Page 63 of Jump Back On

Never mind what would happen if J.D. didn't pull through this. I'd known a few guys who'd left their life on the dirt. I was well aware of how dangerous this sport was, and I was kicking myself for letting Cody even consider it. Still, she was doing it. She'd been doing it, and now that she was grown, I couldn't stop her none.

But if J.D. died, she'd need her daddy, and I'd made it real clear that my job didn't stop just because she was some big-name bull rider now. I didn't quit worrying about her because she was a few states away. No matter what, I had her back.

I was damned well going to take care of her. Plus, this was one thing I actually knew how to handle, and I wouldn't let her throw the rest of her event out the window. I was pretty sure J.D. wouldn't want her do that either.

Beside me, Gerardo was speaking Spanish so fast I couldn't even keep up. He was also nodding. Luis, being fluent, seemed to have a much better idea of what was going on, so he pointed to the far end of my trailer.

"Dean, pack. My brother's gonna fly you into Des Moines. You'll have to rent a car, get an Uber, or whatever, but we can get you to Des Moines, so pack!"

I nodded, my brain still not kicking in because the sight of my little girl had my feet glued to the spot. Thankfully, Marco didn't have much in the way of manners, because that kid gave me a shove, and once I was going, it was easy enough to keep going.

I headed to my bedroom, pulling out a bag and throwing shit in haphazardly. I'd need clothes. Toothbrush. Shoes. I'd have to take my meds or Cody would kick my ass. But when I went to grab those, I saw the photo album. I hesitated only for a second before cramming that in the bag too, and my wallet went in my back pocket.

Maybe it was the fastest packing job ever, but when my best friend and his sons said they'd make something happen, I wasn't about to fuck around. As I stepped back into the living room, Gerardo looked me over, nodded, and then pointed at the door.

"I'm taking you to the private air strip. Luis and Marco will close up the house. Call if you need anything, but you should be there in about two hours, give or take." He pushed me ahead, all but forcing me out my own front door. "That includes all the preflight and other stuff my boy has to do. Flight's only an hour."

"Thank you," I said, going where he nudged me. "Gerardo, you have no idea how much this means to me."

"Kinda do," he promised. "You got one kid. I've got five. I know what I'd do to take care of them, and they still have a mama to help. Cody's just got you. Go be her daddy, Dean. Even if she doesn't need you, that girl still kinda needs you."

"And I really need to be there for her," I admitted. "She's all I got left."

"Which is why we're getting you there," he promised. "Maybe her daddy needs a little help from his friends, but I promised you long ago that there aren't lines between us like that. I got your back, Dean."

"Thank you," I breathed, knowing it would never be enough.

Because this man really did have my back. Hell, he was the only reason I'd made it as far as I had. He'd taught me how to change a diaper, had listened when I'd bawled my eyes out, and had let me put this trailer here so I had one less thing to worry about.

He had my back, and right now, my little girl needed someone to have hers. I just hoped I could be half as good to her as Gerardo had been to me.

Chapter24

I hadno idea why Jake had shoved his nose into our crisis, but he was sitting behind the wheel of J.D.'s truck, driving it like he'd stolen it. Granted, it was late, and Des Moines wasn't really that big. Sure, it was big enough, but when everything was clustered up in the center, our trip to the hospital didn't take long at all.

When we got to the emergency room, Jake let Tanner and me out at the front, saying he'd park the truck. I heard him, but I didn't care. The truck had barely stopped moving before I was piling out. I'd managed to strip my chaps and vest off on the way over, but my spurs still clanked on my heels as I ran through the automatic doors. Tanner was right behind me.

"I'm looking for J.D. Adkins," I blurted out to the woman behind the first desk I saw. "He should've come in on an ambulance."

"And you are?" she asked, typing at her keyboard.

"Cody Jennings. I think I'm his emergency contact?"

"Ah, yeah." She nodded and then pointed off to the side. "He's in room seventeen."

"Seventeen," Tanner repeated, grabbing my hand and hauling me that way.

The clank of my spurs sounded so loud. It was worse than high heels on tile, especially in a place like this. Why had I forgotten to strip them off? Right, because I didn't know if my boyfriend was dying. But if he had a room, that meant it wasn't too bad, right?

Tanner spotted the right door and turned into the room. Together, we stopped hard. It was empty. No bed. No nothing. Sure, there was all the medical stuff around the edges, and I could see some dirt on the floor that looked the same color as the arena, but J.D. wasn't here.

Thankfully, we'd been spotted. A nurse peeked her head in, smiled, and then walked the rest of the way in. "Are you looking for someone?"

"J.D. Adkins," I said. "We were told this is his room."

She gestured to a pair of plastic chairs against the wall. "Well, he's been taken for some procedures."

"She's his emergency contact," Tanner told the nurse. "Cody Jennings?"

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