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“I came to tell you something, Cora.” He moves closer, standing next to our beat-up truck. “I want you to send a message to your boyfriend.”
“Nolan isn’t my boyfriend.”
“And I don’t give a fuck what you say.” Craig takes the shotgun from his shoulder and aims it at Kady. My sister steps back, hands suddenly raised, and I lean off the steps and move toward him, arms spread out trying to get his attention.
But he turns away from us and aims the gun at the truck. He fires with a loud boom and blows the front right tire to shreds.
Kady screams, grimacing and turning away, her bravado gone. I stand and stare in horror, trembling with anger and terror, as he does the same thing to the rear tire, blowing it into pieces and ruining the wheel. When that’s done, he turns back to me, shotgun on his shoulder again.
“Tell Nolan the ORB can’t have him going to our houses and threatening our family.”
My hands are shaking and I hide it by crossing my arms. “Tell him yourself.”
“I’m not dumb. I’m aware he’ll kill me if I get anywhere near him. Which is why you’ll send him this message, because we know where you live, Cora Stone.”
“Craig, you fucking asshole,” Kady says finally, screaming at him and so mad she’s turning pink. “We can’t afford to fix that!”
He stares at me, ignoring Kady, and I stare right back. I know what he’s doing and I hate that it’s working. He wants to get back at Nolan by terrorizing me and Kady, and while brandishing a shotgun on two unarmed women makes him a pathetic loser, it’s still working.
“Tell him if he wants to avoid violence, he’d better give the ORB all of West Cobb. We want the whole damn territory, no more splitting it up, no more peaceful coexistence. He does that and we’ll call it even.”
“You’re making a mistake.” I don’t take my eyes off him for one second, even as the truck lists to the side on its ruined tires. “This is only going to piss him off more and make you a target.”
“We’ll see about that. Tell him, Cora. Be a smart girl.” He looks over at Kady. “Lovely seeing you again.”
“Prick. Scumbag. Go sit on that gun and pull the trigger, asshole.”
Craig grins at her and winks at me before walking back to his bike. He puts the gun away, climbs on, and kicks it to life. He rolls off, the engine growling the whole time, until he speeds away from the neighborhood and disappears.
We’re left in quiet. It’s almost night now. The sounds of drunk Colleen and drunk John are gone, likely because of those shotgun blasts. Must’ve scared them enough to snap them out of their fight. Poor bastards, but maybe they’ll still have their make-up sex.
I turn back to Kady and she’s glaring after Craig like she’s going to chase him down and teach him some manners.
“Next time a man with a gun shows up at our house, you need to run.” I glare up at Kady. “You hear me? No more talking shit, you just run.”
“That wasn’t a man with a gun. That was a little baby bitch named Craig.”
“Doesn’t matter, he can still shoot you dead.”
“He wouldn’t.”
“Kady, you need to get it through your head. You said I should be careful, and you’re freaking right, but it looks like careful just went out the window. Nolan pissed off Jaxson and we could be in danger now.”
Her skin pales and she turns away toward the door. “Just like back then, huh?”
I don’t say anything as she walks back inside. Those last words echo in my head and I slowly sink down until I’m sitting on the creaking old steps with my face in my hands, staring at the ruined truck and wondering what the hell we’re going to do now.
Chapter 5
Nolan
The tow truck hauls away with Cora’s piece-of-shit truck on its bed. I called in a favor and got a local guy to fix the whole thing up cheap, and he agreed to do it first thing in the morning. I should’ve bought her a new one but she’d manage to take that the wrong way, and we’re only starting to feel each other out again. I don’t want to risk pushing her away.
Not before I get what I want from her.
“So what, they’ll put new tires on?”
“New wheels. Fix whatever other damage he did.” I sigh and look back at the trailer. “You sure Kady’s okay?”
“She’s fine, honestly. Pissed, but fine.” Cora sips her coffee and doesn’t offer me any, which is fine. I wouldn’t take it. “I hoped it wouldn’t come to this.”
“I hoped the ORB was smart enough to leave you two out of it. Clearly, I was wrong. What the hell was he thinking, coming here?”
