
She looks so worried. I open my arms again, and she steps against me, holding me tightly. I ignore the pain in my ribs and tell Jace, “Thanks again for picking me up at the hospital. I know you hate leaving Delaney and the kids at night.”
Jace just crosses his arms over his chest. “You don’t have to thank me.” He blows out a breath, then looks at Dolly and back to me. “You know you’re going to get yourself killed if you keep on like this. You're all Ace has, Tuck.”
Dolly gasps next to me. “What happened?”
When I don’t say anything, Jace starts to explain. “Tucker here decided after riding a bull, he would try his hand at barrel racing. He and Bullet got tripped up somehow, and Tuck ended up with his head hitting the last barrel.” He looks straight at me. “You could have died tonight.”
I open my mouth and then close it before I finally mutter, “I know.”
Jace points at me. “You want me to stick around? I can let Delaney know I’ll be home in the morning.”
Dolly looks up at me as if she’s asking if it’s all right. “I can stay with you, and I’ll make sure you wake up every hour.”
I nod. “We’re good, brother. Thanks again for coming to get me.”
We walk Jace to the front door, and after waving bye to him, Dolly looks up at me. “Bruised ribs and a concussion? Anything else?”
I pull a bottle of pills from my pocket. “Pain pills, but I won’t be taking any.”
She takes the bottle from me. “I’ll lock them up in the medicine chest just in case.” She looks me up and down. “Okay, first things first, I’m going to help you shower.”
And just like that, I’m hard.