“If your ass had listened to me yesterday, I would’ve let you eat both of them!” Nathan shouted at Ares as he dropped on his belly.
“Your dog ever comes near my sheep again, and I’ll kill ‘em,” Heath snarled.
Behind Nathan, Bill gasped at hearing that and never saw Nathan move. One second, Nathan was in front of Heath, the next, Heath was on the ground. Holding Heath’s right arm in an arm bar, Nathan rained down punches on his face like a jackhammer. “You fuck with my dogs and I’ll cook your ass!” Nathan shouted as he unleashed his fury.
“Shit!” Everyone heard screaming and turned to see Floyd holding his left knee and Amanda bouncing back. When she landed on her left foot, she sprang forward and her right foot shot out, catching Floyd in the face. As Floyd’s face snapped back, Amanda darted back and bounced to Floyd’s other side, kicking his right knee.
Taking his hands off his face, Floyd lunged for Amanda, but she bounced back snapping her leg out, kicking him in the face again. Watching Amanda dance around, Athena was unleashing a torrent of barks, wanting to be tagged in.
“John?” Jasmine called out, and he peeled his eyes off the mayhem. “Go get Amanda.”
Turning back to see Amanda spring back dodging Floyd’s grasp and Floyd getting kicked in the head again, “Fuck that,” John snapped, shocking many. “Amanda has a fucking pistol on her hip.”
Giving a sigh, Jasmine holstered her pistol. “John, if either Floyd or Heath pull a gun, kill them,” she said calmly, heading toward the fight.
When she passed Bill, who was still standing crouched down, wondering just what he should do, “Bill, when I grab Amanda, you’d better make sure Floyd doesn’t come after her or I’ll kill him,” Jasmine said.
Glad he could finally play, “Okay,” Bill grinned.
Glancing at Athena barking, Jasmine sighed. “Ares!” she yelled, and he was beside her in the blink of an eye, happy to be a part of the game. When Jasmine headed for Amanda, Athena turned to her growling and baring her teeth. “Ares, guard,” Jasmine said, tapping her chest and Ares charged Athena.
Tucking her tail, Athena dropped down when Ares stood over her. When Amanda lunged in, kicked Floyd in the side of the head and lunged back, Jasmine caught her. Picking her up, Jasmine carried Amanda to the side. Giving a last lunge to catch Amanda, to appear somewhat manly, Floyd gave a thankful sigh of reprieve she was too far away, just as Bill dove on top of him.
Out of all the posse, Bill was the largest, but was still thirty pounds lighter than Floyd. But Bill was muscle. After the first punch, Floyd wanted to holler that he wanted Amanda back to beat on him, but Bill kept driving his fist down.
“I notice Amanda isn’t trying to fight Jasmine,” Penny noted, seeing Amanda was only jerking her body to try and break Jasmine’s hold.
“Yeah, because Jasmine can kick her ass and if Amanda hits Jasmine, Nathan will tan her ass,” Tom said.
“Amanda!” Jasmine snapped.
“Damn it, let me go! I almost had him turned over, so I could try and break his arm!” Amanda yelled.
Squeezing Amanda tight, “Amanda, stop it!” Jasmine shouted, and Amanda did stop that time. “You need to stop because this could start a war among the compound. We don’t need this problem now.”
“They started it,” Amanda huffed.
Trying to remain calm as she glanced over and saw Nathan standing over an unconscious Heath, “Amanda, Nathan wanted them to throw the first punch or go for a weapon. You interrupted that, so stop it,” Jasmine said in a low voice. “Yes, I wanted to help just like you but, Amanda, this is the group. Fuck Anita and Floyd, but Heath and Joan are founding members and others look up to them. Let Nathan and the posse handle this.”
Relaxing, “Nobody’ll back them over Nathan,” Amanda stated with confidence.
“Amanda, we really don’t want it to even come to that. What we want, is for everyone to see Anita and Floyd for what they are, pieces of shit that barely pull their own weight,” Jasmine said as she slowly released Amanda. “We don’t want this to become an internal war because you know if it comes to that, the posse, along with us, will kill any that tells us to leave.”
“Okay,” Amanda sighed, looking down. “I’m sorry, just a little.”
Spinning Amanda around, Jasmine hugged her tight. “Oh, I’m proud of you but, Amanda, you need to realize you aren’t as big as Nathan or John. So from now on, fight people your own size.”
As Heath came to, Nathan leaned over his swollen face. “You ever threaten to hurt my dogs again, I’ll kill you so slow you’ll swear time is at a standstill,” Nathan growled. “They’ve done more to protect the people here than you’ve ever done,” he added, aware of the group now within earshot.
Holding his hands up as he rolled on his back, “Okay,” Heath mumbled through swollen and busted lips.
Turning to Bill, Nathan saw him standing over Floyd. “Will you stop crying?!” Bill shouted. “I never hit you as hard as I could!”
Stepping back, Bill turned to Nathan and gave a shrug. “Sorry, I can’t hit on him if he’s crying like that,” Bill admitted.
“I’m not going to hit on him with him crying like that,” Nathan scoffed, and turned to Vince. “They started it, so don’t start.”
“Nathan, I was standing right here. I know they started it,” Vince snapped.
Pulling his gloves off, Nathan saw the bite on his right hand was bleeding through the bandage. “Ephraim like the weapons and ammo you and Lanny took them?” Nathan asked, inspecting the movement of his hand.
Amazed Nathan was acting like nothing happened, Vince nodded. “He was beyond thankful. Are all of you still going out tonight?”
Giving a half shrug as he took the bandage on his hand off, “Yeah, since Bill got the guy to tell him where they got the ATVs, we need to get the others and snowmobiles in those containers,” Nathan answered, and called Ares to his side so Athena could get up.
“Nathan, everyone’s snowmobiles works. They were in containers,” Vince said as the others came off the porch and watched Heath stumble over, trying to pick up Floyd.
“Depending on how many we get, some are going to those staying at my house,” Nathan said. “We need to have spare snowmobiles to patrol during the winter. Plus, if we have them, the bad guys don’t.”
Glancing over his shoulder, Vince gave a startle at the throng of people watching, then turned to the broken tractor. “Nathan, if I help, will the posse try to fix the tractor?” Vince asked, turning back around.
“All you can do is hold tools,” Nathan laughed. “We’ll take a look at it.”
“Thank you,” Vince smiled. “Need me to look at your hand?”
Shaking his head, “Nah,” Nathan said, then glanced at his watch. “Let’s get back to work,” he told his group. Seeing the rest of the compound’s people on the road, Nathan gave a wave. “Don’t worry. Everyone here except those two can use the tractor to haul down firewood,” Nathan told the group, and they all smiled. “But nobody tells me what to do with my toys.”
The posse ate supper in the reception hall before leaving and for some reason, neither Heath, Joan, Anita, nor Floyd were there.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Walking in with the group the next morning, Nathan glanced around the dining hall and saw only a few people there this early. Putting Emma down, Nathan headed for the coffee pots. They’d left yesterday, taking Bill, Tim, and Nathan’s farm trucks, all with trailers, and with Nathan and John driving the Warthogs.
Driving fifty miles to the store, they had found two more five hundred cc four-wheelers, three snowmobiles, and two electric buggies still in shipping containers. They had loaded them up before emptying the store of spare parts, tires, riding gear, and aftermarket packages. On the way back, they’d stopped at the house where they had ambushed the tweakers, and found a black bear munching on one, but no other changes. After taking the twenty solar panels and battery bank from the house, they’d headed home and had g
otten back just before midnight.
“You are staying in, right? You don’t even have a week,” Sherry asked Jasmine as they headed to the coffee pot.
Filling her mug, “Yeah, I told Nathan I want those bites on his arms healed up before the wedding,” Jasmine answered with a sigh.
While Jasmine doctored her mug, Sherry filled hers. “Hey, you caught him, so relax,” Sherry chuckled.
“He won’t marry me till after my birthday on the twentieth,” Jasmine moaned. “Nathan says marrying a twenty-year-old won’t make him so much of a cradle robber.”
Having already heard this several times, “The day after isn’t that long to wait,” Sherry said, pouring creamer into her coffee. “Surprised you couldn’t get him to do it on your birthday.”
“Tried,” Jasmine moaned. “He said since I can’t name the time I was born, to make sure I’m twenty, he wants to wait till the next day.”
Testing her coffee, “Jasmine, you’re the first girl who Nathan’s ever remembered even having a birthday,” Sherry grimaced, putting her mug down and adding more creamer. “Ruth needs to lighten up on the coffee.”
“I shouldn’t have told him when my birthday was on the way here till I got him to commit to a date to get married,” Jasmine huffed.
Patting Jasmine on the back, “We’ll work on your dress when the others start back on the ATVs,” Sherry said and then headed to the table, hearing Nolan crying in Tim’s arms.
Just standing at the front of the hall, Jasmine looked at the whole group. Now, all the posse and their families came over in the mornings to Nathan’s to workout, which packed the eight-hundred-square-foot gym. The others had workout equipment, but Nathan had a gym. The grown-ups worked out first while the kids hit the punching bags, then they swapped.
Watching Nathan talk to the posse and the ‘little posse’, Jasmine could see how much they meant to him. Her only regret, was Nathan had gone so long without more in his life. When she saw Rusty’s face get grumpy, Jasmine knew Nathan had just told him that all the solar panels and batteries they’d gotten were going in at his house. Out of all the posse, Rusty and Libby had the least overall.
Penny had told her, twelve years ago when Rusty had started on his cabin, it’d only been eight hundred square feet. That’s what he and Libby had agreed on and could manage to afford. But, they’d forgotten one thing. Rusty was Nathan’s first buddy, and Nathan was having none of that shit. Rusty had only beaten Bill and Aiden by a few weeks as his buddy, but Rusty was the first. Nathan had come out the day before the cement trucks and dug out another eight hundred square feet into the mountainside. He’d prepped the new foundation site with Lanny’s and Greg’s help.
When Rusty and the others got there the next day, they’d found a cement truck already pouring the slab. Needless to say, Rusty wasn’t happy. Rusty had never taken anything from anyone that he felt he hadn’t earned, and was very proud of that fact. Then, when supply trucks had come that afternoon to drop off pallets of cinder blocks Nathan had ordered for the eight hundred extra feet he had added, the mood went quickly downhill.
The group had only been together for a couple of years then, and that was one of the first of Nathan’s tantrums they’d gotten to witness. After two days, Rusty hadn’t cared what Nathan did, as long as he shut the fuck up. Penny had told Jasmine, Rusty informed Libby if Nathan hadn’t shut up, they would’ve given Shane, who was still a toddler, to Nathan right then. That’s why Rusty’s house was now sixteen hundred square feet, and not eight hundred with only the four of them.
Because Janice was a veterinarian, she and Bill were actually well-off compared to the others. As Sherry had stated, Bill’s check was chump change compared to what Janice made. For Aiden and Penny, they had a similar situation, with Penny’s take-home as an accountant dwarfing Aiden’s check. Only Libby, as an elementary school teacher, made around the same as her husband.
“What’re you thinking about so hard?” Sherry asked, walking back over with Nolan.
Looking at the table with a smile, “We have a big-ass family,” Jasmine told her.
“Hell yeah, and with you and the kids, we’re finally complete,” Sherry laughed.
“Sherry, why are Nathan and Jeremey’s sites so far from the dining hall?” Jasmine asked.
Turning to Jasmine in shock, “Jasmine, those are the best spots. They’re both facing directly south,” Sherry told her. “I had Janice explain it to me. Everyone had to turn in their cabin plans to decide which lots they received. Look at the size of the greenhouses and you’ll understand. Jeremey’s house was here first, of course, and is bigger than Nathan’s, so Nathan got first pick. The compound’s greenhouses got the best site, and that’s why they sit between those two plots.”
Nodding, Jasmine couldn’t help but smile at the thought of the five long greenhouses belonging to the compound dug into the slope. They were set one above the other, like giant steps up the mountain. Remembering what they had pulled from Jeremey’s, Jasmine had to admit, Jeremey and Vicki were filthy rich. “Wonder what the crash cost Jeremey and Vicki, other than their lives,” Jasmine mumbled.
“A lot, but I want you to find out what Nathan lost,” Sherry scoffed. “You’ll be his wife, and can find out without him getting bitchy.”
“How much do you think?”
Scoffing, “All I know is, Nathan had lots of stocks,” Sherry answered, shaking her head. “Jasmine, he worked because he wanted to. Nathan always says: A man who doesn’t work is just a waste of space, using up the air someone worthwhile needs.”
“Heard that one too many times on the way here,” Jasmine admitted. “It may have been a lot, but it’s not even in the ballpark of Jeremey and Vicki.”
Nodding, “Oh, on that, you’re right. Jeremey was like an idol to Nathan. He could buy when he wanted, and that’s how Nathan judges wealth. But don’t let Nathan fool you, he could spend money like he was mad at it. Nathan was exactly where he wanted to be with money. Don’t let him fool you. He could’ve been just as rich as Jeremey, but Nathan liked working his time and then playing. The only bills he’s ever had since we’ve known him were utilities and insurance. He just bought his cars, guns, ATVs, and anything else. He never borrowed. After Nolan was born, I kept track of how much he spent.”
Hearing Jasmine give a gasp, Sherry just smiled. “Jasmine, you know Nolan already has two of those battery-powered cars? When Emma is a little bigger we’re giving her one, probably the truck, and I told Tim we’re digging out that battery-powered Jeep for Chip. I was keeping track because I didn’t want Nathan overspending on Nolan. But Nathan only spends what he earned the year before. So, he never really touched his savings.”
“Yeah, but the only reason he got that was because of what happened to his parents,” Jasmine sighed.
“I know,” Sherry said softly.
Not liking the depressing direction the conversation was taking, Jasmine turned and smiled at Sherry. “Boy, am I glad you know how to sew.”
“Jasmine, I learned last year,” Sherry scoffed. “Nathan had two brand-new sewing machines never even taken out of the boxes. I talked to Ruth and she said she would teach me. When she came over and saw the computer monstrosities called sewing machines Nathan had bought, because he was going to learn one day, Ruth didn’t have the faintest idea how to work them. I took Ruth to show me a machine I could learn on, and bought it.”
“I can pay you back,” Jasmine offered, and Sherry rolled her eyes.
“Nathan already has by letting us live in the guest house, but he put new tires on Tim’s truck because I bought a hundred-dollar sewing machine.”
“Oh,” Jasmine smiled. “Well, you can teach me.”
“I’m still working on learning the machines Nathan bought,” Sherry admitted.
When Ruth called out that the line was open, they grabbed trays and got ready to start the day.
When the sun set, Nathan followed John and Robin to the dining hall for supper. When Robin reached ove
r and grabbed John’s hand to hold it, Nathan thought the boy was going to pass out. Feeling a tap on his leg, he looked down to see Emma nearly running to keep pace with him. “I thought you were with Jasmine, doodlebug,” Nathan said, scooping her up.
Riding on Nathan’s hip, Emma babbled away, and Nathan nodded. “What’s she saying?” Jasmine asked, putting her arm around his waist.
“You didn’t let her help with the sewing, and she got a spanking when she climbed on the counter,” Nathan answered, watching John’s blush turn from pink to deep red when Robin moved closer. She let John’s hand go and draped it across her shoulders, putting her arm around his waist.
“Nathan, she was trying to get the cookies off the top of the refrigerator,” Jasmine told him.
Shaking his head, “What?” Nathan said, looking down at Jasmine. When she repeated what she’d said, “You should’ve spanked her butt,” Nathan said.
Giving a sigh, “Nathan, she just told you I did,” Jasmine said.
“She was just babbling,” Nathan replied, turning back to John and Robin.
Letting out a long sigh, “Nathan, you don’t have to be ashamed that you understand Emma,” Jasmine told him in a low voice.
Not acknowledging he’d heard Jasmine, Nathan glared at Emma in his arms while she jabbered rather harshly, looking at Jasmine. “Doodlebug, you watch your mouth with her,” Nathan snapped, startling Emma. Shifting her gaze to Nathan, Emma gave him the curled lip smile, trying to look innocent. Turning from Emma’s face, “I’m taking time off, we’re working on the smile,” Nathan vowed.
When they walked in Emma fought to get down, seeing Ruth holding out her arms. Putting Emma down, Nathan just headed to the table and dropped in his chair. “Glad you didn’t say anything about cake,” Jasmine smirked, sitting down beside him. Chip and Leeann climbed up in chairs beside her and Jasmine smiled, watching the two playing with matchbox cars on the table.
“It doesn’t do any good,” Nathan sighed, and glanced up to see Lanny walking up with Heath and Joan just behind them. Seeing Heath’s bruised and swollen face Nathan felt guilty, but only for a second.
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