AllFreeNovel
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We are the underworld.
There’s nobody above us but there’s plenty below.
“This is my house,” Addie says, proudly gesturing toward the building that in her eyes apparently is something to cheer for. “You can stay for as long as you need.”
Forever, then.
“You always invite strange men inside, lamb?” I ask and her gaze lowers with dignity. “I could be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
Redness spreads over her throat before she opens her mouth and bursts into laughter. "You?” She sniggers so violently, she almost folds in half. “Doan you be silly now, Rev. And doan you pull my leg. I aint the sharpest tool in the shed but I know a good heart when I see one.”
She also knows how to toy with a man’s emotions. Or maybe yanking at them fiercely would be a more fitting description.
Once she finally stops laughing, I slowly walk up to the porch to join her and she lets out a short breath and puts her hand on the doorknob. She’s still facing me and when I don’t move, worry forms between her brows as if she needs me not to turn my back on her and fuck, she should know I’m already wrapped around her little finger.
“Tell me something, Addie,” I rasp and stroke her hair over her shoulder because it’s tickling her face and I needed an excuse to touch her. “Back in the barn, why were you asking for protection?” I lean my head to the side, boring my eyes into hers. “What are you so afraid of, lamb?”
Swallowing, she lowers her chin. “I doan feel comfortable telling you. It aint nice and I doan wanna ruin your morning or give you nightmares.”
I don’t have nightmares. She must think I’m made out of cotton when I’m really made out of lead.
“You can trust me,” I urge and she finally agrees after staying silent for a moment.
“Blackmail,” she breathes with a tremble to her mouth and she pounces down on the porch swing and crosses her arms. “They called the Scarecrow Crew and they aint got anything better to do, than harassing me. They say I need to give up this farm or they goan kill me.”
A muscle clenches in my jaw. Not before I kill them, one by one...
I’m vaguely familiar with the Scarecrow Crew or Scar’s Crew as they’re officially known. They’re a gang of unorganized criminals, lowlife cranks. I’m aware they’ve been wreaking havoc in this part of the state, but they’ve never done anything that’s made them a target of the Nordic Mafia.
Until now.
Addie gulps. “I get letters containing paper dolls with their limbs ripped off and once their leader Scar showed up in the middle of the night. He walked up to my porch and then he just stood there, waiting for me to come out.”
Her eyes widen. “But you know what I did? I fired a shot and yelled, you get out of my land, you son of a biscuit! And he did, ran away with his tail between his legs like a coward.”
I’m sure...
Anxiety crosses her face and she gets up from the swing and wrings her hands. “I promise you the farm’s safe. Oh, you aint worried now are you? For your safety, I mean?” She turns white in the face. “Doan tell me you goan leave now cause you scared. Please doan...”
Scared? Me? The thought is laughable. Last time I felt fear, I was twelve years old and in a fistfight. I came out on top and ever since, I’ve never been afraid of anything. Least of all something as pathetic as Scar’s Crew.
Her expression switches to frantic. “I doan want you to go...,” her eyes dash, “I’ll do anything you want, cook any meal you want, let you take any bed you want...”
“I’m staying,” I rasp to calm her down and she lets out a sob that makes me want to take her in my arms and let her feel my heart beat, feel how steady it rhythms because nothing fazes me. If it did, I’d crush it without blinking which is what I’ll do to the Crew. Though there’s one thing that seriously disturbs me.
I don’t think Beauregard died from a kick to the face. At least not a kick from a cow. Wrath ravages me because if they did that to him, it’s only a question of luck and time that my lamb was spared.
“Thanks,” Addie breathes before turning the knob, “and there’s a hatch in the kitchen where we can hide if it comes down to it.”
“That’s a relief,” I say in a wry voice but Addie doesn’t pick up on the irony and she nods, shooting me a smile. Eventually, I’ll teach her never to hide. She will stand in my shadows and laugh at her fears in the face. Eventually danger will become familiar to her. It will sleep next to her every night from now on and she’ll grow to learn to love it.
I take a look around at her home and it’s humble but clean, and it seems like she picked up most of her stuff at the flea market. She lacks a lot while I lack nothing. And I’m already planning on sharing all I have with her.
Shepherding me toward a chair in the kitchen, she fusses over me and it’s nice being fussed over. Makes my lids feel heavy and there’s an ache in my pants. When she turns around with a jar of sugar in her hands, our eyes meet and she gasps.
“Why you looking at me like that for, Rev?” she whispers. “You want anything?”
I do. I want everything.
