Amendment

{Ten} A Pawn

  After a while, everything got a little blurry. My poor, likely damaged brain just couldn’t handle it all. That, and….it was getting pretty dark. To pass the time, I calculated the historical things in which I was sure of.

  It hadn’t been a whole day since Ellison’s attack—meaning he was still alive. Russ had said he died two days after Election Day.

  Cap outlived the feud—er, at least all the killing portion of it.

  The three McCoy boys were killed the day Ellison died—meaning they were still alive.

  The guy in back of me, the one making sure I didn’t make another break for it, was named Jim.

  Cap outlived the feud

  Okay, yes—I’m aware that is the dumbest thing to fixate on right now; but I couldn’t help it! He’d given me the cold shoulder, sure, but his uncle had been dying! Could I really hold that against him?

  Russ would say I was enacting the Daddy-beats-me-because-he-loves-me syndrome. But I really wasn’t! Cap hadn’t beat me—except if you count at shooting. Besides, I was really worried about him. I should spend more time worrying about myself…Between worrying over Russ and Cap there was just no time for being selfish.

  And then—I’m not sure how long it took, as time was irrelevant to me at that point—we stopped. Torches were relit and the horses were held steady. They’d been running for so long, off and on, I was surprised they stayed even remotely silent.

  I glanced up wearily, just barely keeping myself awake. A part of me hoped I really did have a concussion; at least then I wasn’t keeping myself awake for nothing. Maybe the damage had already been done when I’d blacked out after that douche bag attacked me. Maybe I was a dead girl walking….er, riding.

  When my eyes finally decided to focus, I realized we weren’t where I expected we’d be. I thought they were taking me to the Hatfields’ place, but this was a different farm entirely. The house was nicer, painted white and just a tad bigger. The barn was odd; more boxlike than any I’d ever seen with an even boxier loft. Even in the twilight, I could see the silhouettes of men around the barn, around the house; hiding in the trees. If I was noticing all this while trying not to pass out, I seriously hoped the McCoys were smarter than I was currently giving them credit for being.

  “Oh my God,” I muttered. Realization dawned on me. I told myself I’d been so slow because of injury. A small chuckle started at the back of my throat, slowly creeping its way to the surface.

  Jim slapped his hand over my mouth, leaving a slight sting on my skin.

  I stopped my laughter and clawed his hand away. “Is that necessary? Really?”

  “Keep your mouth shut an’ it won’t be,” Jim growled behind me.

  I gave him a curt nod, which sent my brain rattling when it’d been steady. “Y’all are wasting your breath. If you think for one second Devil Anse is gonna deal with you for me, you’re stupider than I thought.”

  When Rand’l glared at me, I could almost feel the sting of another slap. However, since he was a few horses away from me, I was safe. He didn’t say anything to me otherwise—what else was I expecting?

  “I’m serious!” I continued, careful not to raise my voice too much. “I’m not even sure that if I was a lifelong friend of the family that he’d negotiate. I’ve only known them a few days—barely a week! Please believe me when I say he is not going to make a deal with you.” And just because his stupid glare and obvious disregard for what I was saying was pissing me off, I added, “Your sons murdered his brother. If you aim to reason with him, this ain’t the way.”