Page 37 of Legacy of Lies
Chapter 9
“How’s it going, Hank?” Garrison aimed for a tone somewhere between neighborly happenstance and mild irritation.
“I’m asking the questions, Taggart. Why are you out here?” His wild eyes darted away, toward the open fields, and then back to Garrison.
“Us? We’re just taking a nice ride before the snows come.”
“Yeah, right. You’re on our property.”
“Actually, Hank, I believe that we’re on national forest property, same as you. Over there”—Garrison pointed to the fence—“is your property.”
Hank leveled the gun at him.
Sometimes it was smarter to be quiet rather than correct.
“I don’t like you snooping around this close to our spread,” Hank growled.
“There’s no law against us being here, my friend.”
“I’m not your friend, asshole. Not you or any of your pissant family.”
Garrison locked his mouth shut against a rebuttal. A loaded weapon trumped logic. Besides, even if he could get to his pistol fast enough, Kerr would get shot.
Damn that family. The only thing that would make this better was for their older brother, Tommy Brand, to join the fun. But he was too busy telling his kids to torment Zach.
Son of a bitch, he’d love to beat the hell out of these men. Hank had been nothing but a burr under Garrison’s saddle for the past year. Wyatt had stopped extending credit to the Taggarts at the hardware store. Nothing would relieve stress like a good brawl. But Kerr couldn’t maneuver well off his horse. Fists and threats wouldn’t get them out of this mess. Not today, at least.
“Seems like this is a big misunderstanding, guys,” Garrison said.
“Only thing you misunderstand is basic information,” Hank sneered. “Stay away from our property—we won’t give you a friendly warning next time.”
Friendly, his ass. But don’t split hairs while sitting in the crosshairs.
Hank hawked and spat. “And while I’m thinking about it, stay away from that slut teacher you’re mooning over. She’s off limits.”
It took a lot to get Garrison so mad he couldn’t function. Calling a good person a bad name was one of those methods. His blood pounded in his brain. His ears buzzed. “Ms. Lopez is. Not. A. Slut,” he gritted out. “Don’t you ever talk about her like that again.”
“I’ll call her whatever I like. Just leave her alone.” Hank shifted from foot to foot, still glancing toward his property. Odd.
“You don’t date her anymore. Why should you care?”
“We’re getting back together, ass clown. So that means you’re out.”
“News to me. You must have started dating since I saw you yesterday.”
Stupid to even continue this discussion, given the weapon pointed at his chest, but damn it, Hank’s macho shit crossed a red line three miles ago. His hand twitched with the instinct to break Hank’s jaw into tiny pieces.
No way she could be dating him. Right?
This wasn’t the time to consider Sara’s relationship status. Garrison would rather beat the hell out of the asshole in front of him instead.
When Garrison glanced back at Kerr, his brother shook his head, only a tiny gesture. If they tried anything stupid, one or both of them would get hurt. Like in the song, Garrison knew when to fold ’em.
Hank’s mouth twisted into what generously could be called a smile, and he reset his aim. “See, Taggart, your family took something that was my family’s. And you took something that was mine. So I took it back. But just wait until you see what I’ve been called to do. Now I’m going to—”
“So, Hank, how’s Izzy?” Kerr piped up.
Damn his brother. They should keep Hank going with his crazy talk. It might have given them clues as to why those guys wanted the Taggart ranch and the reason for the equipment on the Brand property.
