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"I'm sorry…about being…" he started but she shook her head.
"Hey, don't worry about it. It's as you said. The situation was too complicated to judge in black and wh…" that was when the whistle blew and Lee turned around at the same time that he did and that was when Lenanee saw that all of them seemed to be riding in the same direction. There were four men including Ike.
Hayden immediately tensed and rode down towards them. She followed closely, her heart beating against her chest. She knew that only one thing could send them into this frenzy. They had seen him, and they weren't letting go of this chance to catch him.
The chase was on, and the other two men started trying to Outflank Austin who Lee hadn't even seen yet but that was for a short while because she eventually saw him, and he was riding atop the black horse. A rash decision but it didn't seem that hehad any choice. It was much faster and if he didn't hurt it, it would still be extremely valuable.
Lee didn't think it was possible for someone to have that much control of a horse and the way he rode made it seem like he was performing an art more than anything else. He was slowly slipping away from the bottleneck they created yet they kept trying to ride him down. Lenanee soon became aware of the fact that the men she was riding with were raised in the saddle. They rode so expertly and with such fierceness that she suddenly felt an adrenaline surge she had not experienced in a long while as they tore across the landscape, chasing one man whom she honestly didn't want them to catch.
Lenanee knew that they didn't want to shoot as they wanted to avoid hitting the horse and at the same time, she knew that neither Ike nor Hayden wanted to shoot him as well. They continued chasing him until they heard hooves in the distance separate from theirs and she looked to see other riders blocking Austin off. Lee's heart sank and she knew that he was trapped. He slowed down then he stopped and took his gun.
"Drop the gun!" One of the men yelled but it didn't even seem like Austin heard him. He looked like a sheep being circled by wolves; a giant mounted on a majestic horse. He looked around and Lenanee saw his eyes rest in where she was behind Hayden and Ike. He looked at them but she couldn't tell exactly what his facial reactions were then he dropped the gun and got off the horse then raised his hands. There was only so much one man could fight yet Lee got sad to watch him do that and it seemed like it was the same thing that Hayden felt because she heard him grit his teeth audibly.
"Shit," she whispered. Hayden looked at her and his eyes seemed to say the same thing she had been thinking. She saw that there was a kind of sorrow in his eyes that she did not and maybe couldn't hope to understand.
†
There were a few shouts, and the sound of argument was loud from one of the barns, then finally Ike came out and his face was drawn and tired. Hayden stares at his father, wondering what exactly they'd talked about but then again, he had the feeling that it was about the same things that had caused this problem in the first place. He looked at his father who stared at him then shook his head.
"I think the best thing at this point would be to hand him over to the police and let him stew in jail for a while then we can send him away. I think that's the best way. He has no love for this place anymore and I don't think…" he stopped and shook his head.
"Let me talk to him. There are a few things I would like to discuss," Hayden said. Ike looked at him with open skepticism.
"You think you can handle that? Things between you and him do tend to get a bit heated when the both of you are together," he said and he nodded.
"Yes, I think I can handle it. I just want to talk to him. That's all," Hayden said and Ike nodded but Hayden did notice that he didn't go far. He stood by the barn and just simply turned away from it. Hayden took a deep breath, opened the door, and walked in.
There was always a mild feeling of awe about him when he saw Austin. There were few men he met in his life who were bigger than him and Austin was one who always made him feel tiny. The man was just massive even from the way he hunched over the table that was before him. He looked up at Hayden and nodded once with a bright smile that made it seem like none of this had happened and everything was alright.
"You're looking good," he said. Hayden didn't know how to reply to that. He had been expecting to talk to a furious man, not the smiling person that was before him now. He hated how much that disarmed him and made him feel small.
"You on the other hand…" he said, and Austin laughed in his deep throaty kind of way.
"Yeah, that's…these last few days have been a little bit tough with you and your Dad hunting me down and stuff. How does it feel by the way?" He asked. Hayden frowned.
"What do you mean? How does what feel?" He asked.
"I mean clapping me in chains. I didn't even know you had ones that could fit my wrist," he said.
"I…we knew who we were after," he said.
"Interesting," Austin said. There was silence between them for a while.
"How does it feel?" He asked.
"I must admit that it doesn't feel really good to see you there. I mean…it's not right that you should be cuffed," Hayden said.
"That's the thing. It's not right but if there is anything that you and your father has proven, it is that you don't really care about right or wrong and the only things that do matter to you are things that are beneficial to yourself. In simple terms, you are selfish," he said.
"You have no right to speak that way," Hayden said, feeling some anger within him.
"Don't I?" Austin asked in that deep, dangerous voice that let Hayden know that the terrible, bitter anger was still there underneath the surface. It was the one he heard right before he was snatched off a horse and thrown against the ground, breaking his shoulder.
"We treated you as family. I saw you as a br…"
"Don't say that word, Hayden. You don't have the right to. You know what happened. Your father let him die. He was sick and he needed help, yet your family ignored him. He worked here for such a long time and made this ranch money. He took care of…" he stopped and gritted his teeth.
"He wasted his time here and while your family basked in luxury, he wasted away on the deathbed," Austin said.
