1. Grant
Grant
The Protector
Ididn’t play baseball growing up. Hell, I’m sure if my ma could have afforded to send me to camps or skip work to drag me to practices and games when I was a kid, the bat would have been quite different from the one I was holding.
See, my bat wasn’t meant for games. Not ones people wanted me involved with, anyhow.
I was pretty sure the blood splattered on the end would stir more questions than folks already had about our family.
The hood over my head and bandana covering half my face didn’t exactly help that image.
Good thing I didn’t give a fuck about what others thought.
But I did care about my sister, and these two jackasses I was trailing behind didn’t seem to give a big enough damn that her brother was more than used to dealin’ with anyone who got in her way. They thought because she was a girl, she didn’t deserve to be on the dirt with them.
And I believed where they belonged was beneath that dirt. Tucked in a nice six-foot hole, if that’s what it took.
As I passed the hood of a truck, owned by one of those kinds of people, I scooped out the dip from between my lip and teeth and flung it on the windshield, feeling slightly better about why I was here at almost midnight on a fuckin’ Wednesday.
Their shitty truck did look much better with chewing tobacco slidin’ down the front, and really, they should be happy I was stoppin’ there.
For now.
Tapping the blunt-end of the bat against my open palm, I followed the narrow dirt path riddled with tire tracks, leading me deeper into the woods.
Tallulah often practiced on her dirtbike out here.
I’d been out in these parts so many times, I could walk the path blindfolded, even on a night as dark as this one.
Haughty laughter at the end of the path grew louder with each step, and for a beat, I closed my eyes and grinned, imagining all the ways I’d silence them. The path ended, the ground beneath my boots shifting from loose sand to tightly packed dirt. I opened my eyes right as the laughter tapered off.
Nearly a dozen trailers stretched along the side of the field, a beam of light bouncing off a black and chrome one I was all-too familiar with.
My sister’s trailer.
The trailer currently housing her bike and equipment.
“That dumb bitch thinks she can win,” one man grunted.
I rolled my head from shoulder to shoulder.
“You brought the gasoline, right?”
The fuck you did. I slung the bat comfortably over my shoulder.
“No, I fuckin’ forgot it back at the truck.”
I chuckled to myself, shaking my head as I got closer. Morons.
“Shit, maybe she has some inside? Give me the crowbar.”
The light shifted lower on Tallulah’s trailer. Right as a crowbar met the metal framing that kept the back gate intact, I let out a low whistle.
The flashlight shifted and beamed toward me, creating a yellow circle that danced around my body from unsteady hands. I waited a beat for a hint of recognition, and smirked when neither one of ’em seemed to have any.
The few brain cells they had were astonishing.
“You boys need help?” I asked, changing my voice to avoid recognition.
“Help?” One of them hung their head and laughed in relief. I probably just saved at least one of their jeans from being pissed all over. For now, at least, until they realized who I was. “Oh, shit. Are you here for her shit, too?”
I grinned, my fingers flexing on the bat. “Sure am.”
“Good.” The light skittered across the dirt—mere feet between us—then raised to meet the gate of Tallulah’s trailer. “Another hand would be great. Here, take the flashlight.”
Warmed metal met my open palm, my tattooed fingers concealed well in the darkness as they wrapped around the flashlight.
I took a few steps back and set the flashlight on the ground, aiming it for the back of my sister’s trailer and the two guys—Bo and Tate Dodd—who thought they were getting inside.
Since we’d moved to Alliston Springs, the amount of people I had to deal with on Tallulah’s behalf became less and less, either because she’d grown up a little more and stood her ground, or they knew her older brother would step in if they didn’t take the warnings she doled out to heart.
But there were still some who slipped through the cracks and fucked up.
The Dodd brothers, Bo and Tate, were frequent offenders. Ones we unfortunately had a long history with. They were a pair that just hadn’t seemed to get it quite yet. But I was set on gettin’ it through their thick skulls—you fuck with Tallulah, you fuck with me.
“Good idea, puttin’ on the ground like that,” Tate said, admiring the positioning of the flashlight and how it freed my hands. He whacked Bo upside the head. “Why didn’t you think of that?”
“I dunno, why didn’t you?” Bo questioned right back.
“More hands on deck.” I raised my free hand as I stepped up behind them, blocking most of the light.
“You had a good idea, bud, but you gotta move. Bo can’t see.”
Bringing the bat to my side, I spread my legs wider, granting them a sliver of light.
Tate grunted in annoyance. “Did you bring anything other than that wooden bat to get inside? Don’t see what good a bat does.” I swore he muttered idiot under his breath, and I almost lost it then and there.
Way to piss me off more, Tate.
“Don’t need my bat, actually. I know the lock combination.”
Both men froze, then Bo’s shoulders shook suddenly with laughter. “Then what are we over here fiddlin’ with pryin’ down the door for?”
I shrugged. “Beats me.”
Bo, the scrawnier of the two, tossed the crowbar toward the other end of the trailer, sending up a small plume of dirt as it landed on the ground.
For a moment, I stilled and stared at those particles, rising and falling in the faint light.
The thought of those specks clogged my throat, runnin’ it dry and turnin’ my breaths heavy.
“Go on, then,” Bo urged. I blinked as my attention snapped back to the trailer.
“Faster you do it, faster we can fuck up everythin’ inside. Tired of this cunt winning our races.”
I ground my molars together and cocked my head. “That right?”
“Yeah, aren’t you? Or did she fuck you over some other way?”
Tate clapped his hands together. “You’re friends with Derrick, aren’t you?
” Fuck Derrick. “Man, her pussy must be gold if he can’t drop it and let her go.
Bet she’ll run along back to him and suck his dick for a new trailer tomorrow, mark my words.
Maybe we should let him know, and he’ll open up his wallet for us, too. ”
Both snickered, oblivious to how my grip tightened on the bat, palming the blunt end. “Heard she bought this trailer with her own money,” I said, knowing she damn well did. She was beyond proud of it, too. As she fuckin’ should be.
Bo shrugged. “I don’t care what she does, I just want her off my turf.”
“I dunno, wouldn’t mind if she sucked my dick, too. Better use of her mouth, anyway.”
A stick snapped in the distance, and both men whipped their heads to the border of the woods. And that’s when I swung, my bat coming down on the back of Tate’s head with a satisfying crack. His body dropped to the dirt with a loud thud, and truly, I think that right there had made my day.
“Woah, man.” Bo put both hands up and started walking backward. “This ain’t a competition. We can all—”
“What, fuck up my little sister’s chances of winnin’ her race?” Bo’s face paled over as he inched away from the light.
“S-sister?”
Tate groaned from the ground, mumbling something incoherent before his body went limp again. I spun the bat at my side and stepped closer to Bo. Clearing my throat, I used my real voice. “That’s what I said.”
Bo’s mouth gaped with shock. “Shit, G-Grant. I’m sorry, I didn’t wanna do this, but then Tate said she cheated during the races, so it was only fair—”
“To settle the score? Get a little even?”
“Yeah.” Bo nodded. Stupidly fuckin’ nodded, then stopped inchin’ away, thinking it made us square. Like I’d agreed with what he said. See what I’m sayin’? Fucking morons. “Yeah. That.”
“What a coincidence.” His eyes latched onto the bat as it swung in a circle at my side. “We both came to settle somethin’.”
“N-no. No!” He shielded his face as I raised my bat and swung for his knees. Bo buckled to the dirt, screaming and clutching at his legs.
I settled the bat over my shoulder and crouched beside Bo. He whimpered, trying to cower back on his ass and hands.
“Now, you listen here. You and Tate are going to pull out from the race. You’re going to claim your injuries were from a late night drunken practice session. But y’all will attend the race. You’ll sit and watch as my sister wins another one. Wanna know why?”
Bo’s head flinched back slightly. “W-why?”
“Because I want you and your fuckin’ worthless brother in the stands, cheering my sister on.”
He narrowed his eyes, and I cocked my head in response, shifting the bat, rolling it over my shoulder. He saw the movement—the hint at what I’d do if he didn’t listen—and nodded fervently. “No racin’. J-just cheer-eerin’.”
I gripped his jaw, forcing him to wince. “Cheer real loud, or this”—I motioned between the two of them and the bat—“won’t end with you livin’ to see the light of day again. Clear?”
“Yeah, fuck, we’re clear, dude. Just let us go!”
I stood and looked down as Bo shifted in the dirt, trying to stand. As he found his footing, my eyes flashed between him and the trailer. A shiny streak glinted back at me, causing my grip to tighten around the bat.
I tipped my chin toward the scratch, gritting my next words through my teeth. “You scratched my baby sister’s trailer.”
Bo’s eyes flared to the spot I couldn’t pull my gaze from.
I believe his head started to shake from side to side as he muttered no over and over, but I wasn’t sure.
What I was sure of was the way my bat rolled from my shoulder until it met with his body.
The crunching of bone vibrated through my bat, sending a satisfied grin across my face.
Bo was left whining and rollin’ around on the dirt when I was done. I spat beside his head and stepped over him, licking my thumb before swiping it over the scratch.
“Well, well. Would ya look at that. Not a scratch.” He grimaced as I chuckled and shook my head.
“Just a hair.” I crouched down in front of Bo, his eyes barely able to focus as I held the red strand out in front of him.
“Sorry ’bout that, Bo. I’m sure you deserved it for how fuckin’ shitty of a person you are, but hey, you didn’t leave a scratch.
You should be able to sleep real nice tonight knowing that. ”
Bo and Tate were both groaning into the dirt as I righted myself to leave. When I passed the flashlight, I bent down to collect it, then angled the beam back at both of them.
“Y’all better look real fuckin’ festive at her race. Hear?” Bo nodded weakly while Tate started coughing, trying to fight his way up from the ground. “Don’t work too hard there, might hurt yourself more, Tatertot.”
“Fuck—”
“Me?” I cut in, then pointed my bat at him. “I’m afraid you aren’t my type, but your sister might be a fun lil ride for the rest of my night. She wasn’t half bad that one time.”
I winked and turned, letting him shout his little heart out as I just grinned and closed my eyes again, taking the path back to my truck.