Page 72 of The Lies We Told Ourselves

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.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

REECE

Why did time move so much slower in a hospital than anywhere else on the planet?

I’d come in the ambulance with Booker, Xander following behind us in his car. Hank stayed to help Cole with Bullet, who’d arrived just as we were getting ready to pull out.

I knew what was going to happen to Bullet, and I was glad I didn’t have to be there when it happened. It felt so wrong when he’d saved Booker that we couldn’t do more to save him, too.

The doctors had taken Booker through some double doors, and Xander and I had been pacing a waiting room ever since. Even Delaney and Trace turning up barely registered for me as I watched those doors, waiting for the news that Booker would be okay.

The paramedics had called it a miracle on the way here, shaking their heads as they did their own examination. I’d kept my eyes on the heart monitor for the entire ride, not quite ready to believe that everything would be okay.

I needed tests and results. I needed proof.

I couldn’t let myself relax until there was absolutely no doubt, and only then would I even let myself consider how we’d gotten into this situation to start with.

“I’m not waiting out here,” Xander finally said when he couldn’t take it any longer, striding for the doors with a purpose that only a medical professional could have in a setting like this.

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