Total pages in book: 17
Estimated words: 15007 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 75(@200wpm)___ 60(@250wpm)___ 50(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 15007 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 75(@200wpm)___ 60(@250wpm)___ 50(@300wpm)
We sat around drinking beer and talking about our women and kids until the women wore themselves out and then everyone scattered to their beds. Creed and Lyon to the guestrooms and the others to their new homes, something else we’d been busy with these last few months.
The spread was now like a commune, with Brand, Clay and Travis building their own places within shouting distance from the main house. We hadn’t discussed it-it just worked out that way after I offered them the land.
There was talk about adding on more buildings for the people who weren’t looking like they wanted to leave. They’d come here in the beginning in protest against the sheriff and his dealings and out of respect for my parents. But here we are all these months later and they’d grown comfortable.
I’m not about to turn them out now after all their help, plus the fact that they were helping me keep the place running, which meant men who hadn’t worked in years had a steady job, and women were able to feel safe. I can’t see where any of that was a problem.
5
Law
* * *
I stayed awake long into the night looking over my wife and child and turning shit over in my head. My deal was almost over, Junior was back in the area according to Intel and once I see to him and get rid of the asshole sheriff I can turn my complete focus on the assholes Colt was talking about. And then there was the senator; fuck, I’d forgotten all about him.
Brand’s woman was ready to get that shit going now that her kid was here so it was looking like we were going to be making that call in the next few weeks give or take. Not sure how that was gonna go down, but I have a pretty good feeling that the man in question is going to do the right thing.
How he’s going to react to finding out he had a kid after all these years, not to mention who her dear old grandpa is, is anyone’s guess, but the Hayden St. John I know from his public persona strikes me as a very standup guy, he won’t blame his daughter for that shit.
The only problem I have with that whole situation is that him being who he is, and the kind of man he is purported to be, if he ever gets wind of the shit that goes down around here, there might be trouble. There’s no way to change the past, but we could at least try to calm shit down for the next little while before inviting him in.
Now with Lyon’s little bombshell that might be easier said than done. I’m not one bit surprised that some asshole came up with that idea. Release predatory fucks in the midst of sleepy little towns in the middle of nowhere to prey on the less protected; or what they think is the less protected. Their asses are in for a rude awakening.
They seem to forget that most of the military is made up of good ole boys from just those kind of places. Men, who’d been hardened and trained to kill on the government’s dime, like me. And then there were the mavericks like Colton Lyon, in as much as they can be anyone else like Colt, who, are just natural born bad -asses.
Mancini had alluded to something like this in that first meet back at Colt’s place over the holidays, but we’d been so focused on The Fox that we’d let the rest of it slip by us. Maybe we should revisit that shit and get ahead of it before they get the drop on us.
I felt tired to my soul but knew it would be a long time before I could put down my mantel. With things being the way they are, all these kids being born not only here on the ranch but among my friends, men I call brothers, there won’t be any rest for any of us for a long damn time if ever.
Colt’s trigger happy ass, is already looking froggy which means he’s about to jump, which means I only have about a day or two to enjoy my new fatherhood before he starts his shit. Fucker would destroy the whole damn state just to keep his wife and kids safe.
I looked down at my wife and over at my little son asleep in his crib and totally understood the concept. If I’d felt protective towards her before it didn’t compare to what I felt now. An overpowering urge, to stand between them and the rest of the world, sword drawn.
That sick panicking feeling I’ve been battling for months now threatened to return but I battled it back with force. As long as I’m alive there’s no way anyone or anything will get to them.