Page 118 of Rainbow Rodeo

“I’ll tell the guys what’s up, Tank. No worries.” Buick took off on a run.

“Should I call Pops?” Deb asked.

“Yeah. Tell him to watch the babies. Tell him someone’s fixin’ to die tonight and it ain’t going to be a Jakoby.”

“Keep me posted.” Deb was pale but composed. Rodeo people understood disasters.

“Always.” Dustin turned to the EMT. “Drive. Shut the fucking doors and drive. Now.”

“Let’s go, Beau!” The kid slammed shut the doors, jerking his head to a bench seat that Tank and Dustin would both fit on. “I need you out of the way.”

They moved as one man, their fingers twining together as they both stared at the most important person in their lives. The EMT hooked Dalton up to a blood pressure cuff and some kind of electrodes, and things began to boop and beep.

Then the guy started calling things out to the driver. “Call it in, Beau. We got a stab wound to the rib cage. Possible punctured lung. They need to be ready for him.”

“You’re going to be okay, Dee. I’m going to make that motherfucker pay. Do you hear me? I’ll stake his dick into a fire ant hill and watch him squirm.”

“Dustin.” Tank snapped it out, but he couldn’t help it. “Not now.” No threats where there was a witness.

Dustin turned on him, and for a second the youngest Jakoby twin was just a terrified boy worried he was fixin’ to lose his big brother.

Tank squeezed his hand. “He’s going to make it and be fine. We ain’t giving him a choice.”

“Of course he is. He has to be. Has to.”

“Yep. You hear that, Dalton? Dustin is talking to you.” Tank was just as terrified. Dalton was so gray and still.

“Y’all are twins, huh? You can donate blood if you need to, then. Good. That’s good.”

“I can donate anything he needs.” Dustin stared at Dalton as if willing him to be okay.

It fucking broke Tank’s heart to see, and his heart was damn shaky on his own behalf right now.

“His BP is falling. Get a move on, man.” The EMT bent to Dalton. “Stay with me. Can you open your eyes?”

Chips of blue ice appeared, Dalton just cracking his eyes open. His lips moved, but nothing came out but blood.

“Good. Hang in there, man. Your people are right here, just a few feet away.”

“That’s right. I got Tank here. You don’t want me to steal him, you’d best stay with me.”

Tank laughed, the sound more of a croak than anything. “I got your back, Dalton. All the time. You stay with us.”

Dalton tilted his head, searching for them, hunting them.

“Right here.” Tank scooted a few inches so Dalton could see him. He didn’t dare get in the way of all those tubes and stuff. “Right here, cowboy. I got your back. Just stay with me.”

Dalton nodded, blinking like a sun-warmed lizard.

Dustin made a low noise, one that ripped at his gut. Still, Dalton was hanging on, and they were pulling up at the emergency room.

The guys zoomed Dalton in, and then Dustin had to answer a zillion medical questions from blood type to previous injuries to allergies. By the time they were done with that, there had to be two hundred texts and phone calls to deal with. Maybe three hundred.

Tank called Buick to check in on his guys once he’d helped Dustin text all of the family.

“What do you need?” That was the first thing out of Buick’s mouth.

“How are the bullfighters?”

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