Page 89 of The Butcher

My free hand shoots to his jaw, squeezing until I force it open, the bone cracking under the pressure, and as soon as his tongue flops out of his mouth, I shove the piece of Adam’s intestine inside. “Chew.”

He blinks at me through his tears, gagging over and over, snot running from his nose while he shakes his head. I can practically see the vomit climb up his throat, the muscles moving hard against whatever is trying to come up, and the second he heaves, I clamp my hand over his mouth and put us nose to nose.

“I said fucking chew.”

He does.

Nicolas chews the length of intestine, blood running from his lips and over his chin, vomit shooting against my hand before I shove it all back in. But he keeps chewing. Between his sobs, between his wrenching, the beta chews the last little bit of his alpha that he’ll ever get to taste, and I watch every single drop of his jaw while he does.

“Bramley Ambrose, what the hell do you think you’re doing in my barn?”

Rolling my eyes, I make sure Nicky boy is finished and not about to throw up again, then turn toward the voice, knowing damn well what I’m about to find. “I thought it was Pap’s eye appointment?”

“It was,” Nan huffs, crossing her arms against her chest with a scowl. “Don’t get smart.”

“They broke into your house.”

She narrows her eyes skeptically. “Oh, really?”

“You think I’d make that shit up?” I ask as I watch Pap wander in behind her. “Why’d you bring him down here?”

“I didn’t know what the hell was going on, and sometimes his crazy ass comes in handy.”

“It’s my cow,” the old man says, like he’s agreeing with her, and making all the sense in the world. Then he motions toward Adam. “Mine. I can milk it if I want.”

“Sure, Pap.”

Nan and I both watch in silence as he walks through the massive pool of blood then spins the alpha the same way I’ve been doing, the last of his blood arcing away from his body and hitting all of us, including Nicolas. Who’s on the verge of passing out.

“Moo, you big heifer.” Pap stops next to me and gives Adam another good spin, then grabs the nail gun from my belt, aims, and hits the alpha right between the fucking eyes on his next lap.

Guess the old man’s still got it.

“Great,” Nan growls as she makes her way toward us and slips in the puddle. “He’s going to want to do this again, you know.”

I nod slowly as Pap takes aim at Nicolas then starts backing up. “I know.”

“You gonna take him hunting with you?”

My eyes go wide as my batshit crazy grandfather proceeds to fire a smiley face into the beta’s head; one nail in each eye, a couple in his nose, then several that crack teeth and bone as they effortlessly hit their target.

“Maybe I will,” I say with a laugh as I shake my head. “I didn’t realize Pap was so good with a nail gun.”

Then my grandpa winks at me, blows the imaginary smoke from the business end, and tries to holster his weapon in his pocket, but shoots himself in the foot instead.

Maybe I won’t be taking Pap hunting with us any time soon, but I definitely need to tell my mates about this.

Not just my nutty grandfather having some weird moment of clarity, and not just Nash and Clayton.

I plan on telling all three of my mates what just happened. I’ll start with the break in to end with Wild Pap Hickok.

What a fucking night.

Chapter Twenty

A ROUND PEG IN A SQUARE HOLE

Indy

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