Page 49 of Cowboy's Last Stand
“Twenty-one,” Billy said.
“Nineteen,” the girl next to him said at the same time.
Billy threw up his arms and shot the young woman a hostile glare.
“And you?”Wade asked the other girl.
“Eighteen,” she whispered.
“Get in the back of my car,” Wade said.“I’ll take you both home.”
Billy sputtered a series of protests as the girls complied.He claimed that Wade had no right to shake him down, marijuana was medicine, and they weren’t even drinking.The girl who’d been sitting with Gabe gave him a sideways glance, biting her lower lip in regret.Then she climbed into the back seat of the squad car.
“You’re lucky they aren’t under eighteen,” Wade said.“I would have arrested you both.”
Gabe didn’t say anything.He knew when to keep his mouth shut.Billy didn’t.He kept blabbing about unfairness until Wade grabbed him by the front of the shirt and shoved him against the side of his truck.
“If you’d returned my calls, I wouldn’t have to do this,” Wade said.
“What calls?My phone’s busted.”
“I talked to Natalie last night.”
Billy flinched in response.Gabe made a strangled sound.
Wade felt a wave of fury wash over him at their obvious guilt, but he forced his voice to stay calm.“Someone drove by her house and terrorized her with M-16s.Smashed her mailbox.She thinks it was you.”
“She’s a liar,” Billy said.“And a whore.”
Wade slapped Billy’s belligerent face.The sharp sound rang out in the still night.“Don’t talk about her that way.”
Billy’s eyes narrowed with hatred, but he didn’t retaliate.He was afraid to strike back.
Despite his lack of response, Wade wanted to hit him again.Wade wanted to keep hitting him until he learned his lesson.Billy had targeted Natalie for a reason.He’d done it because of Wade and the bad blood between them.
The crunch of gravel under shoes alerted Wade to the fact that Gabe was attempting to sneak away into the dark.He was a reluctant witness this brotherly conflict.Two years ago, he’d been an ideal student with a bright future.Under Billy’s tutelage, he’d become a hard-drinking, hollow-eyed ghost.
“Stay right there, Gabe,” Wade said.“Did you participate in the destruction of property at Natalie’s house?”
Gabe looked sick.He shook his head jerkily and shrugged at the same time.
“Yes or no, Gabe.”
“Leave him alone,” Billy said.“He has the right to remain silent.”
Gabe took the cue from Billy and didn’t answer.
Wade released Billy’s shirtfront and stepped back, his mouth curled in derision.“Natalie said you and the Stoddard brothers attacked her friend the other night.She considered reporting you for assault.”
“Assault?Give me a break.That guy had it coming.”
“You told him you were going to show her a good time when you were done with him.What did you mean by that?”
Billy let out his braying laugh.It sounded nervous.
“What did you mean?”Wade repeated.
“I didn’t mean nothin’,” Billy said and spat on the ground between them.“She gets around, doesn’t she?”
