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But even before I finished the thought, I heard a gunshot ring through the air. A few seconds later, there was another one.
“You hear that?” Buck said with a smile. “That’s called a double-tap.”
Terror rolled through me as I realized the shots had come from the house.
“Now those Mexicans, they know something about how not to leave loose ends,” Buck said with a chuckle.
I felt tears stinging the backs of my eyes, but I forced myself not to think about Hawke.
“I’ll do anything you want,” I said to Buck. “Just let Matty go. He’s not a part of this.”
Buck laughed. “You think this is about you, you little faggot?”
My eyes fell to Matty and I shook my head. “He’s just a kid, Pops.” I hated referring to him in any way as my father, but I knew better than to piss him off by calling him Buck, a name I as his son wasn’t permitted to use since he considered it a display of disrespect.
“You want to know the ironic part?” Buck said, ignoring my plea. “I was all prepared to let you keep this little shit” – Buck jerked Matty back and forth several times – “Until you and your fudge packer boyfriend showed up in Lulling asking questions.”
“Who told you?” I asked, hoping to stall Buck long enough until I could figure out what to do. “The sheriff?”
“That lazy SOB always did like an easy payday. All he had to do was run your plates,” Buck responded and I realized he meant the license plates on Hawke’s truck which would have led to Hawke’s address. Buck’s eyes shifted to Denny. “Finish it,” he suddenly said and then motioned to me with his gun.
Denny was standing next to me, but his gun was hanging loosely by his side. “Pops, maybe we should just let ‘em go. The kid’s sick-”
“The kid wouldn’t be here if you’d just done what I told you to do two years ago.”
“He’s my son…” Denny said desperately and I almost felt a sliver of pity for him.
“He’s not yours,” I said to Denny as I flashed him a glance.
“What?” Denny asked.
“He’s not yours, Denny,” I said again, though I kept my eyes on Buck. “I’m thinking Pops here wanted you to tie up his loose end, not yours.”
“No,” Denny whispered and I looked at him to see that his eyes were on Buck whose snide smile had disappeared. “You promised me,” Denny murmured. “You promised me you weren’t with Jenna like that.”
“Shut up and do as I say, boy!” Buck snarled.
“I told you I loved her! You promised me I wouldn’t have to share her!”
Denny’s rage was palpable and I saw Matty close his eyes as even he sensed the rising tension between the two men. Thankfully, Buck’s gun wasn’t aimed at Matty’s head, though the hand holding the weapon was on Matty’s shoulder.
“And I told you what would happen if she told her father about you.”
“Not me!” Denny screamed. “You! She loved me! She never would have told him about us, but you! Did you fucking rape her you sick fuck?”
“Enough!” Buck roared and Denny actually fell silent, though I could feel his fury wafting off of him as he stood next to me. Buck’s rage filled eyes shifted to me and then he aimed his gun at me.
Panic went through me as I realized I had nothing left to delay the inevitable and I looked down at Matty and whispered, “Close your eyes, buddy.” I was glad when Matty did as I said and when the gunshot rang out a second later, I tried to call up an image of him and Hawke from earlier in the day to mind.
A weight hit me hard and knocked me to the ground and it took me a second to realize it hadn’t been a bullet tearing through my flesh that had been the cause. I heard a terrible gasping sound and I scrambled to my knees as my fear for Matty overruled everything else. But it wasn’t Matty who’d been shot either.
It was Denny who was lying next to me, a bloom of bright red blood staining the front of his shirt. Shock tore through me as I realized my brother had pushed me out of the way, putting himself in the path of the bullet that had been meant for me.
“Denny?!” I shouted and then my instincts took over and I pressed my hands down on his chest. I looked up at Buck in disbelief and saw that he actually seemed to be in a state of shock himself. Matty still had his eyes squeezed shut.
“Denny, hold on, okay?” I said desperately as blood seeped through my fingers. Denny’s shocked eyes held mine as he struggled to breathe.
“I’m sorry,” he choked out.
I shook my head. “It’s okay, just hang on.”
