Page 153 of The Last Second Chance
“I was not aware of that,” Jax said, gripping the heel of her boot in one hand while the other worked her foot free. He could have sworn that Apollo sighed with relief when her foot slid out.
He could feel some swelling in her ankle through the sock, probably a sprain, and was careful to place it gently on the ground.
“Okay, now I’m going to slide you out from under the crap and trample zone.” It wasn’t smart to move head wound victims, but it was even dumber to leave them under a horse that could crush them with one stomp of their bad-tempered hoof.
“I want a blanket,” Joey muttered.
“I’ll get you a blanket. Just let me move you a little this way,” he gritted his teeth and slid one hand under her shoulders and one under her knees. “I’m going to pick you up, okay?”
Waffles sat up and wriggled out from under the horse.
“One, two, three.” Jax picked her up as carefully as he could and carried her a few feet away. He tried to set her down against a fence post, but found his arms just wouldn’t let her go. He was shaking so bad his muscles had locked in place. He tried a second time and she whimpered.
“Tell me what hurts, Jojo.”
“Head. Foot. Arm. Hungry.”
“My poor girl.” Jax gave up trying to put her down when he spotted Carter’s Jeep flying toward them through the adjoining pasture. “Here comes our ride.”
“No!” She grumbled against his shoulder. “You need to put Apollo back. Can’t have seven figures of horse running away.”
“We’ll have Carter put him back,” Jax promised as Carter and Franklin jumped out of the Jeep and came running.
“No. You. Make sure he’s safe.”
“Fuck, Joey, come on.”
“Do I have to go to the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“Then you have to put Apollo back in his stall.” There was no arguing with a non-head wound Joey so he deemed it completely useless to argue with her in this state. So they compromised. Jax rode Apollo back to the stables with Carter and Tucker on his heels while Franklin drove Joey and Waffles down in the Jeep.
The second they hit the yard, Jax slid off of Apollo’s back and handed the reins over to Carter. “If Joey asks, I put him away.”
“You got it. Go take care of our girl,” Carter said, his face carved with lines of worry.
Jax opened the passenger door of the Jeep. “I’m coming with you.”
“I figured,” Forrest said.
Waffles thumped his tail. “Sorry, Waffles. You can’t go with us. You hold down the fort with Carter, okay?”
Jax thought it looked like Waffles’ lower lip was trembling, but the dog hopped out of the Jeep and wandered into the stable after Carter.
Jax climbed in and shut the door. Forrest put the Jeep in gear and they started down the slope toward the main road. “I promised her no ambulance,” he said to Jax. His voice sounded calm, but his knuckles were white on the wheel. “Carter’s calling the emergency department to let them know to expect us.”
Jax leaned back between the seats and pressed a hand to Joey’s forehead. “The bleeding looks like it’s slowed down a lot. I think she hurt her arm or her shoulder, though.”
“I didn’t hurt it. The groundhog did,” Joey muttered from the back.
“Groundhogs are jerks,” Forrest said.
“Yeah,” Joey agreed with a frown. “Jerks.”
Forrest drove like a Frenchman at Le Mans and had them pulling up to the emergency department’s doors in record time. There were two orderlies ready and waiting with a gurney. “Oh, she’s going to hate that,” Forrest predicted, worry still heavy in his eyes.
Jax had to tell Joey it was just a bed for her to agree to get out of the Jeep and onto the sterile sheets. He weighed his options as the orderlies got her strapped down to keep her steady.
