Page 27 of Candy Hearts, Vol. 2

CHAPTER 8

In Jake’s next life, he wanted to have to figure out what all the beeping and booping was when he woke up from surgery. He totally wanted to be confused because it was so rare that he had been stitched up, knocked out, patched. He wanted to be not used to waking up in a hospital. In this next life, maybe he’d get that.

As it was, he knew exactly where he was when he woke up in recovery. He could see the big weird brace on his arm. He could hear the machines with their steady sounds. He could feel that irritating itch of the IV.

He rolled his eyes. Christ, his head hurt.

“Hey, you’re awake. How’s it going?” Jake couldn’t quite focus enough to see what the male nurse’s name was, and he really didn’t care because this wasn’t gonna be one he saw again, assuming they admitted him.

He gave the guy a half grin. “I’m ready to go home now.”

“I like to hear that. It’s going to be a little bit, not long though. I bet they make you go home tonight and check in with your regular doctors.”

Oh right. He had those…

“—Surgery was very straightforward. Everything went perfectly. You get hit by a car or something?”

“Bull.”

“Pardon me?”

Jake wanted to crack up, but it would feel like a thousand evil gnomes with jackhammers were in his shoulder. “A bull. His name was Blue Fury. I bucked off, and he threw me.”

“I do love working during the stock show and rodeo, yessir.” The guy grinned at him. “Can I get you anything? You wanna sit up a little bit? How about some water?”

“Where’s my guy? Where’s Treat?”

“They’ll have him in the waiting room. They’ll call him back as soon as we get you cleared.” He started checking vitals, never stopping his patter. “We’ve got to make sure that your vitals are good, that you can drink, that sort of thing. Then I imagine, like I said, when you can use the bathroom and walk out of here on your own—or at least get from the chair to the car—you’ll probably be released. But that’s not up to me. That’s higher up in the pay scale.”

“Mmmhmm.” His mouth was dry as dust, so he just nodded and smiled and let the guy bring him a cup with a straw. His other hand was just fine, which was good to know. He drank, just taking sips, because anesthesia would make him nauseated. He knew that, too. Ugh.

Some things he would love not to know.

He was already ready to go home.

Wherever home was.

It sucked because he was going to be useless as tits on a boar hog until his arm got healed up. Shoulders were the worst. Ankles, knees, groin even? A cowboy could do shit, work, be useful, but with the shoulder, he couldn’t pick anything up, he couldn’t move anything. And to add insult to injury, they took frickin’ months to heal.

He hadn’t wanted to go to Treat broke dick. He’d wanted—shit. He wanted to go in with a little purse money and on his own two feet.

“There you are. How’s it going?” Treat stood there, just appearing, and Jake realized he must have dozed off.

He blinked at his lover, who looked damn tired if he was honest. “You all right?”

“I’m supposed to ask you that, but it’s been long damn night, baby.”

“What time is it?”

Trent glanced at his watch, which was this solid, masculine gold thing. Nothing gaudy, nothing electronic, just a watch. “Twoish, give or take.”

“Not in the afternoon?” Surely he hadn’t missed that much.

“Nope. In the morning, so it’s Sunday.”

Oh, that wasn’t so bad. “You should go to the hotel and get some sleep.”

Treat shook his head. “By the time I got up there, got settled, and got to sleep, they’d be calling me because it was time to pick you up and bring you home. I’m better off just staying here, bringing you back to the hotel with me, then we can sleep all day tomorrow. Possibly all day Monday.”

Jake put the water glass down real careful. “Yeah. That sounds like a good plan. I’m glad you’re here.”

That was the understatement of the century.

“Well, I wish it didn’t have to be, but I’m damn glad I could be, if you know what I mean.”

Jake nodded, wanting to shrug and knowing that it was a bad goddamn idea. “I didn’t want to—I don’t know, man. I didn’t want this to be a bad thing. I didn’t want to be broken.”

One of Treat’s eyebrows shot up. “This where I point out that you’re a rodeo cowboy, and they kind of come in broken.”

“Shut up. I’m trying to be all serious here. All deep and shit.” It wasn’t easy for him. He didn’t go for that. He just wanted to have a good life and be a cowboy.

He didn’t want to have to feel shit.

“Don’t, because I’m going to tell you how this is going to work. I’ve got a guy coming out here with the other cowboys to drive your truck home. I’m going to put your happy ass in my truck come Tuesday, because we’re sleeping tomorrow, which is actually today and tomorrow, and then we’re driving home. And when we get home, you’re going to sit on the front porch and count baby yaks, and learn all the names of all the drovers, and figure out how to be my man and part of my ranch. That’s what you’re going to do. And you’re gonna be happy.”

Well, okay then.

“What about rodeoing?” Was Treat going to be all ‘well, you quit, I’m not gonna have you riding no more?’

Treat shrugged, and Jake kind of hated how easy the motion was for the man. “You wanna ride on the rodeo? I don’t care. I imagine your days of hoping for the NFR are kind of over. I talked to the doctor about your shoulder, and it was kinda dire, but if you want to go ride? There’s rodeos all over the place. Hell, the ranch will even be your sponsor. You don’t have to retire, you don’t want to. I’m not going to be any less yours. Now we might have to discuss long-term traveling.”

“I think I’ve done enough long-term traveling to last me.” To be honest, he’d probably done enough rodeo to last him, but he liked having his options open. He liked it a lot.

“Well then, that was easy.” Treat stared into him. “I swear to God, you drunk dialing me? It’s the best thing ever happened to me, because it gave me the courage to get off my ass and come fetch my man home. I guarantee you, I will never let you walk away again. I will fight for you if you do. I love you. Simple as that.”

Well, fuck him sideways.

He felt like Charlie in the chocolate factory.

“I want to go home.” Jake held Treat’s gaze, letting everything he felt show. “I love you. I want to go home bad, and I want to be yours. I wanna be enough to be your man.”

Treat took his good hand and held it.

Right there, in the middle of a recovery room in San Antonio. Like Treat didn’t care if they might get their asses kicked. “You always have been. You’ve always been enough.”

And that was that, wasn’t it?

It was time for them to get on their horses and ride into the sunset together. He guessed he was just going to be one of those happy-ever-after cowboys.

“Thank God for drunk dialing.”