“Doc, wait, wait,” he begged, trying to pry my hand away from his neck.
“Do you remember what I told you?” I repeated.
“That if she ever saw me again, you’d remove my spleen through my mouth,” he rasped.
“Actually, I believe what I said was, that if you ever whispered her name on the wind or so much as thought of her, I’d removed your spleen through your mouth. Does that refresh your memory?”
He whimpered.
I slammed my fist into his side. “I didn’t hear you.”
He nodded, as he cried out, “Yes.”
“Right, so I have a dilemma here. FBI is on their way, so I can make this easy and just shoot you in the head, say I was defendin’ myself, but I’ve never liked easy.”
“No, please, Doc. I’ll do whatever you want me to.”
“Doc,” Dalton called. “That’s enough.”
I sneered as the FBI agent approached, handcuffs at the ready, spoiling my fun. I felt Marvin relax and I pulled him away from the wall and turned him toward Dalton, ‘accidentally’ tripping Marvin as we walked toward the agent. Marvin went down hard and he screamed, his hands going to his mouth as blood poured from it.
“Oops,” I said with a shrug.
“My teeth!” Marvin lisped through the missing front two that lay on the concrete next to him.
“Don’t be sad, your lack of front teeth will make what they have planned for you in prison easier,” I said, and stepped over him.
“Jesus, Doc, was that necessary?” Dalton accused, cuffing Marvin and yanking him to his feet.
“Don’t know what you’re talkin’ about, Dalton. He tripped.”
I headed back to my bike, threw my leg over and took off, knowing my brothers were at my back.
The second we got back to the barn, I made my way back up to my room and slid back into bed, pulling Olivia close.
“You okay?” she asked sleepily.
“Yeah, sweetness. I am now.”
“Do I need to wake up and make sure you’re okay?” she whispered.
“No. I need to hold you and fall back to sleep.”
“Okay.” She snuggled close and held me until we both succumbed to oblivion.
