He’s silent as he looks at the floor behind me. When I pull my hand back to hit him again, he yells, “Okay, okay. One of our clients is salivating for this property. If I can get it for them, I’ll be set for life.”
Squatting down in front of him, I rest on my forearms. “What part does Elly play in all this?”
His smile is back. His black hair is hanging in strands around his head and the humor in his almost black eyes ispissing me off.
“Why? You worried our girl double-crossed you?”
The fact he called her ‘our girl’ sends a mixture of anger and jealousy coursing through me, and I want to hurt him.
His smile gets bigger. “Like maybe she came here under the guise of being friendly to everyone while seducing you?” His pause causes me to narrow my eyes at him, my jaw about to snap off from clenching my teeth. “Like maybe she was sent here to do whatever it took to get you to sign on the dotted line?”
Trying to get a read on him, all I can see is the smirk on his rapidly swelling face and humor in his eyes. “Is that what happened?”
“What’s the matter, cowboy? She get under your skin?” His smile is streaked with blood across his teeth.
Drawing slow and steady breaths to control my anger, I don’t break my eye contact with him. “Your little stunt tonight resulted in the death of a horse.” I pause and see a flash of fear in his eyes. “She broke her leg on the ice running from the fire. I think turn-about is fair play, don’t you think?”
The smirk falls from his face and he swallows. “It’s just a horse.” The humor is gone from his voice, which is a little wobbly.
“We don’t see it that way. My sister loved that horse, and she doesn’t see it that way either.” I stand back up and curl my fingers into fists at my sides.
I look behind the shit stain in front of me and make eye contact with Jax and then I turn to Mason. “What d’ya think? What’s good for the goose and all?”
“Yep.” Mason nods.
“Abso-fucking-lutely.” Jax nods.
“But if we make him disappear, it’ll send a clear message. Maybe that will get them to go away.” I say to no one in particular in a tone that sounds like I’m thinking out loud.
“Wait! You’ll kill me over a fucking horse?” He yells.
Turning on him, I stop hiding my anger and glare at him. “No, I’ll fucking kill you for setting a fire in our stable which killed one of our horses, for tormenting us with your fucking letters the past year, for trying to fuck with my head, and most importantly for making my sisters and my daughter cry.”
At that moment, the door to the barn slides open and we all turn to see dad walk in, his face completely neutral. He calmly walks behind one of the wooden walls where we keep tools and equipment for a few seconds, and reappears with a sledgehammer.
He walks over to Harris and kicks him in the side, making him topple to the ground. Harris is wide-eyed as dad stands over him, none of us know what to expect. I glance at Mason at the same time he looks at me and we both look back at dad.
“I know you think all you did was set fire to a stable, but you did much more than that.” Dad’s gravely voice is low, the sledgehammer hanging by his side. “This ranch and that stable is where my daughter feels safe and you made her feel unsafe. You have no idea what you’ve done!”
Without warning, dad lifts the sledgehammer and brings it down on Harris’ knee. A strangled cry fills the barn and dad lets it hang at his side again.
“I tried to be nice. I thought if I ignored you, you would go away, but I was wrong. Do you get my message now?”
Harris is still yelling, he’s pulled his good leg up but the leg dad hit is lying at an awkward angle. When he doesn’t respond, dad kicks the knee he just smashed. “I asked if you hear my message now?”
“Yes, for god’s sake, yes!” He yells as tears run from his eyes.
Dad tosses the sledgehammer and turns to me. “Make sure he knows we have plenty of space to make him disappear ifneed be and if he breathes a word against us, I will hunt him down and make him fucking worm food.”
Dad pushes his hands through his hair, it’s rare we see him so angry, and he turns his back to us. “God damn it, it’s going to take her forever to feel safe again.” He turns to Mason. “I can’t get her to calm down, I need you to come with me.”
Jax’s posture goes ramrod straight and his arms drop to his sides when he looks at Mason. The lighting in the barn is not the best, but I swear the look in his eyes makes me think of a wild animal.
Mason pulls his hat off his head and scrubs his hand over his hair. “Fuck.”
When dad’s eyes stop on me, he reads the look on my face, which was that I was taking care of it. He looks at me and Mason and points his finger between us as he says, “I don’t want this coming back on my children, I’ll be the one to blame.” He turns his finger on himself and taps it on his chest.
“Okay, Dad,” Mason says at the same time I nod my head.
