by A. D. Ryan
“Yeah,” I responded, knowing I would have to ride sooner or later. “I think so.”
Jensen eyed me skeptically, but I think he thought better than to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do. “You’ll be careful?”
“Promise,” I assured him, standing up. “I’m going to go and brush my teeth, and then I’ll make us some breakfast. Eggs and toast?”
“Sounds good. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”
With my teeth and hair brushed and clothes on, I made my way to the kitchen, crossing paths with Jensen in the hall. We exchanged friendly smiles and went on our way. By the time Jensen was at the table, the eggs were almost done cooking, so I put the bread in the toaster. I added a bit of salt and pepper to the eggs just as the toaster popped and quickly plated everything before it got cold.
Placing the plates on the table, Jensen looked up at me with a smile. “Thank you.”
“It’s just scrambled eggs and toast. I think the squirrel living in the tree outside could make it,” I joked as I sat down next to him.
Jensen chuckled and shook his head, and I just looked at him questioningly. Was that not what he meant?
Once breakfast was eaten and the dishes were done, Jensen and I put our boots on and headed for the barn to begin the day. However, before we walked in, Jensen pulled me off to the side. As we remained hidden from view of anyone else, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was going to kiss me. And more importantly, would I let him?
“I need you to promise me,” he said softly.
“Um, I already did,” I reminded him.
“No, I know. It’s just, I noticed that doing the stalls took a bit out of you yesterday, so promise me that if you feel like it’s too much, you’ll let me know?” His hand reached out and tucked a wisp of hair behind my ear.
“Yeah. Okay, I promise. Can we go to work now before my father thinks that something unsavory is going on between us?” I ribbed.
Thankfully, Jensen thought what I said was funny, and we entered the barn side-by-side to help take the horses out to their paddocks. With them all fed and watered, and their stalls cleaned out, I offered to help Jeff catch Jillian’s first few lesson horses before I went off to find Tom. Of course, Jensen tagged along, keeping an over-cautious eye on me.
We had just finished tethering the three horses inside the barn when Tom sauntered in with his coffee mug. “Good mornin’, Madi. You up for training Glory this morning?” he asked, placing his hand on my left shoulder.
Just the slightest pressure still caused me to bite down on the inside of my cheek and fight back a whimper. Jensen noticed this, but I quickly looked back to Tom and smiled.
“Yeah. I would be up for some light ground work.”
“Great! I’ll meet you outside in a half hour.”
As Tom walked away, Jensen came over and stood in front of me. “Madi, are you sure about this?”
I nodded. “Relax. Glory’s an older horse. She was used as a broodmare for years, and now Tom thinks she’d make a good lesson horse. She’s super sweet and very tame. Your concern is noted, but I’ll be okay.”
Jensen didn’t seem convinced, but he accepted it. “All right then. Just … be careful.”
“I did promise, didn’t I?” I started to back away so I could go and get Glory ready, leaving Jensen looking afraid. “Look, I’ll see you at lunch, okay? Have a good morning.”
“Okay. You, too.”
Glory was brushed and tacked, and I made it to the arena at exactly the same time Tom did. The air was a little crisp on my bare arms, but I knew I would warm up as soon as I started riding. I stood to Glory’s left and took a deep breath, biting the inside of my cheek so I didn’t cry out when I used my upper body to mount her.
Once I was securely in the saddle, I pushed Glory forward and we made our way around the arena a few times.
“So, Madi,” Tom shouted from his place in the center of the arena. “What do you think of the new kid?”
“He seems all right. I only just met him, though.”
Almost as if his ears were burning, Jensen appeared, looking disheveled from an hour of hard labor. His shirt was dusted with dirt, his biceps were glistening and straining beneath the bale of hay he was carrying toward the barn, and his brown hair was falling over his forehead.
From previous experience, I knew that too much time ogling him while on a horse never ended well. I returned my focus to Glory and her training.
“Okay, move her into a trot, Madi.”
I gave Glory a light squeeze, and she hopped slightly before pacing her gait. I started to post, but the up and down movements proved to be too much. So, I pressed my seat into the saddle and tried to sit through it; that seemed even worse. My balance was uneven as I tried to mask my pain, and before I knew it, Glory got confused and just stopped. Because I wasn’t expecting it, I fell to the left and landed on the ground in a heap. I saw nothing but blinding white light behind my clenched eyelids as pain tore its way up my body.
“Madison?” Tom’s panicked voice called out. Dirt hit my hands as he skidded to a stop next to me. He placed his hand on my back as I rolled onto my right side and curled up into the fetal position. “Are you okay?”
I shook my head in the dirt and felt the hot tears fall from my eyes. “N-no.”
Suddenly there was a shout from farther away. “Damn it!” More arena dirt dusted up around me, and tentative hands ghosted over my throbbing ribs. “Go get Wayne!” Jensen commanded.
I felt Jensen’s body shift above me, and he leaned in close to speak softly in my ear. “Madison, can you get up?”
“I don’t … I don’t know,” I managed to respond.
“Try? I’ll help.” I wanted his soft, velvety voice to comfort me and make the pain stop. It didn’t.
I nodded slowly, the dirt rubbing against my face, and I felt Jensen slip an arm under me. “Ow! Ow!” I cried, fresh tears falling from my eyes. “I—I think I broke something. I can’t …” I gasped for a breath. Razor blades shot through my rib cage and lungs. “I can’t breathe.”
Jensen cursed under his breath and continued to help me up. I sucked in another sharp breath as he helped me stand. The pain was excruciating, and I couldn’t stand up straight.
“There you go,” Jensen said in a proud-parent tone. “Will you let me take you to the doctor now?”
Slowly, and with a whimper, I opened my eyes and nodded. Jensen wrapped a hand tenderly around my waist and helped me walk. As we reached the gate, Dad and Tom came running.
“I’m going to take her to the hospital … if that’s all right with you, sir?” Jensen inquired.
Dad agreed quickly, reaching into his pocket and tossing Jensen the keys to his new truck. “Yeah, of course. Madi, honey? Are you okay?”
“I’m not entirely sure. I’ll call when we know what’s going on.” My voice was weak, and I only hoped it came across as reassuring. I had to keep my breaths short. If I breathed too deeply, it caused the pain to worsen.
Jensen walked me toward the truck, helping me up into it before trying to fasten my seatbelt for me. I know he was just trying to be helpful, but I hated feeling helpless. He closed my door and ran around to the driver’s side. We peeled out onto the highway and headed for town. Jensen was definitely speeding. My father wouldn’t be too pleased.
“How bad is it?” he asked, glancing at me briefly.
With a controlled breath, I dropped my gaze to my hands and lied. “It’s not so bad anymore.”
“I thought we established last night that you’re a terrible liar.” There was a slight inflection in his voice that told me, without having to look, that he was smirking.
“Oh, right. On a scale of one to ten?” I saw Jensen nod once through my periphery. “Well over ten. I think I cracked a rib.”
Obviously frustrated, Jensen ran his fingers through his hair. “I told you to be careful.”
His words affected me deeply. It wasn’t like I meant for this to happen; I honestly
thought I would be okay on Glory. The fact that I was in pain and frustrated with my own clumsiness didn’t help me remain level-headed. I found myself suddenly annoyed with him being so … controlling—even if it was borne out of his concern. My eyebrows knit together and I glared up at him. “It’s my job. I not like I intended for this to happen,” I snapped.
With a sigh, Jensen’s clenched jaw relaxed, and he looked at me. His eyes were no longer dark and afraid, but light and apologetic. “I know. It’s just …” He trailed off before deciding not to finish that thought. “Never mind. That’s not important. What’s important is we get you taken care of now.”
Jensen’s total disregard for the posted speed limits resulted in us getting to the hospital in half the time. He parked as close to the doors as he could before running around to my side to help me out. Every movement caused me immense pain, and I bit my lip to keep from crying out.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered as he helped me stand up straight. He took his place by my side and wrapped his hand around my waist, leading me into the building.
We walked up to the admittance desk, and when the receptionist looked up at us, she smiled. “Why, Jensen! How nice to see you again.”
His smile was warm, but rushed as he held me upright. “It’s nice to see you, too, Mrs. Johnston. I wish we could stay and chat, but my friend here is terribly hurt, and we need to see my mother if she’s available.” In response to his request, she nodded before picking up her telephone and punching in a series of numbers.
“Do you want to sit?” Jensen asked as he led me toward the row of seats in the waiting area.
“Um … I don’t know that I’d be able to stand up again without wanting to die.” With an understanding nod, Jensen remained by my side as we waited. It didn’t take long before the doors to the elevator opened and a blonde woman in a white doctor’s coat stepped out.
“Jensen? Sweetheart, what’s going on?” The woman approached, and the closer she got, the more I could see the similarities.
“Mom, this is Wayne’s daughter, Madison. She had an accident on her horse, and she thinks she might have broken something,” Jensen explained as his mother ushered us away from the waiting room and through a corridor until we were in an exam room. Jensen helped me up onto the table, and I inhaled sharply as I sat.
“Sorry,” he whispered, his fingers sliding along the exposed skin of my lower back as he removed his arm from around me.
“So you’re Wayne Landry’s daughter.” I nodded in response, still unable to really focus on anything besides the pain. “I’m Dr. Davis. But you can call me Marie.” There was a brief pause before she continued. “Jensen says he works with you?”
“For,” I managed to say. “Jensen works for me.”
Jensen chuckled from beside me. “And here I thought we’d made nice. I guess I shouldn’t complain, though; it would appear you haven’t lost your spark.”
“All right, Madison. Where does it hurt, honey?” Dr. Davis asked, ignoring our banter.
Indicating to my left side, I spoke. “My ribs.”
“Can I get you to lift your shirt so I can get a closer look?” I lifted my shirt and watched her blue eyes go wide. “And where does the bruising start and end?” she asked.
“Um, it starts about here,” I said, indicating to just beside my breast. “And ends about here.” I pointed to the side of my upper thigh.
She didn’t say anything more as she looked at my ribs. The bruising wasn’t any darker; in fact, it had lightened some in the last day and a half.
Dr. Davis’s hands reached out and touched my ribs gently. Of course, the pain that shot through my body suggested that maybe she hit me. With a sledgehammer.
“Ungh!” I cried out, my eyes clenching shut as my hand shot over and gripped Jensen’s. The pain was so excruciating, I hadn’t even realize I’d done it until Jensen laced his fingers through mine and started stroking the back of my hand with his thumb. It was calming.
Jensen’s mother sighed. “Madison, I’m afraid I’m going to have to run some x-rays. Until then, I won’t know what we’re dealing with. I’m going to give you a shot of morphine to take the edge off until we know what we’re dealing with.”
Needles skeeved me out most days, but I was quickly on board if it meant I could breathe again. Jensen helped me lower my shirt, which should have been weird, but because he refused to release my hand, it wasn’t. He then helped me down from the table, and we followed his mother to proceed with my x-rays.
It was a good thing I had been put into a wheelchair. The morphine kicked in on our way to the room where they kept the giant machine, making me feel hazy and loopy. Jensen stayed with me the entire time, only leaving once I was secure on the table to get scanned.
Once they were done, we were escorted back to our previous exam room to wait on the scans. After helping me back up onto the table, I started to wobble. I wanted to lie down.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Jensen whispered as I started to lower myself onto the table. He hopped up next to me and sidled up to my right side, draping his arm behind me. I could feel his hand lightly brush my ass as he braced himself on the table.
I moaned softly, leaning to the side and resting my head on his shoulder. He removed his arm from behind me and began running his fingers through my hair.
“S’nice,” I told him, my words mumbled from my current high and my scalp tingling.
“How are you feeling?” he breathed, his lips brushing the top of my head, sending a shiver through me.
I snuggled in a little deeper. “So good.”
“Good,” he responded. This time his lips touched down on the top of my head, and I smiled before allowing my eyes to close.
I don’t know how long we sat like that—probably a couple hours at least—but my eyes flew open, and my head snapped up when the door opened. In strolled Dr. Davis with my chart and printed scans.
It would appear that having Jensen around might be good for more than just the obvious reasons. His mom had major pull at the hospital. Score. I rolled my eyes at my high self as Jensen’s mom slid the scans onto the board and turned the backlight on.
Jensen offered me a comforting smile, and I shifted my body to sit up straight. I hissed in pain when I realized the morphine was starting to wear off.
“You okay?” Jensen asked, his left hand resting against the small of my back.
“It hurts again, is all,” I said quietly, trying not to make it sound as bad as it was.
Dr. Davis turned to me. “The morphine is likely wearing off. I can give you another shot to tide you over until you can pick up your prescription.” She turned back to my scans and started pointing at them. “Well, it appears as though everything is going to be fine. There are small cracks in two of your floating ribs. They’ll probably take three to six weeks to heal correctly. However, there are a few things you can do to help the process along.”
“Yeah, anything,” I interjected.
“Well, the first thing is to get plenty of rest. Which means no riding or physical labor at all. Move as minimally as possible.” Jensen shot me a sideways smirk, and I glared evilly at him. “Heat therapy is also known to help. Do you have a heating pad?” I shook my head.
“We’ll stop and pick one up,” Jensen said, resting his hand on my thigh briefly.
His mom nodded. “Good, good. Also, eating a well balanced diet can help.”
“Okay, yeah. I’ll do all of those things.”
“Good to hear. Now, I’m going to prescribe something for pain management. Vicodin and Oxycontin have the highest success rates for managing this level of pain,” she continued to explain.
“Aren’t …” I turned to look at Jensen before returning my eyes to Dr. Davis. “Aren’t they addictive?”
“They can be. If you’re not careful; but with the level of pain you’re experiencing you’d be best to consider them.”
“Okay,” I said quietly. After Dr. Davis gave me another shot of mo
rphine and handed me my prescription for Oxycontin, Jensen assisted me down off the table and allowed me to use him to lean on as we made our way for the exit.
“So,” Dr. Davis said as she walked with Jensen and me to the front door. “Take the painkillers I prescribed no more than three times a day. Call if you need anything.”
I didn’t get a chance to agree, or even argue, for that matter, because Jensen jumped in. “I’ll make sure of it. Thanks again, Mom.”
“Yes, thank you, Dr. Davis.” It wasn’t until I went to shake her hand that I realized Jensen was holding mine again. In fact, the only time he released it was when I was having my x-rays done—I didn’t even realize he’d taken it again. It felt so natural.
After hitting the pharmacy to fill my prescription and pick up my new heating pad, Jensen and I headed back to the ranch. The morphine hit me harder than the first time, and I started slurring my speech when I was on the phone with Dad.
Jensen swept the phone from my hand. I let my head loll back on the seat as the trees outside whirred by. I couldn’t make out much of what they were saying other than a few select words.
“Blah blah blah, cracked ribs,” Jensen said. There was a short pause before he continued. “Blah blah, morphine, blah blah, prescription filled. Blah blah, needs to rest.”
I was instantly bored with what he was saying, but liked the way he looked as he spoke. The way his strong jaw moved. There was also the way his eyes lit up when he turned to look at me. I shifted in my seat until I was almost directly facing him—not an easy task while buckled. I did try to remedy that, but Jensen quickly hung up the phone and snapped his hand over mine to stop me from releasing my seat belt.
“That’s not a good idea, Landry.”
“Boo,” I pouted, jutting my bottom lip out. “You’re too safe.”
Jensen chuckled, his eyes sparkling as his smile reached them. Not literally—at least I hoped not. Man, I’m so high.
“I guess that’s one of the reasons I’m still in one piece,” Jensen teased, pulling the truck to a stop outside the house. “Feeling better?”
“Mmm hmmm,” I hummed, my head falling to the left to look at him. Even through the haze the painkillers caused, I noticed that he was gorgeous. “Mmm, you’re pretty, huh?”