Beneath Dark Skies (Rolling Hills Ranch #1)

11. Farron

ELEVEN

FARRON

STITCHES

Day 394

The second that Theo passes out from the pain, all hell breaks loose. Kenji runs towards him, raising his voice at me. “What is going on? What’s wrong with him?”

“What’s wrong with him is that he’s been stuck in a bear trap for hours,” I respond dryly.

“Oh, you think you’re so funny,” he seethes. “That’s my brother that’s lying there, unconscious. His health is not a fucking joke.”

I roll my eyes. “He just passed out from the pain. He’s going to be fine. I’m going to finish disinfecting his leg and then start patching it up. It doesn’t look like the bone’s broken or anything too serious, so I should be good to get his leg stitched up and get some antibiotic ointment on there.”

I continue to work quickly but diligently. In my peripheral vision, I can see Kenji pacing near us, his movements restless and erratic. He’s muttering to himself under his breath, a stream of anxious words that I can’t make out. Adrian stands close to Kenji, whispering assurances, trying to soothe his frayed nerves.

Kenji’s pacing feels like an electric current that’s crackling with tension. Every single step he takes seems to echo in the room, the thuds competing with the focus that I need to maintain, drawing my attention away from the task at hand. I can’t afford any mistakes right now, but I can’t help the way my eyes flick up to Kenji every time he turns on his heel.

When Kenji strays, his pacing making its way over just a little too close to me and inadvertently nudging my elbow while I’m in the middle of suturing the gash on his leg, the frustration that’s been building inside me boils over.

“Okay!” I snap, my voice sharp and louder than I intended. “You’re done. I cannot work with you pacing and breathing down my neck, interrupting my work. Get out.”

He looks at me in disbelief. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying here until you’re done with whatever you’re doing and Theo wakes up. If I had any say in this, I would have just patched him up myself.”

“Alright, here’s the deal. Theo is going to be fine as long as I finish this, which I cannot do with you here. So the two of you are going to leave this room and do something else. I don’t care what it is as long as it’s not here. Got it?”

Adrian steps in before Kenji can respond to me. “Yeah, Farron, we’ve got it. We’ll leave you here to tend to Theo.” He grabs Kenji’s shoulder and starts pushing him towards the door. Right before he’s out the door, he turns and sends an apologetic look my way, mouthing sorry .

When the door closes after them, my eyes shut, and I let out a deep breath. I’m not a people person on the best of days, and the decision to study medicine to help animals over humans was a very conscious one. Not only do animals tend to be better patients, but they don’t have friends and family who hover and distract you when you’re trying to do your job.

That’s not to say that I don’t understand where Kenji is coming from. If my brother was injured like this and lying unconscious on a table while a makeshift doctor was trying to help, I’m sure I would be just as stressed and obnoxious. I should have never let him go, especially not on his own. I should have forced him to take someone along with him. I should have forced him to stay here altogether. If he doesn’t make it back, I don’t know how I’ll be able to live with myself. It’ll once again be my fault that someone important to me doesn’t return. Without Holden, I’ll only have Ma and Pa left, and they’re getting older. I don’t know how much time I have left with them, either.

I’ll be alone.

Entirely alone on this ranch, with no one to keep me company but Magnum and the other animals. Will I eventually succumb to my inevitable loneliness, even accepting someone like Trevor to be my partner? Am I doomed?

I come out of my head a bit right as I’m finishing up the last suture on Theo’s leg. I get scissors to cut the excess thread and then turn his leg from one side to the next, double-checking my work and ensuring there’s nothing I’ve missed or may need to redo. Happy with what I see, I wet a towel and very slowly begin to clean a bit again around the sutures, being careful so as not to get the towel to snag on anything or disrupt his wounds.

After cleaning his leg, I toss the dirty towel to the side. Grabbing some bandages and Vaseline, I cover his leg with a thin layer of jelly and then wrap it up, using extra gauze to wrap around his ankle and compress it a bit. I then grab an extra pillow and set it under his leg to elevate it, hoping to help with the swelling of his ankle. I tap my chin for a second, trying to think of anything else I may have missed that would help him feel more comfortable when he wakes up.

Knowing the poor guy will probably be in a lot of pain as soon as he wakes, he’s going to need some painkillers and water. Adding that to my list, I also mentally add grabbing a fresh notebook and pen for him. He’ll need to stay in bed for at least another day or two, and I’ll need to check up on him regularly. I don’t want to rely on Mr. Flirts-A-Lot or Satan to translate for me all the time. Not only do I not want to deal with them constantly, but I also want to do my best to communicate with Theo directly.

I noticed the surprise on his face earlier when I wrote to him and addressed him directly, which makes me think that doesn’t happen very often whenever they’re around others. For fuck’s sake, Theo’s Deaf, not dead. He’s more than capable of communicating on his own if given the chance, and I’m not going to let him feel ignored on my watch.

I quietly sneak my way out of the room, my senses on alert for the other two, who are probably somewhere nearby. As I walk through the house, I can’t hear any noise, nor do I see Adrian or Kenji anywhere.

Realizing they’ve probably left the house and are somewhere else on the ranch, I relax and head towards the kitchen to fill up a glass with water. I can see four empty mugs in the kitchen sink, meaning the guys probably met my grandparents. My brows furrow as I think about what they're up to, but I immediately force myself not to worry about it. I have more pressing things to take care of first before I tackle the other two guys. Magnum perks his ears up from his dog bed as soon as I’m in the kitchen, getting up and slowly stretching before making his way over to me. I give him a kiss on the head and a few pets.

I grab the water along with an old ice pack from the freezer and retreat back to the old study–now a makeshift exam room–to be with Theo. Magnum stays right by my feet as I set the water on the tray near his head, hoping it’ll be the first thing he sees when he wakes up, and grab some Ibuprofen out of the bottle on the shelf to leave right next to the glass. I place the ice pack gently on his ankle to help with the swelling. I then walk over to the shelf and locate an unused notebook before setting that on the same tray with a pen on top.

There . He should have everything he needs when he first wakes.

Finishing up with some cleaning around the room, I finally let my butt fall to the floor as I lean back against the wall, Magnum curling up next to me. Now that the adrenaline has worn off from both the initial standoff with the guys and then patching up Theo, I feel the exhaustion sinking in. I rest my head against the wall behind me and take in an unconscious Theo.

He must be in pain because even in sleep, his features are slightly pinched. His eyelashes flutter as he rests, and my eyes are drawn to his lips as he lets out a deep breath. My mind cuts back to an image of those lips, tipped up in what was meant to be a grin right before we got started on his leg, and I can’t help the soft smile that overtakes my face remembering that moment. He’s a handsome guy, and there’s something about him that makes me feel comfortable.

I must be a lot more worn out than I initially felt. As my eyes continue to roam over Theo, exhaustion takes over. The last thing I’m thinking about as my eyes drift shut is Theo’s lips.