Page 58 of Forever After All

Jess was on Thunder’s wounded side, and he wasn’t happy. Thea led Lightning around Thunder’s other side, giving him a wide berth.

Dividing only made Thunder’s panic rise. He jerked his head back and forth, trying to watch both sides.

“Easy, boy.” Jess backed up until they were well off the trail. Checking over her shoulder, she moved around to Thunder’s front.

Once he stopped crowding her back, she backed up to give him an extra few feet of space.

Thunder stopped, but his head continued to jerk to one side and the other.

“Jess!”

Thea’s shout came too late. Jess’s heel caught on something hard behind her, and she released the lead as she fell. She hit the ground hard, jabbing something into her left side just before a sharp pain burst in the back of her head. She gasped at the stabbing in her side, but the punch to her head had the air stalling in her throat.

“Jess!”

She rolled to her right side and tried to breathe. A cold sweat tingled over her shoulders and down her back. The edges of her vision turned black, and a heavy exhaustion weighed her down.

Thea slid to the ground beside her. “Jess, talk to me. Oh, shoot. You’re bleeding.”

Jess braced herself on one hand and tried to push up.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Thea said. “I’m calling someone.”

Bile rose in Jess’s throat, and panic wasn’t far behind. She couldn’t afford an injury right now.

“Hey, Jess is injured. How fast can you get to the mouth of the Thunder Creek Trail?”

Chapter17

Jess

Jess heard Thea’s words, but they were distant and muffled. She rested back down on the ground and fought the nausea. No, no, no. She didn’t want this. Fighting to push away reality, she silently prayed.

God, please let this be nothing. I need to get up. I have things to do. I have responsibilities.

“Jameson is on his way,” Thea said. “Oh, you’re bleeding pretty bad.”

“The horses,” Jess said as the dizziness subsided enough to think. She didn’t want to ask about the blood. She didn’t have a problem patching someone else’s wounds or tending to the horses, but seeing her own blood always made her sick to her stomach.

“Got ‘em.”

A few deep breaths told her she probably had a few ribs bruised or broken, and she likely had a concussion too.

By the time the engine roaring reached her, Jess had opened her eyes and sat up. She turned her head to the side and rested her temple against a tree.

Boots hit the ground as Jess opened her eyes. Instead of Jameson, Linc was running toward her. He slid to his knees beside her and gently rested a hand on the side of her head.

“Jess, talk to me.”

“I’m not suddenly mute. I can talk.” Though, she wasn’t ready to admit that her jaw was heavy and every breath sent a stinging and constant pain to her side.

Linc lifted his hand from her hair, and the color drained from his face. His palm was splotched with blood. “Jameson!”

“I’m here.” Jameson crouched on Jess’s other side with a bag. He started pulling things out and ripping plastic.

“What happened?” Linc asked quietly.

“Thunder,” Jess said. She meant the word to come out sounding comical, but the humor fell flat.

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