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“Easy,” he was saying, his voice soothing. “It’ll be all right, Britt. Just hang on.”

Hang on. To him? She could do that.

She could easily do that.

She wanted to do that.

Clearly the pain had driven her out of her mind.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Cody had no name, no words for what he was feeling once things were out of his hands.

Ry had arrived a few moments after she’d taken that bad step. They’d settled her on the ground, then Ry had remounted his black, Flyer, and headed down to make sure her father found them. The SUV arrived and they had her loaded up, dried off, and under blankets. A few minutes after they got her back to the house, the paramedics had arrived and taken over.

Cody knew Spencer McBride was good, really good, and the way he took over to immobilize her foot and ankle—and grinned at the makeshift phone-splint—would normally have made Cody smile. But watching Roth go pale at every movement, watching her fight against crying out, watching the cold sweat break out on her skin when Spencer had had to brace her ankle, had made him feel faintly nauseous himself.

And then her mother came over and gave him a huge hug.

“Thank you, Cody, for finding her.”

“Don’t thank me,” he said, sounding harsh even to himself. “It was—”

Before he could finish declaring this was all his fault in the first place, Keller and Lucas and Mom arrived.

“I called Chance and let him know,” Mom said. “How is she?”

Cody opened his mouth to tell her how badly he thought her ankle was messed up, but realized Mrs. Roth was still standing beside him and stopped himself. She didn’t need to hear his fears on top of her own. He was no doctor; let them give her the real situation.

“Spencer said he thinks her wrist is only sprained, that they won’t know for sure about her ankle without X-rays, and that they’ll probably keep her overnight at least, to make sure nothing hidden shows up,” Mrs. Roth said. Then, with another glance at Cody added warmly, “But he said it was good that she was found so soon. She could have made her ankle worse by struggling to free herself, and then trying to get home.”

“If I know her,” Keller said, “she’ll be worried more about losing ground than anything. Both physically and on the circuit.”

Mrs. Roth smiled at that. Keller always seemed to have the knack of saying the right thing, just like Mom did. He probably learned it from her, back when he’d had to grow up way too fast.

“Oh, she’s going to hate having a cast on her ankle. If she has to have one on her wrist as well, she’ll be unbearable,” Mrs. Roth said knowingly, although there was no denying the love that echoed in her voice.

Cast.

Something sparked in Cody’s memory, something he’d been reading about a while back. He turned it over and around in his mind, wondering. He knew the technology worked. The question was, was it already available here in Last Stand? If not, if he could get that done in a hurry, it might help ease the guilt he was feeling.

Of course maybe Jameson Hospital already had something like it in place, although maybe not, it was fairly cutting edge. He’d have to check with them, and if they did have it fine, if not he’d jump on it. Then he’d—

His mother tugged gently at his arm, snapping him back to the moment. He tuned back in just as she was saying, “—keep an eye on things here. You just see to Brittany.”

It was weird, how strange it was to hear her full name. He knew she hated it when anyone used it. He’d even admitted he could relate; when he’d been younger he’d hated that “ends in y” thing that made it sound like a cutesy nickname.

He belatedly realized Mom had just volunteered them to keep an eye on the Roth place until things settled down. Their hands were loyal and hard-working, so Rafferty help probably wouldn’t be needed, but it was like Mom to reassure them. It wasn’t until they were mounting up to return home that he realized she had something specific in mind.

“Now you can adapt that drone and use it to keep an eye on things for them.” He nearly groaned aloud. She looked at him sharply. “Forgotten your brother’s warning already?”

That is taking this silly hostility between you and Britt too far.

No, it wasn’t likely he’d forget those words, or the usually unruffled Keller’s icy tone. He glanced up ahead, where Keller and Ry were already on their way. Then he looked back at her. He was going to have to tell her, and the Roths. And that made him feel more than a little apprehensive.

“No. It’s not that.”

“Something you’d like to tell me? Or need to?”