Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 97836 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97836 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Thankfully, the horses stayed away as I struggled to breathe and assess my injuries. It felt like I’d been beaten up, but I didn’t think any of the damage was too serious. My radio remained securely strapped to Helios’s saddle, which did me a fat lot of good while I was too banged up to get to it.
Silas. I want Silas. Silas will fix this.
The thought was born from the childlike need for comfort after an injury, but it was there nonetheless. I couldn’t stop thinking about him and wanting him here. He was dependable. Confident. Take-charge. He would know what to do.
But he wasn’t here, and I was a grown-ass adult who needed to get his shit together.
I groaned and cursed myself for not paying closer attention to my surroundings earlier. Not that I would have known to anticipate the bird’s departure—it was simply one of those flukes that happened sometimes at just the wrong moment, catching a well-trained horse in a rare moment of vulnerability.
By the time Taza came back, I’d managed to stand up and call Helios to me so I could take a few deep gulps of water from the bottle in my saddle bag. I thought through the remaining work that needed to be done and wondered how the hell I was going to haul my sorry ass back into the saddle to finish out the day.
“What happened?” Taza said as he saw me moving gingerly.
I explained, pointing to the traitorous bird still wheeling above with its partner. Taza winced and offered help, but I sent him first to check on Saya and the other horse who’d spooked. Once he was done checking everything, ZuZu had ridden up.
“We thought you’d be done in here by now… Why are you holding your arm like that?”
I quickly explained that I wasn’t holding my arm but my side because of a tumble, and I was going to need to swap out with Sheridan or Dev for the rest of the day after hopefully getting my hands on some serious painkillers back at the barn.
Taza and ZuZu helped me get back in the saddle and insisted on escorting me in case I couldn’t keep my seat.
The ride was uncomfortable and made it clear that one of my hips had been bruised along with my side, shoulder, and thigh. Pain seemed to radiate everywhere, and all I could think of was my bed. Well… all I could think of was Silas and my bed. As silly as it sounded, I wanted him with me. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since my fall.
My head swam, and other body parts like my neck and back began to complain.
By the time we returned to the barn, I was keeping my seat by sheer force of will.
Sheridan saw me first and frowned, but before she could ask what happened, Silas came running, yelling over his shoulder at Dev to call an ambulance.
Thankfully, Sheridan cautioned him to wait until they could find out what happened.
I fell out of the saddle into Silas’s strong arms and felt my eyes burn in relief. “Fuck,” I whimpered. His grip on me was both painful and desperately reassuring.
“I got you, Way. What happened?”
I couldn’t get the words out past the sudden emotion clogging my throat. Instead of answering, I tucked my face into his chest and tried to focus on breathing. Thankfully, Taza and my sister relayed the story.
Dev approached and asked pertinent questions about my injuries, and Sheridan headed to the barn for ice and painkillers. Silas carefully moved me over to a nearby bench and sat me on it before crouching down in front of me.
“Do you want to go to the hospital?” His voice was solid but tender, and I could tell by the look in his eyes he was struggling not to boss me around.
I shook my head. “Need to finish—”
“Absolutely not,” he snapped. “You can forget that right the fuck now.”
I caught ZuZu’s wide-eyed stare and noticed Sheridan trying to hide a smirk. Dev simply looked on in concern.
“But I—”
Silas’s eyes were even more intense than usual. “Hospital or bed, Mayor. Your choice.”
It wasn’t the first time I’d been this tired and sore, but it was the first time in a long while that I had a crew in place I could trust to finish the job without me.
“Bed.”
Silas stood and began barking orders. He put Sheridan in charge of double-checking the stock that was being loaded, ZuZu in charge of pulling the next group from the paddock to the tie bars and checking them all over in the process. And then he charged Taza and Dev with gathering the next group of horses from the pasture.
I slumped on the bench and tried to think through anything we might have been forgetting, but my brain was too busy assessing my pain and discomfort to focus on the details of roundup.