Chapter Twenty-three
West
I’m in the Hayseed Feed Store paying for a few more bales, when my phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out and glance at it. Daisy’s picture flashes up on the screen and I about fall all over myself to answer it. “Well, if it isn’t my favorite Baby Mama.”
She sobs into the mouthpiece, “West?”
“Dais, what’s wrong?” I sandwich my phone between my ear and shoulder as I dump my supplies and head out of the store.
“West. Please come. They’re trying to take my boy.”
“The fuck? Who’s trying to take Waylon?”
“Eddie. Please hurry,” she whispers, and then a startled mewling cry tugs directly on my heartstrings. My pulse kicks up a notch. “Don’t hurt him!” Daisy begs. “He’s just a baby.”
“Fucking asshole!” I sprint out of The Hayseed, despite Shurl’s protests. I’m gonna kill that motherfucker. “I’m on my way, Daisy.”
I slide my phone in my vest pocket and bolt across the lot, ignoring the greeting from Miss Dot and the chastisement from old man Thompson as I climb in my truck and peel out of the parking space in a cloud of dust and gravel.
A few minutes later, I pull up in front of her house and jump out.
There’s a black Raptor in the drive with Dallas license plates.
“Daisy!” I stalk up the porch stairs and throw the front door wide, stepping across the threshold. The second I do, I’m hit with a blow to the face, and I go down hard. I hear Daisy screaming, and then it’s lights out for me.
***
When I come to, I don’t know if I’ve been out for seconds or hours. Pain lances through my skull and cheekbone and I groan because the room is on its side. Fuck.
“Daisy? You okay?” I can’t see where the hell she is on account of my head spinning so hard.
I turn my neck and queasiness washes over me.
I played Varsity, and I’ve had more than my fair share of being thrown off a horse, so I’ve had concussions before.
I know this feeling well, and I know until the world stops tilting on its side, I don’t have a chance in hell of fighting this asshole and winning.
“West, West.” Daisy whimpers, hovering over me. Her hair curtains my face, and she sniffs back tears. “Oh my god, I thought you were dead.”
“Not yet.” I grunt and close my eyes, attempting to shake off the spots in my vision.
“Get the fuck away from him.” Someone shoves his boot into the back of my neck. “Stay right where you are, cowboy.”
That’s not Eddie. What the fuck is going on here? I raise my hands a few inches off the ground, my palms down in a warding gesture. “I ain’t goin’ anywhere. Let the woman and kid go. I’ll stay and see that you get what you’re owed.”
The man laughs and kneels on my back. My ribs and spine protest with his weight. A big fucker, then. He wrenches one hand behind my back and then the other, and slaps a cool plastic zip tie around them. “Turn around and get on your knees. Slowly.”
“Well, I would, but the butt of your gun did a number on my brain, and I’m a little concussed.”
“Are you stupid? I said get on your knees, fucker.” He shoves his boot in my side, and I groan and comply, but I go slow and take in the situation.
Waylon is sleeping in his electric swing across the room while Daisy kneels opposite me, her hands tightly clasped in her lap, but not restrained.
Either they used Waylon to get her to comply with their demands, or they didn’t think she’d put up much of a fight.
Her pretty face is blotchy and tear-streaked, and the panic in her gaze when her eyes meet mine is something I hope to never see again.
These fuckers are going to pay for this shit.
Across the room, another goon holds a gun at Eddie’s back as he rifles through a drawer filled with paperwork in Daisy’s painted old hutch.
“Where the fuck is it?” the gunman demands.
“I don’t know. We always kept it here. Ask my bitch ex-wife.”
Eddie turns an accusatory glare at Daisy, and I make a mental note to beat the shit out of him if we ever get out of this. “Where the fuck did you put it, Daisy?”
“What the fuck are you looking for?” I ask, which earns me a sharp kick to the ribs. I double over and see stars for a minute. Oh, this motherfucker is going to die.
“The Deed to the fucking house!” Eddie screams, but it’s more for Daisy’s benefit than mine.
“Eddie owes the boss a pretty piece of paper, since he bet everything he had, and then some. We’ve come to collect.”
“It’s at my place,” I say. “Ain’t that right, Dais?”
Her bloodshot eyes cut to mine, and her brow creases.
Daisy Mae’s spent her life being underestimated by most people, but she’s smart as a whip.
She hid that deed because she knew her ex was capable of something like this.
Slowly, she nods. “I had a feeling you’d come looking for it, so I took it to the safest place I know. ”
Hope sparks in my chest and I must’ve been hit harder than I thought if me being her “safe place” is making me all warm and gushy right now. Get out of this shit alive, and then you can start pulling petals off wildflowers and declaring your love.
“Then I guess we’re going to this safe place to get it,” the man with the gun smiles wide enough to show off his shitty silver grill.
Bring it on, motherfucker. Just try stepping foot on Winchester land uninvited.
Eddie shakes his head. “No. It’s bullshit. He’s just trying to throw us off so he can get his brothers involved.”
“Good idea. Hey, Siri. Call Wade.” My phone hums to life in my pocket.
Goon One backhands me across the face and lunges for my phone.
Stupid asshole didn’t even fucking pat me down for it.
Amateur. I kick like my life depends on it, hitting him square in the balls.
He drops, and Eddie uses the commotion to flee through the front door.
Goon Two follows him as his buddy climbs on top of me and throws the first punch.
I can’t do shit with my arms tied, but I reel back and try to headbutt him.
He dodges, his arms shoot out, his hands snake their way around my neck and squeeze.
Fuck. If he manages to strangle me, Daisy and Waylon will be defenseless.
I want to scream for her to run, but I can’t get any air.
Pain lances through my whole body, white-hot agony as my arms, wrists, and elbows are pushed to breaking point underneath the weight.
Blackness threatens my vision as I struggle.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
Debris rains down around us as a bullet finds home in Daisy’s acoustic tile ceiling, her sideboard and one of those fluffy pink cushions she keeps on the sofa.
The distraction is enough for the asshole to release his hold on my throat. I cough and sputter, gasping for air. He makes a beeline for Daisy, and I kick his shin as hard as I can. He screams and drops to the ground beside me.
From my front pocket, Wade is shouting, but I can’t decipher what he’s saying.
Daisy shoots again, three rapid fire shots muffled by the silencer, but still deafening in the small living room.
He shrieks as he topples again. Crimson patterns bloom on his arm and chest. I wrench myself free of the shitty zip ties, and scramble to my feet.
I take the gun from Daisy and fire off two more rounds into the fuckface on the floor—now bleeding from multiple holes in his torso.
Waylon is screaming bloody murder, and Daisy pulls him from his swing, cradling him tight as she shushes him.
“We need to leave,” I say, pulling out my phone from my pocket. “Wade?”
“Brother, what the fuck? Did I just hear gunshots?”
“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.”
“Eddie knows where you live. If he thinks the deed is there, that’s where he’ll go.”
“Cash will go with you,” I glance at my friend and long-term ranch hand over Daisy’s shoulder, but I know I don’t have to wait for a response.
“I got you, Daisy,” he says, anyway. “We’ll take Wade’s truck. I’ll make sure the house is safe before you girls even get out of the vehicle.”
She pulls away and sniffs hard, giving me and then Cash, a sad smile. “I’ll go get some stuff together.”
“Thatta girl.”
Daisy makes her way out of the room and down the hall—carefully avoiding eye contact with the dead man bleeding on her pink Persian rug. I turn to my brothers. “She’s right. Eddie and the other asshole are still a problem.”
“What the fuck was he thinking coming here?”
“He owes someone in Dallas a lot of money,” I say. “Thought the deed to Daisy’s house was the best way to go about it.”
“Did you get a good look at the other guy.”
“Yeah. Looked a lot like this fucker.” I tilt my chin in the direction of the dead man on the floor.
“Listen, we need to get the street cleared up right quick. Miss Mabel next door is sweet, but she’s got this place on twenty-four-hour surveillance since Eddie left.
We get the girls in the car with the baby, and we do it quietly.
Wade and Wyatt, you two are gonna take Lemon’s car and look for Eddie and friend while Colt and I handle this mess. ”
“Got it, boss,” Wyatt says, using his nickname for me.
“You boys find Eddie, I wanna know.”
“Don’t worry, brother. We’ll save a beating or two for you.”
Lemon and Daisy exit the bedroom armed with a bassinette and so much baby shit I wonder how it’s all gonna fit. We all help get the supplies stowed in Wade’s truck.
Despite Lemon’s protests, she hands over the keys for her pride and joy to Wade, stating that Wyatt was not to get behind the wheel of her baby. Colt kisses Lemon and promises to be careful as Wade peels out of the road with a squeal.
“Remind me to throttle my brother later,” I say to Colt.
He nods. “Not exactly the conspicuous departure we discussed.”
I turn to Daisy in the back seat beside Waylon’s carrier. “You doing okay, darlin’?”
“Not really.”
“You just listen to Cash, okay? Do everything he says. I’ll be home as soon as I can.” I lean in and press a kiss to her forehead and then quietly close the door, conscious of how close her neighbors are. I slap the roof and step back as Cash pulls away from the curb.
“You better hope like hell that Eddie never made it to the ranch, because everything we love is headed right there with Cash as their only protection.”
“I got a feeling Eddie didn’t even make it out of the city limits, but Cash can handle himself, you know that.”
“Hmm. Well, I know Lemon could beat a man seven-months-pregnant and hardly break a sweat, she was born with fire in her veins, but are you sure Daisy-Mae is strong enough to stomach everything ranch life will throw at her?”
“She’s strong enough. She might not have been born to ranch life like the rest of us, but she’s walked through the fires of hell and left a trail of embers in her wake. And she’d do anything for family.”
“That what you two are now?”
A sly grin twists my lips. “Yeah. That’s what we are.”
“Glad you’re finally talking sense where Daisy-Mae’s concerned.”
I chuckle darkly and head inside to clean up our mess.