CHAPTER 13 #2
“You stupid ass motherfucker, you don’t have the guts to shoot me. Put the gun down and fight me like a man if that’s what you wanna do so bad.”
“Don’t you da—” Victor began, but he was cut off by Johnny tossing the gun away and catapulting himself at Mike.
In half a second they were in the dirt grappling with one another, and it was so sudden and chaotic that it took Victor a few seconds to realize how to act.
After Johnny reared up and punched Mike across the chin, Victor grabbed the back of his shirt and tried hauling him back.
But Johnny was stronger than he looked, and he’d spent half a life getting the shit kicked out of him by twelve-hundred pound animals.
Even when Mike slammed a fist into his head, Johnny wasn’t deterred.
He got another punch to glance off Mike’s cheek, and Mike let out a roar of rage.
Victor tried again, this time wrapping an arm around Johnny’s neck to yank him back.
Johnny had burned through much of his adrenaline, so it was easier to budge him this time.
He toppled over with Victor into the grass, then tried scrambling to his feet, but Victor got a hold of his belt this time to keep him from rejoining the fray.
Mike hauled himself to his feet and staggered back against the SUV for balance, wiping blood from his nose and lip. “I can see where Taylor gets her fuckin’ attitude from. Maybe if your daddy belted your ass more, you wouldn’t be such a piece of shit.”
Johnny shoved Victor back, eager to have another go. Victor was able to hold on, digging his heels in like he might with a flighty mustang trying to drag him around a round pen.
“You better drive on home, boy,” Johnny snarled.
“Before I show you what a real beatin’s like!
” Johnny finally shook off Victor, but he seemed to have slightly better control of himself, because he didn’t immediately launch himself at Mike.
His nose was bloody, too, much more so than Mike’s.
Considering how many times it had been broken, it made sense.
“You call Kayla and tell her Taylor ain’t goin’ home with nobody ‘less she comes and picks her up herself.”
“Kayla’s workin’ late tonight. She sent me to pick her up.”
“I don’t care what she fuckin’ sent you to do. Taylor ain’t goin’ nowhere with you. Now you better get gone before I rearrange your face a bit more.”
“I should call the cops on your ass for aggravated assault.”
“Go on then! Do it! Squeal like a little piggy to your piggy brother. I ain’t ashamed of what I done. I’ll do it again.”
“You’re fucking nuts. Horses kicked your head in one too many times.” Mike snorted, wiped his face again, then rounded the SUV and tossed himself into the driver’s seat. With a spray of gravel, he threw the car into reverse and high-tailed it down the driveway like he was being pursued.
Johnny bent over his knees and spit out a wad of blood. Victor wanted to fucking kill him.
“What the hell was that?” Victor snapped. “What did you think would be gained by pointing a gun at that man’s head?”
“Didn’t think much about it,” Johnny muttered.
“No shit. ?Mierda! ?Hijo de puta!” Victor kicked at the grass, sending an uprooted section several feet in the air. He whirled to face Johnny again. “I didn’t want to be involved in this. This is a place of business. It’s not some bar for you to start fistfights and act like a mad man!”
“I was pissed!” Johnny straightened, blood smeared across his face. His upper lip was already starting to swell. “I wanted to fucking kill him!”
“Then do it somewhere else!” Victor glanced up toward the barn, and his heart thudded to a stop when he saw Taylor standing in the stables entrance, Midnight’s halter and lead rope clutched tightly to her chest.
“Get your shit together,” Victor growled at Johnny, then stalked up the driveway toward Taylor, whose face he could now see was wet with tears.
“Everyone’s so mad at me,” Taylor whimpered upon his approach, sobs shaking her whole body.
“No one’s mad at you. We’re all mad at Mike.”
Taylor cried harder, and when Victor looked into the barn, he saw both Hannah and a boarder standing there staring at him.
They may have heard the scene outside, but the radio and the barn fan were both on, so maybe they hadn’t.
Either way, he had to do his best to fix the current situation.
The last thing he needed was to lose clients because of Johnny’s family drama.
“Let’s go to the house, okay? I’m going to leave you there with the dogs. I’ll get everything sorted out with Johnny, and then I’ll come get you.”
“Am I in trouble?” she wept.
“No, no. Of course not.” Victor used the cuff of his sleeve to wipe tears off a cheek. “I’ve got some ice cream in the house. Let me make you a sundae or something, okay?”
Taylor nodded weakly. Victor took her hand and led the way to the house. Johnny had vanished, and Victor hoped he didn’t waltz into the barn with a bloody face. It wouldn’t be the first blood shed in that building, but it’d be the first blood shed that a horse hadn’t put there.
Victor ushered Taylor onto the porch and through the front door, kissing at the dogs so that they’d follow.
He went to the refrigerator and dug around for some ice cream and went about the process of making a sundae.
After he squirted some chocolate sauce and whip cream onto some vanilla ice cream, he handed the bowl to Taylor and found her a cartoon to watch on TV.
Then he went outside to look for Johnny.
Victor found Johnny by his truck. He had the driver’s door thrown open and was seated sideways on the driver’s seat, a bloodied towel pressed to his face.
He’d removed his shirt, leaving his torso bare.
The difference between the tan on his lower arms and the whiteness of his chest was laughable.
Clearly he didn’t spend much time shirtless in the sun.
Judging by how often his face looked sunburned, it made sense—such was the curse of the redhead complexion.
“You still mad at me?” Johnny asked, pulling the towel away from his face.
“Of course.”
Johnny sighed. “My sister already called to chew my ass out.”
“Mike called her?”
“Immediately after he left, I’m guessin’. Man can’t take a punch without squealin’ about it.”
“So what’d you tell her?”
“I told her Taylor was gonna be here until she could come get her herself. She didn’t take kindly to it, but…” Johnny shrugged. “It is what it is.”
“When’s she going to be by to pick Taylor up then?”
“She don’t get off until eleven tonight.”
Victor let out a slow breath. “Great. Perfect.”
“I’ll stay here ‘til she shows up.”
“Don’t you have work today?”
“I called off the minute you wanted to talk to me about Taylor.”
“I still don’t know why she can’t just go home with you.”
“She’s happiest here. Trust me.” Johnny winced when he touched his nose, then slid off the driver’s seat and stood.
He reached into his truck to grab his hat, and Victor couldn’t help but notice he’d put the gun in the front seat as well.
So much for securing your weapons safely. The man liked to live dangerously.
“I can’t believe you pointed a shotgun at someone,” Victor muttered, and Johnny laughed.
“Yeah, you see the look on his face? Think he nearly pissed himself.” Johnny smirked. “The gun ain’t even loaded.”
“It’s not funny.” Victor frowned. “Threatening someone’s life can get you thrown in jail.”
Johnny shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”
“Do you ever think ahead more than fifteen seconds?”
Johnny laughed again. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Victor shook his head and sighed, then gestured toward the house. “I need you to babysit Taylor. I still have work to do.”
* * *
Taylor’s mood had somewhat recovered by dinner time.
Victor hadn’t planned on guests, but he had enough food around to make some macaroni and cheese that Taylor wolfed down like a starved animal.
Afterward, she fell asleep on the couch watching a Disney film, the dogs curled up next to her.
Victor found Johnny on the porch afterward, smoking a cigarette.
“I didn’t know you smoked.”
“Don’t normally. Sometimes a man needs a smoke though.” Johnny shifted, silently offering Victor a spot on the bench beside him.
Victor sat, looking out across the dark of night. There wasn’t that much traffic this time of day, so it was just the late summer wind and crickets to keep them company.
“Want any?” Johnny asked, holding out the cigarette. Victor pushed it away with a wrinkled nose, and Johnny laughed.
“Figured you were too much of a square.” Smiling around the cigarette, Johnny took another sip before blowing smoke out the opposite side of his mouth.
They sat in silence a while, as Victor didn’t deign the square comment worthy of a response.
Maybe he was a square, but he was healthy and no one had ever pulled a gun on him.
“Shame you don’t have kids,” Johnny muttered, flicking the cigarette off the porch when he was done sucking on it. “You’re real good with Taylor.”
Victor shrugged. “I wanted them when I was younger. Now it seems less of a possibility.”
“Can’t be that hard to find someone. My sister’s been lettin’ shitty men knock her up for years, and they are all half the man you are.”
“I may have higher standards than your sister.”
Johnny snorted, then laughed. “You ain’t gonna do much better ‘round these parts. Daisy was the best I could do, and God knows she is a real fuckin’ piece of work.” Johnny sighed. “Gave real good head though.”
Victor tried to keep himself from laughing by pressing his lips together. “Is that the only standard by which you rate women?”