Page 106 of On the Wild Side

“This is Dr. Stephens calling from Cody, Wyoming. I have some bad news about Brady.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

BRADY

I’ve never been so fucking pissed off in my life.

I can hear the goddamn doctor talking to Abbi, and if I wasn’t seeing two of him, I’d punch him in the mouth.

“Give me the phone,” I growl.

“As his emergency contact,” he continues, as if I didn’t say anything at all, “I need to let you know that Brady’s suffered an injury. He has a concussion, and he separated his shoulder again.”

“Let me fucking talk to her,” I say, louder this time. Jesus, I didn’t even have time to tell her that I added her as my emergency contact. And this phone call is going to scare the fuck out of her. “Doc, I swear to God, if you don’t hand me that phone…”

“Yes, he’s going to be fine,” he says, not looking at me.

“Calm down,” Dan, a fellow rider, says. He’s standing next to me, and I glare up at him. “You know this is how they do it. If you didn’t want her called, you shouldn’t have listed her as the fucking emergency contact.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t plan on getting hurt.”

Dan scoffs at that. Weallget hurt, all the time.

But I forgot to tell her, and that makes me feel like a son of a bitch.

Finally, the doctor hangs up the phone.

“You didn’t letmetalk to her.” But my phone rings with an incoming FaceTime call, and I immediately answer. “Baby, I’m okay.”

“Brady?” Her eyes are wide with worry and fear. “My God, are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, I’m going to be just fine,” I tell her. Sure, it hurts like hell now, and I feel like I’m going to throw up, but I’ll heal from this.

I always do.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you that I added you as my emergency contact. It totally slipped my mind.”

“It’s okay,” she assures me, holding the phone close to her, as if she wants to wrap her arms around me and hold on.

Not gonna lie, I could use that right now.

After I’m done throwing up.

“Hey, don’t scare her like that.” My sister nudges her way onto the screen. “You gonna live, big brother?”

“Looks that way, but I can’t fly home.” I wince as the nausea rolls through me. “Not with a concussion.”

“I’m coming to get you,” Abbi announces. “I’ll leave right now. Millie, you stay with Daisy.”

“You can’t,” Millie interrupts her. “Honey, you haveso muchto take care of for work, remember? The shittastic day you just had?”

Abbi sighs and closes her eyes. What shittastic day? What the fuck happened at home while I was gone, getting pulverized by a pissed-off bull?

“You stay here,” Millie continues, “and I’ll leave right now to get him. He’s eight hours away, so if I leave now, I’ll be there by morning.”

“I don’t want you driving overnight by yourself,” I tell her, getting her attention. “Mill, call one of the brothers and have them come with you.”

“I’ll take care of it,” she tells me. “Don’t worry about me. Go find a soft spot somewhere and start recovering. Send me the address of where you are, and I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

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