AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m okay. Has my scotch come in?”
“Not yet. Any day now though, I’m sure.”
A man called out from across the room. “If it isn’t the most well-used mouth in the Territory. How you doing, Spring?”
She froze. She hadn’t heard Matt Ketchum’s smug voice in years, but her hate rose fresh and raw.
Leary’s dark eyes moved to the speaker and back to her tight face. She saw his concern. Ignoring Ketchum, she said to Leary, “I’ll check back in a couple of days.”
Ketchum stormed, “Don’t try and ignore me, you little whore.”
He’d drawn everyone’s attention. The scrape of his chair as he got to his feet was loud in the silence.
She turned to face him because she wasn’t afraid. Not anymore. “No one can ignore your stench, Matt. They probably smell you in Laramie.”
The men seated with him turned around to get a good look at her.
Her sidelong glance showed Whit Lambert entering the saloon with McCray.Great.
Matt boasted in a loud voice, “Boys, she didn’t complain about my stench when she was on her knees, sucking my dick.”
“Yeah, I did,” she countered coldly. “I’ve sucked ryegrass straws with more girth than you’ve got.”
A few guffaws were heard.
Face beet-red, he charged her. The sight of her drawn Colt aimed his way froze him midstride. She heard Whit say warningly, “Spring.”
She didn’t take her eyes off the furious Ketchum. “Need to settle this, Whit.”
Ketchum sneered. “Shoot me in front of all these witnesses and you’ll hang for sure.”
“And I’ll do it gladly because you’ll no longer be walking this earth. The girl you enjoyed beating up has wanted you dead a long time.”
She waited.
The hate in his glare flared. Her raised gun was an equalizer; even a man known as a bullying coward was smart enough to figure that out. He didn’t advance. She’d bested him. They both knew it.
“This ain’t over,” he promised.
“Then have Beck measure you for a pine box.” Wasting no more time on him, she holstered the Colt and told Heath, “Let me know about my scotch.”
On her way to the door, her eyes briefly brushed McCray’s concerned face. He was probably appalled, but she kept walking. Outside, she mounted Cheyenne and they raced home ahead of the demons rising from her past.
She put Cheyenne in his stall and was walking back to her cabin when her grandfather rode up. She wondered if her day could get any worse. “What can I do for you, Ben?” She went inside; he followed.
“Odell said you had some fella here for a couple of days.”
“Yes, and he probably also told you the man is here to do a story on Colt and got caught in the storm.” She knew what he’d really come to find out. “And if you’re wondering how we entertained ourselves, we cavorted like rabbits the entire time.”
His jaw tightened beneath his slate-gray beard. “Show some respect.”
She asked challengingly, “To whom? You? That is what you wanted to know, isn’t it?”
“Odell says he’s a nice fella.”
“He is, but I’m sure you’ll find a way to be rude. Just like you are with Regan.” Her brother had forbidden Ben to have any contact with his family until Ben could be civil to his wife.
“Your brother should’ve never married her.”
