Page 93 of Hung Up
Rylie’s eyes are the size of saucers, but it’s Kai who asks, “Who is Savannah?”
“Well, Kai, since you asked,” she starts, ushering us into the media room. “Take a seat and get comfortable as I tell you all about the Savannah saga.”
Jesse reaches for my hand and pulls me back into the doorway. I can’t decipher the look he’s giving me, can’t quite read what he’s thinking. His eyes jump back and forth between my own like he’s trying to read me, too. Eventually, he presses a quick kiss to my lips, wraps an arm around my shoulder, and drags me into the room, falling onto the couch with me in his lapas we listen to a very theatrical and excited Rylie tell my friends all about my father’s soon-to-be wife.
36JESSE
FORT WORTH
the hard truth
Despite the smallkernel of anxiety that has stuck with me, knowing Adam and Faith’s father are here and could reappear at any moment or corner her when I’m not around, I end up with a perfect score today, which pushes me ahead of Kai and into first place. However, considering he rides after me, I can’t enjoy it for too long.
Faith and I are standing off to the side of the chute, our boots on one of the rails, so our arms are resting over the top to watch him. She looks excited yet nervous, the same expression she always seems to wear when any of the six of us ride. The arena is packed tonight, day two bringing in more fans than day one. But the energy is electric, the cheering deafening. It only seems to fuel our drive, urging us to excel at what we do.
Kai slips onto the bull’s back, seeming a little caught off guard as the bull bucks the second he’s seated. He’s jerking the rope forcefully before he has to grab onto the door of the chute to readjust himself. He reaches for the rope again and pulls it tighter, and with all the moving that the bull is doing, I can’t geta good look at Kai’s face. Glancing over to my right, I see Faith has gone a little pale, which I’ve never seen before, and a knot forms in my gut.
Something doesn’t feel right.
He nods and the chute door flies open, this bull bucking more wildly than it ever has before. Instead of spinning in circles and keeping close to the gate like normal, it’s running into the center of the ring and bucking, making noises I’ve never heard a bull make while being ridden before.
“What the hell are you doing?” I hear someone yell, and I turn to see Dean sprinting toward the guys in the chute. “Bull thirty-six was supposed to be removed from the lineup. He wasn’t cleared to compete.”
“I thought you said bull forty-six.”
My gaze snaps back toward the arena, and everything seems to happen in slow motion.
The bull spins close to the edge on the opposite side of us, sending Kai flying off its back just as the buzzer sounds, his head slamming against one of the bars. Faith gasps as she climbs up the metal rails just as the bull bucks and twists, his hooves coming down on Kai’s leg.
Dean bursts into the arena with three of the rodeo clowns, and a second later, I see Faith leaping over the top and landing in the dirt, sprinting toward him. I’m behind her a moment later, the tour doctor and the EMTs rushing for him as the crowd begins to murmur.
Faith is on her knees in the dirt next to Kai, her hands hovering over him in obvious fear of hurting him. His breath is coming out ragged and shallow, which isn’t good. Tears are slipping down the sides of his head, his face twisted in pure agony. As my eyes scan him from head to toe, it’s then that I see the blood leaking through his jeans, a bone poking through the material.
The bull shattered his leg from the knee down.
“Don’t move,” Faith tells him, her voice shaky as tears slip down her cheeks. “They’re going to take care of you. Just stay still.”
The tour doctor and one of the EMTs drop to their knees on the other side of him, the second guy standing off to the side with a stretcher and neck brace. The doctor leans forward and starts to assess the damage when Kai turns his head to look up at Faith.
“Call my mom,” he forces out, his voice weak and hard to hear. “Call my mom.”
“I will.” She looks like she’s about to rub his hair, his hat a few feet away from us, but decides against it, probably recalling how he slammed into the rail. “Don’t worry about that. I’ll talk to her.”
His eyes close as he nods, his bottom lip quivering. I glance over at the doctor and EMT to see them whispering to one another before they wave in the other guy.
“If you could take a couple of steps back,” the doctor says, his eyes on us. “We’re going to have to try and get him on the stretcher.
I reach for Faith, my hands gently falling on her shoulders. She hesitates, staring at him for a second longer before she allows me to grip her arms and pull her to her feet. We take a couple steps back, and she curls into me, unable to look away from Kai.
They lay the stretcher beside him before carefully lifting his head and securing the neck brace around him. The doctor grabs his good leg while the two EMTs grab his shoulders. The second they move him, a scream rips out of his throat and echoes around the silent arena. Faith sobs, her hand coming to cover her mouth, the arm that’s wrapped around my waist squeezing tightly. Kai seems to pass out from the pain as they get himsituated on the stretcher, and they’re lifting and carrying him out at a frantic pace.
We follow Dean out of the arena and back under the stands, a large crowd of riders hovering around and watching as they carry Kai toward the back entrance where an ambulance is already waiting with its back doors open. Faith turns and buries her face into my chest, and I cup the back of her head with one hand, the other rubbing small circles on her back as she silently cries.
“What happened?” Rylie asks, pushing her way through the crowd to stop beside us.
“They don’t fucking listen to me, that’s what happened,” Dean snaps, his neck red from his anger and face contorted with worry. He turns to me. “If your offer still stands, I’d love to take that job.”
I nod. “I’ll let my mother know.”
