Page 18 of Live for Me

I heard a shout from behind him, the trailers covered in shadows.

“That’s great, Billy. If you’ll excuse me, my friend needs my help,” I said, my voice hard as I shrugged his hand off my shoulder, moving around him.

Billy chuckled again, something dark laced within it. My spine stiffened.

“If you’re going back there for your little friend, don’t bother. She’s getting what’s coming to her,” he said, his upper lip curling in disgust.

My head ticked to the side. “What the fuck did you just say to me?”

Billy didn’t like that. He, just like his son, always had to be the most powerful man in the room. My father told me that years ago. His weathered face tightened, his eyes flashing with anger as he bared his teeth.

“Don’t cuss at me, boy—”

Before I could stop myself, my fist reared back and surged forward, clocking him in the jaw. Abbie’s mom wasn’t a good woman. One of the reasons people at school hated Abbie was because her mom had slept with almost all their fathers and ruined multiple marriages.

None of that was Abbie’s fault, though, and she’d turned into a punching bag for everyone to hate.

Everyone except for me.

My chest heaved as I watched Billy go down, and then I was running towards the trailers, shouting her name. “Abbie! Abbie, where are you?”

I heard some horses whining and then a grunt to my left, followed by a cry. I ran deeper into the lines of trucks and trailers, the noises of the rodeo echoing behind me as I looked all around.

Where was she?

Where the fuck was she?

“Abbie!” I roared, praying my voice could be heard over the crowd. I moved, running to the left, and then, I heard it.

She cried out my name.

“Beau! Beau help!”

Fear coiled around my neck then, ready to strike.

My boots couldn’t hit the ground fast enough as I broke into a run, my heart pounding for her and only her. I’d been denying my feelings for her for too long and I was done pretending she wasn’t my entire world. She was past, my present, and I prayed to God she was my future. If she wasn’t, I didn’t know what the hell would become of me.

Rounding the back of one of the larger trailers, I found Abbie pinned against it, a man’s hand around her throat, his body holding her captive. “Tell your momma I want my money,” the man growled, his eyes wild with anger.

Everything happened in slow motion after that.

She cried out for mercy. “Let me go! I have nothing to do with her! I don’t know where your money is!”

“Bull fucking shit you don’t. You and your momma are cut from the same worthless cloth!” The man backhanded, her causing her neck to twist, her face going to the side as her hair whipped around, covering her bruised cheek.

She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, forcing herself to take the pain and not scream.

All I saw was red, a growl ripping from my throat as I broke into a run, charging him. I ducked my head right before I made contact, nailing him with my shoulder as I took him to theground. My hat flew off, landing upside down on the ground beside us as I pinned the man, ramming my fist into his face over and over as I shouted at him. “Don’t you ever fucking touch my girl again,” I roared, my body taking control, logic fading. He had over fifty pounds on me, but I was stronger. His arms flailed, but I wrapped a hand around his throat, holding him like he held her while I punched him with the other.

I shouted at him, telling him I’d kill him if he ever touched her again.

I heard her cry out from behind me, but I couldn’t stop. I was too far gone, too pissed off.

All her life, Abbie had been hit by men, and I’d been powerless to stop it. I was too skinny, too small, too weak.

Not anymore.

I was a fucking man now.

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