Chapter 14 – Cody
Chapter Fourteen
Cody
Now we’re both facing the door. I watched three men come in after Shay finished her last piece of bread and didn’t think anything of them at first until I saw the lanky one staring at my wife.
Shay looks incredible tonight, so if he had kept his eyes to himself after the first couple times I caught him, maybe my blood wouldn’t be at a boil.
“Finish your dinner, babe,” I say to her, trying to stay calm, even if she already senses a disturbance in my demeanor.
It’s not her fault, but I can’t lose my alertness. The three men are positioned in such a way that we might be in pretty big trouble soon. I want to think I’m just paranoid but… I’m not.
The lanky one doesn’t stop staring. Then the others join him. There’s something strange and polished about them. They don’t seem like locals. They have too much polish to be ranch hands, and an almost militaristic posture as they sit and stare at both me and my wife.
A man knows when he’s being hunted. I try to talk normally to Shay for the rest of dinner.
I want her to finish and enjoy herself. I also don’t want us to attract more attention.
I don’t want them to realize that I know they’re watching.
To cover up my motivations, after Shay moves, I love up on her physically.
It’s an added perk that I get to squeeze her and kiss her shoulders in between bites of my food.
The men drink and watch. Once our plates are cleaned, Shay leans over and I think there must be something stuck in my beard until she cups her hand and whispers, “Is it those men watching us that have you all wound up?”
She pulls away with a stunningly deceptive smile on her face, as if she didn’t just whisper in total fear.
I reach for her hand underneath the table and squeeze.
Yes. Our eyes meet briefly. Judging by where all three of the men are sitting, we may have some trouble leaving from our private seats towards the back end of the restaurant.
I don’t look forward to this. The waitress returns with the bill.
I gently peel out three hundred dollars from my wallet.
If this turns ugly, I’ll be happy I gave her a big tip.
I stand up to pull Shay’s chair out and take her hand.
Our eyes meet again. I grin at her, keeping up all outward appearances that nothing is wrong.
“Ready to go dancing?” I ask her. I try not to react to the lanky man shifting in his seat the second we move towards the door. The one with a toothpick in his mouth doesn’t bother trying to hide his movements as Shay and I take our first steps towards the exit. We’re not gonna make it.
Shay squeezes my hand. We can both feel the energy in the room shifting and I know that I can’t let this get any worse with my wife here.
“Keep moving,” I mutter as we take another few steps towards the door. Before I can push it, Toothpick sticks his hand out to block me. His two associates surround us.
“Careful,” I say in a low voice. “I might be alone, but I can still defend myself.”
“You two step outside, there won’t be any problems.”
Shay squeezes my hand. Fuck. There’s nothing she has to worry about. I’m going to kill each of these three men. I don’t know how and it might take a while – but that’s what will happen.
“I don’t want any problems,” I say calmly. “Let’s take this outside.”
I let go of Shay’s hand and Toothpick pushes the door open, leading us outside.
The men don’t notice me freeing up my other hand and she trusts me enough for me to let go.
Quickly, I try to analyze my surroundings, how quickly I’ll have to shoot.
It’s been a while but… I can still shoot with both hands and do all the fun tricks.
Once we’re outside, I scan the eyes of the gentlemen standing in front of us. The men are standing a good shooting range away from me. I wish I could send Shay back inside but… I don’t have much of a choice.
“Who are you? What do you want?”
He opens his mouth to say something, but I’m the type to ask questions later.
I pick the biggest one and I hit him right in the jaw.
Violence explodes seemingly out of nowhere.
I hear Shay scream and that’s about it. I started the process of killing – and now, it can’t stop.
I’m done thinking about our dinner or line dancing or anything of that nature.
It’s all primal. All nature from here on.
I can feel the blood squirting out of his face.
But it’s just a tactic to distract them.
They scramble for their weapons and calmly, I take out both pistols I’m packing, knowing I’ll probably only hit one target, I shoot.
I hit Toothpick and hear another scream that has to be Shay’s.
I turn around to look at her briefly. She’s alive, not bleeding, but she has her back pressed against the wall and blood on her dress. Blood on her boots.
“SHAY, GET TO THE CAR.”
She doesn’t move. Damn it. I reload and aim at the head of the guy I just punched in the face.
Thank God we own the cops out here. He looks at me, sheer panic on his face when he realizes that he’s fucked.
I blow his head off. My ears ring, so I don’t know if Shay screamed again.
There’s one more bastard still alive – running for his life now.
I have three more bullets in each pistol. I waste the first two. Maybe I hit him with the third one. I can’t chase after him, so even if I have more bullets, I don’t bother. I need to get a clean up crew out here. I’m out of breath, covered in sweat and there isn’t a cloud in the sky.
It’s such a small town and anyone who might have witnessed what happened has the good sense to stay hidden out of sight. I don’t hear sirens, so if anyone called the cops, they’re not here yet and they’re not close enough for me to worry.
Shay crouches against the wall, her head buried in her legs. I reach out and touch her. She flinches and looks up at me, eyes welling up in fear and terror. There’s blood on her clothing and tonight is far from over. Who were these men? What did they want?
She doesn’t give me her hand immediately. I can’t blame her. It’s obvious our date night is over and I just had to do… unpleasant things. And I did them without flinching. I curl my fingers towards my palm, beckoning Shay to give me her hand. Trust me.
“Shay, it’s over,” I say to her. “I promise. We’re going to be fine.”
Then, I hear the sirens and finally, my wife takes my hand.