He looked grim. “You stay here,” he told Callie.
Goyo’s eyes opened. “Papi, what are you gonna do?”
“Make sure it’s the sheriff. Then I’m gonna hunt that bastard down.”
Goyo’s hand gripped his arm. “Be careful. Come back to me.”
He leaned in and kissed Goyo, knew it might be the last time he could for a while, especially if there were others present. He tenderly stroked his forehead. “I’ll be back. I promise.”
“I’ll hold you to it.”
Jasper stepped out onto the porch, relieved to find it was the doctor and Sammy.
“Where is he?” the doctor said as he dismounted.
“Inside. He’s awake, but he looks poorly.”
He started to follow the doctor into the house when the sheriff rode up with a couple of deputies. “What happened? Sammy said someone attacked Gregorio?”
Jasper felt his body trembling from rage. “Yeah. I don’t know the bastards’ names. Goyo said they were looking for a woman, and he lied and sent them over to Jack Porter’s old place to get them outta here.”
The sheriff nodded. “That’s where we’ll go lookin’ for them.” He wheeled his horse around. “Come on, boys.”
Jasper waited for them to disappear down their road before he sprinted to the barn for a saddle and bridle.
* * * *
Jasper tried not to let ghosts from his past intrude at this critical time. He needed to focus his rage on one sharp point: Bart Packer.
He hurt Goyo. He’d tried to hurt Callie. He would hurt Callie if given half a chance.
The bastard would pay once and for all. He wouldn’t have his wife or any of them looking over their shoulders and always wondering when he’d show up again.
He rode hard and fast, pushing his pony through the scrub woods. They would no doubt be watching the main road leading to what passed for a house on that spread. He could sneak in the back way, through the new break in the fence, and take them by surprise. It didn’t take him long to find the break and ride through it. He slowed his horse as dusk stole in on purple light. Once he knew he neared the house, he dismounted and tied the pony to a tree. Unholstering his pistol, he crept up on foot.
There were no lights in the house, which was little more than a one-room shack with a privy out back. The pole barn had a decided lean to it, no doubt from the storm earlier that summer. He hadn’t really looked at the property, only interested in the acreage for grazing their growing herd.
He crouched behind a large palmetto bush and waited as dark fell. He heard nothing except mosquitoes, birds, crickets, and frogs.
Then, through what appeared to be the only window near the front door, he saw the strike of a match and a brief glow as someone lit a cigarette before it flared out again.
Aha.
He waited until full dark to slowly creep across the yard on the back side of the house, where there were no windows. When he heard boots on the floor inside, he flattened himself against the siding and listened through the thin wall.
“Come on, let’s go, Bart. I’m tired of this.”
“No. We’re fucking close.”
“This place don’t look like no one’s lived here in a while. He lied, and by now they’ll have a posse looking for us.”
“I want what that bitch took from me!”
Jasper’s blood boiled, but he waited, wanting the perfect opportunity.
“Look, what more do you want? You got the farm. Everyone knows you only married Widow Johnson because you knew she’d never live long, so you could screw that girl out of her land. And that’s what you did. You know what? This is crazy. I never shoulda let you talk me into this.”
“You want me to forget that money you owe me or not?”
“At this point, I don’t care! I could kill you myself out here, and no one would ever know! Mebbe that’s what I should—”
The sound of a sudden scuffle split the night, followed by a shot, a heavy thud, then silence.
Jasper waited, listening, trying to determine who’d won. If it was the other man, Jasper would let him go.
If it was Bart Parker, he’d never leave the cabin alive.
Boots scuffed across the floor. “Kill me, will you?” a dangerous voice muttered.
Jasper stepped around the front of the cabin and quietly waited by the door with his gun cocked. When Packer emerged, Jasper jammed the muzzle against his temple. “Back inside,” Jasper growled.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Your worst nightmare.” Jasper took Packer’s gun from him and forced him back inside the cabin. The other man’s body lay sprawled on the floor in the middle of the room.
“Why are you looking for Callista Johnson?” Jasper demanded.
“You her husband?”
Jasper jabbed him with the gun, making the man grunt in pain. “I ask the questions.”
“She took somethin’ that belongs to me.”
“You mean she took her own mother’s jewelry.”
“Goddamned cunt took—” He howled in pain as Jasper shot him in the left knee.
Jasper leaned over the man, who now writhed on the floor in agony, holding his wounded knee. “You don’t talk about my wife like that,” he growled. “Why’d you try to rape her, you son of a bitch?”
“What? I didn’t—” He howled again as Jasper shot him in the right knee.
Now sobbing, Bart Packer started begging for his life.
“You callin’ my wife a liar? You won’t live long if you do that. Tell me the truth. I want to hear it from your mouth.”
“Fuck! All right! Yeah, I got drunk. She didn’t have to hit me, she damn near killed me! Not like she’s some kid. She’s a damn grown woman. I wouldn’t have touched her if she was a kid. Then she fuckin’ stole what belongs to me!”
Jasper hauled off and kicked him hard in his wounded left knee. Another storm of pained howls filled the cabin.
Jasper cocked the revolver and pointed it at him. “Why shouldn’t I kill you?”
“Look, if you’re a friend of that other guy, I didn’t mean nothing by it! I just want what’s mine!”
Jasper shook his head. “She’s right. You are evil.”
He pulled the trigger.
* * * *
Jasper met the sheriff on the main road as he and three deputies were riding toward the other ranch. They pulled up short when they saw Jasper leading the two horses with their grisly cargo slung across their backs.
The sheriff pushed his hat back as he studied the two bodies in the dim moonlight. “Holy hell, what happened? You shoot ‘em, Jaz?”
“I wish. They were already dead when I found them. Looks like they fought and shot each other. The one guy’s got several holes in him. Best I can tell, he must have shot the other one before he died.” One of the deputies rode over to take the reins of the two horses.
“Any idea who they are?” the sheriff asked.
Jasper shook his head. “Nope. Never seen ‘em before in my life.” He spit in the dirt. “Too bad. I would have liked a crack at them myself.”
“Gregorio said he didn’t get a good look at ‘em. They didn’t say who they were, either. Said they told him they were looking for some woman named Mary.”
Jasper shrugged. “Don’t know. How’s Goyo doing?”
“Doc said he’ll be okay, but he won’t be getting out of that bed for a few days, at least. Ribs cracked, but he’ll recover.”
“Good.” Jasper started to ride away when the sheriff stopped him and leaned in close, his voice lowered.
“Any way to identify these guys?”
Jasper’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t find nothing on them to give me their names. Far’s I’m concerned, they’re drifters looking to cause honest people trouble. I don’t care to know nothing else.”
The sheriff nodded and winked. “Sounds good to me.” He leaned back in his saddle and ordered his men to follow him to Sarasota.
Jasper nudged his pony
into a gallop back to their road. Sammy Ingalls was waiting for him on the front porch when he rode into the yard. He ran over and grabbed the horse’s bridle. “Miz Collins is awful worried ‘bout you. I’ll take care of him. You best get in there before she worries that baby right out.”
He patted the boy on the shoulder and raced into the house. The doctor was sitting in the front room and nodded to him. “Go on back, son. He’ll be okay. Just hurtin’ a bit. Nothing a few shots of whiskey can’t ease him through over the next day or so.”
When Jasper walked through the bedroom door, Callie looked up from where she sat in a chair next to the bed. She started crying as he crossed the room and gathered her into his arms.
“Shh,” he whispered into her hair. “I’m back, and I’m fine. Everything’s fine now.”
“What hap—”
“Shh,” he repeated, then kissed her. “Everything’s fine. That’s all you ever need to know.”
Goyo’s eyes had been closed. At the sound of Jasper’s return, he forced them open and looked at him. “You okay, papi?” he hoarsely asked. “You in one piece?”
Jasper smiled, leaned in, and kissed him on the forehead. “I’m fine, buddy.” He gently stroked Goyo’s battered cheek. “Everything’s gonna be okay from now on. Don’t worry.”
“You get ‘em?”
“You just go back to sleep.”
Jasper led Callie out of the bedroom and to the kitchen, out of the doc’s hearing. She tried to ask him again, but he kissed her, silencing her questions. Once he released her, he nuzzled her forehead.
“Don’t ask me, please,” he whispered. “Just trust me that it’s over and done with.”
Tears filled her eyes. “He’s dead?”
“I’ll tell you that much. The rest don’t matter. And if anyone ever asks you what happened, I found them dead, and we don’t know who they were. Understand? You have to trust me.”
She stared at him for a moment in the dim light from the oil lamp. “Okay,” she finally said.
He held her securely in his arms, his eyes closed while he breathed in her scent. She’d washed her hair that morning and it smelled sweet, like orange blossoms. “You don’t have to ever worry about him again, sweetheart. Never again.”
* * * *
The doctor left with instructions to fetch him if Goyo had problems breathing or coughed up blood. They put Sammy in a cot in the barn, and Jasper bolted the front and back doors before he and Callie carefully crawled into bed with Goyo nestled between them.
In the morning, his injuries looked worse, but his eyes were open and his voice sounded stronger.
Jasper sent Callie to the kitchen to make them all breakfast. Before he went to check on Sammy, he laced his fingers through Goyo’s and brought his lover’s hand to his lips, where he kissed it. “I can’t lose you, Goyo.”
“You’re not losing me, papi. Doc said I’ll be fine. I’m not real pretty right now, but I’ll be okay.”
“You have to take it easy until you heal up. Understand?”
He smiled. “Do you honestly think mami will let me out of this bed for a few days? She’s already practicing how to be a mother, I think.”
Jasper grinned. “We’re having a baby. I still can’t believe you and me are gonna be dads.”
A dark cloud flitted through Goyo’s expression. “You are, papi. Remember that.”
“Stop that. This is our baby, yours and mine. Yeah, it’s got to have my last name, but it’s our baby.”
Goyo finally smiled again. “You gonna be okay? ‘Bout what happened out there?”
Jasper nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be okay.”
Goyo wouldn’t let go of his hand when Jasper tried to stand. “What’s our story?”
“I found them already dead. They killed each other. We didn’t know them.”
Goyo nodded and released his hand after a final squeeze. “Works for me.”
Epilogue
Callie sat on the porch with Goyo. His ribs were still bound, but two weeks after the attack, the doc was happy with his healing and said he could go back to light duties as soon as he felt up to it.
Callie wouldn’t let him.
Goyo didn’t like staying cooped up while Jasper shouldered the burden, but neither man wanted to upset her any more than she already had been and risk hurting the baby.
He’d just finished his lunch and she ordered him off the porch and back to bed for a nap. He smiled and lowered his voice, even though Sammy Ingalls was all the way in the barn. “I’d rather not nap if we go to bed, mami,” he softly teased.
She glared at him. “You can’t injure those ribs!”
He pointed at his trousers. “I’m going to injure something else if you don’t give me some relief, baby.” He made a sad face that melted her heart. “Have a little sympathy for me. Can’t we do something?”
She blushed despite the relatively cool day. “Hush,” she whispered. “Sammy might hear.”
“Not if I keep my mouth buried between your legs he won’t.” He grinned as he grabbed her hand and placed it on his crotch. His stiff bulge filled her palm through the fabric. “Please, mami. I need you badly.”
She yanked her hand away, her face turning a pretty shade of pink. “You are an insufferable man!”
He grinned. “I know. That’s why you two love me so much.” He carefully stood. He still ached, but only a fraction as badly as he had at first. “Come to bed with me, Callie. Don’t make me lay there alone.” He held out his hand to her and she finally stood and took it, letting him lead her into the house.
She made sure to bolt the front and back doors before following him to their bedroom. He sat on the edge of the bed with only a slightly pained grunt. “You know you want me, baby,” he teased.
She smiled as she knelt before him and pushed his knees apart before unbuttoning his fly. “Of course I want you. I wouldn’t get away from either of you if I tried.” She had a hard time freeing his stiff shaft, but once she did it sprang loose from his pants, already dark and engorged.
He ran his hands through her hair, which now hung almost to her shoulders. He loved the silky feel of it through his fingers. “Love me, baby. You can take this ache away.”
She lapped at the head with her tongue before sucking it between her lips. He let out a long, satisfied hiss. “That’s it. You know what I love.”
In a few minutes she was bobbing her head up and down along his shaft, drawing moans from him until he couldn’t stand it any longer, and his release bubbled up from deep inside him. She swallowed, her tongue still caressing his shaft even after it started softening in her mouth.
He stroked her cheek. “If you don’t stop,” he warned, “you’re gonna get me excited again.”
She sat back on her heels and smiled up at him. “Think you can take a nap now?”
He grabbed her hand and made her sit on the bed with him. “Only once I know I’ve taken care of you.” He carefully laid back and made her kneel over him, dress and all. She hadn’t bothered with any undergarments with the skirts already frustrating enough for her. Her musky, aroused scent surrounded him as he ran his hands up her thighs until he found her hips and pulled her slick slit down over his lips.
She let out a low moan as his tongue stroked her. Jasper had called it right, she was always ready for them now, it seemed. He took a long time teasing her, enjoying the way she ground her body against his tongue as he fucked her with it. Only when he had her squirming and nearly mindless with passion did he suck on her clit, triggering her release.
“Oh, Goyo!” she gasped as he licked her sweet juices from her until she finally rolled off him and collapsed on the bed.
He grinned. “Better?”
Her eyes had closed. She nodded.
He squeezed her hand. “Come on, mami. Let’s take a nap.”
She helped him change position and stretched out next to him on their bed where she snuggled against his side. “I love you, Goyo,” she mumbled, already tumbling
into sleep.
“I love you, too. You’ve got no idea how much.”
* * * *
Later that evening, once they finished dinner, and after Sammy Ingalls was safely sleeping in the barn and Jasper had taken a quick bath in the spring, the three of them curled up in their bed with Callie safely tucked between the two men.
Jasper could stare at her for hours on end, it felt like. He loved resting his hand on her swelling belly and feeling the baby move and kick inside her.
A new life. A new start.
She smiled up at him. “What?”
“I spent most of the day adjusting myself,” he teased with a playful smile. “Do you have any idea how uncomfortable it is to ride a horse and work cattle when your cock is as hard as a rock?”
“Aw, my poor papi,” Goyo said. “Help him out, mami. Don’t make him suffer. He’s so good to us.”
She didn’t bother stifling her giggle. “You do the pitiful act as good as Goyo, you know that?”
“Is it working?”
“I don’t know.” She ran her fingers through the curly hair on his chest. “It depends on how much persuading you can do to get me in the mood.”
Goyo leaned in and kissed her, his lips hungrily devouring hers. “Is that sweet enough for you, mami?”
Jasper seized the advantage and trailed his fingers down between her legs, teasing her until she squirmed between them. “I don’t believe I’ve ever had a problem getting you in the mood, sweetheart.”
Each man bent to her breasts, taking them into their mouths and pulling long, sweet moans of pleasure from her. “Okay!” she finally gasped. “Consider me persuaded!”
The men laughed as Jasper changed position, kneeling between her legs and carefully sliding his stiff member inside her slick pussy. She moaned and rocked her hips against him as he sank all the way to the hilt.
“Don’t tease me!” she begged.
Goyo laughed. “Now who’s pitiful?” He captured her mouth again and kissed her as Jasper slowly fucked her. Jasper deliberately kept his strokes long and slow, taking his time, drawing it out for her until she writhed beneath him.
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