Chapter Twenty-One
Fear unlike any he had ever felt before welled up in Gray’s throat as he shoved Jessie away from the line of fire, shielding her body with his own.
Yanking her up off the ground, he shoved her forcefully at the inn, yelling, “Run! Get inside!”
She bolted away, not looking back, as he raced in the opposite direction, across the street and toward the general store. Chaos erupted in the streets. People screamed and ran frantically, calling out for loved ones as they sprinted for safety. A man grasped a woman”s arm and rushed her in the same direction as Gray. The man tried to protect her as they hurried away, shoving others out of their way as they ran. A woman screeched and latched onto Gray with wild eyes, locking her arm in his with enough strength that it prevented him from drawing his gun. He sprinted with the others, blending into the group for safety from the shooter. As he ran with the crowd, something shimmered on top of the saloon and his eyes darted toward it in time to see an attacker on the roof, probably searching for him and Jessie.
His mouth went dry as he skidded to a stop at the side of the general store. The woman abandoned him to run for the front door. He bolted into the alleyway and slammed his back against the wooden building with a painful thud.
Drawing his gun, he looked back out at the chaos. He turned just in time to see Jessie at the open door of the inn, as a gunshot tore through the screams and a bullet splintered the door frame next to her.
His breath hissed out, heart pounding, and Jessie retreated back into the inn, slamming the door behind her. Taking a deep breath, he focused on calming his racing heart and quelling the fear that had coursed through him at the sight of Jessie almost losing her life.
He turned away from the street just in time to get slammed in the face with a fist. His body jerked backward, and he fell into the wall, knocking the breath out of him as his vision went black. Something hit his hand, and he dropped his gun as pain tore through his arm. The man who’d hit him was close enough that Gray was able to slam his body into him. The attacker fell off his feet and onto the ground. Gray’s vision returned, and he focused on the figure before him.
Austin Butch cursed as he fell to the ground, dirt and dust flying up as he landed. His hat fell off, and he jumped back up to his feet, drew his gun, and began to turn to face Gray.
But before Butch moved further, Gray snatched his gun off the ground and fired it. The smell of gunpower filled the air and the sound of the gunfire echoed off the buildings. Butch grunted once, and his body jerked as the bullet tore through him. But instead of falling, he sprinted behind the stables and out of sight.
Gray cursed under his breath, hopeful that the bullet would kill Butch slowly.
He sprinted toward the saloon and took the stairs four at a time as he ran to the balcony. He shimmied his way onto the roof, and it didn’t take him long to spot the shooter leaning over the balcony facing the street. Stepping quietly, he snuck up on the man and lined up his shot before firing, easily catching his target in the back of the head. The man dropped his rifle and then fell off the balcony, dead.
Gray took a quick look around to make sure no other people were on the roof. Satisfied that he was alone, he swiftly made it over to the rifle, picked it up, and took cover where the man had been, searching for the next gunman.
How many attackers were there? He had seen the man on the roof, who must have been the first one to shoot at them. Butch had appeared behind the general store… Was that it? He looked out over the town and spotted a third gunman. His heart jumped up into his throat as he saw Jessie standing behind him, her pistol trained on his back.
He raised the rifle, and the butt of the gun dug into his shoulder as he tried to line up his shot. But the horse attached to the coach was spooked, and pulled it, causing the shooter to move with it.
He couldn’t get a clear line of vision.
Take the shot, Jessie.
“Drop your weapon if you want to live!” she yelled at the gunfighter.
Gray’s heart plummeted. When she spoke, she had ruined her only chance at taking the man out without any danger to her own life. The man swung around and pointed his gun right at Jessie. She took the shot, and it missed him by a foot.
A second gunshot rang out, and he felt ice spread through his stomach. He couldn’t save her. He’d failed her.
But the man in front of her dropped to the ground, blood pooling around him on the ground. Jessie had dropped too.
The hair on the back of Gray’s neck stood at attention, and he snapped his gaze toward the general store, where he thought the shot had come from.
On top of the roof, rifle pointed down at the man and Jessie, was Luke. A mixture of relief and rage tore through Gray at the sight of him. Luke had saved Jessie, but he wasn’t in hiding like he was supposed to be.
Luke lowered the rifle and turned to face Gray, winking at him before disappearing from view.
Gray’s attention snapped back to Jessie, who lay on the ground unmoving. “Jessie!” Gray yelled, but she didn’t move.
His heart pounded harder, and he dropped the rifle and sprinted back to the staircase, desperate to make it to her.
What was wrong? Had the first shot not been hers after all? Had the gunfighter fired first?
He rushed over to Jessie and took her in his arms, then lightly shook her. Her slender body felt too delicate to take a gunshot.
“Jessie! Wake up!” He checked her pulse and couldn’t tell if the movement he felt was from his heart or hers. Her chest was rising and falling as she took breaths, and the tension he’d been holding in his shoulders released, along with the pressure in his chest that had made it hard to breathe.
He ran his hands over her body, desperately checking for any bullet wounds but found nothing. He could not find any blood or wound.
She was okay.
She stirred in his arms, slowly opening her green eyes to focus on him. It must have been the shock of the gunfight that had caused her to faint, and the surprise at the man who had spun around to take her life. He remembered what it had felt like to be in his first gunfight. He’d been able to remain calm on the outside, but the terrified feeling he had on the inside was not something he easily forgot. It was a wonder he hadn’t fainted back then as well.
“Gray?” Confusion covered her face for a second before a flash of recognition took over, and she remembered where she was and what was happening. “Gray! Are you okay?” She snapped out of it and looked at him, running her hands up his chest to check if he had been wounded.
Now that the immediate danger was over and he knew she was fine, anger started to bubble up inside him. “What were you thinking?” He spat the words out. He was usually able to stay calm and collected, even in the most dangerous situations, but he couldn’t when Jessie’s safety was on the line.
She froze in her frantic search of his body, eyes snapping to his and widening in surprise. Her hands stopped mid-movement. A mix of emotions filtered across her face. First, surprise at the harshness of his voice, and then anger.
“What do you mean, what was I thinking? I was thinking I needed to save you from your bullheaded desire to get yourself killed!” Her withering stare met his, fire burning deep in her penetrating gaze.
“You are the one who is trying to get yourself killed, Red,” he growled. “You’ve never been in a gunfight before, but you run into the thick of it. And when you get a clear shot, you don’t take it.”
Her brows drew together, and her face was masked in frustration. “What were you thinking, going after them alone? I could’ve helped you! Three men on one isn’t a fair fight!”
“Nothing is a fair fight when you’re a gunslinger! You put your life in danger. You’re not as good with a gun as I am. Evidently, you’re not good with a gun at all—you missed the man by a foot!” He gestured to where the man Luke had killed now lay dead, evidence of her poor shooting capabilities.
She didn’t look where he pointed, and her cheeks turned that brilliant shade of red again in embarrassment. She spat back, “He surprised me.”
Gray gave a low laugh of disbelief. “Is that your excuse? Should the man have just waited for you to shoot him, since you had come up on him? Hate to tell you this, but they don’t wait for you. And they don’t put down their weapons.”
The memory of watching her ask the man to put down his weapon flooded Gray again. What was she thinking? The man wasn’t going to put down his weapon, and the fact that she even thought he would was astonishing. She should know better, working with criminals as long as she had.
She groaned loudly and shoved him to stand up. “Well, I didn’t want to kill him without giving him a chance to do the right thing.”
“It’s a good thing you don’t go after murderers in your bounty hunting. Stick to cattle thieves.” His voice was heavy with sarcasm, and he knew it would hurt her. He wanted to hurt her, so she wouldn’t do anything so stupid ever again and put herself in danger.
She glared at him. “At least I tried to help and didn’t leave you to die.”
With that, she stormed off toward the inn, leaving him baffled.