Read Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 02 - Out of the Darkness Online
Authors: Kate Sherwood
They’re quiet the rest of the way in, but Dan can feel Robyn shooting him concerned looks from time to time. He has his eyes closed, trying to keep the waves of nausea under control, and he realizes when the engine stops that he’d been humming along with it, a quiet little breathy sound that seems loud and odd once the engine turns off. It’s really no wonder Robyn’s been keeping an eye on him.
Robyn parks the truck in a spot near the door, and by the time Dan has his feet swung around and on the pavement, she’s there to help him up. Dan isn’t sure whether he’s slowed down or she’s sped up, but there is definitely a difference in their relative speeds. She helps him inside and the doctor is waiting, an attractive South Asian woman who does seem as nice as Robyn had claimed. Dan’s bruised brain notices several people sitting in the waiting room, and wonders if he would be getting such prompt attention if he wasn’t coming from the Kaminski property, but he’s too tired and sore to worry about it. And then he worries about that, wonders if that’s how people start getting used to privilege, when they’re too weak or distracted to resist, but again, he can’t really keep the thought in his head, and he meekly lets Robyn guide him after the doctor back to the exam room.
The doctor shines a light in his eyes, looks at the cut on his temple, and asks him some basic questions. He can answer the ones about his name and the date, and when she has him recite the months of the year backward, he’s fine. But when she asks him about how he got injured, he pretty much draws a blank.
The doctor doesn’t seem to notice the uncertainty in his voice, or at least she doesn’t comment on it, but Robyn is not letting it pass. “Which horse, Dan?”
And he knows she told him this, knows it wasn’t Sunshine… but he can’t quite remember. He just ignores her, waiting for another question from the doctor instead. The doctor asks him if he lost consciousness, and he’s barely started his denial before Robyn butts in. “Yes, Dan, you were out.” She turns to the doctor. “For maybe a minute or so? Right out, flat on the ground, not hearing me or responding at all.” She shoots him a dirty look. “It scared the crap out of me, Dan.”
That takes some of the energy out of Dan’s denials. He may be confident that he’ll be okay on his own, but Robyn deserves to get some more formal reassurances. The doctor shifts most of her questions toward Robyn, apparently having figured out who her more reliable witness is. She seems a bit concerned when Robyn mentions that Dan had been disoriented and confused, and Dan can’t really remember what she’s talking about. The doctor takes a few notes and then has a nurse take Dan down the hall to get his wrist X-rayed. The nurse wants him in a wheelchair, and he’s halfway through forming a protest when he sees Robyn starting to growl at him, and he sinks into the chair.
There’s stitches for his temple, and then a bit of a wait, and Dan thinks about trying to get rid of Robyn, sending her back to the barn, but he’s feeling too sick to even try. He also knows that there’s no way he’d have a chance of succeeding.
Robyn seems to have her own ideas, though. She holds out her phone to Dan. “Evan’s still out of town, right? But you could call him, let him know you had a spill but you’re going to be okay.” Dan shrugs noncommittally, but Robyn doesn’t take the hint. “Or Jeff, then?”
Dan realizes that she’s not going to let this go without some sort of explanation from him. “I don’t—there’s no point in bugging them. Nothing they could do, right?”
Robyn shakes her head. “They’d still want to know, Dan!”
He sighs. “We’re not… it’s not really going that well. Like, at all.” He gives her his most pathetic look, which he suspects is extraspecially sad right now. “Just leave it, okay?”
She looks like she has more to say, but then Dr. Sangha is back with the X-rays, showing them where Dan’s radius bone is broken. The ends are still aligned, she points out, so it should heal without too much trouble. She puts a cast on it, and then makes Dan stand up and prove that he’s not dizzy anymore. He’s not totally steady, but he’s not falling over, so she seems inclined to let him go home.
That brings its own set of problems, of course. Apparently Dan needs to be monitored for the next couple days to make sure there are no signs of bleeding in his brain. He tries to talk the doctor out of it, but she’s not budging, and he feels too crappy to argue very hard. So he turns reluctantly to Robyn. She makes a face at him.
“Yeah, Dan, you can stay with me, but are you sure you don’t want to call Jeff? Or Evan, maybe he could make it home early….” She sees his face, and turns to the doctor. “I’ll take responsibility—if I can’t find someone better, I can keep an eye on him.” Dan tunes out the doctor as she gives instructions to Robyn, and thinks about how nice it would be to sink into Evan’s huge, comfortable bed, rest his aching head on Evan’s chest…. He can almost imagine Jeff’s voice rumbling in the background as he sleeps, keeping him grounded, making him feel safe… and then the rumbling voice gets a little louder, a little clearer, and Dan pulls his head up a little and sees that Robyn has heard it too.
She gives Dan a triumphant smile and steps to the door of the examination room. She peeks outside, and then opens the door wider. “Jeff—hi! Are you looking for us?” She steps back, and Jeff’s body fills the doorway, and Dan can’t read the expression on his face at all. He isn’t sure if he should be happy that Jeff found them… or worried.
toward Dan, looking for permission to add another person to the discussion about Dan’s health. Dan’s pretty sure the conversation is essentially over, unless the doctor is going to start repeating everything for Jeff’s benefit, so instead of dealing with the issue directly, he slumps off the examination table onto his feet.
“So you’ll either be with him or find a substitute, right?” she confirms with Robyn, who agrees much more readily now that Jeff has appeared. Dan wonders if he’s such a burden that Robyn’s getting sick of him, too, but he doesn’t bother following that thought any further. Robyn would walk through fire for any of her friends, and he knows that.
There are some forms to sign at the front desk on the way out, and Dan takes care of it with Robyn and Jeff hovering somewhere in the background, Robyn updating Jeff on the situation. Dan marvels at how much easier the signing-out process is now that he’s got good health insurance, and then he’s ready to go. He doesn’t really know where he’s going, or more importantly, who’s going with him, but he’d rather have that conversation outdoors, he thinks.
He reconsiders that decision when the first flash of bright sunlight hits his sensitized eyes, and his body actually recoils in pain. He bumps into Jeff behind him, a solid strength that Dan has to force himself to pull away from. But then Jeff’s beside him, and he’s offering Dan his sunglasses, the same ones from that day by the pool back when… back when everything was different. Dan hesitates only a second before taking them, and he knows Jeff sees his wry smile of recognition.
Robyn shifts Dan around so he’s facing backward, out of the light, and then says, “So Jeff says he can stay with you today, if that’s all right with you. We’re already short of people at the barn, with Tat gone and you out, so I really should get back there.” She softens her voice a little, and looks apologetically at Jeff before saying to Dan, “You can come and stay in my apartment, if you want, and I can check on you through the day, but… Jeff says he’s happy to help.”
Dan can feel Jeff’s strong arm and knows that of course Jeff is ready to help. That’s who Jeff is. And Dan can’t really decide if it would be more awkward to spend time with Jeff, with their recent problems hanging over them, or to refuse to spend time with him, making the division between them even worse… and trying to think it through is just making his head hurt even more. “I just want to go to sleep,” he mutters, and it’s not exactly gracious, but Jeff and Robyn seem to take it for what it’s worth.
“Okay, then,” Jeff says quietly. “Your place is closest. Why don’t we go there, and you can sleep for a while, and we can reassess when you wake up?”
Dan tries to nod, but it sends a wave of pain and nausea through his head. Jeff seems to get the message anyway, and turns to Robyn. “Can you stay with him while I bring the car around?” She nods, and Jeff shuffles Dan over to lean against the wall before jogging out the door.
He’s not even out of sight before Robyn starts talking. “Is this okay, Dan? I didn’t call him; he found out because he called the barn looking for you. And then he called the doctor’s office, and they wouldn’t give him information, so he came down in person. I mean, maybe you guys are hitting a rough patch, but he obviously still wants to be involved.”
“It’s fine, Robyn.” Dan’s kind of relieved to hear that she hadn’t called and that she’s checking in with him now—it’s nice to know that she hadn’t totally overridden his judgment. “He’s… Evan says he’s the world’s best teddy bear… nobody better for a job like this, really.”
Robyn’s obviously paying more attention to Dan’s tone than to his words. “You can still change your mind, come out to the barn. But you’ll probably just be asleep anyhow, and you’ll be happier in your own bed.”
Jeff’s got his car pulled up in front of the doors now, and he’s coming inside to get them. He looks a little tentative, and Dan realizes that Jeff must have known that Robyn would take the opportunity to double check with Dan. He moves easily to take Robyn’s place when she gestures to him, and Dan lets himself lean a little as they make their way to the car. Dan allows himself to be guided into the passenger seat and then looks up at Robyn. “Take care of the truck, Robyn.”
“No, she’ll miss me.” Dan tries for a little smile, but it makes his face ache, and he realizes that he hasn’t seen a mirror lately. “Is my face all messed up?”
Jeff’s gone around to the driver’s side now, and he chuckles as he does up his seat belt. “It’s got some really pretty colors on it, that’s for sure.”
“No problem, sweetie.” She crouches down a little so she can see Jeff. “I’ll call tonight when I’m done at work, okay? See if I’m needed?”
Robyn backs away and Jeff pulls out, and Dan stops trying to keep his eyes open. He’s a little pissed when Jeff tries to keep him awake, but then he groggily realizes that they’re at the apartment, and Jeff isn’t trying to
keep
him awake, he’s just trying to wake him up.
“Come on, cowboy, time to saddle up. The doctor said you have to go back in if you won’t wake up properly. You don’t want that, now, do you?” And that’s the incentive Dan needs to pry his eyelids open.
“Yeah, she said you would be.” Jeff has his arm around Dan and is supporting him as he climbs to his feet. “You’re allowed to sleep all you want, but I’ve got to wake you up every couple hours. And you can have pain killers, but not aspirin. What have you got in the house?”
That sounds great to Dan, and he manages to make it up the stairs on his own, although he’s aware that Jeff is hovering behind him, ready to catch him if he falls. He’s got his overshirt off while he’s still in the living room, and he ignores whatever Jeff’s saying about going to the bathroom before sleeping. His bed is all he wants, and as soon as he sees it, there’s no going anywhere else. He has enough presence of mind to not flop onto it, but his careful crawl is as speedy as possible, and then he’s burying his head in the pillow and letting his eyes fall shut. He’s vaguely aware of Jeff pulling his boots off, and he even manages to roll over when told to in order for Jeff to undo his fly. Lifting his hips for Jeff to get his pants off takes a little more coordination, but he manages it, and even has the strength to grin a little when Jeff makes a comment about it not being his favorite conditions for undressing him. But that’s the end of his endurance, and as soon as Jeff stops fussing over him, he rolls over onto his stomach, with his sore wrist stretched out away from his body and his face resting on its uninjured side, and he’s out.
When Dan’s next aware of his surroundings, it’s because Jeff is there again, running his warm hand along Dan’s shoulders, and speaking softly but firmly. “Okay, sweetheart, wake up now, okay?”
Dan groans, but instead of pulling away from Jeff’s hand his body shifts over toward Jeff, looking for more warmth, more comfort. Jeff doesn’t seem to mind. “I’ve got Tylenol and some soup, or there’s paninis if you can chew.”
The thought of paninis catches Dan’s attention, although when he cautiously moves his jaw, the soreness makes him think that chewing might not be a good plan. He starts to shift over anyway, turning to face Jeff, but he’s forgotten about his sore wrist and tries to use it brace himself. The cast on the wrist is one of the temporary kind, more of a splint, and it’s really not enough to protect the injury from that sort of abuse. Dan manages to collapse his weight off the arm before he does any real damage, he thinks, but the pain is still excruciating, and once it starts to fade it’s replaced by humiliation at being so stupid. Jeff doesn’t seem to be judging him, though, and Dan realizes that he’s contorted himself around so that his head is on Jeff’s lap, and Jeff is hunched over and cradling him, saying, “Shhh, shhh, shhh,” in between pressing kisses to Dan’s shoulder. It’s not a position with a lot of dignity for either of them, and Dan is a little embarrassed by how much he’s enjoying it.