Page 48 of Wilde About You

He didn't pull his gaze from the window, but he lifted his hand to tell me to stop. Something was up outside.

I crept up next to him. "What's going on?" I whispered.

"Don't know. The horses seem agitated. I heard them nickering and moving around in their stalls, so I glanced out. I could swear I saw something moving out there." Colin took my hand to move me away from the window.

"Zander and Nev?" I suggested.

"No, they were at Jameson's tonight. I don't see their cars, so they're still out." Colin put on his shoes as he spoke.

"Wait, you can't go out there. What if those four pigs came back here to finish the job?"

"Probably just some teens or something coming to look at the horses," he said.

"You are lying. You know there's trouble out there. And it's my fault." I started marching toward the door. I'd had enough of these scare tactics.

Colin grabbed me three feet before I reached the door. "Not so fast, sprite. I'll go out there alone." He walked to the kitchen and pulled out a flashlight. The moon was merely a sliver, and the ranch was far enough from town that there was minimal light. "Don't follow me," he said.

I waited for him to walk down the front steps, then I raced out after him. He spun around after a few feet. "Damn it, Sadie."

"Shh, they'll hear you," I said and pointed toward the barn where it was more than obvious that figures were walking around inside. Strangers, obviously, since the horses were still pacing. A few were pawing at their stall walls in agitation.

Colin moved me so I was behind him. I was all right with that. My heart was pounding louder than the horses thumping the ground with anxious hoofs. "Who's there?" Colin said in his deepest, most authoritative tone. He shined the flashlight beam into the darkness.

The intruders were not shy, and they were very familiar. Eye patch man stepped right into the light. It was easy to spot the end of a revolver sticking out from his leather coat. They weren't going to take any chances this time. He grinned. "Toad, you were right," he said over his shoulder. One of his buddies stepped out of the shadows. He had a face that could peel paint off a wall. It was easy to see how he got the nickname Toad.

"Told you they were Finn Wilde's boys."

"You see, Toad here, recognized you all. Guess he used to go to the same high school. It was easy enough to find you."

Colin stared at Toad. "Don't recognize him, but I'll take your word for it. You're trespassing, so it's time to move on."

Eye Patch laughed. "Yeah, you're gonna get us to leave all by yourself. No brothers around tonight. We've been watching the place all day. We saw the big one leave hours ago. It's just you and the undersized pain in the ass standing next to you. We just need her to come with us. Gregor has a deal to offer. We won't hurt her." His single eye blinked a few times as he said it.

"You know, my dad always told me the best way to tell if someone is lying to your face is if they blink like they've got something in their eyes. Or eye, in your case. You'll be leaving the property without her. I think we've had this conversation before, and as I recall you all left holding pools of blood under your noses and chins. We could go that route, but I'm not really in the mood to bother with you idiots again."

The two other assholes stepped out of the shadows and then two more. Colin chuckled. "I see you brought reinforcements this time since the last time you got your asses handed to you."

Eye Patch chuckled back at him. "Last time there was four of you. Think you're outnumbered this time."

I had no idea where Colin was going with this since the obvious had been pointed out. Not that I had any doubt Colin could do some damage, even on his own, but he was outnumbered greatly. And I now realized I should have stayed in the house. I only made it all worse.

"I'm going to take Gregor's deal but not tonight. Tell him to meet me tomorrow at the coffee shop on Main and Greene in downtown. We'll talk then."

This time the chuckle was a loud, grating laugh. "Look who thinks she can call the shots right now. Guess you don't want your pretty, shiny boy toy to get his face ruined."

Colin slid a sideways glance at me. "Why does everyone call me pretty?" he muttered through gritted teeth, then he lunged straight for Eye Patch. One solid right hook in the good eye and the jerk stumbled backward until finally losing his balance completely. He landed with a solid thud on his ass.

The other men came at Colin fast. Two held him up against the side of a stall. The horse inside, Zander's big black horse, stuck his head out. It seriously looked as if he was trying to protect Colin. His muzzle lifted, and he bared his teeth at the men. He swung his head menacingly at one of the men and clipped him painfully on the side of the face. The man let go of Colin just long enough for Colin to swing a solid fist at his partner. Blood splattered on the dusty barn floor. Zander's horse decided he'd had enough of the chaos and pulled his head back into the dark safety of his stall.

Seconds later, it was three against one as two men held Colin and a third pummeled his gut. I grabbed a mucking fork and ran straight at the man hitting Colin. He yelled out in pain as the fork poked him. A few of the plastic prongs broke off in the man's shirt. Eye Patch had regained the use of his only eye, but he was squinting hard. He grabbed my arm and wrenched it painfully behind my back.

It was now four against one. Colin was giving the best he could but there were too many of them.

"Why don't you boys let go of my son, so I don't have to shoot you dead?" All the chaos and fist throwing and grunts of pain stopped. It seemed even the horses had stopped their fidgeting. Some poked their heads out instantly at the sound of Finn's voice.

Finn was wearing a long black coat. He was holding a shotgun as if he'd just stepped out of a saloon in the old west. But he looked fiercer and cooler headed than any gunslinger. He even moved his coat panel aside to show a pistol in his waistband. "Shotgun will do a lot of damage at this distance."

"That's him. That's Finnegan Wilde," Toad said almost excitedly as if seeing a legend or movie star. "Thought you were dead."