Chapter 46
Jimmy laughed on the other side of the room as he knocked down yet another tower of blocks he had constructed. This was maybe the fortieth time he had done it this morning, but he was just as entertained now as he was when he had started this little game.
Sean was glad the baby was keeping busy.
It gave him more time to pore over his maps and formulate a battle plan.
Of course, the odds were stacked squarely in their favor.
They’d outnumber the Natives by hundreds.
But Vin was still an x-factor. He had to be planning something that would even the playing field.
It wasn’t like his old friend to attach himself to an unwinnable cause.
On top of that, Sean knew Vin was a stunningly brilliant tactician. He had demonstrated a cunning ability to outthink just about every opponent he had ever come up against, including Sean himself.
He wondered for the millionth time if a one-on-one showdown with his former friend and partner was coming. He knew that if this were a movie, it would undoubtedly come down to just the two of them, struggling valiantly in the mud, man vs. man, until there was only one victor standing.
But the realities of warfare never followed a script. The battlefield cared nothing for narrative storytelling. One stray bullet fired from one Chain Gang soldier would be enough to take Vin out of the fight.
Sean wasn’t sure what he’d feel at that moment, should Vin be shot down by someone other than him.
Would he be relieved that his enemy had finally been dealt with once and for all, leaving him free to live his life with Deb and Jimmy, free of this ghost?
Or would he feel regret in knowing that the greatest warrior he had ever known met his end in such an undignified way?
He might regret not having that showdown, not ever answering the question that had eaten at him for years.
Who would win if it came down to the two of them?
How would that epic struggle finally play out?
It was something they had joked about endlessly in their days as friends, with each man proudly stating to the other that they’d be victorious should a fight ever break out.
It wasn’t bravado to Sean. He had always meant what he said.
He truly believed he was the better soldier, the better fighter, the better man between the two of them.
He knew Vin believed the opposite, and so if they met on the reservation, it would be more than soldier vs.
soldier or fighter vs. fighter. It would be pride vs.
pride, worldview vs. worldview, conviction vs. conviction.
Sean’s thoughts were violently interrupted by the sound of the shack door bursting open.
He jumped to his feet, ignoring the soreness that still consumed his body.
With the speed and severity of the door flying open, Sean expected to find a furious Chainz or some unknown rival in the Chain Gang come to assassinate him before the mission.
It might have even been Vin with all the furious energy that had nearly kicked the door in.
What he saw was perhaps the last thing he expected. Deb stood in the doorway, nostrils flared as she glared at Sean with a smoldering rage that felt like it could have lit the entire shack on fire.
“Deb,” he cried out in shock, feeling his heartbeat increasing. “What’s the matter? You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
“You would have deserved it, you bastard,” she spat at him, moving into the house and making a beeline for Jimmy.
Sean began to sweat, a pit forming in his stomach. Had she learned what became of Vin? Had someone been cruel enough to fill her in on what actually had happened?
Deb grabbed Jimmy, pulling him away from his blocks despite his protests. The baby started to cry loudly as Sean tried to yell over him.
“What the hell are you talking about?” he exclaimed, throwing his arms out to the sides in frustration. “I don’t understand you. One minute you’re this loving person again, and the next, you’re telling me that I deserve a heart attack? What the hell did I do?”
“You know damn well what you did,” she said, clutching the baby in one arm and her first aid kit in the other.
“No, Deb, I really don’t,” he said, though he had a pretty good idea of what was going on. On the off chance that this was something else, though, he had to continue to play dumb and find some way out of whatever fury she was going to throw his way.
“You’re an amazing liar, Sean,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief as she tried to walk past him.
He stepped into her path, holding out his hands as if to hold her back.
“I almost believe you when you say shit like that.”
“Deb, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said, trying desperately to sound convincing. “Can you please just calm down and explain to me what it is I supposedly did?”
Deb scoffed and shook her head. “Unbelievable,” she said, trying to get around Sean to head for the door.
However, he moved into her path once more, trying to slow her down. “Deb, can you just wait a damn second?” he practically screamed, begging her to stop.
“How did you get hurt, Sean?” she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
A tingle of panic and dread coursed through Sean all the way down to every finger and toe. “I already told you,” he said slowly, as though he were confused by this whole thing.
“Tell me again,” Deb practically hissed through her teeth. “I wanna see if you have the balls to lie to my fucking face again, you arrogant asshole!”
“You don’t understand,” he said, trying to reason with her.
“What don’t I understand, Sean?” she cried out in frustration. “The fact that Chainz knocked the crap out of you?”
Sean was amazed at just how much she knew here. He had to assume someone had told her everything, and he decided the best course of action now was to be completely honest.
“Everything I have done, I’ve done for this family,” he said in a low voice, trying to keep his emotions under control.
“Chainz wouldn’t help me rescue you from that remnant camp unless I agreed to take Vin out.
And although I didn’t want to, I fucking did it because I care about you and Jimmy that fucking much, Deb.
I put four goddamn bullets in that man, and somehow, he got back up!
I don’t understand how he did it, but he…
” Sean stopped speaking as he watched Deb’s face morph from a look of fury to one of horror.
Her eyes were huge, her mouth hung open, and a tear spilled down her cheek.
When she spoke, her voice was a low whisper.
“What?” she gasped, dropping her first aid kit and bringing her hand up to her mouth.
The box clattered when it hit the floor and fell open, scattering bandages and bottles of cleaning solutions onto the floor of the hut.
Shit.
Jimmy continued to wail in Deb’s face, still reaching behind her toward his blocks, but Deb was paying it no mind. Her eyes remained fixed on Sean, staring at him as though he were some unknown species of vermin that horrified and disgusted her all at the same time.
She hadn’t known that part. And he had foolishly just confessed to the greatest crime he’d ever committed.
“Deb,” he said, reaching a hand for her.
“No!” she cried out in his face, her voice breaking with emotion. She held out one hand at him, index finger raised in alarm. “No, don’t you touch me. Don’t you ever touch me again!”
“Deb, be reasonable,” he said, trying to take a step toward her, but she recoiled as though he were moving in to try to murder her this time.
“Reasonable?” she cried out. Now she was screaming, and Sean started to worry that people outside of their little hovel would be able to hear her. “You shot Vin, and I’m being unreasonable about it?”
“I had to do it!” Sean screamed back at her, feeling heat rise into his aching face.
“For me?” she cried out, barking out a humorless laugh. “For Jimmy? You tried to kill his father for him?”
“I’m his fucking father!” Sean bellowed, not willing to stand for another moment of this.
With all he had done, all he had sacrificed to get them to this point, he wasn’t going to let Deb clutch her way out of his life now. Because if she did…then what had all of this been for?
“Not anymore,” Deb said, reaching down to collect her first aid supplies with one hand, plopping them into the kit and closing it before standing up.
Sean simply stared dumbfounded at her. She couldn’t possibly be saying what he thought she was saying.
“Not anymore,” she repeated, now looking him in the eye. Her lips trembled with the strain of her rage, and tears were pouring down her cheeks.
Sean felt as though he had been stabbed in the heart. It felt odd. People always talked about heartbreak like it was a physical pain, and Sean had assumed they were exaggerating. But it was true. There was a legitimate pain in his chest as Deb stormed past him, making a beeline for the door.
Sean was frozen in place by pain and panic, feeling the entirety of his work crumbling around him. This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not after everything he had been through, everything he had seen.
Deb opened the door and moved out into the daylight with the clear intention of never returning. There was no hesitation in her actions, and Sean felt the icy grip of panic close around his heart.
He immediately rushed out after her. “Deb!” he cried out desperately, not caring who or what heard him as he burst into the sun with a panicked frenzy. “Deb, please wait!”
Deb, however, didn’t respond to him. She simply kept walking, quickening her pace. Sean began to notice members of the Chain Gang and the ranch alike looking over in their direction. He didn’t care, though. He continued to chase after his family, calling out her name.