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It was intimidating, but Ezra stepped forward into it, deflecting the man’s fist while grabbing a hold of his arm, and moving it, trying to pull it back and hold it behind him. They wrestled for a bit, with the man grabbing hold of Ezra’s leg and Ezra leveragingthat to his advantage by pressing into the man rather than away, and they both tumbled to the floor.
They scuffled there, with Ezra’s larger size, and perhaps his experience in wrestling steers, allowing him to get on top of the man, his hands pressed against the floor while the weight of his lower body kept the man still under him.
“Get off me!” The man followed that with a string of curses, spewing language out of his mouth so filthy it almost made Ezra’s hold loosen, just to hear it.
He made sure to stay well away from the man’s mouth, because he wouldn’t put it past him to bite, and with the enraged, incoherent way the man was, if it were possible, he would bite clear through.
“I told you to get back,” he snarled at Alaska, angry that she had put herself in harm’s way after he had freed her.
“I’m calling 911,” she said, completely ignoring his words and pulling her phone out of her pocket.
“I already did.”
He could just hear his brothers now. This would be great press for the ranch. Exactly the kind of press they did not want. And he had to admit that Alaska looked like she had done this type of thing before.
Even while he thought that, there was a vulnerability about her that pulled his heart.
This man could be him, although Ezra didn’t have as much compassion for him. Alaska, at least, was trying to get her life turned around. This man was trying to keep her from it. Ezra couldn’t help but want to help her. Of course.
But his siblings would never let him do that now. They would want her gone, as fast as possible. They would want to help, but from a distance. It would jeopardize everyone if they kept her here, and Ezra couldn’t argue about it. They were all right.
“What’s going on?” The door burst open, and Asher came in, those words tumbling from his lips before he’d even taken a step inside.
He laughed. A humorless huff of air. “You’re taking care of him the same way you took care of Caleb when you guys wrestled when you were kids.”
“Why fix it if it ain’t broke,” Ezra said, grunting a bit as the man struggled underneath him.
To his side, he could hear Alaska speaking calmly into the phone. Again, like she had done it before.
“I always hate it when I’m proved right.” There was irony in Asher’s tone, and he didn’t need to say anything more.
“I hear you,” Ezra said. “Before you start gloating, do you think you can give me a hand, so I can get up?”
“Seems to me like you’ve got things under control. Kinda looks like you were about to take a nap or something.” He strode over, smirking. “It’s not too often I see my big brother lying around on the floor. Let me enjoy it for a moment before I give you a hand.”
“Shut up, and help me,” Ezra ground out, annoyed. “Why couldn’t Phoebe have come back in? At least she would give me a hand before she told me all the things I’ve done wrong.”
He had to admit, there were times women were much better than men. This was one of those times. A man was far more likely to make fun of someone than to help them, especially if they didn’t look like they needed help. But he didn’t want to lie on the floor forever, and the guy was still high. And dangerous.
“He’s on something. Be careful,” Ezra said as Asher got closer.
“Yeah.” Asher didn’t say anything more, but his lips were drawn and flat, and Ezra didn’t need to hear him say anything more, or hear his thoughts, to know what he was thinking. Everything that he had said in the office, not even ten minutes ago, had been borne out in the last five minutes. And he would waste no time in telling Ezra that Alaska needed to go, today probably.
It wasn’t that his family didn’t have a heart, he knew it. Still, after this, Ezra would have to agree with them. What if one of his sisters had been in the room? What if the man had tried to take them, or worse, what if he had had a weapon?
“This is going to look great on the headlines for the ranch,” Asher muttered as he pulled some binder twine from his back pocket, and Ezra grunted. So many times, he shoved twine in his pocket, intending to throw it away, and ended up carrying it around with him the rest of the day. This was not the first time that it had come in handy at some point.
It was, however, the first time that they had used it on a human.
He could hear sirens in the distance as he got gingerly up, and then they helped the man to his feet.
“Watch it,” he said to Asher as Asher allowed his ear to get dangerously close to the man’s mouth. “I wouldn’t put it past him, in the state that he’s in, to try to bite that off your head.”
“A decent sort of fellow, you say,” Asher muttered. Obviously disgusted with the entire thing.
He supposed both of them were thinking about how this was going to affect the ranch, not the animals they raised, or the horses they trained, but the dude ranch they were hoping to open. Asher had been right about having the wrong kind of people showing up here. It would be terrible for business.
“I’m so sorry.” Alaska came over and stood beside him, looking up with concern on her face. “I’m sure that the police are going to want to ask you some questions, and then... I can get my kids up and leave.”
