Page 45 of The Only Seconds that Matter
“I was running my mouth,” Taylor whimpered, voice muffled by Midnight’s neck.
“If an adult man can’t handle a nine-year-old running her mouth, then I hesitate to call him a man at all.He shouldn’t have hit you.I don’t care what you said to him.”
Taylor nodded tearfully before withdrawing from Midnight and holding up the end of her lead rope.“Can… can you work with her a little bit?I don’t want her to think anything’s wrong.”
Victor patted her on the top of the head.“Sure thing.Tell Johnny to come get me when you’re done.”
Taylor hung her head and shuffled up the path toward the barn.Victor pulled Midnight back into the round pen and worked a bit on disengaging her forequarters and teaching her to give to pressure on her poll.He was just considering finishing up when he saw Johnny strolling his way.Victor tied Midnight and went to the gate to speak to him.
“Well?”
“Taylor’s crying and a mess, so I left her in the office to calm down,” Johnny said, voice low and strained.“I looked at the damage but there wasn’t much to see.A bit of red, a hint of a bruise, but that’s it.Ain’t nothin’ no cop or social worker is gonna care about.”
“You don’t know that.”
“My daddy did way worse to me and nobody gave two shits about it.”
Victor wasn’t sure what to do with that information but thought it warranted some kind of response.“Things have probably changed since then.”
“In rural Oklahoma?Boy, what you on?Ain’t nobody gonna care about a few little welts on the back end of a smart ass nine-year-old.”
“So what, we just let her go back home and nothing changes?”
“Did I say that?I’m just sayin’ the cops ain’t gonna care.I’m gonna have to have a long talk with my sister.Taylor says she didn’t see it but that she knows it happened, which means part of this whole thing is her fault.She let that man into her house around her children.She even let him make one of his own.Mike was supposed to come by and pick her up but I left a message on her phone tellin’ her she’s gotta come by and pick her up herself, and not without havin’ a long chat with me about it.”
“Can’t Taylor just go home with you?”
For the first time, there was a blip in Johnny’s stern expression, like a hint of uncertainty.He looked away, then back again.“I ain’t really set up to take on a nine-year-old right now.”
“What’s that mean?You got a meth lab at your house?”Victor joked.
“I just think she’s better here.The horses’ll help keep her occupied.”
“You know I’m happy to have her, but I’m trying to stay out of this as much as I can.”
“My sister ain’t gonna be mad at you.I’ll duke it out with her, so if she gets pissy, she’ll take it out on me.I’m gonna do what I can to salvage this fuckin’ mess.”
Victor watched Johnny walk off, then turned to Midnight and decided to take her back to the barn.Taylor was there waiting for her when Victor showed up, and she took the lead from him without a word.Victor told her to hose Midnight down and then put her back in her paddock.As she was doing that, Victor heard his dogs barking at someone pulling up the driveway.When he went to look, the SUV seemed familiar.But he wasn’t sure how much until it pulled to a stop and the door swung open.
Out stepped a heavier set man with a goatee in a baseball cap, a camo T-shirt, and dirty jeans.He looked like your bog standard Oklahoma redneck, at least until Victor realized why the SUV was familiar.It was often the car Kayla dropped Taylor off in.So was this Mike?What was he doing here?Victor had thought Johnny called him and told him not to come, or that he’d at least asked his sister to.
Victor figured he had about ten seconds to order Mike off his property before Johnny saw him and started something.
“Taylor here?”Mike asked around a cheek full of chew.
“Did you get a call from Johnny?”Victor asked.
“What about ‘im?”Mike turned and spotted Johnny’s truck further up the driveway.“Ain’t he at work?What’s he doin’ here?”
“What areyoudoin’ here, you fat son of a bitch?”came Johnny’s growl from behind Victor.Victor started to face him, but he was shoved out of the way by Johnny so roughly that Victor staggered and nearly fell.When he gathered his bearings, he turned toward Johnny and shouted in surprise.Johnny was pointing a fucking shotgun right at Mike.Mike looked just as shocked as Victor, his mouth falling open as he lifted his hands skyward.
“What thefuckare you doin’?”Mike asked.
“You put your hands on my niece one more goddamn time and they’ll be finding fragments of your skull the next county over,” Johnny growled.
“Don’t you point that thing at me!I’ll call the cops on your ass.”
“Johnny, Jesus Christ,” Victor said, stepping close but afraid of reaching out to touch Johnny in case it made him react impulsively.“Put down the gun!”
