“We got a situation.Daisy’s place.Now.”
“We were at Earl’s.I’m pulling up now with Wyatt and Cash.Lemon and Colt are right behind us.”
“Good.I don’t know how long before the others get back.”
Outside, tires screech to a halt.I peel back the curtain and find Wade’s truck parked haphazardly on the curb behind mine.Lemon’s sporty little Farrari squeals to a stop and my pregnant sister scrambles out of the cab, somehow making it up the walk before my brothers do.Shit.I don’t want Lemon to see this.I don’t want Daisy to have to see this side of me either.As the sons of ranchers, we’ve all seen shit we shouldn’t have, we’ve done shit we shouldn’t have to protect our land, but we’ve kept all of that as far away from Lemon and Mama as possible.
I cross the room and open the front door.
“Lemon, slow the hell down,” Colt shouts trying to get between his wife and the porch, and failing miserably.She might be pregnant, but nothing slows down Lemon Winchester when she’s on a roll.
“That’s my brother in there.”She looks up and meets my gaze.I’m guessing she doesn’t like what she sees, because she storms inside, pushing past me.“Oh my god!What the hell happened?Wade said it was a 911.Are Daisy and the baby okay?”
“We’re here,” Daisy says in a croaky voice.
Colt, Wade, Wyatt, and Cash come barreling in at once and I close and lock the front door.
“Holy shit.Who is that?”Lemon asks, her face devoid of color as she studies the body on the ground.
“A friend of Eddie’s.Lemon, I need you to help Dais put together a bag for her and Waylon, they’re coming to stay with me until this all blows over.”
Daisy’s eyes grow wider.“West—”
“Dais, it isn’t safe here.”
“Are we ...are we going to the sheriff’s office?”
“No, darlin’.We don’t want the cops anywhere near this.”
“But ...it was self-defense, right?”Lemon asks, glancing incredulously between us.“Right?”
I nod.“It was, but it’s kinda hard to prove when a man is dead on your living room floor, and there are no other witnesses but your ex-husband—who led them here.”
“Fucking asshole.”Wade shakes his head.
Colt grits his teeth as he asks, “Where is he now?”
“He and one of the men pointing a gun to our heads took off.They wanted the deed to Daisy’s house.”
“Oh, he’s a fucking dead man,” Wyatt says, and then grimaces as he meets Daisy’s gaze.“Sorry, but that’s so not okay.”
“I just shot a man.”Daisy’s voice is high and thready, her face blanches, and her eyes get this far away look.“I-I s-shot him.”
I take Waylon, because she’s shaking so hard I’m not sure she can hold him.I hand the baby to Lemon who instinctively cradles him tight and shushes him as she leads him to his nursery.
“Hey,” I pull Daisy close and cup her cheeks.She feels like ice.Shock, then.“You did what you had to in order to keep Waylon safe.You saved me, Dais.”I search her eyes.They’re brimming with tears, but she’s lost that faraway look.
“I was so scared.He was killing you.”Tears run in rivulets down her face.I wipe them gently with my thumbs, aware of how calloused my fingers are against her soft skin.I hate that this is something she’ll never forget, that she’ll carry this guilt with her for the rest of her life.I’m gonna fucking flay Eddie alive for putting her in this position.
“You saved me, darlin’.”I kiss her forehead and wrap my arms around her.Daisy’s shoulders shake as she sobs into my chest.“I was the one who killed him.Okay?That was not on you, Dais.You did what you had to for your family.”
She nods, but I don’t know if she’s hearing me.“What do we do now?”
“You and Lemon take Waylon to my house.”
“W-what about t-the body?”
“The less you know, the better.”
