Cowboy's Law

by B. A. Tortuga

  “Rock on. Maybe some chocolate? For all of us?”

  “You know it.” Law winked. “Candy and Ho Hos for all.”

  “Grab a couple of bags of amazing Halloween chocolate. I’ll pet our girl.”

  “Good deal.” Law disappeared to get dressed, and he headed for Dawn.

  Lord, have mercy. He never thought he’d be talking to anyone about their monthlies. He guessed he was wrong.

  17

  “Jordan, if you shove one more piece of candy up your nose, that’s it. I’ll take the bag away and toss it. I don’t care who dared you.” Law was going to lose his shit. The kids were just… crazy. Halloween had been so amazing, the kids excited about costumes and trick or treat. He’d taken fifty million pictures. Hell, he’d even sent some of the pics to his Army buddies.

  Now it was the second, it was Friday afternoon, and they were on day three of hyped-up kids and snarling teenagers. It was an away game, so he didn’t have to stress the damn home game dance.

  He wasn’t sure he’d recovered from homecoming yet.

  There were years and years of mums left.

  On the bright side, he had a couple of take-and-bake pizzas in the fridge for supper, Seth was working close to the house, doing some animal doctoring today, and Dawn was doing a sleepover with the rodeo girls.

  It promised to be an easy evening, which was handy, because they all needed to take a breath and—

  The front door slammed open with a crack, Bonner white as a ghost under all the mud. “Call 911! Now!”

  Law reached for his phone without even questioning, dialing 911. “What is it?”

  “Bison hit Seth but good. Keep the kids inside.”

  Shit, that wasn’t mud on Bonner.

  “Is someone with him?” Shit. He wanted to run out there, but he couldn’t. Jordan was right there, pale as milk, and he held out his arm.

  “911, what’s your emergency?”

  “We need an ambulance. There’s been an animal trampling on a ranch.” Law rattled off the address.

  “Can you tell me the nature of the injury, sir?”

  “No. I’m in here with kids. Hold on.” Law stared at Bethany. “You got this?”

  She nodded. “I’ll call Dawn.”

  “Thanks, kiddo.” He ran. He needed to see Seth, needed to be there.

  Bonner had Seth out of the pasture, and the blood was coming from everywhere. “Fuck, what happened?”

  “He was dosing that big guy, and the bison caught him up against the chute like he was a fucking ragdoll. I heard him yell, I turned around, and it was all over.”

  “Sir?” The voice on the phone was tinny, far away.

  “He’s bleeding. I would say crushing injuries as well as concussive.”

  “Is he conscious?”

  Bonner shook his head. “He ain’t woke up.”

  “No.” Jesus, where to start? Law was afraid to touch, but if Seth needed a bleed staunched, he needed to do it now. “Here. Talk to her.” He shoved the phone at Bonner.

  The whole right side of Seth’s torso looked well and truly fucked, and the bubbly wheeze proved there was a collapsed lung in there. “He has a lung injury,” Law barked. “And there’s damage to his shoulder, collarbone, and orbital bone in face.” The collarbone was going to need surgery. Law was in full-on combat mode now.

  What they needed was for Seth to wake up. He needed to know his lover was in there.

  “Come on, baby. I need to see your eyes.” He checked Seth’s neck and head, not moving him, just in case. Who knew what Bonner had done laying him out here, but he got it. You couldn’t leave the man in the pen.

  “They say five more minutes, maybe ten.” Bonner shook his head. “Boss! Boss, you gotta wake up, man. You’re scaring the kids.”

  Law bent down next to Seth’s ear. He knew from experience Seth could hear them. “I love you. I need you to come back, baby. Open your eyes, please.”

  Seth groaned and lifted one hand, waving and giving a thumbs-up.

  Law’s eyes prickled with tears. How many times had he seen a rider do that at Pistol’s rodeos? Hundreds from the time he was a teenager.

  “That’s it, baby. No walking out of the arena this time. Wait for the backboard. That’s it. Breathe as easy as you can. That lung is filling up.” Please, God, get that ambulance here. He couldn’t do minor surgery here in the dirt. He couldn’t.

  “Blowing up… balloons and drinking… beer.” Seth tried to grin, bloody bubbles on his lips. “Rock on. Tell Pistol… I owe him a twenty.”

  “You got it, baby.” Jesus. He was gonna just lose his shit. He found a bleed that worried him and waved to Bonner. “Come put your hand here. Press down. Where the hell are they?”

  “You know how it is.” Bonner sighed. “You going to follow them? I’ll stay with the kids and get them fed.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, and I’ll call Wiley. Bethany was calling Dawn.”

  “Wiley’s on a bus to Los Lunas, man, with a solo to play at halftime. Call the kid tonight.”

  “Yeah. Yeah. I’ll wait.” Shit, Wiley was gonna be upset as fuck either way.

  “I think I need… sports medicine, y’all. I… I hurt.”

  “They’re coming, baby. The EMTs will be here in a few. I promise.” He kept talking to Seth after that, wanting him to know he wasn’t alone.

  Seth opened his eyes. “Law. Tell the babies not to… don’t feed the buffalo.”

  “I’ll make sure. Only me or Bonner. Okay?”

  “Gonna puke, man.”

  “No. No, just breathe.” He couldn’t turn Seth, and he didn’t want to have to try. “I hear the ambulance, baby. It’s coming.”

  “There’s all this goo.” Seth hacked, and he held on for dear life, trying to keep Seth from moving too much. If there was still something in that lung, like a rib, it could get so bad so fast.

  “No shit on that, boss. We’re going to hire someone to dose those fucking beasts. Either that or shoot them.” Bonner was het up, all right.

  “Not. Not their fault. Just being… what God made ’em.” Seth coughed again and cried out. “Law!”

  “I got you. Breathe slow. Try not to tense up. What would sports medicine tell you? Breathe through it, cowboy. They’re here. There’s dust on the ranch road. One more minute.”

  He would be damned if Seth was to bleed out or drown on his watch. No fucking way.

  “Pistol? No, man. I can’t. I got to stay. They need me.”

  “Seth! Cowboy, look at me. At my eyes!” Don’t you die on me. Don’t you dare. God’s taken enough. “You can’t go with him. We need you here. I need you.”

  Seth looked at him, eyes cloudy. “’M cold, Law.”

  “I know. I know.” He took off his shirt to lay over Seth. “Get them, Bonner. Go get the ambulance and show them where. You stay here with me, Seth. Right here. I love you. Those babies need you. Don’t you go.”

  “Not going.” Seth’s words ground through clenched teeth, the whole of his body starting to quake. “’M a cowboy. You… you tell them not to fret. Uncle just got a little hurt. It ain’t no thing.”

  “That’s it. You’ll be fine in no time. No time at all.”

  Then the EMTs were there, Bonner gently pulling him out of the way while someone barked orders and someone else got a line inserted and…

  Law was gonna puke.

  “Go get his phone, the chargers. I’ve got the kids.” Bonner pushed him up the stairs. “I got to go change my shirt and all.”

  “I don’t have one.” He looked down at his bloody hands, his jeans soaked with splotches. “Jesus.”

  “You got to wait to have your PTSD moment, Law. Cowboy up and go get all the shit you need. They’re taking him to Pres on Central. The main one. You got to go.”

  Law nodded woodenly, stumbling to the house, avoiding the kitchen by slipping in the front door and sliding down the hall to the bedroom. The kids couldn’t see him like this. Bonner was right. He could have a meltdown later. N
ot now.

  Now people needed him, and thank God, he could be here for them.

  He cleaned up and changed his clothes, packed two bags, got phone chargers and phones, and washed his damn hands again before going to the kitchen to see the kids.

  They were huddled together, all three of them, eyes huge.

  “Why did the ambulance come?”

  “How bad was it?”

  “Did Uncle die?”

  “Who’s going to watch us?”

  The questions flew so fast he couldn’t listen to them, and his head pounded.

  “Uncle Seth has to go to the hospital. I have to go with him, but Bonner is going to stay for now. Dawn is on her way home?” When Bethany nodded, he took a deep breath. “I’ll call Wiley after the game. Y’all be good for Bonner, and I’ll holler as soon as I know how Uncle is doing, okay?” He hugged them each in turn.

  “You can’t go.” Keira stared at him with huge eyes. “Please. Don’t leave us here alone.”

  “Bonner is just changing his clothes, baby girl. I swear. You’re not alone.” He hated to have to leave her, but the hospital would freak her out even more.

  Bethany pursed her lips but nodded. “Sister is coming home too. Mrs. Barton is bringing her.”

  “Okay.” Keira’s tears spilled over. “You’ll call us?”

  “I promise.” He kissed the top of her head. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  He left before it got worse, before he started shaking harder or lost his temper or burst into tears.

  Two jackets grabbed and he was in the truck, heading into Albuquerque on 40 to the 25 junction. He needed to get to the hospital. Jesus, he had no idea who Seth even had listed as his next of kin.

  He didn’t even know who to call to ask.

  God, he needed help. He needed a friend.

  “Siri, call Hunter.” Hunter was back Stateside, he knew. He needed not to fall apart and talking would help. It was that or his freaking therapist.

  “Yo. McMann. How goes, stranger? You still playing house in the mountains?”

  “I am. I just… Jesus, man. Seth is on his way to the hospital. Crushed in a pen by a bison.”

  “Oh fuck. How bad?” Hunter had been a flight nurse and had pieced more guys back together than he could count.

  “Punctured lung. Collarbone. Eye socket. That’s all I could see, but there has to be more.”

  “Jesus Christ.” Hunter sighed, and he could see the tall, lean man with hair and eyes black as pitch shaking his head.

  “Yeah, buddy. I’m on my way to the hospital, but it killed me to leave the kids. After Mom and Pistol…” He swallowed hard.

  “Yo. Captain. Breathe. Do the kids have an adult there?” Hunter’s voice was sharp, cutting like a hot knife through butter.

  “Yeah. Yeah, Bonner. A cowboy on the ranch. And one of the rodeo moms is on the way with Dawn. I bet she’ll help out.”

  “Okay. Good. So you’re okay? Solid?”

  “No, man. I’m losing my shit.”

  “So talk to me. I’m here.” That was what he needed—that gruff, sure ear. Nothing phased Hunter, not anymore.

  “My hands won’t stop shaking. He was bleeding out, right there.”

  “Shit. You don’t think—” Hunter stopped short. “What do you need, man? I can be out there in twelve hours.”

  “I don’t know.” His teeth were starting to chatter. “Tell me it’s going to be okay.”

  “The only assholes on earth tougher than us are rodeo cowboys. He was awake?”

  “He knew me. A little confused, but yeah.”

  “Then his brain isn’t scrambled. He’s been hurt before, right?” Hunter’s voice poured over his nerves. “You got this.”

  “I’m trying. If I call… can you come?” He hated to ask, and he would try to keep his shit together, but damn it, he might need help.

  “You know it. I can be there in twelve hours.”

  “Thanks. Thanks, buddy.” He needed to keep talking. “How’s desk jockeying?”

  “It’s non-thing. I’m ready to leave San Diego and head somewhere cooler. You enjoying ranch life?”

  “Most of the time,” Law said wryly. “Halloween was great.”

  “I saw the pictures. You made a very convincing Hagrid.”

  “I thought so, man. The beard itched.” He chuckled, thinking how Bethany had begged him to go at the last minute as Hagrid to Jordan’s not a dinosaur or Captain Ironman Harry Potter.

  “I’m shocked as fuck that you don’t have a freedom beard, buddy.”

  “It’s a cowboy thing.” Seth, Bonner… they were all clean-shaven. Pistol always had been too.

  “Uh-huh. You saying your little cowboy doesn’t want you to leave scruff marks on his bod.”

  “He’s not opposed to marks…” He couldn’t believe he just said that.

  “Oh ho! Listen to you, kinky old man.”

  “Who are you calling old, asshole?” He smiled, and that felt good.

  “The one who went in near two years before me.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Hunter stayed with him to the Central Avenue exit almost to the 25 junction. “About to get hairy. I got to go. I’ll call you. Thanks.”

  “Let me know what you need. I have my phone.”

  “I’ll holler one way or the other. Bye, buddy.” This exit was tricky even when it wasn’t rush hour, so he hung up and focused. No getting in a wreck and have both him and Seth laid up.

  He parked in emergency in the handicapped section, grabbed his cane and his bag, and hurried in.

  “May I help you, sir?” asked the tech at the desk.

  “Seth Rodgers. He came in on a bus.”

  “Ah yes. You’re?”

  “Law McMann.”

  “You’re on the list. He’s in surgery. You’ll head up to the surgery waiting area.”

  “Thank you, ma’am.” Well, at least he was on the list. Thank God Seth had been on the ball. He would stop by the business office here sometime in the next few days and file his own advance directives now he had someone not his dad to make decisions.

  Oddly enough, Hunter was listed as his next of kin right now.

  He went to wait, after checking in with the kind lady at the desk there, who assured him they would send the doctor in as soon as there was news. There were texts from Dawn demanding he call her, one from Marge saying she was bringing all the girls to the house and would stay, one from the band director saying he would make sure Wiley got fed and home safely, one from Wiley saying he’d call at third quarter, and one from Sal Apodaca at the band boosters saying his wife and he would be at the ranch tomorrow with food and to watch the kids.

  God, this was a good place to be.

  He found a quiet corner of the waiting room where he could still see the board with the surgery numbers on it, and called Dawnie first.

  “Uncle Law! What happened? Is he okay? Bethany’s throwing up, and all my friends are here. Bonner’s run to the store for snacks and Cokes!”

  “Whoa. Cowgirl. Breathe.” He’d never heard her scared.

  He heard her suck in a couple of deep breaths. “Sorry. Sorry. First, are you okay?”

  “Nope. I am a giant ball of freak out, but I’ll make it. Uncle Seth got caught in the rails with the big male bison, and he got smooshed. He’s in surgery right now for a punctured lung. As soon as I know more, I’ll holler. You got home okay, then?” She was an amazing kid.

  “We’re fine. Momma Barton is here. We’re just going to spend the night here. I made sure the guest room was nice for her.”

  “That’s awesome. The casita is all clean too, if someone needs it.” He took a deep breath. “I won’t lie, kiddo. This is gonna be hard. The sheer amount of broken bones will take a while to heal.”

  “Oh, Uncle stayed with us when his pelvis was broke, and Pistol was in some bad wrecks. We can do it. Bonner and me can run the ranch together.”

  “You’re a stud. I love you, kiddo. Should I c
all Bethany?” He didn’t need her throwing up.

  “I think she wouldn’t want to be embarrassed, but I’ll have her call before bed. You’re going to be there all night, huh?”

  “Yeah. For a day or two, maybe, and then I’ll have to come home and get more clothes and stuff.” He would see what the kids could take and how much help they had for how long.

  “Okay. Do you want to talk to Momma Barton?”

  “Please.” That way he’d have a handle on what was going on.

  “’Kay. Love you. Tell Uncle we’re praying for him.”

  “I will, honey.” He waited for Momma Barton, who he wasn’t sure he’d ever met.

  “Mr. Law? I’m Marge. I’m Heidi’s momma. The kids are fine. Bethany is a little overwhelmed, but I’ve got her in the shower. Bonner’s at the store, Joe Duran is going to bring you supper in a few hours along with some coffee. I’ve already spoken to Mr. Meier, and he talked to Wiley.”

  Oh, wow. He sagged a little with relief. “That’s amazing. Thank you so much, Marge. Did Dawn say you were staying tonight?”

  “I am. I’ll stay until noon when I have to take the girls to their lessons. Sal’s going to be here with Wiley tomorrow, and when we know what Seth needs, we’ll start a list. You don’t worry, honey.”

  “Thank you.” He hoped Bonner was okay. He’d call the man next. “I can’t even tell you how much we appreciate this.”

  “We appreciate your service, and God knows Seth helps every single time he’s asked. I’m glad to return the favor. I just wish it was for something less painful.”

  “Yeah, me too. Holler if y’all need anything from me. I’ll do my best to get it to you.” He was a little stupid right now, and the antiseptic smell was giving him evil flashbacks.

  “No worries. You pray and know you’re not alone. I’ll give you back to Dawnie.”

  It didn’t take a second before Dawn was back. “You don’t worry. I have this. I can do it.”

  “You listen to Bonner about the animals, and you kids are not allowed anywhere around the bison. At all.” He was selling the fucking things. They weren’t safe around the kids.

  “Yessir. I wouldn’t touch that big male with someone else’s dick.”