Page 129 of Live for Me

“Yup,” Lawson drawled, walking up to stand beside me and pointing his gun to the only fucker still breathing. “And so is this.” Three shots. Two in the chest and one in the head. For added measure, Lawson strolled over to the man on the end who was still slowly bleeding out. “No loose ends, correct?” he asked, looking over to Denver and Mason.

“Not a single fucking one,” the bull rider growled, holding his wife still.

Three more shots rang out and after Lawson tucked his gun in the back of his jeans, he threw his arms out wide. “You got something else to say, Sheriff?”

No one said a word as I moved over to Lance, grabbing the phone from him.

“I copy,” Mags said through the radio. “Still standing by.”

My eyes landed on the map and my heart plummeted.

“He’s—he’s at the cabin,” I bit off, turning around to face Pop. “He’s at the cabin!” I shouted.

“I’ll be there in two fucking minutes,” Mags promised, his tone dark. “Over.”

Pop was off my horse in record time, throwing the radio to me before putting his hands on my shoulders. My eyes met his, and I knew what he was about to say.

“Don’t fucking hold back, you understand me?” he pressed. “You put that son of a bitch in the ground. No one touches Abbie.”

Not even two minutes later, I was flying through the pastures, Mason and Denver flanking me. The wind whipped around us as the horses’ hooves pounded against the ground, matching the tempo of my heart. The ride out to the cabin was a blur, and by the time the three of us made it to the hill overlooking my field, my sanity had nearly run out.

As usual, we couldn’t see the cabin due to the pine trees, and we couldn’t go in there guns blazing.

“Mags is in there,” Denver said, looking into the trees.

“How do you know?” I asked, my gut twisting as I reloaded my pistol.

Denver looked over to me, his gray eyes stone cold. “Trust me.”

“How do you want to play this?” Mase asked me from my other side.

“I don’t know,” I admitted, “but every second we waste out here is another second he could be hurting her.”

“We’ll cut through the woods,” Denver said. “If we cut across the field, we lose the element of surprise.”

“Or this could be a fucking trap,” Mason deadpanned.

“You two stay here. I’ll go.”

Denver’s hand shot out, his hand clamping down on my forearm. “Like fucking hell you are,” he clipped.

I shook my head. “This is my mess. Abbie is my—”

“—Abbie is fucking family, and we protect our damn family, Beau,” Mason cut me off, pointing down the hill. “You can’t expect us to stand by and—”

“Harmony needs you, Mase,” I told him before looking over to his brother. “Valerie and your kids need you, Den. Stay here. If Mags is already down there, then I’ll have back up.”

The Hallow Ranch owner shook his head. “You followed me into a fire to save Valerie, Beau. What makes you think I’m not going to do the same for you and Abbie?”

My chest ached, and I looked down to my saddle, closing my eyes. “That was different.”

“The fuck it is.”

My heart thundered in my ears. “Abbie is my—”

“—your woman. But she’s our friend—she’s our family,” Mase said, putting his hand on my shoulder.

“There’s only one way we do this, and it’s together,” Denver declared.

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