They emerged into a small clearing around a shack not much better than Squirrel’s. Sparrow took another step forward, but Jared jerked her back into the cover of the trees. “Wait. Watch. If he’s in there, there could be someone keeping guard.”
Once Jared was sure no one was walking sentry in the yard, he crept around the perimeter of the trees, Sparrow fast on his heels. The shack was almost completely submerged in the dark woods. There was barely enough room on the sides to walk, and the small yard had maybe a ten-foot clearance out front. He crossed to the side of the shack, backing up to the wall and ducking low. There were no windows. Jared checked the back—no door. The only entry was in the front.
Jared inched his way to the front and peeked around the corner. The small porch stood empty. He took a deep breath, held up a hand for Sparrow to stay put, and stepped onto the porch. The roof listed to the side. Jared froze. A few heart-stopping seconds passed, but when nothing else happened, he crept carefully forward, trying to avoid the most rotted floorboards. When he got to the door, he paused and listened. There were no sounds from inside. He leaned against the wall next to the door and sucked in a breath, fighting the chill creeping up his spine.
Silence could mean his brother wasn’t even in there. Or that he was asleep. Or unconscious. Or dead.
Please let him be okay.
“Hey, I’ve got your back.” Sparrow appeared beside him, her voice a hushed whisper.
“I’m going in first. You stay out here until I clear the room.”
Not waiting to see if she agreed with his orders, Jared raised his pistol and gently nudged the door with his free hand. There was no resistance; the door swung open without a hitch.
A sense of foreboding stole across his shoulders, tightening the muscles there. His senses went on heightened alert. If they were holding his brother captive here, they would have posted a guard. At least locked the door. Something. Which meant the cabin was either empty or his brother was already dead. Fervently praying for the first, Jared stepped inside, sweeping his pistol around the one room shack. A barrel topped with an extinguished lantern and a coil of rope rested in the corner of the room. A chair with a table in the back. Then he allowed his gaze to lock onto the object in the center of the room.
There was just enough illumination from the moon to highlight the figure of a body suspended from the ceiling. Jared shoved his gun into his waistband and ran forward, his stomach rolling with fear. He knew before seeing Hoyt’s face that he was the one hanging there. Limp.
Jared quickly felt for a pulse, a heartbeat, anything, but his hands were shaking so bad all he did was scrape against bare skin. “Dammit.”
Without warning, a light flared from the back corner and Jared jerked his gaze up, ready to attack, only to see Sparrow flicking on a battery powered lantern. Jared turned his attention back to his brother and the sight before him stole his ability to breathe. To think.
He knew it was Hoyt. He had the right blond hair, size, and stature, but the blood and swelling covering his body made him almost unrecognizable. A long deep cut sliced down his left cheek from temple to jaw. Strips of flesh hung from his back as if he’d been…skinned.
“What did they do to you?” Rage expanded inside him until he felt like a pressure bomb about to explode. His baby brother. He’d failed to protect him. Failed to save him.
“Oh. My. God.” Sparrow approached Jared, but he barely recognized her presence.
Jared almost wished his brother were dead. He couldn’t imagine the agony he had been through. The rage forked through his veins as he lifted his fingers once more to check for a pulse. He found one, weak and fast, but fucking real, and his knees almost gave out right then and there. “He’s alive.”
Blood dripped from Hoyt’s body onto the floor.
“We have to cut him down.” Sparrow pulled the knife from her hip. “Jared, you need to get behind him and brace him. I’ll cut the rope.”
Unable to form words, unable to do anything more than stare in horror at his little brother, Jared simply obeyed.
His brother shuddered and moaned, causing him to freeze in his tracks. Sparrow stood directly in front of Hoyt now, the knife clutched in her hand. Slowly lifting his head, opening the one eye that wasn’t completely swollen shut, Hoyt mumbled, “No more. Don’t let her do this to me anymore.”
What had he said? Don’t let her do this anymore? Jared’s gaze shot to Sparrow in time to see the shocked expression on her face. Her nervous honey colored eyes cut to his.
Hoyt heaved and tried to struggle. “Oh God, not the knife.”
Then someone else spoke from the doorway. Someone Jared had hoped to meet when he had his gun locked and loaded. Jimbo said, “Good job little sister. Now we got them both.”
Realization dawned. It was a trap. It had been a trap all along. Jared felt disbelief and rage and hatred well up in his gut. “You did this?”
Everything she’d said to him had been a lie. Everything. And he had fallen for the oldest fucking trick in the book. “You little bitch. You’re gonna regret this.”
Sparrow flinched back. “Jared, I…”
Jimbo cut in, “You’re smarter than I gave you credit for. When you came up with this plan, little sister, I didn’t think it would work, but I’ll be damned. Miss Kay is definitely going to promote you now.”
“It’s about time too.” Bob appeared beside Jimbo, thumbs hooked in his oversized overalls.
Sparrow’s gaze flipped wildly back and forth between the two men. Her innocent appearance was so disgusting now that he knew the truth. “No, I swear—”
“This is the big break you’ve been waiting for. Both Crowe brothers trapped together. Easy to make ‘em disappear now.” Bob took a step closer, as if the deal was done.
The monster inside Jared broke loose. Cold lethal calm settled over his body and he knew what he had to do. Sparrow knew about the gun tucked in his pants, but Jimbo didn’t, and he was the bigger threat. Before either of them could prepare, Jared launched across the room, ripping the gun from his pants and pistol-whipping Jimbo across the face. The huge man fell hard and fast to the ground, unconscious, blood leaking from his temple. Jared reared back and kicked Bob in the jaw. The skinny man dropped to the ground, his lifeless body, giving an outlet to the rage eating at his guts.
Sparrow gasped and Jared aimed his pistol straight at her head. “Nothing but evil on this mountain. I trusted you, and you did this to my brother.”
She held her hands out and he spied the roll of knives strapped to her waist. Awareness slapped him. She’d bragged about how good she was with a blade, and apparently she’d expertly cut off strips of his brother’s back to prove her efficacy.
If he’d had the luxury, Jared would have vomited right then and there.
“Drop your gun. Now.” Jared kept his pistol leveled right between her eyes.
“Jared, I don’t know what he’s talking about. I had nothing to do with this.”
Her words cracked into him like a whip. Jared strode over to her, barely able to restrain himself from slapping her, and pressed the tip of his pistol to her forehead. The force of his brutal anger practically bent her backwards. “Drop your fucking gun now.”
His hand shook, his control slipping, but he couldn’t afford to lose it. Not yet. Not until he got his brother to safety.
Then he would mete out his revenge. Jared would extract his own pound of flesh, and he would start with Sparrow.
She lifted the rifle strap over her head and lowered the gun to the floor beside her.
Jared nodded toward the coil of rope in the corner. “Since you’re so good with a knife, cut some rope. Tie his hands behind his back and take off his shirt.” Jimbo’s shirt would be big enough to completely wrap around Hoyt, and it was the only thing close by that would provide any type of barrier between his brother’s raw wounds and the environment.
“Jared, please, I didn’t do this. I had no idea he was really in here.”
&n
bsp; Jared snarled, barely able to restrain himself from attacking her. “The next words out of your mouth will be your last. Get the fucking rope!”
She paled and pressed her lips together, turning to do as he commanded. It was a struggle for her to roll Jimbo’s hulking body to the side and pull the shirt from his body, but Jared offered no help. If it were up to him, she would suffer for every second of every day for the rest of her short life.
Finally, she wrested the shirt from Jimbo, cut a length of rope, and tied his hands behind his back. She gagged him with a dirty discarded cloth and secured it with another piece of rope around his head.
“You’re going to help me get that shirt on my brother, and so help me God, if you cause him one more ounce of pain, I’ll slit your throat. Do you doubt me?” Jared had never spoken so harshly to a woman in his entire life, but when he looked at the blood dripping from the open wounds covering Hoyt’s entire body, it was all he could do to keep from screaming.
Sparrow grabbed Jimbo’s shirt from the floor and approached with caution. Without speaking, Jared yanked the knife from her grip. “I’m going to cut one arm loose. Feed it through the sleeve.” He waited on Sparrow’s nod and as gently as he could, he reached up and cut his brother’s left hand free of the binding. Hoyt groaned again, then slumped over, losing consciousness.
Jared breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that any movement would cause his brother excruciating pain. Moving slowly and with obvious care, Sparrow eased the shirt up and hooked it around Hoyt’s shoulders. Jared cut the other arm free, caught his brother beneath his arms, and held him up so that Sparrow could finish wrapping the shirt across his brother’s exposed back.
As gently as he would handle a baby, Jared lowered Hoyt to his stomach on the floor, careful not to touch his destroyed back. When they were still just kids, Jared had vowed to protect his little brother. He’d always been the mature one in their relationship, the one responsible for watching out for younger Hoyt. Jared had wanted his brother to have the freedom to be wild and fun loving. To have happiness unshadowed by nightmares and memories. And up until tonight, Hoyt had been exactly as happy and bright and charming as Jared had hoped he’d be. Until Sparrow and Crowe Mountain. Reckless brutality took over his rational brain and Jared grabbed Sparrow around the neck. “You’re going to suffer for what you did to him.”
He ripped the rope from her grip and yanked her wrists together, violently binding her hands in front of her. The woman he’d thought so innocent, so pure, was nothing more than a liar. A murderous villain. Jared was determined to destroy this woman who had taken away his last bit of humanity.
11
Sparrow thrust her hands forward, holding her wrists together so that Jared could easily bind her. Once he was done tying the rough rope, he attached a lead rope to his belt, effectively leashing her to him.
The anguish she saw in his face ripped apart her soul. More than anything in the world she wanted to comfort him. She couldn’t imagine what a nightmare this must be for him.
But if she spoke again, he might very well kill her. Especially after what Jimbo had said. She’d known for a long time that he viewed her as a threat. He’d snuck behind her back to screw up her alcohol shipments and other minor things, trying to make her look bad in front of Miss Kay, but he’d never pulled anything like this before. He’d intentionally tried to have her killed. His words had sealed her fate with the Crowe brothers.
And Bob…they’d always had a careful peace between them, as if each understood the need to keep Jimbo at bay. She didn’t know what to think about his presence.
The small ounce of hope Sparrow had held onto since she was a little girl died, weighing her to the floor like a huge oak tree had fallen on her shoulders. She would never have a loving family. She would never have a happy, fulfilling life.
She had to help Jared and Hoyt get as far from here as possible, whether he wanted to kill her or not, and as soon as they were at a safe distance, she would try and escape. Jared had no idea just how slippery she could be. As soon as a distraction presented itself, she would escape. Then she could make her way back to Crowe Mountain, stop Jimbo. If he took over, there would be nothing but misery for everyone in the county. And Squirrel wouldn’t stand a chance.
“If I even feel you move in the wrong direction, I’ll do to you what you did to him.” Sparrow followed Jared’s gaze to Hoyt’s unconscious form on the floor. Never had she seen something so gruesome. So horrible. Nausea rolled through her stomach and up her throat, but she clamped her teeth shut. Vomiting would do nothing but piss Jared off even more. Unable to speak, she nodded and averted her gaze.
Jared grabbed her jaw, squeezing until she cried out, and forced her to face his brother. “Look at him. Don’t turn your head from him. You did this. Enjoy your handiwork.”
Her eyes watered with pain under his crushing grip. “Please, you’re hurting me.”
Her words only enraged him more. He yanked her head around like a puppet. “I’m not hurting you…yet.”
He flung her head backward, and if not for the lead rope, she would’ve stumbled to the floor. Instead he grabbed the restraint and yanked her to him. Before she could react, he took her own knife and sliced a small band from the bottom of her shirt, baring even more of her rib cage. She hadn’t realized how exposed she was in the revealing clothing until this very moment. When he was looking at her as if he wanted to kill her.
“Jared, please…”
He ripped the black do rag off his head and shoved it into her mouth, then tied the strip from her shirt around her head, effectively gagging her with her own clothes.
Sparrow tried to focus on breathing through her nose, but the gag felt suffocating. She wouldn’t be able to make more than a muffled moan if she tried to speak or scream. Not that anyone would help her anyway.
“You try and slow me down, I’ll kill everyone you know. Do you understand?” Jared’s harsh voice pierced her. She could care less if he killed Jimbo. The man needed killing. Sparrow briefly considered struggling right then just to see if Jared would make good on his threat. But if he took care of Jimbo, she knew instinctively Squirrel would be next. Jared had seen how much the old man meant to her.
Jared scooped his brother into his arms and gently laid him over his shoulder. The position would ensure a hell of a headache for Hoyt when he awoke, but it was the only way his back would remain untouched. Hoyt was still out cold, and he didn’t make a sound. That was good.
Jared stepped around Jimbo, unconscious on the floor. Sparrow stopped to kick him in the ribs, but the short length of rope between her and Jared didn’t allow for much room.
She stumbled off the porch after Jared, barely managing to catch herself. Get it together. She focused on Jared’s broad back, his fluid and lethal movements. The strength in him was apparent in the way he carried his brother, a man almost as big as he was, like he weighed nothing.
The moon had risen straight overhead by the time they reentered the woods, Jared carefully maneuvering through the trees. The smell of pine was strong in the freezing night air. October could be warm during the day, so much so that you didn’t even need a jacket, but the nights were always colder on the mountain. Sparrow shivered, becoming more aware of her skimpy attire. Not that Jared would care. He’d only care if she got hypothermia. Then he’d probably be pissed at her for slowing them down. Might even kill her.
“Keep up.” Jared’s harsh command yanked her from her misery. They were headed straight toward Squirrel’s cabin. Alarm shot through her. What if Jared planned to start his revenge right now, by taking out the one person she loved?
She immediately slowed, trying to delay him as her mind scrambled to figure out a way to change his mind. Jared kept walking like she hadn’t put up any resistance. Her alarm turned to panic and she dug in her heels, pulling against him with all her might.
Jared stopped so abruptly she slammed into the solid tree of his body. When he turned to face her, she shrank
back, her survival instincts kicking in.
“Do you want to die right now?” His horse voice was so different from before. All traces of the sweet sexy man with the haunted dreams were completely gone. Sparrow shook her head wildly, trying to indicate they should head down the mountain, not around toward Squirrel’s cabin.
Jared smile was cold. “You think I’m going to listen to you? When you led me into a trap in the first place?”
Sparrow tried to speak, desperation clawing its way through her body, but all she managed was a muffled moan through her gag.
“You’re worried about the old man? Good. You should be.” Jared gave her his back once more and started walking, forcing her to stumble after him. The rough rope chafed her wrist, but the fear burning in her chest overrode any pain.
She tried to pull back once more, but he kept moving, as unstoppable as a fierce storm. She was nothing against the force of Jared Crowe.
All too soon they were back at Squirrel’s cabin. Her heart beating wildly in her chest, Sparrow tried to think of anything she could do to save Squirrel. The man pulling her along wasn’t the Jared she knew. He was a lethal killing machine bent on revenge. He believed she was guilty of the most unforgivable thing imaginable, and would harm anyone if he thought it would cause her pain.
Sparrow drew in a deep breath and screamed, but the sound came out as more of a muffled sob. Her lips burned from being pulled so tight. Jared turned in a flash, his free hand around her neck, and backed her up against the nearest tree.
His shoulders heaved and his look was menacing. Deadly. “You hurt what’s mine, now I hurt what’s yours.”
*
Darkness enveloped him. Surrounded him. Filled him.
And the girl standing before him was the reason.
He had thought she would be his light. His guide. A girl in need of rescue from an evil family, an evil mountain. He had been so blinded by her beauty and apparent innocence that he’d failed to see the evil that resided inside her.
Reckless River: Men of Mercy, Book 3 Page 9