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“Don’t! Something’s not right. I think I broke it.”
“You broke your arm?” Ethan demanded.
He shook his head. “It’s my shoulder.”
“Are you sure it’s not dislocated?” Eli slipped from his saddle and hurried over. “We could try to pop it back in.”
Andrew shook his head again. “I’ve done that before. This is different.” He winced when he attempted to move his shoulder. “I need to go to the hospital.”
The blood drained from Ethan’s face. This was all his fault. “I’m so sorry. I thought all the horses were?—”
“It’s fine.” Andrew attempted a smile, but it looked more like a grimace. “As much as we try to train these horses to handle every single experience, we can’t guarantee that we do. We’ll keepworking with this one.” He turned to Eli. “But I need to get this checked out.”
“I’m coming with you,” Ethan insisted.
“Me too,” Jack muttered.
“We don’t all need to go. The women are going to be?—”
“Don’t you dare tell Julia,” Andrew barked. “She’s gonna kill me if she finds out I was knocked off the horse.”
“Well, what am I supposed to say?” Eli chuckled. “It’s part of the job, kid. She’ll figure out something happened when you don’t show up for breakfast.”
Andrew gritted his teeth. “Fine. But I don’t want her coming to the hospital. She’ll just worry.”
“What do you expect us to do? Lock her in the barn?” Bo’s strained laugh didn’t help him land the joke as well as he probably hoped, made even more clear when Andrew glared at him. “Just tell her… Geez, just tell her the horse threw me and I’m getting my arm looked at. Tell her I’m fine and this doesn’t change the fact that I’m a cowboy.”
A couple of the men exchanged grim smiles, but Ethan didn’t feel any better. They helped Andrew get back on the horse and rather than heading for the house, they went straight for the trucks. Ethan sat in the back seat while Jack drove and Andrew grunted every time they went over a bump.
As soon as Andrew was admitted, Ethan breathed out a heavy sigh. He couldn’t help but pace in the waiting area. He abandoned his hat on the chair beside Jack as he moved across the tile.
This was all his fault. It didn’t matter what Andrew said to make him feel better. He’d been in charge of preparing the new horses. Andrew had put his trust in him, and in the end, he’d gotten hurt.
Raking a shaking hand through his hair, Ethan tried to figure out what he could have done to prevent this so it didn’t happen again in the future. When a heavy hand landed on his shoulder, he jumped and spun around.
Jack stared at him with concern.
“I’m fine,” Ethan murmured. “Has Julia called?”
He shook his head. “I’m not sure. I would guess she would have called Andrew’s phone, though.”
Ethan nodded. He hadn’t heard from Becca, but then, why would he? It wasn’t like he’d been hurt. And Becca wasn’t his real girlfriend. Though, he couldn’t deny how much he wished he could hear her voice right at this moment.
“Ethan?”
He jumped again and glanced at his cousin.
“I wanted to talk to you about something. The accident… it’s a bit strange, don’t you think?”
Ethan felt his defenses shoot up. He’d apologized already. He’d admitted he knew he was at fault. Was Jack going to rub it in?
“I can’t explain it, but I have this feeling that the gate wasn’t left open by accident.”
Slowly, Ethan released a breath. “Yeah, I guess it’s a bit weird. Who was supposed to check it during rounds last night?”
“That’s just it. I checked it. And everything was secure.”
“Do you think someone came back and opened it on purpose?”
