Page 60 of Rainwater
Corey snorted with wry amusement. “If you came all the way out here to discuss my relationship with Jennifer, then you’ve wasted your time.”
“I came to tell you, son, that she’d be better off if you left.” His voice was accusatory.
“I know. I figured that out all by myself,” Corey said with hard steel in his voice.
“Then why are you still here?”
Corey picked up his shirt and shrugged into it. “I don’t know,” he said with a fierceness that caused the sheriff’s eyebrows to rise.
“Look, son, I’m not about to tell you what to do, but the feud you have with the Butler boys ain’t going to go away. In fact, if you ask me, you’re the one who caused it to grow into this ruckus. She’s had property destroyed, animals shot, threatening phone calls and all because of you.”
Corey knew the sheriff was right. He’d just come to that conclusion himself. “I know that, too, Sheriff, and I’ve decided to leave tonight as soon as I get back. You make sure the Butler boys know that.” Corey approached the big bay and looked up at the man sitting astride it. “And you listen good, Sheriff. I want you to watch out for her, because if I hear different, I’m coming back and the Butler boys aren’t going to be the only ones I’m going to be looking for.”
“I got your drift, son.” Without another word, the sheriff turned his horse and rode off.
Corey retrieved the canteen of water off Monster’s saddle and took a long drink, pouring some of the water over his sweaty, dirty face.
He had deliberated long into the night about the part he’d played in this feud. In protecting Jennifer, he’d made Butler’s advances continue because the quarrel had become personal. Butler hated him. That was evident, but Jennifer had been a prize to Butler and in his eyes, she had spurned him for an Indian. Prejudice was ugly. Corey knew that. He had seen his share of it on the circuit and in the little towns he’d visited.
All this fighting. Jay wouldn’t rest until he had bested Corey. He would continue to harass Jennifer until there wasn’t any reason for him to do so. That would mean Corey had to leave. It was past time, anyway. Long past due. Yet that didn’t stop his heart from breaking or his gut from clenching at the thought ofleaving Jennifer and Ellie. There were no happily-ever-afters for him, but then, he had never expected there would be.
Now that he made the decision to go, he had to stick to it. He wanted to just disappear. He wanted to slink away like the dog he was, but he couldn’t leave them without a word. He couldn’t bear the thought that he would leave them as Sonny had. He would tell them he was going. He owed them that much.
Tucker knewthat something bad was going to happen. He hadn’t wanted to stay with his father, but his secret, the one he’d kept all these years, had to be protected. He eyed Jay as the man took another long drink of the bottle of whiskey he held in his hand. His father and uncles had been bad-mouthing Corey Rainwater almost all day and into the evening, sucking courage from the bottle. Jay and his brothers were nothing but vicious bullies. Tucker knew the time had come when they’d decided to do something about Corey, instead of just talk about it.
“Tucker, come here,” Jay snarled.
Tucker squared his shoulders, his mouth tightening, and got up from the floor where his father made him sit. Whenever he was in this house, he was never allowed on the furniture. “You’re going to come with us and see how real men take care of a coward.”
Tucker made a point of resisting Jay just because it irked the man so much. He had no intention of going to the Horn ranch and hurting anyone that Ellie cared about. She probably already thought he was a lowlife just by association. He had no intention of proving it to her. “No.” His answer was clipped and filled with a surprising anger that had suddenly surged from somewhere deep inside him.
Tucker knew that Jay hated his guts. His father took every opportunity to humiliate, berate and shame him. Tucker didn’t care because he had learned long ago that he could rely only on himself. He didn’t care if Jay beat him to death, he wasn’t budging.
Jay’s face turned red then blue and he let out a howl of rage and hit Tucker so hard he slammed against the wall, his head hitting the plaster, cracking like a gunshot in the room. Darkness played around the fringes of his consciousness until it overtook him and he slipped down into the blackness.
“Damn, Jay,” Clovis said indifferently. “I think you’ve killed the little bastard.”
Jennifer madeher way to the barn looking for Corey. When she didn’t find him there, she headed for the cottage. He’d been gone for two days riding fences, but she knew better. He was trying to avoid her. He was trying to figure out a way to tell her that he was leaving.
Her hand was on the knob when a shadow stepped out of the darkness and grabbed her, wrapping his hand around her mouth so that she couldn’t scream. The hand tightened when she struggled, a voice she knew as well as her own sending rippling chills down her spine.“Hi, Jenny honey. Surprise.”
Corey letMonster walk the rest of the way. His heart heavy and filled with agony, he was in no hurry to get back to the ranch. He’d made the decision to leave because he felt that his presence was making matters worse. Corey had to believe that when heleft this time, the attacks would cease. His continued presence only seemed to escalate the feud. Leaving was his only choice.
Soul-searing pain engulfed him at the thought of never seeing them again. He clenched his jaw against the onslaught that ripped at his heart. Oh, God, never to hold Jennifer again, touch her, see her fiery hair spread out on his chest. Never to hear her laugh or strip off a piece of his hide with her formidable anger.
He was destined to be alone. He’d known that a long time ago. Safety and security were for someone with a normal life. Some other man who could give Jennifer one hundred percent of himself. He just didn’t know how to break the silence, breach that impenetrable wall. The silence was trapped inside him and he couldn’t let it out. He would hunger for Jennifer until his sorry life ended, which he surmised wouldn’t be too long from now.
He didn’t seem to care anymore. The fight seemed empty, for without Jennifer, the light would go out of his life. He dismounted at the barn. The ranch was quiet, eerily so. He looped the reins loosely at the corral gate, the hair on the back of his neck suddenly raised.
“Corey.”
His name was a whispered plea. Her voice filled with fear, love, and laced with dread. He whirled and his blood ran cold. Then in an instant, his blood burned with a rage that terrified him.
Jay Butler stood with his beefy arm around Jennifer’s neck. His four brothers flanked him. The vicious look in their eyes told him what he needed to know. They had come here to kill him. He could see it in the depths of their cold, bigoted eyes.
Jackson and Clovis intercepted Corey as he lunged at Jay, just missing his arm by inches. Corey struggled with all his strength, but two jabs to his recently healed ribs took his breathaway. He got back on his feet and growled low and threatening when he saw Jay’s hands on Jennifer, and he saw that if he put up a fight, Jay would hurt her.
Jay sneered. “That’s right, be good and we won’t hurt her too bad.”
