Chapter Five
Today was better.WhenFletch had come in this morning, he’d brought a cup of coffee and a breakfast burrito for Spider.And he hadn’t even had to ask.
When Spider had mentioned that he’d lost his phone, Fletch had pulled one from a backpack he’d been hauling around with him and handed it over.
“Yours was destroyed in the accident.Hawkeye has it if you need it, but you won’t be getting any information off it.I hope you had your shit backed up,” Fletch said as he also pulled a charger and long cord out of his bag and moved around Spider’s bed to plug it in.“This is so you can keep it charged.You might be a little less bitchy to all of us if you’ve got something to do other than think up shit to complain about.”
Spider didn’t reply but flipped him off instead.Then he spent the next hour getting logged into the different services, replying to messages and a couple of emails.
The real surprise to Spider had been when he hadn’t had to push to get his best friend to leave him alone while he went to pick up lunch.Spider had taken that time to call the number on the card Keane had left.The call had gone to voicemail and the whole time Spider had listened to the recording he’d debated leaving a message or just hanging up.But in the end, he’d left a message.Then he’d gone to the text app and started a list of things he wanted from his room at the clubhouse.He’d send it to Raven, and he had no doubt the president would make sure they were gathered and brought to him, probably by one of the prospects.Headphones were at the top of that list.There was a lot he could do with just a phone and headphones, whether it was find something to watch, or he could listen to a podcast, music, or an audio book.He might be stuck in the bed most of the time, at least for now, but that didn’t mean his head was stuck here.
A couple hours after he left the voice mail for Keane, he’d gotten a text back saying he was headed into town and would see him soon.Spider read it but didn’t say anything to Fletch.He turned and looked at his best friend for a moment, wondering if he should ask, then decided why the fuck not?
“What do you know about the guy who came in yesterday?The old cowboy,” Spider said.
Fletch frowned, watched him for a moment, then shrugged.
“Not much more than I said yesterday.I remember seeing the whole thing on TV, but I don’t remember if we were watching it live or just saw it in replays.He was big news for a while, at least in the rodeo world.I knew he’d lost a leg, but I didn’t even remember which one until he showed you.”Fletch shrugged.“I can have Hawkeye look into him if you’d like?”
Spider shook his head.He didn’t need that much information.He could probably find what he was wondering about with an online search or two.He’d probably even find the footage of the ride if he wanted.He wasn’t sure he wanted to.
“I’ll figure it out.”He couldn’t hold back a yawn.He wanted to be awake when Keane got there, but the time he’d spent in physical therapy that morning had exhausted him.“He’s on his way.”Spider ignored the surprise on Fletch’s face and kept talking.“I’m wiped from PT, but I want to see him.Wake me when he gets here?”
“Are you sure?You’re exhausted.Maybe you should sleep.”
Spider shook his head.“I reached out to him.He’s making the trip for me.Wake me when he gets here or I’ll be pissed.I might not be able to kick your ass right now but just try me.I will remember it and I will wait until you’re not expecting it then fuck you up.”
Fletch held up both hands, as if he was surrendering.
“All right, all right.I’ll wake you.”
Spider watched him with narrowed eyes for a moment, then he found the remote and lowered the head of the bed slightly before closing his eyes and drifting off.
****
“I’m not going to lieto you.”Clint Keane sat in a chair next to Spider’s bed, talking to him.“It’s not going to be easy.It’s going to be painful.There will be times when you wonder why you’re doing this to yourself.There will be times when you want to throw your hands up and give up.”The older man looked away from Spider to where his daughter, Jordon, sat in the window seat, waiting quietly.“It will change you, not just how you do some things, but so much more.But I’ll be one hundred percent honest when I tell you it’s worth it.”
When Clint and his daughter had arrived, Fletch had made sure he was awake, exchanged greetings, then made excuses to leave.Spider was still amazed by his friend’s insight sometimes.Somehow he’d figured out that Spider would be more comfortable, and able to talk more freely if he wasn’t hanging around, so he’d found a reason not to be there.Though he had told Spider to reach out if he needed anything, even if it was just to talk, now that he had a phone, and that he was going to go try to catch up on a little of the sleep he’d lost while babysitting Spider’s extended siesta.Spider hadn’t bothered to resist the urge to flip off the man he called brother.
“Thirty seconds in the arena changed my entire life.”Clint’s voice pulled Spider back to the present.“And I can’t say it wasn’t for the best.”He turned back to look at Spider.“When Wild Demon threw me, I was a good bull rider.But I was a bad father and an even worse husband.I was off having fun, riding bulls, and being what I thought was a big man.I’d left my wife at home to run the ranch and take care of two small children, with only the most basic support.If I hadn’t encountered Wild Demon that night, who knows how my life would have gone.But one thing I know is that Colleen was already getting tired of my shit.I don’t know that she would have stayed around much longer.The accident changed so much.”He shook his head.
“I don’t know how much she remembers,” he tilted the top of his head toward Jordon, “but we went through some rough times with my recovery.I was an ass, and that was on my good days.On the bad ones, I couldn’t see past the poor-me victim mentality.”Clint looked down at where he’d clasped his hands between his knees.“I don’t know how Colleen put up with me.I don’t know why she didn’t take the kids and leave.Hell knows it would have been a lot easier.Maybe she saw the man I could be.I don’t know.Either way, I’m thankful she stuck by me.Because she did, I’ve got two more children, a successful ranch, and a life I wouldn’t change for the world.None of that could have happened if I hadn’t gotten on the back of that bull.”
He was quiet for a moment, then he lifted his gaze and met Spider’s eyes.“Look, I don’t know where you stand religiously, and it doesn’t matter.I’m not trying to get preachy with you, only to get you to see that things happen for a reason.Sometimes that reason isn’t obvious.Sometimes it takes twenty years and looking back at it from who you’ve become to see the way it’s impacted you.”
Spider watched Clint for a moment, not sure what to say.It wasn’t that he expected this to be easy.Nothing worth having in life had ever been easy.And for a moment he wished he had a woman in his life like Colleen.A woman he’d never even met.But he’d seen a couple of his brothers find their old ladies recently.At first he’d sworn off it.The last thing he’d wanted to do was to settle down with one woman.To never be able to take one of the mamas up to his room again.But as he got to know the old ladies, to interact with them more, the more he found himself wanting one of his own.
Not just any woman, but one who would be loyal.One who would be as fiercely protective of him as he would be to her.Someone who he could lean on, someone who would lean on him when she needed it.
Spider glanced at the girl sitting in the window seat and wondered, not for the first time, why she was there.Today she wore a long sleeve flannel shirt, jeans, and riding boots.Her long hair had been pulled back into some kind of complicated braid.He’d noticed it hanging down her back when she’d moved to sit on the bench.There were specks of drying mud on the lower legs of her jeans.It looked like she’d been out on the ranch most of the day, then had cleaned up and come into town when he’d called.
Did Clint take her to all of these meetings like this?If so, why had she stayed in the background?Why hadn’t she said more than a few words in both visits?He didn’t know if she was there because she did this with her father or if it was for some other reason.He leaned to one side so he could see her a little better, ignored the pain in his ribs much the way he’d been doing all day, and spoke to her.
“What do you say?”
She looked at him, eyes wide with surprise.Was she used to fading into the background and not being spoken to?
“I—I hadn’t thought about it much.”She straightened and twisted in the seat, swinging her legs off the bench and onto the floor.“I remember when Daddy was gone.I remember knowing he was hurt, but a lot of the rest of it—the fights, the possibility of leaving?I have no memory of it.I don’t know if I didn’t know about it or I just don’t remember.”
