Cowboy Up (Coming Home #3)

This is it, Caroline. Time to fight for the beauty you’ve found. No more letting fear win. Not now. Not when it isn’t just your life that’s in jeopardy here.

“Clayton’s going to be back soon,” I tell her, proud of the calm I don’t actually feel in my voice.

She tosses her head back and laughs sinisterly. The gun jerks in her hold while she takes obvious enjoyment out of her crazy thoughts. “Oh, no, he won’t. I made sure he’d be busy for a while.”

“What did you do, Jess?”

My worry for Clayton barrels into me, but I push it aside . . . for now. I focus on where I am in the kitchen and weigh my options while hoping to keep her distracted with questions. If I can just move a little to the left, I can reach the knife block.

“What did I do? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“No.” I shake my head. “I’m not kidding you.”

“You’ve got some nerve, whore. You show up, move in on my man, and even though I was nice enough to give you a few warnings, you still didn’t listen! Not even when I finished what I didn’t accomplish the first time.”

“You set those fires?” I take a step back slowly when she looks away briefly.

“God, you’re dense. Of course I did. I would’ve taken care of you with the first one, but he assured me you weren’t worth it. He said you wouldn’t stick around. HE SAID I WOULDN’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT YOU AND MY MAN!” She wipes her mouth as spit falls down her chin. “He said all you’d need was a little warning and you’d be too scared to leave the house. WHY DIDN’T YOU LISTEN!”

Good heavens, she’s insane.

“Who, Jess? Who said that to you?” I take another step back, my heart thundering in my chest when I almost slip on the sticky mess at my feet.

She moves away from the broken back door, kicking the rock she must’ve thrown through the window out of her way. As the barrel of her handgun gets closer, I feel panic rising in my throat.

“John, you dumbass. He seemed to think you wouldn’t be a threat. One fire, he said, would be enough to make the timid little turtle go back into her shell. I thought he was right. You didn’t come sniffin’ back around my man for a while. But, then you had to go and fuck it all up, didn’t you? Shoulda trusted my gut the first time I saw you with Clay at that piece-of-shit bar. Shoulda slit your throat when you left that motel, like I wanted to.”

I shake my head, blown away by what she’s saying. “The motel?”

“The first time I saw you with my man. I left it be because you stayed away and I gave you some time to make sure you wouldn’t go sniffing back around what is mine. I knew Clay would get bored of your used goods. I knew he’d come back to me. But then you had to go and move your trash into my house with my MAN! That’s when I knew you needed more of a reason to run far away from Pine Oak—and Clay. John didn’t want to help me again, but he did when I reminded him who was in charge. No matter what we did, you didn’t take a hint. You were supposed to leave!”

“You and . . . John? Y’all were the ones messin’ up things with the rebuild of my store?” It takes everything in me to keep my voice calm as the panic starts to flow quicker. I just need to keep her talking. Keep her mind distracted. One more step. My hand slowly moves behind my back and I wait until I have an opening, finally being close enough to grab a knife, but not wanting to get shot when she realizes what I’m up to.

There’s no way I’m going to give up without fighting to keep the beautiful life I have—I’ve got too much to live for.

“He didn’t want me to, but I had to finish what I started. Saw right through his stalling and realized he wasn’t really on my team. Stupid motherfucker. You know, I’d hoped it wouldn’t come to this. Now I’m goin’ to be cleanin’ up your blood in my kitchen. You dirty everything up. I should just light this place up so Clay and I can move on without your filth.” Her chest heaves and her eyes narrow as her face gets bright red. “You just couldn’t leave though, could you! Even with your stupid fuckin’ store gone, you still didn’t go. NO ONE WANTS YOU! You’re nothin’ but a paid whore now, moochin’ off my man and livin’ off his dime. There isn’t anything for you here!”

“You’re wrong,” I whisper, wincing when the unhinged madness in her eyes amps up. In my inability to keep from defending what Clayton and I have, I might as well be throwing out a challenge to this madwoman.

“I’m wrong?! I’m WRONG?! You did NOT just say that. There isn’t shit for you here! All you are and all you’ll ever be is a warm hole.”

“How did you get Clayton out of the house?” I hedge, knowing I need to steer her into something a little safer than my relationship with Clayton so I can get out of this kitchen alive.

She grins, evil and wicked, clearly proud of herself. “That dumbass ex of yours.” She laughs, the sound nothing short of vile. “You know, all he wanted to do was apologize. Stupid bastard. I finally realized what he was doin’ when he tried to stop me tonight. The whole time he’s been tryin’ to stop me—I just didn’t realize it until today. Slipped up, he did. Told me you had a diamond on your finger—my diamond—and that he was fuckin’ happy for you. Fool. Found out not long after that Clay married your dumb ass tonight. John couldn’t hide it any longer. He was just blowin’ smoke up my ass, protectin’ you the whole fuckin’ time by keepin’ me from doin’ what I wanted to do all along. Always had a reason why we shouldn’t hurt you. Well, joke’s on him since he damn sure can’t protect you with a bullet through his brain.”

“My God,” I gasp, not dwelling on the thought of John being dead, but recognizing just how far past sane this woman is. There will be time later, when I make it through this, to reflect on everything she’s said tonight—and I will make it through this.

“I made sure to leave Clay that stupid fuck as a present. Left him right next to the ashes of that ugly gazebo I hear you married my man under.”

My heart clenches. Clayton worked so hard building that in our spot. “He’s not goin’ to forgive you for this, Jess. You might think hurtin’ me is the answer, but he’ll hate you more than he already does if you go through with this.”

“HE LOVES ME!” The gun jumps as she waves it in my direction, spit flying from her mouth as she growls. “You don’t know anything!”

“I know everything!”

“Clay loves me. He always has. He was comin’ back to me!”

“He hates you! The second you killed his baby, you made it so he wouldn’t ever feel anything more than hate when he thought about you. When he finds out what you’ve done, he’ll do one more than just hate you. He’ll forget about you. Because that’s what MY husband does when someone wrongs him and doesn’t deserve his forgiveness.”