“It’d be best not to move too much until the doctor can come in to see you. Lucky for you, we have an orthopedic surgeon on staff.”
“Orthopedic—” Jacob tensed and his eyes went wide. His hands shook as he reached for the collar around his neck again. “Did I break my neck? Am I paralyzed? Will I be able to walk?” Questions flew from his mouth in torrents. This couldn’t be how it ended. He wasn’t supposed to go down like this. “I’m supposed to compete in the National Rodeo Finals in December.”
The pregnant pause that filled the air made Jacob’s stomach swoop then land with a sickening thud.
“Someone tell me what’s going on. I can’t—” He tried to sit up again but once more he was pushed down.
“I don’t want to have to restrain you, but until you get the answers you’re needing, you really shouldn’t move.”
“Then give me the answers,” Jacob snapped. “Tell me what I’m dealing with so I can?—”
“Wonderful, you’re up.” It was a female voice this time, but Jacob still couldn’t look around the room with the way they’d situated him in bed.
“Sebastian, will you please adjust his bed?”
There was the sound of movement and shuffling then Sebastian must have found a remote on his bed because a whirring sounded and the head of the bed slowly rose, bringing into view a tall woman who looked to be in her late thirties. She smiled at him and pulled a rolling stool to the edge of the bed. “Mr. Hines, I’m Dr. Smith.” She turned to her tablet and tapped on the screen. “It appears you took a nasty fall.”
“I was charged by a bull and knocked to my?—”
Sebastian cleared his throat and Jacob snapped his mouth shut.
The doctor nodded. “Yes, I see that in the notes. We took the liberty of getting x-rays while you were out to assess the damage. I believe you were in shock. You have several injuries. Dislocated ribs, a concussion, a fractured fibula, and a simple compression fracture in your cervical spine.”
The blood drained from his face. He knew that men got hurt all the time from being knocked to the ground by a bull, but this seemed excessive. His mouth went dry and all the questions he’d shouted at the nurse before seemed to fade in his mind. He didn’t know if he wanted to find out just how bad off he was. He’d had a dislocated rib a time or too. Heck, he’d even suffered through a concussion.
But the cervical fracture scared the life out of him.
He didn’t dare move now. If the nurse had just told him up front what he was dealing with, he wouldn’t have tried to move that second time.
The doctor looked at him expectantly. The smile on her face didn’t match the mood in the room whatsoever. Jacob wanted to rant and rage. He wanted to throw things. He needed answers, but he was too scared to ask.
What did this mean for him? For his career?
“Do you have any questions?” the doctor pressed.
A low chuckle came from Sebastian and Jacob wanted to shoot him a death glare but there was no hope in moving his neck at this point. “He had plenty when he woke up.”
Dr. Smith reached forward and took his hand, squeezing it gently. “How about I give you a few minutes. I’ll come back and we can discuss my suggestion for treatment and any concerns you might have.” With that, she rose and left the room.
“Do you have anyone I can call?” Sebastian asked when he came over to check Jacob’s blood pressure.
“No,” Jacob whispered. He wasn’t about to call his brother over this. Ryker would probably just get mad at him for putting himself in danger. He had the overbearing parenting down to a science even though they were only brothers.
“There’s someone here to see you, can I send them in?”
Jacob sighed. “Yeah, I guess.” But then he realized his mistake. The only person who would know he was here was Hallie and he wasn’t up for seeing her right now. He opened his mouth to tell the nurse he’d changed his mind, but Sebastian was already gone.
Dang it all!
Closing his eyes, he willed the anger and anxiety to leave him. There was nothing he could do right now. Not until he got a handle on what he was dealing with. He should have just asked the doctor the hard questions when he’d had a chance. Rip off the proverbial Band-Aid as it were.
The door opened and his eyes shifted that direction. Sure enough, Hallie inched into the room. She gasped the second their eyes locked. Then tears spilled down her cheeks and she rushed to his side. “Oh my gosh, Jake! Are you okay?”
He gritted his teeth, holding back the vitriol he wanted to throw at her. There was a part of him that wanted to blame her for his circumstances. If she hadn’t been out in the middle of a field with a known monster, then none of this would have happened.
But just one look at her tear-stained cheeks and he knew he couldn’t put that kind of blame on her. She was likely beating herself up over this whole thing already.
So he remained quiet.
