Page 70 of The Lies We Told Ourselves

I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to be with the woman who had captivated me from the first moment I laid eyes on her. But no matter how hard I fought, the pain was too much, and my consciousness floated away, leaving me with nothing but my regrets in a sea of black.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

REECE

“NO!”

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 thetrunk 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.”

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