The Perfect Ride

Chapter 23

The crowd was amazing tonight. So on fire for Roz and I's performance. It made me a little less nervous. Plus, the bulls had settled a little bit. However, as soon and Buck and Mingo were in the trailers, Roz and I went to find Jess. He was waiting his turn to ride.

"Hey, baby! You were on fire tonight" He says and scoops me in his arms.

"I love you" I say and squeeze him. He squeezes back.

"Are you okay?" He asks.

"Yeah. It's just...I saw Cooper's nose, and heard about Cody's back. I'm just worried" I say.

"Oh, baby. Don't worry about that" He says and kissed my forehead. "They're both okay, and the bulls are settled. Just rowdy earlier. They don't like the pens. I promise everything will be okay".

"You promise" I say. He cups my head in his hands.

"Promise, baby" He whispers. "I love you". He kisses me one more time.

"I love you too" I say and just let him hold me. Our picture perfect moment was interrupted by him getting pulled away from me by Cooper.

"I'm up, babe. I love you" He says and kisses me one more time. Roz took my hand and we went to the side where all the other riders stood to watch. As soon as the bell went off, my heart dropped. The bull was bucking so hard that Jess was flailing all over the place. He was almost to 8 seconds when he was flung from the bull. There was a crunch and the crowd went silent. Jess laid on the ground completely still.

"Jess!" I shout. All the boys run out to him. Roz held me by the arm from behind. I fought, but she didn't let go. "Jess!".

"Stop. Sadie, stop!" She yells. I stare at her with tears rolling down my face. "Come on, let's go". She tries tugging me back, but I stand my ground. The stadium went dark and the paramedics rush to his side. At that point, I fought her even harder and broke her hold. I ran to where he was at, but Cooper grabbed me by the waist and stopped me in my tracks.

"Sadie, no. Let them do their jobs" He says. I try to push past him, but he literally threw me over his shoulder and carried me to the sides again. "Roz, get her out of here. Now". Roz took me by the hand and literally dragged me to our dressing room. I sat on the couch with my head in my hands. She sat beside me and put her hand on my back.

"He'll be okay" She says. I shot up.

"I knew this was a bad night! Cooper and his bloody nose! Cody and his bruised back! I knew something would go wrong, but he went out there!" I shout. "Now, I don't even know what's going on with my boyfriend!".

"Cooper will tell us something when he finds out anything" She says. "Don't blame yourself, Sadie. You know it's a risk to get on a bull anytime, not just today. You couldn't have known anything like this would happen".

"He promised every thing  would be fine!" I shout. She just looked at me with sad eyes. There was a knock on the door. Cooper peaked in.

"Jess is going to the hospital. He's unconscious. The boys are staying here, but I'm going. You guys come with me" He says. We don't even think twice. We stood up and follow him to his rental truck. The ride to the hospital felt like an eternity, but Roz never let go of my hand. Once we were there, Cooper went to find out something about Jess while Roz and I went to the waiting room. About five minutes later, Cooper came back with a doctor.

"Good evening, I'm Dr. Denver. I have a team checking out Jess right now, and we will let you know something as soon as we do. You're his girlfriend?" He asks. I nod.

"Yes, sir. Sadie Rosen. Please take care of him" I say.

"Yes, ma'am" He says before disappearing behind a door. My head fell into my hands. Roz put her hand on my back and leaned into me.

"He's going to be okay, Sadie" She says. I look up and let out a deep sigh while running my fingers through my hair.

"He's gotta be. He's gotta be okay, because-" I try to hold back my tears, but it didn't work. "Because I love him, Roz". She pulled me into her and squeezed tight.

"I know. I know" She says trying to console me. She just held me and let me cry until we heard a man clear his throat. We looked up to see Cooper. He sat down.

"Do you...mind if I wait with you?" He asks. I shake my head.

"No. Please" I say. He smiles. We all just stayed silent.

***
An hour had passed before Dr. Denver came back out.

"Miss Rosen?" He says.

"Yes?" I ask standing up.

"After consulting with our orthopedic surgeon, we've concluded that Jess has broken a bone in his neck. Our surgeon wants to get him in the OR to rule out anything else.  He will need a lot of physical therapy and rehab to get back to where he was at" He explains.

"Surgery? Are..Are you sure? Like, you can't just give him a brace?" I ask. He half smiled.

"Miss Rosen, we know what is best for Jess. Let us do our jobs. We will take good care of him" He says.

"Well, can we atleast see him?" Roz asks.

"I'm sorry, but he is still unconscious. It's basically a waiting game at this point for him to wake up, but with time, he will" He says. "It's best just to get him up to surgery. We will keep you updated".

After Dr. Denver walked away, I sat back down.

"God, he better wake up" I say.

"He will, Sadie" Roz says.

"You don't fucking know that, Roz!" I shout, bolting up from the chair. "You don't fucking know anything! You don't know that he'll be okay! You don't know that he'll wake up! God, you don't even know how to keep a fucking man for you kid!". I blew up. I couldn't believe I'd said any of that. She stood up slowly. 

"Wow" She says. I can see the tears form in her eyes. My head hung. Before I could even say anything she walked away. Cooper just looked at me.

"She's...pregnant?" He asks. I sigh.

"Just don't say anything" I say. He nods. He stays quiet and puts him arm around me. I didn't know this man at all, but I put my head on his shoulder and bawled. The three most important people in my life hated me, and it was all my fault. I really fucking hate myself.