They’re laughing again as they successfully herd me into the corner of the barn, sidestepping into every one of my attempts to run. From too far away, Tess whinnies, sounding distressed in her stall.
“I’ll shoot you,” I say again, holding the gun tighter. “Get back.”
They step closer.
My finger hovers over the trigger.
One of them makes a grab for me.
My eyes squeeze shut right as I squeeze the trigger, the booming sound and the recoil unexpectedly kicking me back into the wall. There’s no time to try again or to even check if I hit my target before someone takes a fistful of my hair right at the crown of my head, pulling me toward the ground.
“Little bitch, didn’t really think you had it in you,” Jake says, unfortunately still breathing, though there’s a red patch blooming on his upper arm now. He grabs my gun with his other hand and tosses it away. “You really had better start being nice now.”
I kick out at him, but strike Elliot instead. He yowls in pain, gripping his shin before he retaliates against my ribs. I wince, the wind knocked out of me, but I still try going for my knife. That’s when I’m thrown back, my head striking the nearby wall with a loud smack, and a sharp ache makes my vision blur.
“Someone grab her knife.”
“We need to be quick. Zeke will—”
“I fucking told you—”
I keep struggling. They keep talking. Maybe Jake. Maybe Elliot. Maybe all of them. It doesn’t matter. In my mind, they all have the same face. The same vacant soulless eyes. In my mind there’s more than just the four that I’m fighting, and when thepain and the exhaustion start joining their side, I actually start to pray. So sure I’m about to meet death that I at least want him to know my name.
“Think she’s giving up?”
“Probably realized she can’t fight us all.”
“Gentlemen.” I think I hear him. Voice like honey dripping on a knife’s edge. “If it’s an unfair fight you’re after, I’m happy to provide.”
Jake keeps his hold on me as he pivots toward the voice, and I feel a sense of hope at the realization he hears it, too. That it’s not just in my head this time.
“The hell are you doing here?” Jake asks, the others taking a step back and clearing my view of the new arrival at the same time. “You’re as stupid as she is if you thought it was a good idea to come back, Cypress.”
Cypress. Somehow, the fact the name suits him so well makes me smile, as does the way he strolls into the line of fire with an unaffected air that contradicts the intense way his blue eyes are searching my face. He looks ominous, terrifying even.
But I am no longer afraid.
“I assure you that I am as eager to leave as you are to see me depart,” Cypress says, looking back at Jake. “However, I cannot do so while I still have a debt to settle here.”
“You’re gonna give it back then?” my captor asks, sounding hopeful. “What you stole?”
“Stole?” Cypress clicks his tongue, coming to a stop only a few feet away with his hands set casually near the twin pistols at his waist. “Can you call it theft when you practically placed your money in my pocket? And, no, that is not the matter I am here to reconcile.”
He settles his gaze on me again, and Elliot swears. The other men make similar sounds of disagreement.
“You must be joking,” Jake says, disbelief and anger evident.“I’ll fuckin’ kill her before you take anything else from me.” His free hand twitches in the direction of his gun, and the reactionary flurry of movement is so fast that it looks almost inhuman. One moment, Cypress is nonchalant. The next, he has a pistol in each hand, ready and aimed.
“She does not belong to you,” he says, pointing a barrel at each man in turn. “Release her.” When no one moves, Cypress sighs. “You know, I swore not to take a soul today, but as I have a somewhat obstinate nature and you seem determined to destruction, I suppose I’ll simply have to ask for forgiveness instead.” His head tilts, the corner of his mouth lifting and those blue eyes glinting as he draws the hammer back to cock each gun. “Perhaps you should do the same.”
Seconds crawl by with no motion and no sound louder than my pounding heart. But finally, some sort of unspoken understanding must be reached, because Jake releases me. I fall forward, catching myself with my hands in the dirt right as a pair of shined black boots comes into view.
“Come on, little bird,” Cypress says, extending his right hand to me. “Let’s get you out of this cage.”
I reach for him without ever questioning if I should, letting him secure me to his side with one arm while he keeps his gun raised with the other. My steps wobbly as we back away, he carries me more than guides me toward the rear doors, the scent of pine and mint flooding my senses as I cling to the possibility of sanctuary that he’s offering.
“Tess,” I mumble, hearing her cry out still, but he keeps moving. Under his breath, though, he assures me in soft murmurs, “It’s all right now. We’ll get her. We’ll take care of it.”
“We?” I realize that I’m shaking, violently trembling as he pulls me so close I almost don’t see the shadowed figure that greets us as soon as we pass through the doors.