Page 19 of His to Own

“Yeah, Birdie and Tully are right here. Do you need one of them?” Anything could happen, literally anything, and my mind always goes to the worst-case scenario. Do I have enough supplies? Is it going to be something I can handle? Will I need to have an ambulance on standby?

“Nope, only you. Now, I need you to sit down.” My knees buckle. “You sittin’ down?” he reiterates.

“Yeah.” My chair is within reaching distance, and my hand goes to the back as I lower myself. I can feel my skin turning clammy. This must be bad, so bad. My mind goes down the laundry list of what-ifs. When Lawson and Trey left earlier, it was to look at fencing, something Lawson does a lot. Especially once he’s tired of working behind the computer. And today, I could tell the ants in his pants were getting to him. Ghost likes to be ridden daily, and he lets you know the minute you walk into the stall. He was out in the pasture yesterday, but only for a small amount of exercise, so he still had a lot of energy built up like his owner.

“Alright, as soon as I let you know what happened, collect what you need and hand the phone to Birdie or Tully. You are not to get behind the wheel of a vehicle. I should call an ambulance, but your stubborn mule of a man won’t allow it.”

“Oh god, Trey, tell me now. What happened?” There’s a tremble in my voice, and I can’t even prepare my supplies because what the hell do I pack when I don’t know what’s going on?

“Renegade clipped him in the side. He’s got a nice little gash on his ribs, and his head took a nice little hit to the ground.” Everyone knows to stay away from that bull when he’s in a mood, Lawson more than anyone, so something bad must have happened for him to get in the middle.

“Jesus, is he awake? Pupils dilated? How bad is his bleeding?” I shoot off a litany of questions.

“He’s awake. Don’t know about his eyes. We’ve got some towels pressed on his side to help the gash. Now, toss the phone to one of the girls, sweet pea, okay?” I’m nodding as if he can see me. Words are hard. My throat is being choked with emotions. I can’t believe he wouldn’t let Trey take him in an ambulance. He hit his head. Who knows what grade concussion he has? X-rays will only do so much, and that’s about the extent I have available here.

“Here, it’s Trey. Lawson’s hurt and being a damn fool.” I toss the phone to Birdie. “Tallulah, will you grab my bag? I’m going to the supply closet to get what I need.” I’m a woman on a mission. How I’m holding it together and not falling apart is a shock even to me. Which means later today, when the dust has settled, I’m going to crash hard. I’ll still need to beat some sense into Lawson if the hit to the head didn’t do it for him.

“Birdie, tell Trey he’ll still probably need to go to the hospital, no matter what.” I come back out with a bundle of essentials—Band-Aids, gauze, sutures, glue, and a bunch of other shit I probably won’t need but am bringing regardless.

“Good luck. Lawson is worse than Lane and Dean combined in the stubborn department,” Tallulah follows up.

“Great, and he wants to give me all kinds of hell for throwing up as much as I did. At least I wasn’t wrestling a damn bull.”

“Are you ready? They’re not far. Apparently, Renegade wanted Amos Ellison’s heifers. Sienna was going after the dog, Trey was going after Sienna, and Amos had the dog, which left Lawson as the bait when Renegade thought they were taking his heifer away. I know, I know. Trey really gave me the whole story so you wouldn’t have to hear it over and over again. He’s a good guy, that brother-in-law of mine,” Birdie says. While on the phone, she managed to clean up the mess, scoot the chairs back, and listen to what Trey had to say. God, I love this family.

“Trey went after Sienna? Interesting. I didn’t think she was home,” I say.

“Neither did I,” Birdie and Tully reply at the same time.

“Tallulah, can you drive? My supplies are probably overkill, but just in case Lawson is being a dummy, I can use a tranquilizer to put his stubborn ass in an ambulance, or we can drive him there ourselves.” Obviously, this is a joke. I have sedatives of my own, but it helps ease the heaviness that’s trying to pull me under.

TWENTY-FOUR

LAWSON

“Damn it, Trey, I’m going to kick your ass. You think Juniper needs to be worrying over something as simple as this?” Dad pulled up at the right time, loaded Renegade up, and then helped get me in the truck, too. Though, he wasn’t moving me to the ranch, which is where he should have taken me. At least then Juniper wouldn’t have had to worry herself sick while loading all her medical equipment up, and I’m sure she was a ball of nerves the whole way over here. A lot of which could have been avoided. Fucking Trey.

“Suit yourself. You think I want Juniper coming after my ass? It’s clear you haven’t seen her with the tools of her trade. What are they called, scalpels, forceps, and a speculum?” He’s dead-ass serious. There's not even so much as a smile. Meanwhile, I’m having a hard time holding back my laughter.

“Dumbass, a speculum is for women when they have pap smears,” Juni says as she walks through the crowd, Tully and Birdie hot on her trail. Jesus, Amos is going to lose his shit with people coming in and out. He prefers to be left alone. Grumpy fucker.

“Hey, baby.” My hand touches hers. I’m currently sitting at the kitchen table, my elbow holding the towel in place to stop the bleeding.

“Don’t you baby me, Lawson Dwayne Johnson. Your ass should be at the hospital right now.” She is spitting mad. That’s okay. When we get home, I’ll apologize the way she likes, and then all will be well.

“Juni, he didn’t lose consciousness for more than thirty seconds. I’m pretty sure nothing could hit him that hard on the head to knock some sense into him.” Trey isn’t helping matters. I wish he’d shut the hell up.

“Trey, the more you talk, the longer she’s going to take,” Sienna states from the other side of the room. Amos is between them, and he’s looking back and forth between the pair. Damn, I almost hope my brother keeps talking, if only to see how this plays out.

“You must be Sienna. I’m Juniper. This shouldn’t take too long. I’d much rather he went to the hospital since he did fall.” Those grey eyes of hers leave me and turn lethal toward Trey. “Regardless of how stubborn this man might be, you still should have called an ambulance. I’m a nurse, not a doctor, and don’t even think about looking at Tallulah. I’ll borrow her castration tools just for you.”

Tully snickers. No way would I let my woman anywhere near my brother’s dick, joking or not.

“Come on, Trey, leave them alone. We’ll grab a beer. Russell, you want one?” Amos offers. Maybe he thinks the alcohol will keep Trey from digging his grave deeper. Highly doubtful. Juniper’s heart can’t handle seeing someone she loves hurt or upset. This is eating her up inside, and she’s having a hard time keeping it together.

“Sure, that’s not a bad idea,” Dad agrees. He looks at me, silently asking how I’m doing. I give him a slight nod, telling him in not so many words I’m good and to keep Mom away. I’m pretty sure she’d give Juniper a run for her money, or she’d jump in and join the fun on how to make me pay for not going to the hospital. He heads toward Amos, who's heading for the back porch where he has an outdoor fridge stocked to the brim with his favorite beer. Thankfully, Trey follows his path, but not before giving Sienna a long look. I watch as she blushes before looking away. Dear god, Trey is going to be on the other end of a shotgun if he’s not careful.

“Juni, we’re going to head back to the ranch and calm down the others before the news spreads like wildfire. Unless you need us?” Tully says.

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