Silence breezes around us for just a moment.
“You can't hold onto it forever,” the main guy says.
“We will hold onto it for as long as we can. When I’m gone, I’ll be buried next to my friend, along with my wife and his, but our kids will live on, our grandkids will run these fields, and when they're old enough they will also run this land, and so on, so forth...” Buck inhales heavily.
“So I suggest you go back to whatever hole you came out of and fuck off our land, because at the moment you are trespassing and we have every right to remove you from our land with any means necessary...” and I open up my bodywarmer to show my pistol that sits tucked in my rib holster.
“And with the law here by my side... well, we can hide you and make you disappear just like that,” Buck clicks his fingers and we watch as he swallows, his throat bobbing and his two friends begin to move back.
“Tell whoever sent you we're not selling. We already have enough to deal with, we don't need three jumped up assholes trying to push us into selling land. Land that has been in our family for years, it's our heritage... try all the land owners, they will all tell you the same thing.”
The main guy steps forward whilst the other two shrink back.
“This isn't over old man,” and he stands toe to toe with Buck.
Buck chuckles, his shoulder lifting up and down, his fingers brushing back and forth over his lips.
“I don't take threats lightly,” Buck replies, his voice low so only me and the suit can hear.
“This isn't a threat,” suit grits his teeth.
“Oh, it is,” Buck nods, his lips curling into a soft smile.
“We could have done this amicably, but it seems that isn't an option so we will move onto phase two,” suit flares his nostrils before looking over his shoulder as he hears footsteps approaching.
Relief swarms me at the sight of my brothers walking towards us.
Riggs and Tripp.
Riggs tall, stocky, broad shoulders.
Tripp a slimmer build to Riggs, a little shorter too.
Riggs' cowboy hat lifted slightly, Tripp's brown hair blowing softly in the summer breeze.
My lips twitch into a smirk, and I watch Buck's shoulders visibly relax.
“Gentleman,” Riggs’ loud voice echoes around the empty fields and I have no idea why he is addressing them as gentleman.They're vermin.
The taller suit turns to look over his shoulder and I watch as his eyes scope over my two brothers, Tripp's eyes are locked on mine and I give him a gentle nod.
“Who are you?” he shoots his question to Riggs and he chuckles, his shoulders vibrating as he does.
“The owner of this land.”
I feel my stomach twist.
Because it's the truth.
He is the man of the house.
The land is technically Riggs'.
It was always going to be like that.
“Is that so?” suit eyes me and Buck over his shoulder before they're back on Riggs.
“Yup,” his hands fold into the front of his worn jeans, his eyes narrowing on the suit in front of him.