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The beast did not appear to want to give an inch to the trainer. I knew Bobby Allen could handle it, so I waited and watched. Besides, there wasn’t anywhere for me to go. I knew from the way the horse's body perked up that he understood I was to his rear.
Bobby Allen saw me, and his head shook one time very slowly, as if to tell me not to advance. I wanted to laugh because there was no way in hell I was going to try to step into his place.I had seen the work he did with these animals. He had a gift for rehabilitation, but it was also brutal at times.
Helping someone who has only known pain realize that pain isn’t coming any longer isn’t an easy task. Bobby Allen had a gift for it. He could do it with horses, and he apparently did it with Elton.
This horse didn’t seem to want to get on board. It had been stubborn from the start.
As I thought about the horse’s ornery nature, it moved with a speed that shouldn’t have been possible for an animal that size. It bucked and backed up. Then it fell back to the ground and its back leg kicked out.
It should have been fine. And it would have been fine had it not somehow shifted into just the right position to hit on me. The damn animal wasn’t even facing me and nailed me right below the knee.
I knew better than to fall to the ground. If I succumbed to the pain, then he would likely take my head next. I had to shift out of his path and let Bobby Allen get him wrangled.
Using my good leg, I stumbled back inside the barn. At least there, the horse would have to navigate around the stalls to get to me.
I collapsed against the stall door and to the ground. The pain in my leg was blooming and white hot. I had broken bones before. I knew right away that this was a pretty bad hit.
The horse threw a fuss outside. I could hear Bobby Allen shouting for someone else, though I wasn’t sure who. The pain had taken over all my thoughts. I couldn’t see or feel or hear anything else.
When a figure rushed in and kneeled before me, I almost flinched. I wasn’t prepared or paying attention.
“Baby! Fuck! How bad does it hurt? We’re gonna get you taken care of. They’re bringing the truck around now.” Coreytook my face in his hands and rubbed my cheeks. It was only as his fingers drew away wet that I realized I was crying.
The sound of squealing tires hit my ears. I turned my head to see the glow of red taillights backing up towards the stables. Then Harlan and Atticus were rushing over and reaching down to help me up. As I put weight down on the bad leg unconsciously, I screamed in agony. Each man went to take some of my weight so they could put me in the truck.
This was the hardest part about being a big guy. Everyone wanted to be big and have muscles. They wanted to intimidate others with their size, but what they never realized was that being the big guy had its disadvantages too. No one can easily lift me up and throw me over their shoulder to haul me off if I were in distress. I wasn’t some lightweight feather that could be tossed in the back of a truck and driven to the emergency room.
It took all three to help me. Once the door was shut, and I was secured inside, Corey ran around to the driver’s side. He and Atticus shared a few words, then we were peeling out of the stables and off the ranch.
“Hold tight for me, baby. We’re gonna get you taken care of.” He kept talking, his voice a nonstop cycle of praise for doing so well and promises that I would feel good as new as soon as we get to a doctor.
At some point along the way, I must’ve dozed off because next thing I knew, my door was opening, and I was being eased onto a stretcher. It seemed they were foregoing the wheelchair altogether and just get me in.
They shuffled me around quickly. Corey went to move the truck as I was raced down the hall. Someone was cutting my pants off as another person began to check my blood pressure. Questions were thrown my way about what happened. I only managed to say that a horse was involved when another flash of white-hot pain tore through me.
I glanced down to see a man’s hand on my leg. I almost yelled at him for it, but then I saw what he was touching. He had pulled my jeans apart and bumped into my bone.
Yeah, my bone.
“We need to get him into surgery.” One of the doctors above me said tersely. There was no sugarcoating it. The bone was sticking out. My body was broken.
I was wheeled into a room and dropped into the middle of a hurricane. People raced around the space grabbing tools and shouting orders. It was like the hallway magnified.
They moved me from the gurney onto an operating table, and then a mask was placed over my face. I was told to count backwards from one hundred. I had just said ninety-six when darkness enveloped me.
When I woke againhours later, I was in a bed and my leg was propped up in a contraption. My body felt blessedly numb, and I knew right away that there was a host of drugs moving through my system. The IV in my hand was a dead giveaway.
Turning my head, I saw Daddy asleep in the chair beside me. I admired his relaxed form. Although it wasn’t as relaxed as it usually was. I could see tension in the furrow of his brow and the way his jaw was clenched tight.
I hoped it wasn’t because of me.
His eyes popped open while I was watching him. He leaned forward quickly, his hand taking mine. Careful of the IV, he squeezed, as if to see if I would do it back. Of course, I did.
“What time is it?” I only knew that hours had passed because it was daylight out when they rushed me inside the hospital. Thepitch black greeting me from the window told me a lot of time had passed. The question was just how much time.
Daddy stared at me long and hard. “It’s late. The doctor said you would sleep the anesthesia off for a while. Surgery took a bit given all they had to do to your leg.”
“I’ll be able to walk again though?”
