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He could see that with Alaska. There she was, a young, single mom, who hadn’t had great guidance in her life. She didn’t seem rebellious or exceptionally defiant. She just hadn’t had the opportunities, the circumstances that he had. How could he not help her?
Except, if his siblings didn’t want him to, if they argued that they couldn’t afford to, he could hardly argue back.
Phoebe left, and he sent the list he had promised, then shoved his phone back in his pocket, wrapping his hand around his neck. Walking back over to the window where he looked back outside. He loved that view, loved seeing the horses in the pasture, loved seeing the cows grazing, the buildings in the distance, the busyness as people walked across the parking lot, from one implement shedto another, someone got a lawnmower out, someone else had a tractor torn apart, with pieces lying on a piece of cardboard, and feet sticking out from underneath the underbelly of the machine.
He probably should go out and help. There were so many things to do, he almost didn’t know where to start. Two of his other brothers were fixing fence, and his sisters were painting the interior of the bunkhouse where their guests for the summer would hopefully be staying.
A crash jolted him out of his contemplations. He turned facing the door, listening. It sounded like there was a struggle going on, and he strode to the door, yanking the knob open.
The filing cabinet that had been next to the wall had been completely knocked over, and papers were scattered everywhere, but that wasn’t what caught his attention immediately. It was the fact there was a man in the room, and he had Alaska in a headlock with her body pressed to his, and her chin lifted at an unnatural angle as he tightened the pressure, growling something in her ear.
“What’s going on?” he said, raising his voice just a bit but still sounding calm and in control. The man didn’t seem to have a weapon, other than himself.
The man’s eyes jerked up. “This little girl is mine. And she’s coming with me.”
Ezra hadn’t been around too many people who did drugs in his life before, but this person had a wide-eyed look that said he might be on some kind of speed-type drug. Ezra wouldn’t even know what kind of drug that was, other than it made people think that they were invincible, and they would do stupid things, like break into a ranch and grab a woman right out of the living room, surrounded by people.
“I think if you have to put your arm around her and strangle her in order to get her to go with you, it’s probably best if she doesn’t.”
He didn’t know how to reason with someone like this. He wasn’t even sure a person could. When someone was on drugs, they weren’t reasonable.
It was quite possible that this person had other problems. His clothes were ragged, dirty, and his hair stood out in all different angles. He had as many tattoos as Alaska and almost as many piercings. He was skinny, a typical look for a drug user, but it was the eyes, those wild, crazy eyes that didn’t look like they had a soul behind them, that made the hair on the back of his neck lift, and his heart beat hard.
Someone like that would be capable of anything.
“Get out of my way. We’re leaving.”
“No!” Alaska said, her word cut off as the man jerked his arm tighter, cutting off the air and pinching her windpipe closed.
“Let go of her,” Ezra said. He wasn’t sure how the man would react, but he pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed 911. He didn’t try to talk, knowing that they were required to look into any call. Hopefully they’d send someone out, and soon. He left the phone on, hoping that the dispatcher could hear that there was something going on.
“I think you might be high,” he said, trying to make his voice sound calm, although he didn’t think there was much hope in de-escalating the situation.
“I might be. You should be too. Life is better when you’re high,” the man said, laughing with a manic sound that sent chills down Ezra’s spine.
He swallowed, his throat tight. Alaska’s face was red, and Ezra hated to do it, but he figured he didn’t have much choice.
Dropping his phone to the ground, he strode forward, grabbing the man’s hand and yanking it, hoping that the suddenness of his move would keep the man from stiffening his arm and keeping it around Alaska’s throat. He was worried she was going to pass out, or worse.
It worked, and the man loosened his grip enough that Alaska was able to get free, but Ezra was distracted because as he moved away, she started to follow, and he reached out to grab her as the man’s fist connected with the side of his face.
Pain shot through his body, and the force of the blow made him stumble back.
He might have taken longer to recover, but the man lunged toward Alaska, and Ezra’s sole focus was on keeping him from grabbing her again. The man was stronger than he looked, as skinny as he was. Maybe it was the drugs, but he was afraid that he would end up killing Alaska without even realizing it.
Ezra couldn’t remember ever hitting anyone in his life before, but he balled his fist up, like he did it every day, and slammed it as hard as he could into the man’s left eye. Ezra was not exactly a lightweight, having worked on the ranch all of his life, but the man barely blinked.
It had to be the drugs. Ezra followed the first punch with an uppercut to the jaw while the man’s attention was diverted from Alaska to him.
“Get out!” Ezra said firmly to Alaska, figuring that even if he couldn’t subdue the man, at the very least Alaska and her kids would be safe.
But instead of listening to him, Alaska turned to the man, punching him in the stomach before he grabbed her hair.
Adrenaline had dulled the pain in his face somewhat, and Ezra had an odd feeling of being outside his body as he hit the man in the stomach again and tried to get another blow in while working to figure out what in the world he could do to make the man let go of Alaska’s hair.
She screamed, the man yelled, and Ezra punched him twice more, hoping to either knock him out or make him let go.
After he hit him in the stomach for the second time, the man screamed, an animal-like sound that conveyed anger and rage, and ran at Ezra.
