Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
REECE
“ N O!”
I went to sprint for Booker but found a pair of arms banded around my chest, holding me in place.
Running into the herd would be the stupidest thing I’d ever done, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t.
I thrashed and screeched, fighting with everything I had. All I knew was that I needed to get to Booker. I needed to help him.
If we could get there soon enough, if I could figure out how to…
But reality reminded me of my limitations, and I sagged in defeat.
My eyes never left the spot where Booker and his horse had gone down.
“He’s fine. He’s going to be fine,” I muttered, shaking my head in denial of the thought that wouldn’t leave me alone. “He doesn’t get to go out like this.”
The arms that were banded around me gently squeezed and then released me.
“What the hell just happened?” a gruff voice asked. “Booker knows better than to ride in among the herd.”
When I turned around, I saw the ranch hand who had brought the little mare to the ranch already running for the gate where Xander was watching anxiously, trying to catch sight of his brother.
“He was driving the herd in, but the gate was open, and we were standing in the yard. They would have…He was trying to save us.” Xander’s head was shaking in denial, but he was already climbing the gate as Hank’s hand banded around his bicep.
“You can’t go in yet.” He looked distraught at even saying it. “You need to wait for the herd to settle. Whipping them up and getting them more agitated will just have them stampeding back to the fields and right back over him again.”
The tears were streaming down my face now. He was near the back. I’d seen him pulling back when he saw Xander had the gate. But now that we were waiting, the restless agitation of having to stand here and not help started itching at my mind. I couldn’t recall just how close to the back of the herd he’d been.
“He was pulling back,” Xander said, staying on the gate, ready to jump over as soon as he could. “He was moving to the back.”
“I saw him go down,” Hank said grimly. “You’re the doctor, right?”
Xander nodded, and then slowly all the emotion leached from his face. A mask of professionalism slid over his face, and I could see him working through the steps in his mind about how he was going to save his brother.
“Hank, call an ambulance. I know Booker has a medical kit. I’m going to need it all. He might not have time to wait for the ambulance. We need to give him what medical attention we can as quickly as possible.” He paused as he fished in his pocket, and then he tossed me some keys. “Reece, there’s a first aid kit in the trunk of my car. Get it and the blanket out. He’ll be going into shock, and we need to keep him warm.”
I snatched the keys out of the air and was running before he’d even finished speaking.
“The emergency kit is in the barn,” I heard Hank say. “Don’t you dare go over that gate until I get back.”
The sound of his running had me assuming that Xander had agreed, but I doubted he was telling the truth. There was no way I’d be able to stand there waiting if Booker even remotely came back into view.
I fumbled with the key fob in my hands as I skidded on the gravel next to Xander’s car. The damn fancy thing was all buttons, and I had no idea what any of them did, so I just pressed them frantically until the trunk popped open.
I grabbed the red first aid kit and bundled the blanket under one arm. I was just about to run back to Xander when I saw the water bottles and grabbed two, thinking we might need them.
It took me less than two minutes, but when I turned back to the horse yard, Xander was nowhere in sight, and I knew he was already making his way to his brother.
Some horses had stopped to eat the feed Booker had placed around the yard, but others were still prancing in the middle, their eyes wide in fear as they seemed unable to settle.
I knew little about horses, but even I could tell the situation was still balanced on a knife’s edge.
“Goddamned it,” Hank swore as he emerged from the barn with an even bigger kit than the one I was carrying. “I told him to wait.”
I got to the gate moments before he did. I glanced over my shoulder at Hank and saw the annoyance cross his features as he realized what I was about to do.
“Don’t you dare,” Hank warned me. But I was already climbing the iron bars of the gate before he could utter the words. “Wait for me, at least.”
I paused at the top of the gate, and it took every single ounce of willpower that I possessed.
There were still a few scared horses in the yard, even if more of them had been lured across to the food. I knew I wouldn’t stand a chance if they turned and ran, and I didn’t have enough experience to know what to do if I ended up in a situation that could mean trying to save myself as well.
The last thing we needed was more people injured. It would take the precious few resources we had away from Booker, and I wouldn’t risk him any more than he’d already risked himself.
Idiot.
He knew better than that. I knew he did. He should have trusted Xander and me to see what was happening and get ourselves out of there in time. When was Booker going to learn that the entire world wasn’t waiting for him to save it?
The problem with sitting at the top of the gate waiting for Hank was that it gave me a completely uninterrupted view of Xander as he ran around the horse that was lying on the ground. It lifted its head slightly, giving a soft whinny before it dropped back to the ground.
“Come on, sweetheart,” Hank murmured as he reached my side. “Stay at my side and keep me between you and the horses. Booker will have my ass if you get hurt.”
I nodded numbly as I watched Xander drop to his knees behind the horse. Part of me was too afraid to move, but then Xander looked up, his gaze locked with mine, and he nodded.
The relief surging through my heart spurred me into motion as I jumped from the gate and jogged across the yard at Hank’s side.
“Easy, Bullet,” Hank murmured as we approached the injured horse. “Easy, boy.”
At first, I was confused about what he was doing, but then my eyes finally found Booker, and I saw how he was lying on the ground between the horse’s legs. I saw the danger he could be in if Bullet tried to get up.
“He’s unconscious, but he’s breathing. I can’t assess him properly like this. Hank, I need you to help me pull him clear of the horse.” Xander sounded so calm as he spoke that the whole situation didn’t seem real.
“Don’t move him,” I suddenly snapped out, looking at Xander in alarm. “We’re not supposed to move him, right?”
My hands stretched out like I was going to make a grab for one of them, but I had no idea what to do in this situation. I had no idea how to help.
“We need to get him clear of the horse, Reece,” Xander said calmly. “He’s at less risk if we move him carefully than if he stays where he is.”
I nodded numbly as Hank gently patted my shoulder before moving to Xander’s side. They each put a hand under one of Booker’s shoulders and then did their best to steady his head as they counted to three.
I held my breath as they quickly moved Booker, my gaze moving across every part of him trying to see where he was hurt.
He was so still when they gently rolled him onto his back, and the tears broke free of my eyes when I saw the blood staining his face.
This couldn’t be happening. It didn’t feel real. What had seemed like the perfect day had turned into a nightmare.
Xander was already checking him over, his practiced hands examining his brother as Hank opened up both medical kits within reach. He checked Booker’s pulse, his pupils, his neck and then moved down his body, continuing his assessment.
Xander moved back to Booker’s head, parting his hair to see where the bleeding was coming from as he pulled a dressing from the bag and had Hank hold it in place.
“He’s got a broken right arm, a nasty cut on his head, and a whole hell of a lot of bruises. I need to get him an MRI to be sure, but?—”
“Will you stop breathing in my face,” Booker mumbled.
A sob of relief burst out of me just at the sound of his voice.
“I swear to god if you try to give me mouth-to-mouth, I’m kicking your ass.” Then Booker groaned in pain.
Xander dropped back onto his ass in surprise as Hank laughed, shaking his head.
“You ain’t kicking anyone’s ass for a while, boss. I think I’m holding your brain in my hand.”
“Please! You haven’t got hands big enough.”
Booker tried to sit up, and Xander came back to his senses, pushing on his brother’s shoulders to keep him on the ground.
“Did you not hear what I said?” he chastised.
“No, I was too busy trying not to smell your breath.”
“Ass. You just had a herd of horses stampede over you, and you think now is the time to be difficult. I always knew you were like this because you got kicked in the head by a horse as a kid.”
Booker tried to push Xander to the side and only then seemed to realize that he did, in fact, have a broken arm and swore at the pain it no doubt caused.
“Where’s Reece?”
“I’m here.” I cautiously moved to Booker’s side, not quite believing that it was possible for him to be moving around already. I reached out to touch him but then was afraid I’d just hurt him more.
When I went to pull back, Booker’s other hand grabbed mine.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
A hysterical laugh bubbled out of me, and I shook my head as the tears continued to pour down my cheeks. “Am I okay? Booker, you could have died!”
He hissed out a breath as Xander tore open his sleeve and checked over his broken arm.
“I’m a little beat up, I’ll give you that. But Bullet took the worst, and his body sheltered me. It would be a lot worse than this if he hadn’t gone down with me.”
Booker’s eyes found Hank, and he knew what he was asking him as he got up and moved to Bullet’s side. The horse hadn’t made a sound since we’d been at Booker’s side, and I didn’t need Hank to say aloud what we all already knew to be true.
“I’ll call Cole,” Hank said grimly.
I listened to his quiet, murmuring words of comfort to the horse as Xander finished checking over Booker.
“It shouldn’t be possible, but I think you’re going to be fine. When the ambulance gets here, you’re getting in with no argument and having an MRI,” Xander told him.
I saw Booker open his mouth to protest and quickly added, “Please, Booker.”
When he turned to look at me in response, Booker’s eyes seemed to take in my expression, and he finally nodded once, wincing as he did.
We hadn’t all been lucky today, and poor Bullet was going to pay the price for what had happened here. But as we waited for the ambulance to arrive, I wondered just how much was down to luck.
Because I’d watched Booker close that gate after he laid out the feed. I’d leaned against it, daydreaming as I watched him climb back into Bullet’s saddle, and I had no idea how it could have possibly been opened by the time he came back.