Earth and Sky

was frantically feel all along Grant’s body, looking for signs of blood or broken bones. From time to time, Grant yelped when he squeezed a part of an arm or a leg.

    “Tell me you’re okay?” Hunter tried.

    Grant just grunted, then swallowed hard.

    “Oh, please, Grant. Please, love, be okay?”

    When Grant still didn’t answer, Hunter pulled Grant’s helmet off his head and saw the dark splotches along the side of Grant’s closed eyes. Without thinking, he pulled Grant’s limp body into his arms.

    “Talk to me, lover. Please tell me you’re okay!” He rocked Grant back and forth, trying hard to support him. Hunter kissed Grant’s face, heedless of the blood that was all over it. He didn’t care. All he wanted to know was that Grant was alive and not hurt so badly he was going to die. He couldn’t let Grant die.

    “Everything okay, man?”

    Hunter looked up into a flashlight.

    “We saw a truck standing across the road, and then you and him.” A young-looking guy pointed at Grant and then directed his flashlight over to him. “Holy shit, Sandy, call an ambulance!”

    Hunter felt dazed, both by what had happened and by the sting of the bright light shining in his eyes.

    “No ambulance,” Grant murmured, and Hunter looked down. “No hospital, Cowboy.”

    Hunter didn’t have the power to overrule him. On the one hand he wanted to listen to Grant; on the other hand, he knew his lover was badly hurt, and they would have to take him to see a doctor. He couldn’t think, couldn’t figure out what was best.

    Everything happened in a daze. It took forever for the ambulance to arrive, and then the EMTs picked Grant up and put him inside before speeding off with sirens and lights all over. Hunter vaguely remembered a cop asking him whether the truck was his and then guiding him to it, letting him get in on the passenger side and getting behind the wheel himself.

    When they finally arrived at the hospital, he heard the cop tell one of the nurses that he didn’t think Hunter was involved in the accident, but that he seemed very confused and should be looked after as well.

    Hunter had no idea how much time had passed, but he found himself being shown to the waiting area by a petite woman in a white uniform and handed a cup of coffee.

    “Doctor says you’re okay,” she said, sitting down next to him. “You’re worried about your friend, though, aren’t you? Did you see it happen?”

    “Lover,” Hunter replied, ignoring her question.

    “The man they brought in was your lover?”

    Hunter found himself nodding his agreement.

    “Hang on,” she said.

    Hunter watched her leave and return a few minutes later with a clipboard.

    “Then I think you can give me some of his details, right?”

    It dawned on Hunter that he’d just come out to a stranger and that she hadn’t even blinked.

    “What’s his name?”

    “Grant Jarreau,” Hunter answered.

    “Birthday?”

    Hunter smiled, still feeling pretty confused. “I don’t know.” He really didn’t. How warped was that? Grant was his lover and he didn’t even know when his birthday was. Hugh had hired him and had taken care of the paperwork.

    It didn’t seem to bother her, though. “Why don’t I give you the clipboard and you can fill out the questions you can? Is that okay?”

    Hunter nodded.

    She gently squeezed his arm. “I’ll go see if the doctors are done with him so you can go in and see him.”

    Hunter’s heart leapt. Yes, he wanted to see Grant. A split second later he realized that maybe Grant wouldn’t want to see him. After all, he’d caused Grant’s accident. If it hadn’t been for him trying to drive alongside Grant’s bike, Grant wouldn’t have been startled and he would have noticed the massive truck sooner.

    Hunter got up out of his seat, leaving the clipboard on the table beside him.

    The girl returned with another cup of coffee, though. “Do you know whether Mr. Jarreau has insurance?”

    “Yes,” Hunter answered almost automatically. “Well, actually, no, I don’t suppose he has insurance, but I’ll pay the bill.”

    Her eyes went wide.

    “He works for me. I own a stud farm outside of St. Anthony, Idaho, and he’s one of my best wranglers. I was going to make him foreman when he returned.” She gave him a compassionate smile, and Hunter realized she didn’t really need to know that information. Then again, he’d already told her more than he’d ever told anyone else, so he