Toby was beautifully cute, but Ernest wasn’t going to discuss that with anyone else.Without replying, he walked away, taking Toby over to his garage, where his new truck was waiting.
Keys!Damnation, I need keys.
Ernest got Toby settled in the passenger seat, lowering the back so Toby wasn’t sitting upright, and making sure the limp body was well strapped in with the seat belt before hurrying around to the driver’s side.Checking he had a set of keys for the padlock on the gate on the keyring, he drove carefully down the driveway, taking care not to jostle Toby in any way.There were a few potholes.
As he drove down the driveway, he could see the chase vehicle idling by the gate on the other side, a man inspecting the new padlock and chain, and a large pair of bolt cutters in his hand.Pulling his truck to a stop, Ernest got out of his wagon and, resting his hands on the gate, he snarled, “If that bolt cutter goes anywhere near my padlock, you’ll be breaking and entering.”
“Oh, hey, Ernest.”It was numbskull—Ernest had never bothered to learn his name.He backed up, the hand with the bolt cutters disappearing behind his back.“Are you going to let us in?You know what it’s like, man.We’ve got to pick up the balloon, and it’d be a lot easier if we just drove to it.”
Ernest noticed there was a second person in the front of the chase vehicle, although the man seemed engrossed in his phone.“That balloon is staying where it is, and your boss is going to jail.So, I suggest, if you don’t want to join him, that you get in your wagon and piss off.Understood?You’re blocking my driveway, and I need to get out.”
“Fuck!What flew up your ass and fricking died?I’ve never seen you like this.”Numbskull reared back.
“Maybe I had time to check the F.A.A.regulations regarding hot air balloon landings since I saw you last.The police have already been called, because Pierre breached his trespass notice, and last I heard, it was an offence to even be carrying tools intended for breaking and entering.”Ernest pointed to where numbskull’s arm was disappearing behind his back.
“Jeez, someone clearly got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning.”Numbskull had backed up to the point where he could throw the bolt cutters through the truck window.But he kept looking over to where the balloon was visible.“That balloon is a really expensive piece of precision equipment—”
“The flowers that balloon just destroyed were worth more,” Ernest growled.“I suggest you start job hunting, because Pierre isn’t going to have enough money left to pay your wages when I’m done with him.Now, for the last time, get out of my way.You’re blocking my driveway.”
Ernest’s worry about Toby was increasing.As a shifter, Toby should’ve already recovered, and the fact that he hadn’t meant he seriously needed medical intervention.Thoughts of a brain bleed or concussion were making Ernest’s worries worse.Reaching down and unlocking the padlock, he pulled the chain out from the gate, pushing it hard so it dinged the side panel of the chase vehicle.
“You still here?”he snarled, catching the gate as it sprang back and pushing it against the same dent again.“Do you want to be charged with hindering me from taking one of your paying passengers to the hospital?I imagine there’s probably some criminal liability in that, isn’t there?Is that a police siren I hear?”
“Fuck it.We’re going.”Numbskull jumped into his truck, and in seconds, they took off in a spray of gravel.Ernest pushed the gate fully open.He thought about closing the gate again, but he could see the police car coming down the road.Pulling out onto the road, a lot slower than numbskull and his friend had, Ernest drove slowly until the police car had passed him.Then he put his foot down hard on the accelerator.His mate’s scent was filling his truck, and Ernest really didn’t want to be pulled up by the police for going into a full claiming rut when his mate was still unconscious.
Don’t even think about it.Toby could have a brain bleed!
Chapter Seven
Toby
Noises assailed him from all angles.None of it made sense when his nose twitched at a mix of scents, one of which got his bird tweeting enough to make Toby’s throbbing temples feel he’d somehow squashed a drum in there.
He attempted to open his eyes when beeps and alarms added to the noise pounding on his skull.The bright light above got his eyes scrunching shut.
What the heck had happened to him?
He worked to take a breath when panic came as he curled his hands, which throbbed, and found them wrapped in something preventing his fingers from bending more than a few centimetres.
“Oh, look at him,” he heard Morty cry.
“They said he fired out of the basket and banged his head on the ground.”That was Niall.
Toby got a flood of events and groaned at what had led him to be in what he now figured was a hospital bed.
“Toby, Toby, can you hear us?”Morty sobbed as a cool hand pressed to his forehead.
“Stop shouting, my head has a drum in it,” Toby replied hoarsely, his mouth tasted of dirt, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out why.He tried again to open his eyes and squinted in the light that lanced into his brain.
“You gave us a fright,” Niall said in a watery voice as he came to stand next to Morty.
“Gave myself a fright too.”He managed to twist his head to look around at what was a cubicle, only something caught his attention.A smell on his dirty hoodie.His heart rate kicked up faster than a horse on a racetrack.
“What is it?”Niall asked, his eyes on the monitor next to Toby’s trolley, which was alarming like crazy.
“How did I get here?”He sniffed at his shoulder, his body having a reaction that made no sense.
“Erm, from what the nurse said—who called us when they found your wallet and next of kin details—it was the owner of the land the balloon landed on.I think the guy just wanted to check that you didn’t want to sue him or something.He was hanging around in the foyer when we got here.We told him he could go when he was waffling about plants and seedlings.Or some such thing.”Niall waved it off.“But he at least was kind enough to bring you to the ED department without waiting for an ambulance.”
