AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Guess that’s all I can hope for.
* * *
A whole afternoon and half an evening later, my arm is stitched up, and my ankle is wrapped. Thankfully, it’s just a bad sprain, but he thinks I should stay off it for a week and let it fully heal. Little does he know, Momma didn’t raise no pussy. I’ll be back on it in no time, I’m sure.
The stitches have to be looked at in a week to make sure everything is healing correctly. I got IV antibiotics and some to take for the next week to make sure nothing gets infected. The best part, though? The pain meds he prescribed me. I cannot wait to get home and take some of those bad boys.
I insisted on paying at least for some of the visit, but the doctor was Katherine’s friend, and he promised he was fine with treating this until my insurance kicked in.
The nurse wheels me out to the loading zone, where Katherine is waiting in her car. Except that’s not her car, and that is definitely not Katherine standing next to it. Motherfucking fuck.
“No,” I say, standing up out of the wheelchair.
“Poppy,” he says in a warning tone.
“Can you call me a cab, please?” I use my best sugary voice. The nurse looks from me to Rhett and then back again.
“Thank you, Josie. We’ll be fine from here.”
“No we most certainly will not,” I tell her, refusing to look back at Rhett. “Can you please call me a cab? Take pity on me, Josie. Would you want to get in that truck with that grumpy asshole?”
Her cheeks blush a bright red, and when she looks back at him, she looks like she’s debating that answer a little too hard. Of course she would want to get in the truck with him. Look at him.
Christ’s sake, Josie. Way to let me down.
“Come on, poppyseed.” Suddenly, he’s right beside me, lifting me into his arms like I can’t walk.
“You and your brothers need to stop picking me up. I can walk just fine, thank you.”
“Do you ever shut up?” he asks and then shuts the mother-loving door in my face.
“Excuse me?” I ask as he climbs in on his side. “God, get fucked, Rhett Black.”
“I’d love to, Poppy. You offerin’?”
I go silent. If he’s going to have a comeback for every little thing I say, maybe it’ll shut him up if I shut up.
“Thank you for saving my baby girl today,” he says quietly. “Wells told me what happened, that she was runnin’ after something and didn’t know that dog was out and about.”
“She didn’t,” I whisper, my emotions and exhaustion getting the better of me. “It’s not her fault. Or Wells’. It was just a freak accident.”
“Bound to happen on a ranch. Can’t count how many times my brothers and I got into trouble and wound up in this same hospital.”
I nod my head but continue to stare out the window, resting my forehead on the glass. I’m so freaking tired down to my damn bones. I just want to somehow take a shower and then climb into bed and sleep for twelve hours. The truck goes quiet while we drive home, and I drift in and out of sleep. But when we pass the first driveway and then turn onto a road a bit farther down, I perk up.
“Where are we going?”
“My house.” He states it like it should be the most obvious thing in the world.
“Why would we be going to your house?”
“Because you’re hurt, and I don’t like the idea of you alone in that house without any help. So you’ll come stay with us until you can walk properly, and the kids and I will help out.”
“You can’t just kidnap me, Rhett. You can’t just say we’re going to talk and spend time together and then completely avoid me for a week andstillexpect me to just accept your help like this.”
A noise comes out of his throat that sounds a lot like a growl mixed with a tired sigh. And I want to growl right back at him.
“Take me to my house. Wells or Hayes can come make sure I’m okay in the morning. I don’t need your help.”
