Read Cowboy Take Me Away for Free Online

trees and disappearing from sight. She hurried after him, hoping he hadn’t ducked into the trees where it might take her forever to find him. She rounded the bend. The decrepit old house came into view, and what she saw there astonished her.
    Luke was sitting on the porch steps. Manny was standing fewer than three feet in front of him. The little horse took a step forward and stretched out his neck. Luke put his hand out and Manny sniffed his fingers, his little nostrils flaring. After a moment, he eased closer and sniffed again.
    Shannon didn’t know which to be surprised about first—seeing Luke sitting on the steps of his father’s house, or Manny getting that close to someone who didn’t have a bucket of food. Then Manny came closer still and Luke rubbed his nose, telling her disaster was only seconds away.
    “Luke!” she shouted. “Don’t!”
    In that instant, Manny sank his teeth into Luke’s hand. Luke yanked it back, but the damage was already done.
    “Holy shit !” he muttered, holding his hand and grimacing in pain. Manny shied away and trotted to the edge of the house before turning back to watch them warily. Shannon hurried over, praying Luke still had all ten fingers.
    He spun around. “Why the hell did you shout like that?”
    “Because he bites! I didn’t want you to get bitten!”
    “Yeah? Did you notice he didn’t bite until you yelled at me?”
    “Oh, all right,” she muttered, dropping the bucket and other stuff to the ground. “Let me see your hand.”
    “It’s fine.”
    “Luke. Let me see it.”
    He held it out. It was already starting to bruise, but at least there was no blood.
    “Does it feel broken?”
    Luke flexed his hand. “No. It’s fine.”
    “Still, I think you should get some ice and—”
    Then she saw something that made the bruise on his hand seem about as significant as a paper cut. The leg of his jeans was pulled up, revealing a knee swollen at least twice its normal size. Dark bruising spread from his calf to his thigh, along with a deep, bloody scrape.
    “Oh, my God,” she said, her hand sliding to her throat. “Your knee. What happened ?”
    “I fell through the porch,” he muttered.
    She spun around to see a jagged, gaping hole in the porch decking. Good Lord. This place was falling down around his ears. She looked back at his knee, and her stomach twisted at the sight.
    “You have to get to a doctor.”
    “I’ve been thinking about it.”
    “ Thinking about it? What would make you take action? Severing a limb?”
    “I’ve just been waiting for the swelling to go down a little.”
    “You’ve got a long wait for that. How much does it hurt?”
    When Luke didn’t respond, she knew the truth. The pain must have been unholy. She wanted to shout at him: You don’t have to suffer in silence!
    But that was nothing new. Hadn’t he always held everything inside? Pain equaled weakness, and he never let anybody see him sweat. But there had been a time all those years ago when she could have sat down on that step beside him, held his hand, and he would have told her how much it hurt.
    But those days were over.
    “You can’t drive with your leg in that condition,” she told him.
    “I’ve been thinking about that, too.”
    “And what conclusion did you reach?”
    “I’m working on it.”
    Shannon couldn’t stand this. Exactly how long was he going to sit on the steps of this god-awful house doing nothing because he wouldn’t ask for help? He needed a doctor, and soon. Do something, she told herself. You have to do something about this now.
    “Stay put,” she told him. “I’ll catch Manny, take him home, and then come back with my truck.”
    “No! That’s not necessary.”
    “You need a doctor. There’s no other way.”
    “Oh, for God’s sake,” Luke muttered. He reached for the porch railing—the part that wasn’t falling down—and pulled himself to his feet. He paused after two steps, his hands curling into tight fists. Then he