“I’m not in the room.” West smiles, and the nurse wilts.
“Oh, all right,” she huffs, fixing a new bag to my IV stand. “Ten minutes.”
I grin as she leaves the room. “You’ve still got it.”
“Did you ever doubt?” West snorts, his grin fading as he takes in the medical paraphernalia attached to my body. “How are you doing?”
“Oh, fucking dandy.” I reach out blindly on my other side. Lanie’s small hand slips into mine like she’s always been there, not edged into my life a month ago.
Billy appears next to West. “The police want to talk to you.”
“What about? Did I kill the damn bull?” My throat burns. West passes me a glass with a freaking straw in it. Fuck, I hate this part. I batt his hands away.
“Maybe someone tried to kill you, Cord,” Lanie says softly.
My grip tightens on her hand as Billy’s face sobers, West’s expression returning to his customary scowl.
The room sways as I lose a focal point to anchor to. I close my eyes, battling nausea. “The bull felt odd.” I dredge the memories out of a skull full of brain soup, my swollen forehead drawing tightas I delve deeper into a night I would rather forget. “His back quarters dipped. But I held on. Wait, did I make the bell?”
Laughter fills the room. I look around, from Lanie snuffling into her hand to West shaking his head in disbelief.
Billy grins. “This is why we love you, boss.”
“Thisis why he was crazy enough to get on a bull again, against all warnings. We tell you maybe someone wanted to commit murder, and you worry about if you pulled off your eight damn seconds.” West glares at me, but a smile creeps through his grumpy-ass facade. “But yeah. You made the bell. Coyote Falls is still yours.”
I lean back into my lumpy pillow that feels like heaven, my hand wrapped in Lanie’s. “And here I thought I gave it away to you lot.”
“Like hell,” West growls.
“Not for all the wolf cubs in the world.” Lanie glares at me, shaking back her glorious red mane.
Mostly glorious. The movement nauseates me and I put a hand to my head. “Don’t do that.”
The nurse reappears, shooing everyone out. Lanie leans over to press her lips gently to my forehead.
“I’ll be outside,” she murmurs.
“You stayed the whole time, huh?” I study her sparkly aqua shirt I think she wore to the Invitational until my head aches worse, but it’s worth it.Damn, she’s so beautiful.
Lanie shrugs, but a grin tugs the corner of her lips. “It’s not like I have something more important to do.”
Then a memory slams into me. “What about Alaska? Your trip…” I frown, watching her eyes, but the blazing light that drew me in the very first time never dulls.
“I canceled it.”
She turned down her grant offer. For me. A dream for a dream. But that’s not how it should be. I hold her gaze for a long moment but then turn my head.
“West!” I holler, or try to. Croak is more like it.
The nurse glares at me.
I ignore her. “Take her home for a shower and a decent meal.”
“You got it, boss.” West grabs Lanie’s hand, Billy herding her from the other side. She sends me a look over her shoulder that churns me up. Soon, I’ll take more than a look from her. But not right now.
I laugh at my own ridiculousness until it hurts, which doesn’t take long. At least Lanie will be looked after until they let me go home to her.
Four days later, I have my story memorized better than the three different cops I told my statement to over and over. Slowly my mind recalls information further back than when I came out of the chute with each iteration. Wrecking Ball’s motion takes me back to the arena. The sickening sway of his hindquarters, how we went down. Our little chat before the event.
