Chapter Seventeen
Jake
The storm picked up, blowing a massive gust of rain and wind straight into my face. I hunched my shoulders and tipped my hat further down. Brady was about a dozen feet in front of me and to my left, but I could barely make out Mack’s hindquarters, the rain was coming down so bad. Those cows were not making things easy. I knew they wanted to stay sheltered and we’d managed things poorly, but damn, this part of the storm had come up fast.
Mack’s ass dropped quick and I nearly ran into them, but Breezy took a small step to the right to avoid the collision. “What’s going on?” I yelled, but the wind whipped my words away.
Brady pointed across a small draw nestled beneath a line of trees. I could barely see anything through the driving rain, but then a bald face poked further out of the treeline.
Shit. It was a good thing we saw the calf, or he would have been left behind. Together, we swung toward the trees. I glanced at the herd, realizing that without pushing them, they’d stop and probably end up in the draw with us while we were trying to get the calf. And there’d go all the progress we’d made for the last hour. If I hadn’t known better, I would have left them all there and gone back for them in the morning, but we’d already pushed them this far, and I’d rather have them close to the house if the storm got worse. I knew Brady was thinking the same thing.
He tossed me Mack’s reins and dismounted. Both horses immediately swung their butts to the wind and dropped their noses. “Need help?” I called out.
Brady shook his head and marched toward the calf. I could barely make him out and I tugged my collar higher but it didn’t help much against the onslaught of rain and wind. Mack and Breezy both tensed and Mack’s head jerked upright. I stiffened and searched for Brady as a huge bolt of lightning struck one of the trees and Brady fell.
“Fuck! Brady!” I scrambled off Breezy, dropped her reins and raced toward the stand. “Brady!” My boots slipped on the slick ground but I managed to stay upright.
Brady was flat on his back, holding the calf who was mewing and scrambling to get away from him. When I looked down at Brady, it didn’t look like he was breathing. His eyes were closed and in the moonlight, I could make out the whiteness of his skin. He looked deader than shit. A huge limb was lying across his legs. I raced to his side, my heart pounding against my ribs. “Brady?” I yelled as I leaned down and brought my ear up to his nose, immediately feeling the air as he breathed out. “Christ! Thank God you’re alive!”
He groaned and I thanked the heavens inwardly that he it seemed he was coming to. “Get this fucking thing off me.”
I picked up the calf. It was scared and trembling, but I set it on its feet and it took off toward the herd which was crowding in on us. “You think you can walk if I get that branch off you?” I studied the tree limb and even though it wasn’t small by any stretch, I was fairly sure I could lift it off him.
“I’ll manage,” he grunted. “If my leg’s not broke.”
I stood and grabbed hold of the limb. “This might hurt.” The branch was a tangled-up mess of smaller branches and leaves. It wasn’t going to come off him easily, if I managed to get it off him at all. “Cover your face,” I insisted as I took a deep breath and heaved the thing upward.
Brady yelled out in pain, as I pushed against the limb harder until it shifted off him. When he was clear of it, I took a deep breath as I glanced down at him, wondering if maybe a piece of the wood had run him clear through. But I couldn’t see a goddamned thing. Which meant there was nothing I could do for him out here. I needed to get him back to the house so we could figure out how bad the damage really was.
“Help me up,” he ordered, his voice gruff but edged with pain.
I eased around beside him and crouched down so he could throw an arm around me. “Go slow.”
“I’m fine.”
The smallest movement made him grip me so hard, I nearly winced. Brady was an old bastard, but he was big and he was muscular, both characteristics contributing to the fact that he wasn’t easy to move. Once I got him up, he attempted to stand and seemed to handle that okay enough. As he tried to take a step, though, his leg wouldn’t hold any weight and he started to crumple until I caught him.
“Can you ride?” I asked.
“I can try.”
We hobbled to Mack’s side and Brady was already breathing heavily. He grabbed the horn and his knuckles were instantly white from the strain. “If I could get this foot in the stirrup, I might be able to toss the other one over.”
“I’ll help you.”
I helped him get his foot into the stirrup and with a deep breath and a grunt, he threw his other leg over the saddle and then slouched forward, apparently to catch his breath. He was on Mack, but pale and looked like he was about to puke.
“Mount up and let’s go,” he ordered.
I didn’t respond but did as he requested. We loped out, leaving the cows to crowd together in the worst possible shelter we could leave them in, but at least it was something. If I’d thought there was any chance of me getting them home by myself, I’d get Brady home and then push them out myself, but they were impossible to move in these conditions, even with two of us. So there was no way I could move them on my own.
Not that I was that concerned with the cows at the moment. I was mostly worried that Brady was going to pass the fuck out and drop clear off Mack, in which case I’d definitely be up shit creek because there was no way I could carry him back to the house.
***
I wasn’t sure how we even made it back to the barn but somehow, we managed. I opened the door as a gust of wind caught it and whipped it clean away from me. But I couldn’t say I was even aware of it. Instead, my eyes settled on the form of Summer, where she was mounted up on Jenny and looking like she was about to ride out and brave the storm.
“Summer?” I started, suddenly beyond grateful that I’d reached her when I had. Who knew what the hell would have happened to the headstrong woman if she’d attempted to brave this storm on her own.
She paused a few feet from me and dismounted as she quickly led Jenny back to her stall. Then she faced me with concern. I dropped my arms from the doors and took a step inside. “Take Breezy.”
Without hesitation, Summer grabbed the mare’s reins and pulled her into the barn while I leaned heavily on the doors. I needed to get them closed so the barn didn’t flood. Breezy’s footsteps were followed by Mack’s and Brady’s moaning from atop his big gelding.
Before I knew it, Summer was immediately beside me, helping me to pull the doors closed. Then she put her arm around my waist. “Come on, come sit on the bench.” I leaned heavily on her, feeling awful that I couldn’t support my own weight. I was so exhausted that I could have fallen asleep right there on the floor. The adrenaline rush from Brady’s accident had dissipated and now I was running on empty.
But I wasn’t the one who needed Summer’s assistance. I pushed her away and turned around to face Brady, who was still leaning against Mack’s head, looking like he’d passed out.
“Oh my God,” Summer whispered as soon as she saw him.
“Help me get down,” Brady moaned as I breathed a sigh of relief that he was still conscious.
Summer helped me grab hold of Brady’s waist as he swung his leg off and he practically squished her. I pulled against him to keep him from falling into her and knocking her over. He bit back a scream of pain as his foot hit the concrete, but I managed to take a few steps to the side to keep him upright.
I eased him to the bench as Summer hurried over to him.
“What the hell happened?” she demanded.
Brady closed his eyes and he rested against the wall. I leaned over and braced my hands on my thighs as I tried to catch my breath. “Lightning. A tree fell on him and I think his leg was broken.”
“We need to get him to the hospital,” Summer said as she looked over at me.
“I don’t need to go to the hospital,” Brady ground out. “We don’t even know what’s wrong with me yet.”
“Need to get the horses put away first so they don’t get out,” I answered with a brief nod as I started to do just that. But Summer put a hand on my arm. I paused and looked down at her and the concern on her face caught me off guard. It wasn’t a look I got from a lot of people. I swallowed hard.
“Let me put the horses away. I already fed the others. You just get Brady to the hospital.”
I nodded because I could use her help. Brady could use her help.
“I told you, you’re not taking me to the goddamn hospital!” Brady nearly fell over as he tried to stand. All the color drained out of his face and I rushed to catch him before he planted his face on the ground. “I’m fucking fine. Just help me inside.”
“You’re not fine, you stubborn bastard!” I yelled at him. “I’m pretty sure your damn leg is broken.”
Brady groaned as I jammed an arm under his shoulder and held him up. “But you ain’t sure, that’s the point.”
“Brady,” I started.
“Get me to the house!”
I ground my teeth together and we headed out into the storm so I could get him into Rue’s care. If he wouldn’t listen to me, maybe Rue could talk some damn sense into him.
As I dragged him up the slight hill toward the house, Rue rushed down the back steps and pulled Brady’s other arm across her shoulder. I told her what had happened and how Brady refused to go to the hospital. Of course, Rue berated him as soon as we got him inside and into a chair in the living room. I fell into the other one as I tried to catch my breath.
Rue palpated Brady’s leg and cataloged his moaning and bitching, probably to figure out if she was going to let him off the hook about going to the hospital. She pressed hard on his thigh and shook her head. “Was this where the tree hit you?”
“Woman!” Brady yelled and pressed deeper into the couch. I was worried, but trusted Rue’s judgment. She might as well have been a doctor, with all the injuries she’d treated over the years. The closest hospital wasn’t far, but Brady was a stubborn jackass and even if we’d had a hospital next door, the bastard wouldn’t have let me take him there.
He brushed Rue’s hands away. “I’m fine.”
“I wouldn’t say that, but I don’t think it’s broken,” she announced with a sigh of relief. “I do think you’ve bruised the hell out of that muscle and might have even torn something in your knee. Either way, you’re going to be laid up for a couple days—”
“Bullshit.”
Rue shrugged. “Fine. You can get back to me on that in the morning, but right now you need to take some pain medicine and get into bed so I can start icing it.”
Summer rushed in and hurried over to me. I could have reached out and touched her fingers, she was standing so close. “Is he okay?”
“He will be,” Rue said. “He’s too stubborn to die.”
Brady glared at her. “Lucky for you.”
She huffed and crossed her arms, but I could tell she was really worried about him. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she spent the night on the couch so she could keep an eye on him. In fact, that was probably exactly what she’d do.
“I got the horses all settled,” Summer told me under her breath.
I smiled down at her but the truth was that I was still worried about the cows. They were too far to make it back to the shelter and too far from the barn to make it home, but other than going back out, I didn’t have many options left.
“They’ll be fine,” Brady said, glaring at me like he’d heard my thoughts. “Don’t you start getting any wild, stupid ideas in that head of yours, boy.”
I shook my head and leaned forward, bracing my elbows on my knees. “I’m not so sure they’re fine. I feel like I should at least ride out and make sure they got tucked up somewhere. This rain doesn’t look like it’s going to give up anytime soon.”
“I know,” Brady answered with a deep sigh, followed by a wince. “I’ve been thinking about what to do, but there’s no way I can help you and you can’t go by yourself.”
“I could go.” Summer sat on the arm of the couch and faced us both eagerly.
Brady shook his head. “No way. I don’t even want him going back out in this rainstorm, so you’re sure as hell not going.”
I glanced at her over my shoulder. She crossed her arms and I couldn’t tell if she was insulted or relieved. I was relieved that Brady was the one to tell her no because I knew she wouldn’t take it well coming from me. I thought she was a good enough rider though...
“Will the cows be okay in the storm?” she asked.
Brady grunted. “More than fine. They were already sheltered when we found them, ready for the storm we hadn’t even known was coming. That was part of what screwed this whole thing up; they hadn’t wanted to leave, and dammit—” He slapped his good thigh and looked away. “I should have taken half a second to figure out why they kept circling back to the grove of trees. They knew this storm was coming and they knew it was going to be bad.” He pierced me with a stare that was almost apologetic since that was exactly what I’d suggested after we’d unsuccessfully spent an hour trying to push them while they scattered like water droplets around us anytime we got more than a hundred yards.
Rue crossed her arms over her chest. “You can wait until it passes. Those cows won’t come out without a struggle, especially with their calves.”
I sighed.
“We can go first thing in the morning.” Summer shot a pointed look at Brady, daring him to tell her that she wasn’t good enough to attempt it with me.
“Yes,” Rue said. “You can. And in the meantime, Jake, please help me get this curmudgeon into his room.”
It took the three of us, but we got Brady settled and then Rue surprised us all when she gave Summer instructions on what to do with me. “He may not have gotten hurt, but he’s hungry and he’s tired.”
“I can take care of myself,” I started.
Brady laughed. “See how fun it was when they’re fussing all over you?”
Rue pushed the two of us from the room. “Men are horrible patients,” she started as she shook her head and faced Summer. “Don’t let him tell you he’s fine. I don’t need him being a tough guy and falling over between here and the barn. Make him some dinner and see that he gets safely to his bed please.”
“O-kay.” Summer seemed as uncomfortable as I was.
Because I might have been tired, but I wasn’t that tired. And getting that woman anywhere near my bed was like throwing a shot of fuel onto an already raging fire...