“You are such a good boy Hercules, beating the riders and keeping up with the wild horses, you are getting an extra bucket of carrots and apples my friend,” I crooned, rubbing my hand up and down his neck.
It was a long way back to the Triple H, I was not likely to reach it for another hour, quicker if we galloped, but Hercules had done enough work for the day. I decided to steer the mob to the east of the property rather than Kelly’s Track. The terrain was rockier and less inviting to man and horse, so it was a good chance they would give up tonight, giving the stallion enough time for him to find a top hiding place for his ladies and young, as well as time for the cops to show up.
By now, Hendrixx would know what was going on and would’ve called the authorities. He will also be spitting mad with me, but he wouldn’t be for long. After a long hot soak in the bath, I will give him a little incentive to forgive me. Maybe a longer blow job than he usually lets me, the man had a problem with having his cock in my mouth for too long.
Smiling to myself at my musings about Drixx’s yummy cock, and my victory getting the horses out of harm’s way, I sat back in the saddle and let Hercules have the reigns.
“Danger is over big fella, now all I have to deal with is the Hott temper—”
The quiet night broke with the sound of a gunshot, and it sounded close, too close.
“Oh no,” I groaned, “what now?”
Gathering the reigns back, I yanked on them with enough force to turn Hercules but was careful of his soft mouth. As a trick horse, he was trained to be sensitive to commands, you didn’t have to be rough on him to get him to comply.
“Sorry old mate, it looks like our night isn’t over just yet,” I apologised grimly, hating that I had to ask him to run again so soon.
“Ya, boy, let’s go.”
I don’t know how long we were at full gallop, but I knew where we were, not more than five, maybe eight kilometres from the homestead. I was certain this was the direction the gunshot came from, I knew every square inch of the Triple H, every divot in the ground every half-exposed rock. The rustlers were around here somewhere, but why? One saw me running the horses to the east, why did they go in the opposite way to me?
My ears caught the sounds of a horse neighing, it sounded scared and panicked. It also sounded familiar.
“Lancelot?”
Reigning Hercules into a slower canter so that I could hear more over his hoofbeats, I guesstimated Lance was off in the distance right in the direction in front of me. Turning Herc to the left, I made the decision to come at the commotion from the side, maybe giving myself the element of surprise.
The closer I rode to the noise of my stallion, the more agitated I became with worry. For Lancelot to be making so much noise, something must have happened to Hendrixx because Hendrixx was the only person allowed to ride him. Not even Fenixx had gotten in the saddle, not Noxx, and not even Lillian, who had awards for her riding.
“Oh god, not my Cowboy, don’t you be hurt Hendrixx, please,” I prayed, sweat beading on my forehead, my heart thumping in my chest.
“Don’t shoot him for Christ’s sake!” I heard a panicked voice shout clearly from where I was positioned.
“You need to grow a set, don’t you know how much trouble we are in if we stay here. We lost the brumbies, but this big, black bastard will be worth a lot of coin to the right buyer. I bet Roberts would gladly take him instead of the brumbies’ dead bodies.”
My blood chilled at the venom in the man’s voice, it was evil and desperate—a very nasty combination, especially when he had a gun.
Where was Hendrixx? No way they stole him from the stables, not with the state of the art security the guys had installed all over the property. Hendrixx must have ridden him out here to find me, it was the only explanation.
Guilt flooded me once again, as it always did when I went off half-cocked on my own. Hendrixx followed me, of course he did, how did I think otherwise.
“No one will buy him around here, everyone knows Lancelot is owned by Hendrixx, and everyone knows he would never sell him because of Blake.”
Dusty? That was Dustyn Cartledge, his parents owned a smaller outfit on the other side of Cattle Ridge. What was he doing here?
It didn’t matter; my mind was racing with thoughts of Drixx and who the fucking arsehole was who wanted to sell Lancelot.
Pulling my Browning T-Bolt rifle from the leather scarab, I quickly and quietly dismounted. I stood there silently and waited for Lancelot to make another noise so I could mask the sound of the bolt action. Lancelot didn’t disappoint me, and while I hated that our beloved stallion was being frightened, I needed to have the upper hand if I was going to come out of this unscathed.
With the gun ready to shoot, I snuck forward in the cloak of darkness, leaving Hercules behind sure he wouldn’t go anywhere unless commanded, the voices were so close I could smell the stench of dirty clothes and body odour.
“And what are we going to do with Hendrixx? We can’t leave him here; you shot him and he needs medical attention,” Dustyn’s shout made me stumble. Hendrixx shot? They shot him? Was he still alive? Oh my god, no!
Fear, bone-chilling fear gripped me by the throat strangling me.
Not my beautiful Hendrixx.
No, no, I refused to see him any other way but alive. I clung to what Dusty said, that Hendrixx needed medical help; it was the only way I could allow myself to keep going and not succumb to my weakening knees.
Taking a deep breath, then another, holding the Browning up and prepared to use it, I stepped out of the shadows and faced the unknown.
“Leave the horse alone,” I yelled, making my presence well and truly known, both men jumped when they saw the weapon in my hands, pointing right at them.
“Blake!” Dusty proclaimed. I thought I heard a sense of relief coming from him.
“Dusty, I don’t understand what you are doing here, but you better tell me where Hendrixx is,” I demanded, pointing the gun at the stranger while speaking to the person I had regularly seen around the Triple H when I was a kid.
“Well, this is the Blake everyone is so fond of, hey,” the stranger drawled, forgetting about Lancelot he staggered angrily towards me, his shoulder and arm hung lower on one side, and was limping.
“Roberts wasn’t wrong, you are a sexy, little bitch, aren’t you? No wonder your boyfriend was so riled up when I mentioned fucking you in the arse, right before I shot him,” he jeered, his mouth twisting in a nasty smile.
“Where is he?” I demanded, and this time my voice didn’t shake, didn’t waver to my fear. Now, I was angry and pissed off.
“Oh darlin’, he is right behind you, alive … just.”
Every cell in my body wanted to turn to look, see for myself, but taking my eyes and my gun off the stranger would only have me joining Hendrixx. A glint of metal lodged in the front of the man’s pants caught my attention. The Ruger I recognised as one much the same from my Dad’s own collection. If pulled, he would most definitely kill me at this short range.
Putting my finger firmer on the trigger, I aimed the gun at the man’s crotch.
“The only person who will be shafted in the arse will be you when you become a prison bitch.”
Then I squeezed the trigger, at the last second I dropped the barrel at his knee, aiming the bullet through the flesh and bone.
Tossing the gun to the ground, I ignored his outraged screams and looked frantically behind me for Drixx, finding him slumped against the very tree I hid behind when I first came up.
“Baby, oh god.” Racing to him, I dropped down to my knees, the ground cold and dewy. The first thing I saw was the stain of fresh blood at the side of his ribs, and the second was his laboured breathing through chattering teeth.
“Dusty, go get me the saddle blanket from your horse, now!” As I barked out the order, I hastily ripped off my shirt, not worrying about the buttons. Pressing it to the wound with firm pressure, I ran my other hand lovingly over his ashen fa
ce, my fingers going to his throat to feel his pulse. Even though in my mind, I knew he was breathing, feeling the beat of his blood in his veins reassured me.
“Who is the reckless one now, Cowboy?” I sobbed through my tears. He was bleeding, his breathing shallow, but I couldn’t bring myself to take my fingers off his pulse, just couldn’t.
“Here, Blake.” Dustyn came back with a thick, red blanket covered in horsehair. Worried that it might contaminate the wound, I asked Dustyn for his jacket.
Laying it over where the bullet had hit him, I placed the horse blanket down on top.
“There you go, honey, I need to warm you up. Dusty call the farm, get Fen—”
“I tried before when Hendrixx knocked Gus off his horse, no reception.”
“Shit on a stick!” Why me?
Thinking that moving Hendrixx in this condition would be foolish, but knowing he needed a hospital as soon as possible, I turned to Dustyn, “Dusty, get on Hercules and go get Fenixx, tell him we are in the spot he got naked on a dare. Go, Dusty, Hendrixx is in a bad way.” I wasn’t all that keen him riding my horse, but he unsaddled his mount to get the saddle blanket and Hendrixx couldn’t wait for Dusty to tack up again.
Leaving my man was not going to happen, and despite Dusty’s lousy choice to join in to kill my brumbies, he wouldn’t let Hendrixx die on purpose.
Shifting my weight from my knees, I positioned myself so Hendrixx’s head was on my lap, close enough so I could keep my hand pressed on his wound.
“I’m here honey, and when you get better, you can make up to me for all this worry,” I whispered brokenly, stroking his face.
A barely-there grunt tore from his lips, the faintest of sounds, but it was music to my ears and my heart.
“Yes, I know, Blake Isobel, you are in so much trouble,” I recited his favourite phrase. Feeling his face shift slightly deeper into my palm, I cradled my man.
“I am also very much in love Hendrixx and ready for anything you wanna give me.”
HENDRIXX
I watched the door to the hospital room, waiting for my Blake to walk through it. Fenixx said the cops had her at the Triple H making a statement about the night’s events.
I wanted her here now. I needed my eyes on her, to see for myself that the rustlers didn’t get to her. Though, I’d heard her talking to me in the valley, and felt her hands on me.
When Fenixx turned up with the ute to take me back to the house, Blake stayed behind to bring our stallion back. Lancelot, the massive, spirited beast capable of throwing or trampling her.
“Fucking hell, Drixx, will you stop it,” Noxx complained from the chair next to my bed, “she will be here soon. Mum called and said Blake just had to go to the station for the formal interview due to the fact that she shot the guy in the knee, and when she is done, Mum will bring her to you.”
“Why aren’t you with your new daughter?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him, hating for the first time, his ability to read me. The whole Blake shot someone was something I was going to digest a bit later after the morphine wore off completely.
“Because you got shot,” he drawled in a tone that suggested I was an idiot.
“Funny fucker. What do we know about the guy that shot me?” The wound from the shotgun wasn’t as bad as the bump on the back of my head. Luck had been on my side when the man shot me, his aim barely above par hitting me in the side the pellets missing anything important. It was my head that coped the worst when I fell off Lance, and I landed on a half-buried boulder splitting my scone open.
“Only from what Marty told me briefly when I got to the Triple H tonight. No one important, just a drifter looking for easy money. He isn’t a local or even a resident of Victoria, Marty mentioned he has a warrant out for him in the Northern Territory. Apparently, it is for aggravated assault on a woman,” he told me sombrely, the very simple message there was Blake could have been his next victim. He could have assaulted her, hit her, or worse played out the vile crap he’d sprouted to me about her body.
“I don’t know how I … what I would have done …”
“Don’t Drixx, don’t go there, trust me. Nothing good comes from the what-if game. I did that to myself when Makena left me, then later when she got hurt, and it about drove me to the brink. I couldn’t let her out of my sight for longer than a few minutes. I get it, I do, but don’t do that to yourself,” Noxx advised, and he was right, he had enough experience getting lost in the what-ifs to last him a lifetime.
Fisting the sheet lying on top of me, I growled in frustration.
“I just want her here, so that I can see for myself.”
“You going to put a ring on her finger, Drixx?” Noxx enquired, like the gossip he was.
“I think Blake should be the first to know that don’t you, sticky nose?” I retorted, smiling at my older triplet.
Then my ears pricked when I heard the unmistakable sound of heeled boots clicking down the hall of the hospital. My heart picked up and my dick twitched despite the pain meds administered through the IV in my arm.
Blake.
Her sweet voice called out, asking if she was at the right room, her question wobbled and nervous. My girl did not like hospitals, she had not been in one since her dad passed away six years ago.
“In here, baby,” I shouted as loud as I could, so she knew she was at the right door.
Then the door opened, and there she was–my sexy, blonde cowgirl, and by Christ she was in so much trouble.
“Hendrixx, honey,” she breathed out my name and the endearment I loved so much, as she entered the room and came straight for me.
“Oh god, I was so scared,” she sobbed, not happy to stand by the bed and take my hand, nope not my Blake. Instead, she climbed up on the bed, straddled my out-stretched thighs and grabbed my face between her hands.
“Don’t ever do that to me again, Hott! I am the reckless one, you are the level-headed one, that is why we work so well, we complement each other,” she lectured, her forehead pressing to mine, her lips hovering.
Wrapping my IV free hand around her neck, I swiped the tears from one cheek with my thumb.
“It’s my job as the man who loves you to follow you wherever you go, I would follow you into death baby, if it meant I got to stay with you,” I implored, relieved that she was unharmed and in my arms.
“I’m not dying Drixx, not for a long time,” she insisted, narrowing her eyes at me.
“You do stupid shit like you did today, and you might,” I argued, “of course if you do die, I will kill you.”
“You are the one who got shot, not me Hott,” she countered, “and if you died, I would have had to kick your arse.”
“Oh dear god, someone kill me, so I don’t have to listen to this stupid conversation,” Noxx groaned as he got up.
“Drixx is fine Blake, the bullet got him in the side and only hit flesh and fat,” Noxx explained, as if he was talking to Daxx, “Drixx, Blake didn’t get hurt and even though going out after armed men was the most stupid thing she has ever done, and even though she shot someone, she is fine. Okay?”
Glaring at Noxx, I debated if it would hurt too much to get out of bed, rip his tongue out and shove it up his arse. Probably.
“Get out,” I demanded instead. “Go home to your kids and wife. Leave my girl and me alone so we can make out before I yell at her for nearly destroying me when I found out she’d put herself in danger, forcing me to imagine what my life would be like without her.” I was speaking to Noxx, but I was looking at Blake, my words for her. Living without Blake would be like dying myself.
“She didn’t mean to, she just reacted, had she not been so worried about the brumbies she might have used her brain and waited for her big, strong, handsome cowboy, but she didn’t and she is so sorry. Will you forgive her?”
“Fuck, I am out,” Noxx shouted, storming out, grumbling a string of creative and impressive expletives.
“I think we annoy him,” Blake whispered, looking inte
ntly at me, her hazel eyes bright with unshed tears.
“Good. As long as I don’t annoy you, that is all I care about.”
“You do annoy me, but in the best kind of way.”
“Ditto, now kiss me.”
“So bossy,” she grumbled, but she didn’t hesitate to close the distance, her lips pressing sweetly on mine.
“You wanna talk about you shooting someone sweetheart?” I asked in between chaste kisses.
Blake let out a heavy sigh, “Not really, maybe later after my heart comes back to a normal rhythm. Seeing you under that tree not moving, is enough for me for now I think,” she replied quietly, one small hand pressing to my chest just over where my heart laid.
“I love you Blake, so fucking much,” I breathed into her mouth, silently agreeing to leaving that topic for another day.
“Ditto.”
“Will you marry me, sweetheart? Spend the rest of your life with me, annoying me and loving me?” I blurted out suddenly. I blamed the pain meds, but it wasn’t as if I wasn’t going to ask her tomorrow as soon as the drugs wore off.
Blake stilled, her lips frozen into a smile.
“Will you buy me a new horse for a wedding present?”
“I might.” I smiled back at her.
“Good enough. Yes honey, I will marry you, drive you up the wall, make your crazy stalker side even worse, and love you until you can’t take it anymore.”
“Oh, you will be surprised how long I can take it, Blake Isobel,” I growled, then took her mouth in a kiss full of love and promise.
“Is this trouble time?” she asked, reluctantly breaking our kiss, and laying her head into the crook of my neck.
Wrapping my arm around her back, I held her to me.
“I reckon so.”
“Can I tell you about the horse first, he is a beautiful chestnut and he has a few problems with loud noises, biting people and men.” I laid there with my life in my arms and listened to her talk passionately about a broken horse she was already in love with just from a picture.
Hott and Ready (The Hott Brothers Book 2) Page 16
