Ryan looked at the blood and brain on him and fainted.
The moment Axel, Ryder, and Ransom’s voices traveled through Rebel’s partially open door, she roused herself from her bed and found a pair of puddle pants and a white pullover, then pulled on socks and chose a pair of Vans to stick with the same designer as everything else she wore.
She didn’t bother with her hair. Very shortly, she’d focus on what cute style she wanted to wear to Harley’s stupid play. After texting Momma to let her know her destination, Rebel left her room and darted down the back staircase, then hurried across the breezeway and out the door that led to the swings and treehouse.
The property was endless with enough land to build a family compound, ideal for the boys but sucky for her. Probably Jo, too.
Several minutes later, she reached the iron fence that separated her parents’ place from the Taylor residence, happy to see the big gap that Rebel, Mattie, and Harley once used in extreme emergencies, when disabling the cameras to hide their movements was too time-consuming.
It was how Mattie was able to sneak off with Eric and Billy. They’d tell everyone they were going to the swings and Mattie would book it to the breach in the fence. In hindsight, Rebel regretted her stupidity. At the time, she just thought she was being a good cousin and thwarting Uncle Johnnie.
A high-pitched squeal suddenly cut through the quiet and Rebel jumped almost ten feet in the fucking air. Hogzilla’s icky little hooves thundered from behind a row of bushes, her piggy eyes locked on Rebel.
Screaming, she backed away, afraid to take her eyes off that hefty ho, trying to maintain a zigzag pattern but finding it so fucking hard to do.
Hogzilla grunted, squealed again, thundering toward Rebel with impressive speed for such a big pig.
Why hadn’t Daddy shot this bitch yet?
The earth felt as if it shook under Hogzilla’s impressive girth, drawing ever closer to Rebel, who worried she’d run into a tree and knock herself out. Then, instead of Rebel feasting on Hogzilla,she’dbe that bitch’s meal.
Yelling at the top of her lungs, Rebel turned, almost running into the fucking tree that she’d suspected was near. She couldn’t have been lucky enough to zag, the movement that kept Hogzilla off course. She zigged, and the pig’s snout butted her legs.
“You fucking unfried pork sausage,” Rebel cried, jumping up to try and grab the tree limb. Unable to reach it, she landed on her feet and lost her fucking balance, falling right in front of a psychotic pig with an evil glare and bad breath.
A whistle saved the day. That overgrown blubber of death sat down as if she didn’t make a fucking sport of chasing anyone she could.
“Bad girl!” Uncle Val chastised, suddenly there and patting Hogzilla’s big, stupid head.
“That pig needs to die!” Rebel shouted, scared and angry. She punched the ground, creating a small cloud of leaves. “I didn’t even know she was out.”
Uncle Val crouched down and that bitch nudged him like a puppy. “Daddy got to talk to your Aunt Meggie to ask her to put you on her No-Kill list.”
Outraged, Rebel gasped. “You can’t put a fucking pig on that list!”
“Your Uncle Outlaw might want to shoot you for playing hide and seek with his daughter.”
“Hide and seek?” Rebel yelled. “Try seek and kill. That bitch wanted me dead.”
Still petting her, Uncle Val looked at Rebel with disapproval and shook his head. “No, Reb. She might’ve pretended she had horns and seemed like she wanted to gore you. My princess destroyer got a good imagination. But she wouldn’t have bit you, just rammed you a little with her snout.”
“And crushed me if she ran me over.”
“Fuck. I never thought of that.” He scratched behind Hogzilla’s ear. “You wouldn’t have done that to your Cousin Rebel, would you have, sweet girl?”
“That’s what Aunt Bailey calls Harley!”
Still cuddling Hogzilla, Uncle Val frowned at Rebel. “She gave me the idea, Reb. I couldn’t think of something so poetic on my own.”
Too outdone to think of a response, Rebel noticed Hogzilla’s collar that readDaddy’s Little Diva. “Daddy’s little asshole!”
“Cover your ears, girl,” Uncle Val said to Hogzilla, doing the job himself and then shaking his head at Rebel. “Puff don’t like this one either. But I can’t find her ‘Princess Destroyer’ one. I think her step mama threw it away.”
“You call Aunt Zoann that pig’s stepmom?”
“Zoann can’t give birth to a pig, Reb. Besides, I don’t want my girl thinking I’m trying to erase memories of her real mama.” Uncle Val stroked the pig’s head. “Enough about my daughter.What are you doing in her territory? You must’ve had a score to settle if you went in search of her.”
Rebel remembered she was at the back of Uncle Val’s property. “I thought Hogzilla was penned!”
