Page 40 of Wilder Heart

But he couldn’t. There had been enough shocking revelations for one day already. Revealing that he had a thing for Wilder might send Lain right over the edge. Learning that Wilder was gay could be a step in the right direction, but he didn’t want to widen the chasm between them by laying too much on him at once. He could give it more time.

CHAPTER 16

WILDER

Wilder knew he should calm down. Blaze would be able to sense the tension in him. He could tell the horse was uneasy, barreling into a faster gallop than usual because of the pointless adrenaline burning throughWilder’sveins.

He’d told them all he was gay. He didn’t mean to. He was just so sick of Billy blaming him for the past. There was enough on his shoulders already. If Rebecca still wasn’t over whatever had happened between them in high school, that wasn’t his fault. He’d liked her well enough as a friend; he couldn’t help that he didn’t love her the way she wanted. And like Billy said, she was better off now, wasn’t she? Why should he still be blamed for the past if she’d moved on?

The others took a little longer to fall in behind him, but soon enough they had the herd on the move once again. Wilder stayed far ahead of the rest of the riders, keeping an eye on the faster heifers and bulls near the front. He didn’t want to talk to anyone or see anyone right now, not until he could have a moment tobreathe.

He should’ve been paying closer attention to the herd. All morning, they’d followed the hands’ direction, but animals—especially bulls—were unpredictable.

To Wilder’s right, one of them charged. Blaze saw it coming before he did, turning on a dime to dodge. The motion jerked Wilder to the side, and though his thighs tightened around the saddle to keep him in place, the world tilted anyway. A bolt of panic hit him—he thought Blaze was going down at first. But no, he realized as his weight continued to the right. It was the saddle. It had come loose, and now he was falling. Fallingtowardthe bull, who had pulled up alongside Blaze.

“OhGod,” he hissed dumbly, throwing himself forward in an attempt to catch himself on Blaze’s shoulders. All it did was startle Blaze.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, blared through his brain as the saddle kept going. It would fall, tangle up in Blaze’s legs, and make the horse go down, too.

He knew the fall was coming before it happened. Someone shouted his name as his shoulder brushed the bull’s thick flank. He saw pounding hooves waiting for him down below, and he only hoped the pain would be over fast.

But when Blaze fell, his body turned, pulling Wilder away as they went down. The bull kept going without them, driven by the instinct to stay with the herd. Wilder didn’t know which way was up. Pain crashed through his leg and arms, and above all, he hoped Blaze was okay.

There was grit in his mouth, and he knew he was hurt but not how bad. He swore he heard a gunshot, but that didn’t make sense. Weight lifted off his leg, and a shadow passed in front of the blinding sun.

Voices drew him out of his disorientation.

“Wilder?” Gentle, callused hands touched his face. “Wilder, can you hear me? Open your eyes, come on.”

“Should we call an ambulance?”

“They can’t come all the way out here. There are no roads to this field.”

“Call the ambulance.” He recognized that voice, like the burn of whiskey during a summer sunset. “Have them waiting at the house.”

“Nnng,” Wilder tried to say.

“Wilder? You with me?”

“Nnng,” he said again.

“Open your eyes.”

It took monumental effort, but soon he was blinking up at Cash, who was paler than Wilder had ever seen. He smiled in relief, but the furrow between his brows didn’t fade.

“There you are. How many fingers am I holding up?” He held up two.

Wilder lifted his middle finger. “How many am I?”

Cash laughed. “Quit messing around. I need to know how badly you’re hurt.”

“Two, it was two,” Wilder croaked. “Blaze, where is he? He okay?”

“He got up and took off running, but Lain caught him. He’s fine.”

“Did I hear a gunshot?”

“You did.” Cash winced. “That was me. The herd was running too close to you. I was afraid you’d get trampled, so I fired a shot into the air to move them away in a hurry. The others are dealing with the herd. How areyou?”

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