Nova (24 page)

“No, I got this. He could flail at any second and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Jack, I—”

“Don’t argue,” he said, climbing a few feet up so he was closer to the horse’s head. But at that second the horse did flail, and his front legs and head jolted up in an attempt to get up on his own. As Jack moved out of the way, it took him off balance and he fell to his chest and slid a few feet down. He swore again, and as he got to his knees
,
he was searching the ground for something.

“He dropped it,” I said,
mainly
to myself. I scurried upward to look for the syringe, and I dropped to my hands and knees to
search
through the brush with him.

“Damn it,” Jack growled.

“What happened
?” Dave shouted from above. “That damn thing is gonna break this rope!
Let’s hook up a second one!
”

Born To Be Wild was still struggling, and for the first time I was glad that he did have a broken rear leg. That alone was the only thing preventing him from getting up entirely.

“Here it is!” Ben said, producing the syringe.

“Gimme it,” Jack said, holding out his hand.

“Give it to me, I’m closer,” I said. Luckily I was close enough to Ben that I could take it from him, and since I was closer to Born To Be Wild as well, I
scooted along on my knees
to his head so I could get
at
his neck.

“Easy, boy,” I said quietly.

He did
stop moving
for a few seconds, so while I
rubbed
his face
as he panted heavily
, I reach over to his neck at the same time. I was at his nose, almost above his head, just so I could steer clear of his legs, but I couldn’t quite get to the base of his neck in the position I was in. I had to stand to reach over him, and
after I found a way to balance myself,
I finally got a good stab right into his neck muscle.

He hadn’t acted out
with
the first dose we’d given him, but it did take a while for it to work. He was a feisty thing, so I wasn’t surprised when he
wanted
to fight it
the second time around
. I had a choice to either remain at his head to keep
him calm or
just leave him be until the drug took effect.

I chose the latter. I didn’t want to get caught in the middle of
a panicking horse
before he finally conked out.
I was taking my first step away from him when I loud bang
sounded from the road above us—a tailgate
slamming shut, maybe—
and it not only made
me
jumped, but the horse spooked as well.
I
thought I was
clear of his hooves, but he
must have flailed
up
toward me, and he
nailed me right in the
back
of the thigh, taking my legs out from under me.
I think I fell to my back with my head facing down hill because all I remember was seeing parts of the sky through the trees. But my legs must have flipped over me because my face was in the ground when Ben got to me.

“Are you okay?” he asked,
dropping to his knees
next to me.

“Nova!” I heard Dave from above.

I lifted my head up, mainly to make sure the horse was still okay, and I was surprised to
find that I was probably twenty
feet
further
down the hill.

“Nova, you okay?” Jack hollered. He was trying to come down the hill, but I pulled myself to my knees to show him I was
all right
.

“I’m fine,” I said, waving him away. “Stay there.”

He stopped where he was and watched me for a moment, and Ben pulled a few sticks and leaves out of my hair.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked with a tiny smile.

“Uh, yeah, I think so.” I brushed myself off a little, knowing that I was hurting
somewhere
, but I wasn’t sure where.

“You usually do your own stunts?”

I kind of laughed and shook my head. “Only by choice. That wasn’t by choice.”

“It looked really cool, though.”

“Well thank goodness for that.”

“It’s too bad no one was filming it.”

“Yeah, that is too bad.”

He chuckled at my dry humor and added, “It would’ve definitely made the top of the You Tube charts.”

“That’s such a bummer.
Maybe we could recreate it and
you
could do the stunts. I would be happy to film it for you.
”

I proceeded to make my climb up the mountain, so Ben hiked with me, holding me up by my arm. I didn’t object to his help because I was still shaken up from my heels over head tumble into the
ravine
.

“Not a bad idea,
” he
answered
. “Bu
t I think it was cooler because it was you. Watching a girl
endo
down a hill like that is a little more entertaining.”

“Nice, glad you’re amused.”

“I’m just kidding,” he smiled. Then he appeared more somber and added, “It was actually kind of scary. I’m glad you’re okay.”

I didn’t reply to that, but he did seem sincere. When we got to Jack, thankfully the horse was calm, more help had arrived, and our job was over with. Ben continued to help me up the hill, even carrying both of the medical bags. I was never so relieved like I was when we were finally standing on solid, flat ground, and I was able to drink nearly a gallon of water. It was so hot out, and all the men around me, including Dave and Heath, were drenched with sweat.

I did stick around to watch the horse be pulled up to the road. I sat on Dave’s tailgate in the shade, glad that it was all over. While they were
laying
the horse
into a cattle trailer, Ben made his way over and sat down next to me.

“You feeling okay?” he asked.

I shrugged. “Meh,
I’ve had better days.”

He smiled and joked, “Nah
, better days than this?”

“Yeah, maybe a little.”

He
took
my wrist and held up my arm to see my elbow. “Maybe you need to clean that up?”

“Yeah, probably,” I said.

I slid off of the tailgate so I could pour some water over my arm to wash off the blood that had dried
all over
it. Ben watched in silence, and then handed me a piece of gauze to blot it dry. It was mainly a scrape, so I wasn’t going to bother putting a bandage over it, but he got
a large
one from the first aid kit
anyway
, even applying some antibiotic cream to it before he handed it over.

“Thanks,” I replied, sticking it over my arm.

We
were both quiet again as I returned to
the tailgate, and because it was so hot out, and just applying first aid to myself caused me to break another sweat, I had to guzzle some more water.

“So they
call
you Nova,” Ben finally
stated
.
“
Is that really your name, or just a nickname?”

I cast him a side
-
glance, unsure if I was being made fun of. But his face held no expression as he waited for my answer.

“Yes, that’s really my name.”

“
Hmm,
I like it
.
It’s
different.”

I only nodded as I watched the men ahead of us. Jack was finishing up some fi
nal things with Born To Be Wild
and I knew I should probably be over there to help
too
, but he had insisted that I just take it easy for the time being. I hardly argued with him because of how sore I already felt.

“So you seem pretty wary of me,” Ben said, breaking my thoughts. “I assume that has to do with Austin, right?”

I looked at him watching me, but I didn’t reply right away. Instead I took a moment to think about who Ben Tomlinson really was, and
after spending
time
with him in the midst of an emergency, I didn’t feel like I could have any ill feelings towards him.

“Yes, Austin has suggested that I not be around you.”

He slightly nodded, not surprised.

“Maybe you can explain to me why,” I added.

He raised an eyebrow while he paused for a few seconds. “He didn’t tell you why?”

“Not really. I haven’t pressed him about it yet, but maybe you can fill me in instead.”

He studied me for a few seconds, and I almost felt intimidated by his dark brown eyes seeming to bore through me. But then he barely shrugged, as if to show that it was nothing he had any control over.

“What happened between you guys?” I asked. “I mean…neither one of you can talk about it?”

“We used to be best friends, and now we’re not. There’s not much to say about it.”

“Sure there is. What was it that changed everything?”

“I don’t think there was any one thing.”

“Then what started it?”

He shrugged. “I guess…the fact that Austin was a good kid and I wasn’t. I mean isn’t that what you’ve heard about me?”

“Maybe.”

“Then why is it such a surprise that we’re no longer friends?”

“Why do I get the feeling that you’re just using the ‘I was a bad kid’ excuse
as a way to mask something else?
”

“What?” he
chuckled.
“Are you shrinking me right now?”

“Your parents love you. It’s pretty obvious. For some reason you’ve chosen to completely alienate yourself from them. Your mom is on
e of the sweetest ladies I know
and I can tell that she’s heartbroken over—”

“Don’t bring my parents into this,” he said, shaking his head. “You don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

“I know that they only want a relationship with you and you’ve denied them that.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Why not? You move to where? –Nort
h Dakota? — A
nd barely keep in touch with them.
All they want is to have their son in their lives.”

“All they want is a son that isn’t a
screw
up. I’m not him, so they’re wasting their concern.”

“You don’t have a say in what people think of you. Why can’t you just give them a chance?”

“You know nothing about my life,” he said in a low voice.

I could tell he was upset, and I probably did cross the line, so I didn’t respond. We sat in silence for almost
a minute
, watching the guys load up their equipment.

Finally Ben took a deep breath and said, “Sometimes it’s hard to come full circle. I left town
four
years ago, ready to leave everything behind and start over. You know what? It’s harder than it seems. I couldn’t do it. And now here I am, back on the ranch again, facing the same demons I did before. And I’ll be the first to admit that running away from your problems doesn’t do a damn ounce of good. Nothing has been overcome; nothing has gotten any better. It’s just the way it is.”

I had to disregard Austin’s advice at that point. Here I was, already talking to Ben, having spent almost two hours of the day with him, and I felt like I had to go with my instincts instead. I understood that
Ben
had probably made some mistakes in his life, but who hasn’t? I also understood that those mistakes, and his past with the Gaines family,
might
also be out of my league to identify with. But I did feel like I needed to understand why Austin felt the way he did about Ben, and whether or not it was just my curiosity or the fact that I cared about all parties involved, I really
needed
some answers.

“So tell me what you were running away from.”

He chuckled bitterly. “Oh no,
I d
on’t think so. What? So you and Austin can compare notes on me? No way.”

“I’m just trying to understand you better. I’m very close to your parents, so I kind of feel…”

“Connected to me too?” he
smirked
again. “How sweet. We’re kindred spirits?”

I could have fed off of his sarcasm pretty easily and made the situation worse, but I decided to just play it off with a smile and said, “Yep, we are. Don’t tell me you can’t feel the spiritual connection,” I teased.

He smiled and studied me for a few seconds. “Well I definitely feel something between us, but I wouldn’t say it’s a
spiritual
connection.”