Page 65 of Wildest Dreams

She whimpers next to me, hiding her face behind my arm, head down so her long brown hair hides her pretty face.

“I've got you,” I say quietly, tightening my grip on her hand.

Surprisingly, the service goes off without a hitch. Fanning out of the church, we decide to avoid the burial, but we are going to head straight to the wake.

The cowboys greet us, all sitting tall, shotguns in hand as they form a wall of horses.

Riggs gives them a tilt of his cowboy hat and Hudson kicks his horse on, breaking the formation and moving forward towards my dad's truck. We wait until the girls and Austin are safely inside before we mount our own horses. Half the cowboys break off and lead the truck towards Mules and the other half sit back and wait for us, Conrad stuck to our side too.

“Wasn't as bad as I predicted,” Marty half laughs, his horse circling.

“We still have the wake to get through,” Riggs grunts as he kicks his horse on.

“Well let’s all pray that it goes off without a hitch too then.”

We all let out a soft laugh, because we know if anything is going to kick off, it'll be at the wake.

The ride takes us about thirty minutes, which works well as we get there just before Wallen and the rest of the funeral attendees.

My eyes lift as I look up at the bar that sits in the middle of nowhere. Worn out panelled exterior that is desperate for a lick of paint, roof tiles slipped and sitting in some of the gutter. What the hell were they thinking holding it here?

Opening up Bucky’s rein, I turn him around and look at our surroundings. There is nothing here. We're sitting on a dusty parking lot.

Harlow, Aspen and Austin join us; Harlow still very much holding onto Austin's hand.

My brows furrow when I look over at the truck and see that Dixie is still sitting in there. Kicking Bucky on, I trot across the large, empty lot and jump down from the back of my horse, holding onto his reins as I duck my head down to look in the back of the truck.

“Hey, you okay?” I ask, her eyes pinned forward, fingers curled into the soft leather of the seats. I glance over at my dad, and he gives me a sombre look.

“No,” she whispers, and I don't miss the way her voice trembles.

“Baby...” it falls from my tongue, but I don't regret it. “Look at me.”

And she does. Red rimmed watery eyes land on mine.

“I promised you, didn't I? I swear it Dixie, Lucian isn't going to get near you,”

and she nods, and I hate that she is crying. “Come. Come stand with me,” I hold my hand out for her to take, and as she reaches her fingers out to me, I hear the sound of a gunshot echo around the parking lot.

Panic rings in my ears, screaming, drowning out my thoughts as I step back and slam the truck door. Footing the stirrup, I'm on Bucky's back within seconds as I turn him around and that's when everything moves in slow motion.

A rusty truck pulls into the parking lot, Wallen falls from the passenger side, pistol in hand as he aims it towards my brothers and Austin.

“Shit,” I am already pulling my gun out as I kick Bucky towards where Wallen is stomping across the lot, gun pointed at Austin.

I shoot in the air, trying to deter him when he points the gun at me, shooting twice towards me and I feel the reins go slack and Bucky goes down, taking me with him.

And that's when an all-out war kicks off, but in that moment, all I can hear is Dixie screaming.

Don’t get out the truck, don’t get out the truck.

I look towards the truck and my dad is clambering down and the fear is crippling me, the pain that radiates through me is nothing compared to the fear that I feel.

I scream out, Riggs looking over at me as I watch the next few moments pan out. Lucian is running for Wallen, just as he pulls the trigger once more and I am sure it hits Austin, but it's not until I see Aspen move to the floor, that I realise Austin is still standing.

Another guy who is with them is still shooting bullets, and I feel a hand in my gun belt. Eyes widening when I see Dixie.

“No, no, go get back in the truck,” I pant, the feel of Bucky’s weighted body crushing me a little more.

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