Patty's Homecoming, page 24
part #1 of Montana Wranglers Series
Corbin was trying not to laugh, she could see it in his face. “He’s in Rambo mode. Wait until we’re on the road, he’ll crash again and be the whiney and whimpering male he should be. Especially given the fact that he’s still bleeding like a stuck pig.”
“Shut up, Corbin,” Blake said as they walked. He apparently knew just where they were heading, good thing too. She had no clue exactly where they’d left the truck they’d come in. “Call the sheriff and tell him if he does any damage to my truck I’ll take it out of his hide.”
“Sir, yes sir,” Corbin snapped out before snorting out a laugh.
Shaking her head in unbelievable shock, she simply followed after Blake. “Good lord. Well, when it comes time for you to lose Rambo mode make sure that you take it up with someone else, because seriously? I mean how the hell are you even moving?” So she was repeating herself, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. At all.
“Sheer will and determination, years of training and having done it a time or three,” Blake answered. He shot her a look. “What? Think this is truly my first time being shot?” Shaking his head, he clicked his tongue at her. “Just because I never mentioned it doesn’t mean it’s never happened.”
“Oh, I know. I’ve seen every single inch of your naked skin, Blake. I have seen the knife and bullet scars but I never dreamed I would see it in real life.” She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I can’t believe that you are still moving and you have been shot.”
“Mind over body. Push the pain back and force yourself to move. Much harder to put into practice than it is to say. But I wasn’t leaving you out there with that lunatic, especially since I knew just where he was taking you. Or rather, to whom he was taking you.” A squeeze of his hand to hers and he drew her closer to his side. “No one messes with our woman, ever.”
“Right.” She shook her head and just watched him. Tears then pricked her eyes. “I love you too, Blake,” she confessed, moving so that she could hug him, well hug him as carefully as she could with his injuries, that was.
“Shh,” he whispered, hugging her tight to him. “It will be fine. The truck’s just around these bushes. We will get out of here and to the hospital. They can stitch me up while they look you over. Then we can go home and sleep for a week. Minimum.”
“At least,” she whispered and shook her head. Good lord. She was going to kill this damn man when they were finally at a place where he wasn’t bleeding or hurting or whatnot. She looked to Corbin. Surely he would back her, right?
“Don’t look at me for his idiocy. Besides, he’s trained in more ways to kill someone than I know how to cook a pot roast. No way in hell am I going along with whatever is going through your head. I love you, Tisha, but no. I like my limbs attached just as they are thank you.” Corbin shook his head at her and opened the passenger door. “In, both of you, and fuck no, you are not driving.” He glowered at Blake. “In, now. We’re going to the damned hospital where you both will be admitted and looked after until a doctor determines you may be set loose back into society.”
“Gotcha. Okay, I will try to make sure to be the one to brain him for him being an idiot.” Looking back to Blake, she shook her head. “He’s staying until I damn well say he’s okay to come home,” Patty grumbled. “Except if Daddy is there, and then I’m going to let him out just so I can go home because Daddy scares the hell out of me when I’m in the hospital.”
Corbin looked at her as he slid behind the steering wheel. “Why does he scare you when you’re in the hospital?” he asked. He looked downright confused and so did Blake when she glanced his way. “I hear a story here.” He poked lightly as he stuck the key in the ignition and turned the truck on.
“Because he gets this look on his face and he suddenly looks old. I don’t like it. I won’t have it. No way in hell. I don’t want Daddy to get that look on his face if he has to see me in the hospital so let’s hope they don’t keep me. Blake, they can keep you because you need it, but not me.” Because to be honest she really and truly couldn’t handle the look from her daddy that she knew she would get.
“Why keep me? What did I do to you?” he asked, glaring down at her. “I’m perfectly fine, damn it. A couple of stitches, a bandage or three, and I’m good to roll.”
“Uh, yeah, somehow I do not see that happening,” Corbin said. Shaking his head, he got them moving forward. “They see that bullet wound and they are going to go ape shit on your ass. You’ll be having tests, maybe a little explorative surgery, x-rays and whatnot all while they try to drug you out of your mind.”
“They can’t drug me,” Blake said.
“What? Why…oh, right,” Corbin said and shook his head. “For a guy that’s allergic to nearly everything good out on the market you sure get wounded enough.”
“Oh dear God, seriously?” Patty rolled her eyes and instantly hated herself for it. Damn, her head hurt. Like crazy. Leaning her head back, she didn’t open her eyes again until they pulled up at the hospital.
“All right, injured folk out,” Corbin said.
“Go and park, then come find us. We’ll be in the walking-wounded section,” Blake commented. Opening the door, he slid out and turned to help her out of the truck. “Come on, love. Let’s go and see how fast we can turn this place on its ear.”
“Oh Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” Patty muttered but slipped her hand into Blake’s. “You do know that my father is going to have a fit, right? Not just because of me either. He’s going to have a fit because I am hurt but also because you have been freaking shot. I just really hope that the boys can keep him in line.” And then she saw not only her father, but her brothers, too. “Oh hell. Sorry Blake. I think that I’m going to fake fainting or something. Daddy called in my freaking brothers.” For the love of all that was holy! He called in her brothers. Damn. This was so bad.
“You fake it and you’ll be lucky if I catch you. So man up and do this with whatever dignity you can manage. Because I somehow doubt you need another bump on the head,” he said. Shutting the door, he pushed her toward the hospital doors. “One foot in front of the other, chin up, look confident and like you own the world. Maybe we can get inside before they lay into us.” Doubtful, but they could both hope.
“Yeah, keep telling yourself that, big boy,” she muttered and sighed. “Dammit to hell and back.” She could have maybe, maybe, dealt with her dad, but both her brothers as well? Yeah, so not happening. She was the baby of the freaking bunch and it was just not good at all. She knew that they had come from their homes in the bigger towns. Damn. “’Cause they will lay into you and coddle me. Dammit.”
“They were already on the way here, he didn’t call them in. That’s why he was having you come to the ranch, so you could be there when they arrived. I have no idea when they actually arrived. And I already know they’ll all lay into me, even though this wasn’t my fault. I will, again, take the entire blame for it, again. It’s the damn runaway horse all over again, I can see it in their faces,” he muttered as he pushed her to the doors and inside the ER.
“Oh God, don’t remind me about that,” Patty muttered. “That horse was not your fault but Billy-Joe Walterman’s fault. He was the one that dropped the firecracker under White’s hooves.” Plastering a smile on her face, she said, “Daddy, boys.” Damn, she felt like she was ten again and under the scrutiny of her big brothers, amazing men but ones that made her worry and fret like mad.
Her father looked her over up and down, looked to Blake and shook his head. “How the ever-loving hell are you still standing, boy?”
“Montana born and bred, if a horse kicking me in the groin can’t keep me down a little bullet definitely can’t.” Oh, she’d forgotten that incident. Apparently her brothers hadn’t and both flinched. Brendan even looked ill, his face getting a slight green tinge to it.
“Right.” Daniel shifted on his feet and swallowed hard. “Get checked out, both of you, when you’re cleared we will be having words. Where is Corbin?”
“Parking the truck,” Blake said. Grabbing her hand, he hustled past them to the nurse’s station, double time. Any reprieve from her brothers and father was a good thing.
She didn’t stop herself from all but running when he did. When they were both signed in, sharing an ER room thanks to the low growls that Blake was giving poor Doctor Cassidy, she shook her head. “Keep doing that, Blake, and she’s going to sew you up tighter than she typically would just because you are being a turkey. I mean it buster, calm down. You get worked on first.” Her head was flipping killing her. The lights were making her want to puke, but she needed him to be looked at first. He had been shot, for the love of God.
“They wanted to separate us,” he said, a bit of growl still in his voice. “Hell, no. Until I see for a fact that Trevino and his goons, along with that shit Trevor, are in jail with guards armed with bazookas, no one is separating us. And you get looked over first. I can irrigate and clean the wound myself. All she needs to do is stitch up the hole in my back, I can do the one in the front on my own.”
“Are you freaking kidding me?” Patty looked at Blake and shook her head. “Good lord you have lost your ever-damn-loving mind. This isn’t some macho-man contest. I’ve been beaten before, if you will recall. I will survive. You though, holy shit you have lost an assload of blood and have been shot.” Okay, so maybe she wasn’t playing nice when she began to cry, but he had been hurt. Hurt because of her. “You first. Dammit.”
“Okay, reminding me you’ve been beaten up before really is not smart given my current mood,” he said. “And tears are low, babe, even for you.” Sighing, he slid off his bed and came to her, wrapping his good arm around her shoulders. “Tish, please stop crying, you’ll only make your headache worse,” he said in a gentle tone.
“Of course you know my head is hurting.” She grumbled and pressed her face against his chest. “I love you, damn you Blake, but for the love of Pete you have been hurt. Badly. I mean, like whoa hurt. You’ve been shot,” she whispered and felt ill. “And now I think I’m going to puke.” She hated head injuries. They were a pain in the freaking ass.
His hand slid up to her neck and began to gently massage. “Close your eyes, take nice slow breaths and just enjoy the feeling. Let your mind empty and focus on the beating of my heart against your cheek. Don’t listen to the sound, just feel the rhythm, use it to guide your breaths. Four beats in and four out.”
“I’m trying.” She wrapped her arms loosely around him so as to hopefully not cause him more pain. “How are you still on your feet, Blake?” she asked with tears in her eyes. “You have lost so much blood. God, I’m so freaking worried about you,” she told him as she moved her hand slowly up and down his uninjured side.
“Because I am not going to leave you alone. The bleeding has mostly stopped. A couple bags of IV fluid, some crackers, maybe even a cookie and I’ll be fine.” His fingers kept up the slow, gentle massage of her neck as he held her to him. “I’m not going anywhere, Tish. Not now, not for a damned long time. You are stuck with me for the rest of our lives. Cor too, nothing could make either of us leave you before we are damn good and ready.”
“Well that’s a very good thing because I don’t think that I would ever survive it if you left me. I need you and Cor both in my life for the rest of forever. Not a single cotton-picking day less than that will work, dammit,” she muttered.
His laugh was soft. “Deal. Not a single cotton-picking day less.” He moved slightly and tipped her chin up so they were looking at one another. “I’m not dying on you, Tish. Promise. I’m right here, bloody, wounded but still going. And honestly, I only see two of you now, which tells me the blood loss has definitely slowed a lot.”
“Good. You need to be going, especially if we are going to have babies together one day. Just remember, when we do have kids you aren’t allowed to pass out or puke at diapers or birth or none of that with you being He-man GI Joe right now. I mean it, dammit.” She pushed him back to the bed and shook her head. “Lay down. Let Doc take care of you and while you are hooked up on IVs and stuff, Cor will be with me while I’m getting all x-rayed and all that fun stuff.”
“He better be,” he said. As he sat down, he watched her. “You know I love you right?” he asked softly. “Always have, always will.”
Doctor Cassidy chose that moment to come in with two nurses and shot them both looks. “Blake, lay down. Patricia, lay down. You are going to the MRI right now young lady, and you, you goon, we’re going to do a little poking and then stitch you up. Martha, you’re with Patricia. Cathy, I need you to give Blake the morphine.”
“Can’t,” he said as he lay down. “Deathly allergic to narcotics,” he announced. Then he pulled out his dog tags and held up the medical alert tag right next to them. “Same thing as the last time, Doc, you give me anything more than an aspirin and you’ll be explaining to Tish there why I’m dead.”
Tish rolled her eyes and laughed. “I love you, Blake. At least topicals will work on you, dude, so that’s a good thing. I will go. I will be good. At least one of the two of us should be good, right?” She stuck her tongue out at Blake and then added, “And of course I know that you love me just as I love you.”
“Damned right I do,” he said and glowered at the nurse. “Keep that crap away from me. Clean it up and stitch it. There’s no need for drugs, I’m already beyond numb right now so just get it done. I have plans to sleep in for a good number of days and you’re already ruining my plan.”
Shaking her head, Patty sighed and looked at Corbin. “Come on, you get to come with me, bubba,” she teased him with a smile. “Come on. I don’t want to be alone and I don’t want to hear Daddy or the brothers yelling at me,” she admitted. “So you are my protection, sweets.”
“Can do,” he smiled. “You cool, Blake?” he asked. They got a lazy hand wave that had him rolling his eyes. “We should get out of here before he starts shrieking like one of those girls in the horror flicks running from the killer. You know he will once we’re out of sight,” he said in a low voice.
Slipping her hand into Corbin’s, Patty looked up at him with a smile. “All right then, love, let’s get ourselves out of here so Doc can do what she needs to and so that I can be checked out okay? Better be safe than sorry.” She hoped so, at least.
“Very much so,” he nodded. Squeezing her fingers, he walked along beside her as the nurse wheeled her through the corridors. Somehow they managed to miss her father and brothers entirely. Not necessarily a good sign. They could have just been waiting for her to vacate the room before going to gang up on Blake. When they reached the MRI room, he let go of her fingers and winked. “Be here when you’re done, sugar.”
“I will be out soon. Hold the wall off for us, will you?” she teased him with a grin and walked into the MRI room with the technician.
Chapter Fifteen
The alarm went off at its usual time, but only one body moved. The sharp sound was turned off and the body rolled off the bed. The other one moved closer to her, warm breath brushing her bare shoulder. A few moments later the sound of a door closing gently sounded, followed quickly by the shower turning on. Corbin got ready to head to the ranch while Blake stayed home to recover. Two weeks, that’s what he’d been told, minimum. They were four days into his “prison term” as he called it. Though he did say there were benefits, usually with a look her way that was both assessing and suggestive.
Shifting slightly, Patty rubbed her cheek to Blake’s chest and snuggled. “I love waking in your arms,” she whispered. “Far too soon you will be back to getting up with Corbin and I will be losing both my guys during the daytime.” She had known it would be coming, but still, damn. It sucked. Big.
“Not anytime soon,” he said, his voice a rumble. “I still have over a week where I’ll be under your feet. By then, I’m pretty damn sure you’ll be happy to kick me out every morning.” She felt him press a kiss to her hair even while giving her a one-arm hug.
“It’s really very possible.” She snorted, yeah right. “At least I knew what I was getting into with you boys. I know the life of a rancher’s woman.” Not wife, because they hadn’t asked her yet. “So at least I came into this with eyes wide open.”
“Very true,” he said. Yawning wide, Blake stretched with little grunting noises before collapsing back to a relaxed position. “Hell, now I’m awake,” he muttered, making a face when she looked his way. “Guess I might as well get up and get coffee started.”
“Oh, you are so bad for rubbing it in.” She muttered. She couldn’t have coffee. Her blood pressure was up far too far because of stress and the doctors told her no coffee. Assholes. “But I will totally watch you drinking it, inhaling the scent and making you feel guilty.” Yeah right. Both men lived to tease her about her inability to drink coffee right now.
“I’m sorry, love,” he said quietly, his fingers stroking through her hair. “I know it sucks not to have coffee, but your blood pressure should be down by our checkup tomorrow. If it is, I’ll take you straight from the appointment to find the biggest damned coffee around, all for you.”
“Thank heavens. Let’s hope so. If not, they will be all wiggy again and run a million tests again. I hate getting my blood drawn. Asshats already tested me for everything under the sun so they can just chillax. I need my coffee.” They had even tested her for pregnancy, negative much to her father’s and the men’s sadness.
“Well if you wouldn’t let them bait you, your pressure wouldn’t be so high,” he muttered. “You know you need to be calm during the exam, no matter where they poke you. One spike and they all go off like the president just announced that Armageddon is coming.”
“I know, I know,” she muttered. “I swear I think that they ran the pregnancy test like three times thinking that I was maybe pregnant. Too bad.” So sad. “If it had come up positive, though, and I would have to go like nine months without coffee, you do know I would likely beat the hell out of you both, right?”
