“But notyoursweetheart, let’s get that clear,” Big Country said.
She waved a dismissive hand and kept walking.
Blue sky emerged as the clouds receded. He and his brother remained quiet until they were standing alone among their fallen kin.
“Sorry, for not going back for you. Hope one day you’ll see fit to forgive me for it,” Big Country said.
“Nothing to forgive, brotha. We make the best choices we can in the moment, and if we’re lucky, we live long enough to correct the ones we regret, yeah? I could’a left a long time ago, but I realized when I wasn’t there to pay the bills, bad things happened to innocent people. It was just easier to stay.”
It was easier to sacrifice himself, Big Country thought, acknowledging the blessing he’d been given when he’d come here. He took in the old red barn washed clean with the storm, the rows and rows of Merle’s planter box garden, the veterinary clinic next to the corral, the acres of open space he’d spent years battling himself upon.
He’d been given another chance at life back then, and today, here and now, he was choosing to open his heart up to love the only woman it ever would, the one who knew how to fill it and protect it. The one laughing in the house, the sound of which made him smile, knowing Lynx was in there acting like a fool. He moved toward the sound of his happiness, and Armand kept pace beside him.
“You ever been to California?” he asked his brother.
“Naw, Virginia’s the farthest I ever got before I had to come back and deal with some mess they made,” Armand said, pointing his thumb toward the unconscious bodies on the ground.
“You’re going to love California, brother,” Big Country said as they walked inside the house.
Instead of finding Lynx and Stormy engaged in some level of foolishness, they were facing the front door, Stormy’s phone moving from her mouth to rest against the side of her thigh.
Big Country frowned and shifted to his left so he could see around the stairwell toward what held their attention as he reached toward his back. The moment Delilah came into view, the polished revolver she had trained on Lynx shifted toward him.
Big Country’s hand fell to his side when he saw the gun’s twin aimed straight at Stormy’s chest. Big Country motioned for Armand not to move and his brother stilled, partially blocked by the stairwell.
The rain had stripped Delilah to her core, but her eyes were fevered in their intensity.
“Nice of you to join us, beloved. Not quite the reunion I’d hoped for, but please have Julian and Emilia join us as well.”
Big Country widened his stance, needing to stay grounded because for the first time in life he had something to lose. If he lost it…
“I’d love to do what you ask, sweetness, but it ain’t possible right now. Those two tried to take something that didn’t belong to them, so they had to pay the price.”
“Can’t say I’m saddened. It took fortitude to pretend they weren’t the disgusting creatures they are. It’s good you made them suffer for it, which begs the question, what price should the whore pay for attempting to take what belongs tome, hmm?”
Lynx tried to edge closer to Stormy.
“Don’t move.”
Lynx froze. Neither he nor Big Country seemed willing to challenge the quickness of Delilah’s trigger finger.
“I’m right here, darlin’,” Big Country said. “Willing to do whatever you ask if it means me and you leave here together.”
“So earnest, so charming, but who am I to believe, the man who speaks with sincerity and kindness, or the man who raised his gun and tried to kill me?”
“Yeah…I’d go with the first,” Big Country said. “You gotta admit you had it coming though, giving Cornelius the order to destroy Mama’s House and all.”
“I was fighting for us, Iamfighting for us but you have to choose something more than pleasure found between a common whore’s thighs, beloved. You have to choosemebecause I have done everything asked of me. Everything. The Good Shepherd directs me to seek vengeance for sins done against the order’s most generous Patron, Mr. Kragen—because the death of an only son, anheir, is apparently a thing which powerful men aren’t meant to endure—and I am obligated to punish those who harmed him.”
“And you did this on your own?” he asked, needing to know what other players were on the field.
“I’m very good at my job, beloved. The Patron provided some of the support I needed in the states, The Good Shepherd provided an acolyte needing to prove his worth, and me, I harnessed my ability to seek and destroy. But in this process God revealed you, the one man meant to be my joy, my chance at a new beginning.”
“God also tell you how to get an explosive in Mama’s House?” Big Country asked.
“He certainly was no God, just a man wanting a woman to show him a bit of heaven. He was helpful enough, he shared what he knew about Mama’s House, told me that weapons were not allowed in the bar, that there was a security system which detected them. I graced him with a swift death and left it to the Lord to determine if the man was worthy of heaven or not. I’m leaning toward not.”
Big Country’s gaze darted to Stormy and Lynx standing off to the side with their backs to him. They wouldn’t be able to see any signals he might give so he let Delilah talk and waited for an advantage.
