Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 101882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 509(@200wpm)___ 408(@250wpm)___ 340(@300wpm)
“You didn’t put on a condom!” I hissed. “I haven’t been tested yet, I’m not even on the Pill, what—”
He reached out, wrapping his hand around the back of my neck and pulling me to him for a kiss, ending the conversation. He didn’t stop kissing me for a long time. Then he let me go and smiled.
“Calm down,” he said. “It’s not that big a deal. We’ll get you to a doc tomorrow, get you tested, make sure you’re clean.”
“I’m not on birth control, Horse,” I said through gritted teeth. “What if I got pregnant? I’m not having an abortion, you can’t make me. I won’t do it.”
He looked me right in the eye.
“Babe, the odds you get pregnant this one time are pretty damn low. But if it happens, we’ll deal with it, okay? I like kids. I could do worse. Tomorrow we get you fixed, then we move forward. Not a lot of sense in freaking out because we can’t exactly go back in time and slap that condom on, now can we?”
I studied his face, calm and reassuring, incredibly handsome in the firelight. He smiled, encouraging me. I smiled back at him, forcing myself to breathe.
“Okay,” I said.
“Okay,” he repeated. “Marie, I swear, you’re crazy sometimes, but once I get my dick in you I couldn’t care less. Just calm down and relax, sweetheart.”
He rolled off me, rising to his knees to tuck himself away and close up his pants. Then he leaned back against the fence. I pulled down my skirt as far as it would go, sitting back between his legs carefully, keeping my own shut tight. We sat like that for a long time, listening to the music and watching the fire. Couples disappeared and reappeared, their soft laughter filling the occasional lulls in the music.
Apparently we weren’t completely hidden from view, because one of the prospects stopped by every once in a while to see if we wanted more to drink. Horse nursed a beer slowly, but I ended up downing two more, bringing my total up to five. By the time I’d grabbed a sixth, I’d stopped worrying so much about someone seeing up my skirt. As I started a seventh, I sat forward and started singing and moving my body to the music. Horse laughed, but he stood and pulled me to my feet, apparently enjoying the show as I spun in the firelight. Everything was great and I was starting to think about a pee run when I heard a loud bang and the ground next to me exploded with a crack like thunder.
Gunfire.
Horse tackled me, rolling us away from the area as a second shot rang out, apparently hitting the speakers because the music stopped. Yet another shot went off. Men shouted, women screamed and I sobered right the hell up. Horse pushed me behind a big rock and then he was up and running, tackling a guy standing near the fire. The gun flew out of the shooter’s hand and another man grabbed it, popping out the magazine and clearing the slide with a loud click.
I peeked up and over the bench to see Horse dragging the shooter to his feet by the front of his shirt before punching him hard in the face. I heard panting nearby, and a girl I hadn’t even realized was crouched next to me gave a squeak of fear. It was Miss Double Penetration, and she wore a streak of dirt across her cheek and a look of total shock on her face.
I imagined my own held a similar expression.
I reached out and took her hand. She squeezed it back as Horse methodically beat the shit out of the shooter, yelling at him between blows.
“You don’t fucking shoot a gun at my woman!” he shouted, taking a final shot at the guy’s gut as the man collapsed in the dirt. Horse stood over him, panting, furious, and I had another of those eye-opening realizations that seemed to happen so often lately.
Horse was capable of violence. Terrible violence. I wasn’t sure if this guy was going to survive. I’d known it intellectually, seen him with a gun, but this was different. This was right in front of me, real and visceral and scarier than anything I’d ever seen. The girl next to me started crying shocked tears. I felt them running down my face too. The guy was definitely down, but Horse rolled him over and kicked him again in the nuts with enough force to dent metal. The horrific scream he gave tore through my soul.
Horse stood back, chest heaving, glancing around in disgust. Everyone seemed frozen.
“This cocksucker missed my girl by about six inches,” he announced, looking around at the crowd. “I should put him in the ground, but it’s not worth my fucking time. Next time I won’t be so forgiving, you got me?”