I remember most of the beginning of the night, the terror in Lanie’s eyes when I told her it was time. How she softened when I said I loved her. I sit, grinning like an idiot, while I dictate my statement for the third time, hoping the officer thinks I’m high on something in my IV.
The last promise of my day is my truest—that I won’t ride another bull for as long as I live. That one is easy, and I give it wholeheartedly to the surgeon. What I don’t promise is not to train the boys. Billy has potential if he can quit being so stubborn and get on the damn bull, and Jesse Duke’s name has done the rounds, too, despite his spectacular tumble early in the night.
West helps me out to his truck when I’m released with a talking-to from the surgeon, toting an oversized baggie of medicine.
“You know they tried to make me leave in a helicopter,” I snark, shuffling across the asphalt.
West rolls his eyes. “Ungrateful ass.”
“I told them to save it for emergencies.”
“Only you would ignore what you’re entitled to. You’ve probably funded that surgeon’s entire nest egg in a few hours’ work.”
“And it’s worth every damn cent not to have to fight both my head and body for the use of my legs,” I retort. “Or did you want to be the one wiping my ass for the next six months?”
West blows out a long breath. “Nah. I don’t ever wanna go through that again. You whined. A lot. Lanie didn’t want to be a hindrance, picking you up.” He changes the subject as he settles me into the passenger seat, fixing my seat belt because I can’t work the stupid piece of metal.
My legs might work, but my coordination is still shit.
“I could have done that,” I lie.
“But personally, I think she’s terrified of driving you home, in case she has an accident and hurts you worse,” West continues over my interruption like I haven’t spoken. “You’ve turned an amazing woman into a basket case.” He turns accusing eyes on me.
“Good to see she’s got you wrapped around her finger.” I snort, pressing the heel of my hand to my forehead to forestall an ache the sunlight brings on. “Damn.”
West passes over a pair of dark sunglasses. “Doc said you’ll need these.”
“Appreciate it.” I slipped the glasses on, the tinted lenses doing a little to knock out the sunlight intent on piercing my brain.
West starts the truck, driving in silence until we hit the city limits. “There’s a lot of mess to fix, including this whole thing with Jed.”
“I liked you better mute. Are you going to bitch at me for the whole four-hour drive back?”
“You deserve it.” West stares out the windshield.
“Probably. Tell me about the riders before me. How’d Levi do?”
In a small miracle of itself, West talks for the first hour, nonstop. I lean back on the headrest. My eyes close as West gifts me a piece of the world that I thought I’d lost forever.
I wake as the truck turns in to Coyote Falls. The familiar bumps of the drive bring me back, providing my first solid point of reference since Wrecking Ball came down.
Since I walked away from Lanie.
The homestead sits on a small rise, impressive even at a distance. For the first time I see it as Lanie must have, coming into the property as a stranger. I shift in my seat, drinking in the high-pitched roof, the wraparound veranda with its exposed beams and frosted glass doors depicting Coyote Falls.
My heart swells. I didn’t lose the ranch on a whim—an inspirational whim with a side serve of pride. Wreck and my downfall will need to be fixed in the public eye to protect my other business concerns and the Invitational’s future, but that can wait a few days. Perhaps it’s time to explain the risks and safety aspects of the sport, of having a great doctor and support crew on hand and the importance of listening to their advice the way I should have in the first place. All of them. And it’s time to make a few apologies, too.
But first, Coyote Falls.
“Welcome home,” West says quietly, glancing sideways at me.
I rub my knee that aches on cue. “I didn’t think I’d see it again.”
“Yeah? I had no doubt. And that lawyer stuff? Don’t you ever fucking pull anything like that again. Ever. Lanie says the same, but she won’t tell you.” West shakes his head.
Something in his voice gives me pause. I want to look at him, but I can’t. Nothing works the way it should—fucking again. I press my lips together. “Tell me what I need to know.”
His silence eats at me.
