Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 112(@200wpm)___ 90(@250wpm)___ 75(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 112(@200wpm)___ 90(@250wpm)___ 75(@300wpm)
“Then come on in, Larry. I’ll pour you a drink before the show starts.” Judge stops at the door and spins on his heels to face the sheriff. “Better yet, why don’t you take a drive around town. Show Carrie around.”
“What?” I shout at him. “I’m not letting you go in there alone.”
I know he only wants to send me off to keep me safe, but this is my fight. I want my chance to knock Allistair around too, I can’t have Judge face the consequences of my past alone. My responsibility. It wouldn’t sit right with me, especially if something happened to him.
“You heard the woman,” Larry says. “We’re not letting you go in there alone.”
A deep rumble emits from somewhere deep in Judge’s chest. “Then come along, sheriff. Just don’t get in my way.”
He steps through the door. Larry gestures for me to go next, so I can be in the middle of their protective barrier and follow behind. Judge is standing on the landing, looking down at eight men taking up two tables in front of us. Allistair sits with a small chessboard in front of him, playing with one of the guys I’ve never seen before. Baldy and Shades are at their sides, with another table right next to them, full of guys.
Allistair’s a thin man, wearing a white suit and orange-tinted glasses. His gaunt face has a wide smile splashed across it, and he finishes his move before he looks at us. He scans Judge first, then Larry, but his eyes linger on me for an uncomfortable minute.
“I bring a pocket-sized chess board everywhere I go,” Allistair’s the first to speak. “Do you know why?”
“Who the fuck cares?” Judge answers, and where I should be terrified, I laugh. Larry chuckles too, though tries to hide it out of professional courtesy.
Frasier, on the other hand, is howling with laughter from behind the counter. I’m glad to see nothing happened to the old man while they were alone with him.
“Hmm,” Allistair pulls a face that’s trying to say I’m not amused. “The girl. I want her. Are you really going to stand in my way?”
With those words, his men stand up, with exception of Baldy and Shades, all posturing aggressively at us.
“Now, I told them we don’t want any trouble, but that scrawny one wasn’t hearing any of it,” Frasier shouts from across the room.
“The fun’s already started, old man.” Judge nods his head toward Baldy and Shades.
“Should have known that was your doing,” Frasier cackles, and while no one else pays attention to him, I watch as he circles the bar to join whatever’s about to happen.
“Those two not getting up?” Judge cracks his neck from side to side.
“No, no, they’ve had their fill for today. Wouldn’t want them risking their delicate sensibilities on a brute,” Allistair pats Baldy on the shoulder.
“Christ, do you always talk like a prick?” Judge asks. It gets another round of laughter from the guys.
“Do you always rush into an unwinnable fight headlong?” Allistair replies.
“Yup.” Judge’s answer makes Allistair’s eyes widen behind his shades.
Before anyone can say another word, Frasier’s behind one of them. He pats the guy on the shoulder and delivers a thunderous punch that echoes through the otherwise quiet barroom. Judge and Sheriff Larry rush to his side, throwing vicious blows at anyone who gets in their way. Frasier swings with the force that carries the weight of his boxing days. Larry gets a few hits in, takes a few, but mostly holds his own. Judge uses his elbows and forearms to silence anyone who steps in his way.
All three men have their own style, but together they make an unstoppable team.
And as the five who remained lay grumbling on the floor, Judge turns his attention to Allistair. Baldy and Shades jump out of their seats, but Larry and Frasier knock them down.
“Unwinnable fight?” Judge asks, standing opposite Allistair.
“What the fuck are you?” Allistair recoils in his chair.
Judge doesn’t answer, but while his eyes are firmly locked on Allistair, he grabs one of the chess pieces and moves it over the board.
“Checkmate,” he says, and for the first time in my life, I wish I understood the first thing about chess to know what he was doing.
Leaning over the table, Judge grabs Allistair’s tie and pulls him forward. Allistair’s face slams against the table. Doing the same thing he did last night to the guy who grabbed me, Judge presses Allistair’s head into the table and keeps it pinned there.
“I’ll say this once, and you better listen. If you come sniffing around for my woman again, you won’t be walking out of it alive. Do you understand?”
My heart swells a thousand times its size in my chest. His woman. I could really get used to hearing him say that. It fills me with so much joy to be called his. Makes this once regrettable stop in Sugarcreek a dream come true.