AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I lower my gun, just a little, still pointing it at him, but only at his legs now, as opposed to his chest. Let him think I’m allowing him to be the dominant alpha, even though there’s only one true alpha in the room, and that’s me, and only me. End of story.
‘Now, now, Chris,’ I say. ‘Don’t go doing anything stupid.’ I glance, only for the briefest of moments, over at Addison. She’s staring up at Chris, and she’s clearly not enjoying herself, but her breathing is only a little fast. She’s managing to keep her head. That’s my girl. Brave as ever. And she was right to scream for me. I knew something was different about the scream today, though. It wasn’t the scream of a little girl stuck in some scary nightmare. This was the call of a woman commanding me to return to her side.
I never want to leave her damn side ever again. Not gonna happen.
‘Chris,’ I say, taking a very slow step forward. ‘I know about the guys from the penitentiary. Down in New Mexico. The guys with the number four tattoos.’
Chris raises his eyebrows at me. ‘Looks like I’m not the only one who’s been digging for dirt, eh? You got a bit of a jealous streak too, Finn? You been worrying that your new Baby Girl would find out the truth about you? That Daddy would stop getting his payments for pretending to be married to her? A thousand dollars a month is a decent chunk of cheese.’
‘He’s told me about the money,’ says Addison quietly. ‘And about the fact you’re already married.’
The fuck?
‘I’m not married, darlin’,’ I say. ‘If Chris’s been digging up dirt on me, then, sure, I’ve lived a life — and a pretty damn messy one at that. But that “marriage” he’s talking about. That was over as soon as it started. I’ll tell you all about it if I have to, but you’re going to have to trust me on this — it’s not how it seems.’
Addison looks at me now, for the first time since I’ve entered the room. Her green eyes are wary, like two hardened shells, protecting her from not getting hurt. ‘I hope so,’ she says.
Damn this fucking jerk for spoiling everything like this. I was all set to open my heart to this damn girl, after the religious fucking experience we shared this morning out on the rock. But now… now anything I do tell her, it’s just going to seem like I’m revealing to her because I have to, because Chris made me do it. Well, I’m sick of this dickwad causing trouble for me, and I’m even sicker of him causing trouble for my Little Girl.
Assuming shewantsto be my Little Girl, after this.
I cock my gun, still pointing it at Chris’s left thigh. Currently, if I shoot the guy here, it’d be an uncomplicated soft tissue wound. If he pisses me off any more than he’s already doing, I’ll raise the gun a couple inches. Throw a spleen in to the mix.
‘Listen,’ I tell Chris. ‘I know what addiction can do to a person. Problems with gambling, with drink… with drugs. They’re all the same. They all come at a cost. Money. Health. Sanity.’
‘You saying I’m insane?’ Chris is so angered by this comment he turns to point the gun at me now. That’s it, buddy. Focus all your rage on me, prick. Leave Addison out of this.
‘I’m saying there’s a way out. Might not feel like it now. Not when you’ve got guys like that breathing down your neck. Bad guys with prison tattoos. Hell, I bet they’ve not even served their sentences yet. Bet they’ve broken loose and they’redesperatefor capital about now.’
Chris swallows. He’s not just clammy now. He’s full-on sweating.
‘I can help you, Chris. I know you don’t like me. You don’t need to like me to let me help you. If you don’t accept my help, it’s gonna be game over for you soon, buddy. I can see how far down you’ve sunk. It’s time you stopped messing up your life now. And stopped messing up other people’s lives. It’s time to get on the straight and narrow.’
I don’t think anyone’s ever spoken to the guy like this before. His eyes widen and even tear up a little bit. This is going to be easier than I thought.
‘I do have a problem,’ Chris says quietly. His posture has softened slightly, but he’s still pointing his pistol at me, at my chest. I shift right, just an inch, almost imperceptibly, so that if hedoeshappen to press the trigger, it won’t shatter me into instant oblivion.
‘I owe them so much money. They won’t leave me alone. They keep following me, making threats, telling me they know about Addison’s inheritance. I tried telling them she’d already spent it, but they say there’s more. Then they found about that woman, Mrs. Brown, up at the ranch, the one who owns this land… I’m scared of what they’ll do. I came here to get Addison back. I can take her with me. Protect her.’
‘Protect her?’ I ask, a smile of disbelief on my face. ‘You were pointing a damn gun in her face a minute ago.’
Chris screws his face up, and tears begin rolling down his cheeks now. ‘I’m so confused,’ he says. ‘I don’t feel right. I don’t feel like myself. I can’t… I’m afraid…’
I look at Addison and she looks at me. Now’s our chance.
‘How about you put that gun down?’ says Addison. ‘And we can talk.’
Even though he’s crying, Chris shakes his head. ‘You hate me anyway. I know you know what I did to your business. That article I wrote —’
‘It doesn’t matter, Chrissy,’ says Addison, reaching out to him.
Makes me want to pull the trigger seeing him act so caring with this jerk, but she knows what she’s doing. I wait.
‘I know how difficult all this is for you,’ she says. ‘And I forgive you.’
He looks at her now, as if he’s been dreaming this whole time, and only just woken up and seen her there. ‘You’re lying to me,’ he says.
He swings his arm around, pointing the gun back at her now, and I hear the click as he cocks it.
