Page 20 of The Wounded Warrior

He dragged the mare down the culvert, putting himself in front of her, even though he was pretty sure she was too big to hide.

Three shots blasted out, and the mare took off, yanking him off his feet and sending him bouncing along theground for what felt like forever. His arm was gonna pop right out of the socket. He knew it.

Then the rope snapped and he slid to a stop, every bit of his breath gone.

“McConnell! McConnell? Are you hurt? Did they shoot you?”

“Is…is the mare okay?” Rory wasn’t sure he could move, and he was terrified of looking at his hand. What if it was gone?

“She’s fine. Still running, I think, but back in the fence line.” Matt dropped to the ground next to him. “Christ.”

“Uh-huh.” He was going to stop dealing with these brothers. Every time he did, he ended up on the floor or the ground or—“Is my hand still there?”

“Yeah.” Matt helped him sit up. “It’s pretty cut up and bruised, but not even mangled bad. You got off easy.”

“Good deal. You got fence down?”

“Yeah. Someone cut the shit out of it. Your girl called in the cavalry. I got fifteen guys out here.” Matt checked him over quickly, but not rough by any means.

“Cool. Cool. I was coming to apologize to your brother.”

“Well, we’ll get you checked out. The cops should be on the way. I didn’t get a plate on the truck, but damn. They were frickin’ shooting.” Matt helped him to his feet, and he looked down at his jeans.

Well, fuck.

There was a lot of fucking blood.

Like whoa.

“It works better if you just don’t look.” Matt might have a point.

“Okay. Can you? Or someone. I’m real glad to have my hand, but if my dick is gone, I won’t have anything to use my hand for.”

“No worries. Let’s get you to the ranch, man. We’ll clean you up and, uh, make sure you have all your parts.”

Okay. Okay, yeah. Except no. What if he was really hurt…?

Matt half carried him to the truck. “Thanks for coming out, Wacey. You got this?” Matt called over Rory’s head.

“We’re good, boss. We got it handled.”

“If the sheriff shows, send him to the house. This one needs cleaning up.”

“Yessir.”

“Your keys in the truck, McConnell?”

“I sure as shit hope so.” If not, they were gone.

“I do, too.” Matt chuckled, then lifted him up into the passenger seat.

Matt drove like a bat out of hell, and they blasted down the road, the asphalt burning.

“None of the horses got shot, right?” Rory leaned against the window, trying not to hurl.

“Don’t think so.” Matt grabbed his phone. “Brother? Brother, get the first aid kit. McConnell got shot at and dragged saving horses.”

All he could hear of Luke’s side of the conversation was the raised tone, but Rory had a feeling a ‘what the fuck’ might be involved.

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