Amendment

{Eleven} Quite a Predicament

  I watched in absolute horror as guns were whipped out, pointing towards the sound of the men we could not yet see. They’d long since doused their torches and were riding in blindly—a smart move on their part, even I had to admit; considering this entire endeavor was a waste. Devil Anse was a man prepared for anything. There was no way in hell he would keep those boys without knowing damn well he could take down anyone who tried to save them.

  So, for the last time, I began squirming out of Jim’s grasp. All I had to do was get off the damn horse—without my skirt getting caught up in the saddle. To my surprise, though, Jim slid off the saddle, still holding onto me tightly. Behind his back, he pulled out a gun—a gun in which Russ would know the exact type and year it was made, but what I could only tell as being an old hand gun—and began shooting it off towards the house.

 For a minute, I was admittedly afraid to do anything beyond closing my eyes. There was so much gunfire going off! It ricocheted off the hills, alerting no one except those involved in this skirmish. There were no neighbors. There were no lawmen to put an end to this madness. It was simply kill-or-be-killed.

  Jim only had a hold of me with one arm, the other occupied with shooting people (actually, from what I could tell, he wasn’t hitting his marks at all). What I wanted to do was rip that gun out of his hands and show him how to really shoot—although, truth be told, I was much better with a rifle than a pistol. What I actually did was the girl thing.

  Hey, I was in the times already; might as well play unfair.

  Jim was only half paying attention to me now, too intent on spilling Hatfield blood. Not on my watch! It was pathetically easy to loosen his grip just enough to lean down to his wrist. I waited a half second, seeing if he noticed. He didn’t. So, grinning widely, I bit down as hard as I could on his wrist, sinking my teeth so deep I tasted blood.

  Jim howled out, frantically shaking his hand out of my admittedly impressive hold. I didn’t think. As soon as his arm left me, I picked up my skirts and tore off towards the house. Maybe that was a stupid place to run, as most the gunfire was going towards it or being fired out of it. But it was something substantial to hide behind…...Okay, Cap was there!

  I held my hands over my head—as if that would really protect me from the flying bullets—while I ran like hell toward the building. My eyes fixed on the corner of the house, intending to get to the back and hide there until it was all over. If I’d managed to snatch that gun out of Jim’s hands, I wouldn’t have been so helpless. I think that would’ve be overdoing it on my getaway, though. My past attempts at escaping my predicament hadn’t exactly gone as I’d planned, after all. Now, so far at least, I was home free.

  And then, just as I started to get my hopes up, someone—Jim, I supposed; as he would never give up the endeavor to keep me captured—caught me from behind, pulling me tightly against him so I couldn’t struggle. Either he was expecting me to just give up or he was intentionally letting me spin around, but either way it was all too easy for me to shift my position, swinging my fist down as hard as I could, fully intending to give him a black eye. It wasn’t like he didn’t deserve it!

  He caught my wrist a bit too easily, lifting his brows in a scolding however slightly amused manner. I breathed in relief at the sight of him, dismissing the fact that he’d even seen my right hand coming towards the left side of his face.

  “Cap!” I gasped, throwing my arms around his neck and clutching onto him for dear life.

  For a minute, one blessed minute, Cap tightened his hold on me; anything but rejecting my impulsive and, admittedly, forward embrace. My heart somersaulted inside my chest, all but convulsing into a chorus of angels. Oh my God, he came after me! Cap Hatfield really came after me! Who knows what would have happened if I hadn’t gotten away from Jim myself. The thought both thrilled and terrified me.