“Give her up, asshole,” he shouts. “If my daughter doesn’t show her face in thirty seconds, I’m going to start shooting at these cabins until I kill all of you righteous fuckers. Think you own this fucking mountain? Think you’re so fucking important? You ain’t!”
The truth is my family does own a good portion of this mountain. There are a few homesteads my parents did not buy out when they moved here. Sharp’s property was one of them.
Seems like Mom and Dad should have made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. If they had, perhaps I wouldn’t be standing here tonight fucking defending my land and my woman.
A chill runs down my spine. Two other outcomes were likely the direct result of my parents not buying that land. One, I might never have met Rebekah if her father had moved away before he even married and had children. Two—and my blood runs cold at this thought—perhaps my parents would be alive today.
I don’t have proof, but I have my suspicions, and one of them is that Richard Sharp started the fire that killed my parents. I may never know. It could have been anyone. It might not have even been arson. But judging by how erratic this fucker is tonight, I’m inclined to believe he is guilty as sin.
After slipping outside, I ease the door closed and move as quickly and quietly as possible to get to the tree line. The clearing around my house is small. I’m out of sight in seconds.
“Come out here, you fucking coward,” Sharp bellows.
I turn in the direction of his voice and make my way toward him, staying in the shadows. My gun is lifted and ready. I’d really rather not kill my wife’s father, no matter what he’s done. But I will if I have to. If it’s me or him. If it’s one of my brothers or him.
“Rebekah!” he screams loud enough for every one of my brothers to hear. It’s the middle of the night. I’m certain each of them is out here squeezing in on this asshole.
The gunshots would have awoken all of them. His follow-up shouting would have drawn them outside. I should have grabbed my phone. There could be texts from my brothers. But my only thought was to neutralize this situation as fast as possible.
Another shot rings out. Birds scatter toward the sky. The asshole better be shooting at the moon. If he’s hitting anything on our property, I may change my mind and strangle him with my bare hands.
Suddenly, I see him. He’s pacing in front of one of our storage sheds, swinging the gun around like a madman. The door to the shed is ajar. I wonder if he’s been hiding in there. He’s probably drunk. His movements are erratic, and he nearly trips over his own feet while I watch. I’m surprised his words aren’t more slurred.
“Get your ass out here, Rebekah. You’re in so much trouble. If I have to shoot every one of these fucking Gallants, I will. They can’t protect you.”
He’s mistaken, and I pray Rebekah does not come out of the saferoom. She can’t hear the ranting from inside, so it shouldn’t be influencing her. Her allegiance is to me. I gave her an order. I need her to be safe.
The man keeps yelling, even though he has no real audience. “Should have killed all of you the first time. Too bad you assholes weren’t all home when I murdered your parents. Why the fuck did you come back? So I could finish the job? Idiots. Then you think you can take my fucking slut of a daughter from me? Think again, motherfuckers!”
My blood runs cold at his admission. We all suspected Sharp was the one to start the fire that killed our parents, but we never had proof. After all, his land was adjacent to ours, and he was emasculated every time my parents fed Rebekah. He didn’t take care of his own daughter himself, so my parents did it. Now she’s mine, and I’m going to take care of her.
Richard Sharp has always preferred that his daughters remain ignorant about the world. It was easier to control them if they didn’t know a better life existed. My parents demonstrated to Rebekah that she could be loved and fed. That pissed Richard off. And we’re back. That’s gotten under his skin. Apparently in a big way. This is not going to end well. I can feel it in my bones.
Spotting Andrew across the clearing, I nod to let him know I see him. We stare at each other for a few seconds. We’ve been dealt a huge blow. As I scan the area, I notice both Aaron and Adrian. I’m not sure where Aaric is, and I doubt any of us knows where Asher might be. He’s the stealthiest of all of us.
Suddenly, Sharp lifts his shotgun high in the air and shoots it yet again, screaming nonsensically. But the moment after his shot rings out, another shot fills the air, and Sharp’s shotgun goes flying. It travels several yards before landing in the dirt and continuing to slide across the clearing.
“Motherfucker!” Sharp yells, shaking his hand as if it has been blown off. It hasn’t, but it probably smarts.
Now I know where Asher is. He’s on the roof of the storage shed. I catch a glimpse of him as he turns and leaps off the far side of the structure. After hearing Sharp admit to murdering our parents, I’m surprised Asher didn’t go ahead and fill the man with holes.
Before any of us get a chance to close in on Sharp, he darts into the shed.
Fuck. It would be easier to capture him out in the open. Now that he’s no longer visible, we can’t be certain if he has other weapons. It’s possible he has supplies we aren’t aware of. The man came prepared for war after all.
Squatting to stay low, I charge toward the shed, but before I can get there, an explosion inside the structure sends me flying backward. I land hard on my ass, shading my eyes with one hand as if I’m staring at the sun.
A massive plume of smoke and fire has blown a hole in the roof, or maybe the entire roof. Chunks of wood rain down around me. Looking left and right, I see my brothers also surrounding the shed, all but Adrian on their asses. He must not have been as close as the rest of us.
I scramble to my feet, but just as I do, more shots ring out. One, two, three, and then ten or twenty more like fireworks. Why?
Flattening myself to the ground, I cover my head and wait for the ammunition to run out, confused about how or why Sharp is still in the shed and managing to fire a weapon. It’s totally engulfed in flames now. Not a single sound from Sharp. His silence makes my heart race. I can only hope he’s inside. If he managed to escape through a hole that might have blown out the back of the structure, he’s a lucky fucker. But Asher is on that side. And no one is getting past Asher.
As soon as I can get my bearings, I jump to my feet. The shooting has stopped, but the number of shots that went off in quick succession tells me there must have been ammunition that all went off at once. Perhaps the heat from the explosion and fire caused a chain reaction.
This is a shed we use for animal traps and extra tools.
Andrew is at my side in seconds. “I think that was ammo. Did we have any in the shed?”
