But I didn't have time to worry about that. Inside the barn, something was burning. I couldn't tell what, but smoke was starting to fill the air and the horses didn't like it. Hurrying to the back side, I opened that barn door, pulled aside the panel gate, and then started unlatching stalls. Thank God Luke had them trained well, because the moment a horse was let out, it ran straight for the place it knew as safety: its paddock.
I had just reached the last stall, Onyx's, and had Faith's gelding trotting toward freedom when something cracked into the back of my head. I fell, the clean barn floor feeling a lot more solid than it had when I was a kid. For a moment, I was dazed, not sure where that had come from, and then a foot came at my side. I rolled, moving just far enough that while the kick hurt, it wasn't as bad as it could've been.
Then I kicked back. The smoke was thicker, making my lungs burn with each breath. The man standing over me didn't seem to care, though. He kept kicking and I kept scrambling to get up. Finally, I managed to make just enough room, but I was only halfway to my feet when he shoved me back, pushing right up into my face.
Jeremy, the jerk Ash had pushed out of the church that day, sneered at me as if he was actually enjoying this. I did my best to look terrified - which wasn't hard, because Iwas- and then I kneed that asshole right in the balls with all I had. He bent, clutching at his damaged nuts, so I brought both of my hands down on the back of his head as I whispered thanks to Gran for making me take that self-defense class.
Then I ran. The horses were safe and inside a burning barn was the last place I wanted to be. I barely spared a thought for everything we were about to lose, then burst out of the door on the driveway side - only to be hit in the throat by someone's arm. I flipped around it like I'd just run into a clothesline, and hit the ground flat on my back with a very loud grunt of pain.
The problem was that I couldn't suck in a breath. My body went into full panic mode. My mind was trying to make things work, but it wasn't happening. Some strange man was looming over me, bending like he was about to make me hurt badly, when a piece of wood crashed into his side.
That was the lumber I'd dropped to get the barn door open. Wielding it was Ash. "Don't know which Wallace brother you are," Ash snarled, "but don't you ever touch my girl again." Then he swung the stick again.
Which was about the time my lungs remembered that they could work. I sucked in a gulp of air as Ash bent to help me up. He groaned with the effort, proving that he wasn't fit enough to be doing this, but it wasn't like we got a choice. Over there, Cy was pummeling someone stupid enough to stand still for too long. A few feet away, Luke was doing his best to keep anyone else from jumping on Cy's back.
"Where's Faith?" I asked.
"Told her to get Emily," Ash said, his head turning as he kept checking the area around us. "Horses?"
"Pasture," I said. "Barn's on fire."
"Fuck!" Then he passed me the stick. "I'm gonna bet that Emily will have her fire extinguisher. You're also going to need that." Then he turned, making me aware of someone heading our way.
I swung that damned stick like a baseball bat, but Ash jumped in right after. I couldn't hit like that again without hurting my boyfriend, so I tried to get around the man's back, although Ash didn't need my help. It was almost like the adrenaline coursing through his body made him forget that he was supposed to be an invalid.
"Hey!" Emily yelled, doing her best to sound threatening as she ran up. "Cops are on the way. Get the fuck out of here!"
But no one stopped. No one even slowed down to look at her except me. "Barn's on fire!" I yelled, because Ash was right. That woman came armed with her favorite weapon: the fire extinguisher.
That was all Emily needed. She ran into the barn to deal with that, and I moved to give Luke a hand, because it didn't look like he was winning. The only problem with my idea was that I wasn't a fighter. I knew just enough to get my ass away from someone trying to hold onto me. I certainly didn't know how to beat the shit out of a man who weighed twice as much as me! But that didn't mean I was going to give up.
Behind me, I heard Ash yell, "On your knees, asshole!"
I turned back to find that hehadgotten the gun from my room, and right now he had it pointed at the head of the man he'd just been fighting. The guy lifted his hands, looking like he was about to give up - and then he rushed Ash. Both men crashed to the ground, landing on their sides. The gun skittered away, and Ash started punching.
It was like he'd stopped caring about anything else and just pummeled the guy. There was a roar coming from his mouth, but the other man was fighting back just as hard. I moved to help, torn between which of my men needed me more, and someone managed to blindside me, punching me right across the face - hard.
I spun, ducking down to grab my cheek, and looked up to see Paul Simmons. "You stupid cunt," he growled, storming right towards me.
I swung, my fist landing on his shoulder. The man grunted, but didn't stop. His hand grabbed me by the throat and my back hit the wall of the barn. Reaching up, I tried to pry his grip away, but I wasn't strong enough. No, I was pretty. I was thin. I was everything a model was supposed to be, and muscular was not one of those things. With him choking me out, I couldn't even scream for help.
Then Luke slammed into the man's side. Simmons stumbled away, braced up for a split second, then turned to run. Luke just let him go.
"You ok?" he asked me.
I nodded, not sure if my voice would work after that. I decided to try anyway. "How many?"
"Too many," he said, pushing me back towards the house. "Stay back. The cops are coming."
I knew he was right. I understood that I should, but I couldn't bring myself to hide inside while everyone else was out here. I managed to back all the way up to the driveway, and then Faith grabbed my arm, towing me down the driveway a little more.
"I opened the gate," she said. "Violet, they're going to kill my dad!"
"No," I promised, ready to charge back in there. "Faith, you and Zeke go - "
I never got to finish the words. Faith yelped a split second before a man grabbed me around the waist and threw me to the ground. This time, I wasn't fast enough to move before the kick landed in my gut. If my stomach hadn't been mostly empty, my dinner would've come up with the hit. As it was, I merely gagged.
And Faith screamed. Luke turned at the sound. That was all it took for the man he was fighting to knock him out. Cy roared, making it clear that he'd seen it too, but there was nothing he could do. Three men were currently trying to slow him down, and Cy was not winning.
