Holt closes his eyes, opens them. "Fuck. I haven’t heard that name in a long time. That son of a bitch."
"Yes."
"So you let Roan know?"
"Yes. He’s on his way down. Bringing two of his men with him."
"Cash?"
"Sweeping the southern corridor. I'll call him around six."
Holt nods slowly and sets his hat on the kitchen table. "Tell me you got some goddamn coffee."
Phantom pours him a mug, and the three of us sit down at the table. The sky is coming up pink behind the kitchen window.
Holt looks at me across the table. "Spur."
"Yes, Holt?"
He looks at me for a long time, the way he looked at me in the parking lot of the Hampton in Abilene.
Same Lyle eyes. Same weight. "My brother says I owe you a conversation."
"Whenever you want it, Holt."
"Now's fine."
Phantom stands up and picks up his coffee. "I'll be on the porch."
He walks out. The screen door bangs once behind him. It's just me and Holt at the kitchen table. The sun is coming up.
Dakota’s still asleep in the back bedroom. The Lyle family is closing around the property from every direction.
Holt looks at me. "Tell me what you're going to do for my niece, Spur."
"Everything, Holt. From now until I'm in the ground."
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Dakota
I wake up in the back bedroom of my father's house with Spur's arm under my head.
The sun’s already coming through the gauze curtains.
For a second I don't remember why I'm here.
Then my wrist registers the dull throb of fresh ink under the gauze, and the memories from yesterday come rushing in.
Abilene. The cinch. The crowd on its feet. Uncle Holt in the parking lot of the Hampton. Pops on the porch when we pulled through the gate.
Spur is asleep beside me in his jeans and a t-shirt with his Glock on the dresser.
I remember him coming back to bed at some point in the early morning hours.
I don't move for a long second. I let myself look at him.
He doesn't sleep often, and when he does, he sleeps like he's been holding his breath for years and finally got to take a breath.
