This wasn’t ever going to be a fair fight, but since he started it, I will happily finish and erase all traces of this man.
Rearing back, I throw a right hook, catching him clean across the jaw, and then launching my body forward to tackle him to the ground. Wyn runs toward the door, hopefully doing as I’ve asked and getting the hell away from this.
I get in two left bloody hooks across his face and a right jab along his side. Leaning forward, I shove my weight against my forearm that I’ve thrust against his windpipe, making him gasp and cough.
Reed takes advantage of my injury and punches at my bloody hand.
“Fuuuuckkkkk!” I grit out, more than feeling it that time. He flails beneath me, and it’s enough that he rolls us over, the back of my head hitting the gravel hard.
Wyn screams my name gutturally, and moments later, she’s running back in our direction. He wrestles on top of me as hetries to choke me, all while I attempt to hold him still, my hands digging into his, just as she swings her arm out and screams at the top of her lungs. It collides with Reed’s side so fiercely that it forces him to lurch over, “Fuck! God fucking, gahhhh!” he shouts. Distracted, he eases his grip on me, and I shove out from under him with a grunt, yanking him with me as we tumble closer to the edge of the embankment leading down to the river. Along the back side of the bar, it’s a bit deeper drop-off. Mud and rock dig into my arms and legs as we fight for the controlling position again.
The loud echo of a shotgun fires off above us, one concussive boom that cracks the air open. Silence consumes the air as we topple over. The second shot jerks us apart from each other, my breath labored as I twist away and search the source of it. On the edge of the embankment we just rolled down stands Birdie with a sawed-off shotgun cocked at her hip and a bottle of whiskey held between two fingers. The muffled sound of the band plays in the background and rumbling engines from motorcycles pull in closer. On one side is Lu with her arms crossed and on the other stands Wyn, chest heaving and half hunched over.My brave girl.
“You okay, baby?” I call out to Wyn, keeping my eyes on her before they quickly snap to Birdie.
Her voice is quiet at first, but then she calls out louder, “Yes. I’m okay.”
“This isn’t how we do things around here, Mr. Colton,” Birdie says coldly to me.
My body coils even tighter, eyes narrowing on her. I must have fucking heard that wrong.
“Birdie,” Wyn shouts in a reprimanding tone.
“That’s enough, Wynona,” she says, raising her eyebrow.Birdie never calls her Wynona.“Reed, are you alright?” she calls out to him.
What the fuck is going on?
The asshole shifts his weight to stand, but he favors one side. Glancing over, I see a familiar shiny black tool sticking out from his side.The fucking cat ears.That must have been what Wyn did when she swung at him, embedded it right in his side.
Walking closer, Birdie tilts her head and looks at the protruding object.
What the fuck is she doing?Wyn’s eyes meet mine when I look back at her, and she’s wearing the same pissed-off question plastered on her face.
My hand burns and pulses as blood drips down my forearm.Shit. Lifting my shirt over my head, I twist and wrap it around my hand that still bleeds steadily. Wyn notices and moves slowly from where she stood next to Lu, bypassing a locked and loaded Birdie, toward me. She glances at my hand and then back up to me, silently asking if I’m alright.
I give her a short nod while still trying to keep focus on the standoff playing out in front of me.
“Birdie, everything alright out here?” Tommy shouts from the back door, standing shoulder to shoulder with a big guy in leather cuts.
“I’m sorting it out, Thomas. No need to get the sheriff.” She lifts her shotgun and rests it on her shoulder. “Unless you want to press charges, Reed.”
Reed glances at me first, nostrils flared, and then Wyn, before he turns his head, and says, “That won’t be necessary. I’m sure we can sort this out.”
“Good.” Birdie nods, holding out the bottle of whiskey to him. “Take a sip. We’re going to need to pull that out to get a better look.” She gestures to Wyn’s handiwork.
Wyn grips onto me as he reaches for the bottle, pressing it to his lips while Lu pulls the cat ear weapon from his side. She’s not gentle about it either, which has him hissing throughhis teeth. His dress shirt soaks red more quickly than I would have expected. But it's the way he starts coughing that has him looking up at the Crowne women with widening eyes.
I look down at Wyn again, and she raises her chin as she watches on, like she understands what’s happening. And now, so do I.
“You’re a smart one,” Lu rasps to him. “I think that’s why Wyn liked you so much at first. You were the opposite of every other man I had been around.” Humming, she looks at Wyn, who’s still at my side, holding on to me tightly. “She’s smarter, though. She knew you weren’t ever going to cut it for her.”
Reed coughs out again, holding his punctured side.
This is how they do it.
“The beauty of whiskey is found in what we like to call the ‘heart.’ Not sure if you’re familiar,” she says under her breath. “That’s the part that’ll warm you up or fuck you up, just depends on your plans for it. But the head...” She trails off with a smirk, turning her head slowly, left and then right.
Birdie tips her chin up, a satisfied look in her eyes.
