Page 74 of His Fresh Start Cowboy
Brand stared up at him, his face too pale, eyes unfocused. He seemed uncertain of where he was or what had happened, and Hugo wasn’t entirely sure, either. The only thing he knew was Brand was stabbed and bleeding, and Hugo needed to do something.
A man dropped to his knees across from Hugo and prodded Brand’s abdomen. When Hugo shoved at his questing fingers, the man said, “It’s okay, I’m a nurse. I can help him.”
None of that made any real sense until Hugo got a better look at the man’s face. The coffee delivery roommate from the night Hugo had been arrested. Jo-something, he didn’t remember. The nurse yanked his own shirt off and wound it around the edges of the bottle, where Brand’s belly oozed blood.
Someone else was nearby and talking on a cell phone, but Hugo didn’t pay attention to who. All he could do was hold Brand’s hand and stay present, willing Brand to be okay. To breathe and focus and be fucking okay.
“An ambulance is on the way,” the other voice said. Hugo finally looked up. Right at Sheriff McBride. Had the pair been at the Roost together? Just passing by? Hugo honestly didn’t care, he was simply grateful for the help. “What happened?”
“Buck attacked me first.” Hugo couldn’t properly explain the encounter with Brand watching him so helplessly he kind of wanted to cry. “He threatened me with that busted bottle. Brand got in the middle. Buck stabbed him.”
“Are you wounded?” the nurse asked. “You’ve got blood on you.”
“My hand.” And his hand would heal just fine. “I’m okay, just help Brand, please.”
“An ambulance is coming, you sit tight. Talk to your friend.” The nurse checked Brand’s pulse while keeping steady pressure around the stab wound.
Hugo couldn’t look at it, terrified of what that jagged glass might have done to Brand’s insides. And all for Hugo. “You saved me, you big hero,” Hugo whispered. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Sure did.” Brand grimaced, the hand in Hugo’s squeezing tight. “Never gonna let that bastard hurt you again. Promised.”
“What are you even doing here?”
“Talked to Ramie after fireworks. Said you’d parked here. Took a chance. Missed you.”
“Me, too. Right now, you just focus on getting better. The rest will sort itself out.”
“Okay.”
They’d amassed quite a few gawkers. McBride had rolled Buck onto his side and handcuffed him, and Buck seemed to be waking up. People whispered among themselves but Hugo didn’t care. All he could do was sit there and hold Brand’s hand, silently praying he was going to be all right.
The ambulance seemed to take forever to arrive. The nurse moved away, giving the paramedics room to do their thing. Then the nurse gently urged Hugo to the side. “They’ll take care of him,” he said. “Let them work.”
“I want to go with him. To the hospital.”
“Of course.”
“I’ll need an official statement from you, Mr. Turner,” McBride said. “But I think it can wait until morning.”
“Thank you, sir.” Hugo hated being grateful to the man for anything, but he’d have had a fit if anyone tried to separate him from Brand right now. And the sheriff seemed to believe Hugo’s version of the fight. “Buck attacked me with no provocation, assaulted me, and he practically admitted to planting Elmer’s coins in my trailer to set me up.”
McBride quirked an eyebrow. “Interesting. I’ll be sure to ask Mr. Archer about that when he isn’t quite so stunned stupid and drunk. He’ll definitely be spending the night in my holding cell.”
“Good.” He was a fucking menace and needed to be off the street.
Hugo didn’t even think to call Brand’s dad until they were in the ambulance, tearing down the highway toward the county hospital. He called Wayne’s cell first, unsure if the family would be home yet or not, and Wayne picked up after only a few rings. Hugo tried to explain what had happened, but he kept choking on the words, his eyes stinging and throat closing. Wayne seemed to get the gist of it, though, and promised to meet him in the emergency room.
The ER was quiet when they arrived and then Brand was lost to him. A kind nurse took Hugo to a sink so he could wash his bloody hands. She applied a bandage to his middle finger, which had the worst cut, and then gave him an ice pack for his bruised knuckles. He paced the waiting room, unable to settle. Someone came out and said they were taking Brand up to surgery to repair something, he wasn’t entirely sure. His brain was a mess of static, but he did remember where they said to go to wait.
Wayne, Rose, Rem, Leann, and Sage all stormed the waiting room as a family—maybe they’d all been together for the fireworks?—and Hugo let Rose hug him. Sage looked like she’d been crying, but everyone else seemed ready to do battle on Brand’s behalf. But there was no enemy to fight here, only a lot of time to wait.
He tried to explain the fight more fully as their unit moved to the surgical waiting room. His own part in goading Buck, Buck attacking him, then threatening him with the broken bottle. Brand coming to his rescue. The sheriff and the nurse helping.
“Josiah Sheridan,” Wayne said. “He’s one of those traveling caregivers. Helped nurse Mrs. Haggerty last fall when she busted her hip. He’s good people.”
“I’m just glad he was there tonight.” Hugo needed to thank him personally at some point. After he found out Brand was okay. “I’m so sorry Brand was hurt. I never wanted him to get hurt because of me.”
“He got hurt because he cares about you.” Wayne’s words were conversational, rather than accusatory, and it gave Hugo a sliver of hope that he might come around to the idea of Brand being bi. And with Hugo. Only a sliver, though, because the poor man might simply be in shock and not thinking clearly. Then Wayne shocked the hell out of him by adding, “You’re part of the family, Hugo.”
