Black Horse (Breaking Black) (19 page)

“Shut up and let me git it!” Jimmy yelled.

“Get off. You’re useless!” Black Horse screamed.

Looking in the mirror, he glanced at his
grisly appearance. Dirt was caked in his long beard. Blood had dried on the shoulder of his black shirt. A crazed look took over his eyes.

“Give me the fucking tweezers…”

“You can’t be serious…” Jimmy said.

“Did I fucking stutter?!”

“Here, crazy bastard. I don’t know what she ever saw in you.”

Ignoring his son, Black Horse gave his reflection a hard stare. He poked the metal edge of the tweezers into his wound causing more blood to spurt out. A horrible scream echoed from his mouth and he fished for the bullet. Finally, the clink of metal upon the porcelain surface of the sink caught Jimmy’s attention.

As blood poured from the wound, Black Horse cast a deranged smile at his reflection. He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and popped it in his mouth. With his Zippo lighter, he set the tip aflame.

“Now what?”

As the flame of the lighter illuminated his face, Black Horse responded, “We’re gonna heat this up tonight.”

***

“Colton!” Averi yelled from upstairs.

Colt jumped from his seat on the couch and bolted up the stairs.

“Yes? What is it?”

Averi showed him the test.

Positive.

They were all positive.

Despite the fear in her eyes, Colton couldn’t help but be happy. He was going to have a family. But the realization set in. Black Horse wanted to steal that from him. Just as he had stolen all the other chances at a family. Rage seethed within him. He didn’t let it show, though.

“I’m scared, Colt…” Averi admitted.

“Don’t be, darlin… We’re going to take care of this. Everything is going to be alright.”

Averi was breathing heavily. She closed her eyes. She knew she should keep her thought to herself but her emotions got the best of her. Her eyes filled up with tears.

“What is it?” Colt asked.

Her lip quivered.

“I’m so afraid that it will be like him… It has his blood!”

Colton looked taken a back. He was a bit hurt by her statement.

“He has our blood, too…”

“I’m sorry… I don’t mean to offend you. I know you hate him as much as I do…”

“No, more. No one could possibly hate that man as much as I do.”

“It just scares me…”

“Our child could never become him. Not with you as a mother, and me as a father.”

“You’re right…” Averi said, sounding sorry for her lapse in
judgment.

“I’ve got his blood, and I’m not half bad, right?”

“You’re not bad at all…”

“Then don’t think on it. I can’t wait to have a family with you…”

Colt knew he was right. He was never so sure of anything in his life. He would not allow Black Horse to steal the loves of his life. The premise of a family… a future. It gave Colt hope.

“Listen to me, Averi… You have to let Randy and I handle this now.”

Averi had warring emotions in her eyes, but as she met Colton’s glance, she saw the pleading in his eyes.

“I know.”

As much as it killed her to sit back and watch her loved ones go to war for her, she had more than just herself to worry about now. Her hand graced her stomach as she looked up into Colton’s face. She saw just a trace of worry.

“Whatever will we tell this child about its family?”

Colt smiled at Averi, “Black Horse is not family. Your crazy brothers are. Shelly is. This baby is lucky because it has a father that will go to war for it, and a mother with a heart of gold. Don’t you worry, Ave. We’re going to take care of this. You just worry about keeping you and the baby safe.”

In that moment, Averi wondered why the image of Jessa McClain’s face came to mind.

Chapter Thirty-One

Point of No Return

“Ladies… We have some things to take care of. I’m sure Tim would love some company, though,” Colt said coyly. He was trying to find a way around telling Averi that there was no chance in hell she was being left alone with his father on the loose.

“I’d like that…” said Averi. She had been dying to see her brother since the ambulance carted him off with a gun shot wound.

“We should be ready in a half hour,” yelled Shelly from the upstairs hallway as she rummaged through Averi’s closet. She was looking for something to wear and making a mess in the process.

“I better go help her before she destroys my closet.”

“A half hour, huh?” Randy questioned. “Yeah right.”

“Randy…” Colt called from the dining room. “Your attention please.”

Randy meandered into the room as if he had not a care in the world. But his nonchalant look faded when he saw the spread in front of him. Colt had laid all his guns and ammo out on the dining room table. He had bullet proof vests, leg holsters, hunting knives, sheaths, gun magazines and more hunting rifles and hand guns than Randy knew what to do with.

“You seriously take your NRA membership way too seriously.”

“Because you don’t have a collection of guns at home…”

“Uh, you put mine to shame… This is kind of nuts.”

“When you have a father like mine… You have to be prepared. Take your shirt off.”

Randy smirked, “Colton, I never knew…”

“Oh, shut up! Here!” Colt threw a bullet proof vest at Randy. “Put this on.”

Colt stripped his t-shirt off and grabbed a vest of his own. He faced the wall as a serious look took over. It was the point of no return. Colt didn’t take the act of killing his father lightly. He didn’t take anything about his father lightly, though, and he knew that if he didn’t take him down, he would claim Averi and the life of their baby, and that just wasn’t an option. Randy
watched Colt as his dark mood set in. His eyes fell on the tattoo of the two horses that took up his entire back.

“Dude… I always meant to ask you. What’s with the tats
…? You have no loyalty to him… So why have two Black Horses on your back?”

Colt regarded his question, as he turned around slowly. He had a lethal look in his gaze.

“It’s a reminder. We are at war. You called me Black Horse for years. I’m not him, though… and I always knew this day would come. The two men called Black Horse would go head to head, and the fight would not be over until one drug the other to hell. I know there was a time that you believed I meant your sister harm. I think you should know by now, I’m nothing like my father. Tonight is the night I will exile the devil to hell.”

Randy regarded Colton with deep respect.

“I once thought that tattoo meant that you had loyalty to him, and that is why I had such a problem with you. You got that when you were what… 15… 16….”

“Yeah. Shortly before me and Averi began going out. Look, I get it. My father is a sadistic son of a bitch. But I’m not him. I hate him and every breath he takes, that hatred grows stronger. I will not rest until he is gone.
I love your sister, and no one is going to take her from me. Especially him. Whether you like me or not, I’m your family. Gotta tell you, you annoy the fucking shit out of me, but you’ve got my respect. You took a bullet for her. Most guys would’ve took a back seat, but here you are, still fighting by my side.”

Randy was shocked. He cleared his throat unsure of what to say.

“I had you all wrong. I just couldn’t get it out of my head that you were his son… and she was sleeping with the son of the man who murdered my family. It’s really hard to get around.”

“The thing you need to understand is, they were my family, too. Your mom adopted me… and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about them.”

Randy was stunned. Absolutely beside himself. He rubbed his neck as he let Colt’s words sink in. Without a word, he held out his hand. Not in anger, but out of respect. With a sly smile on his face, Colt shook Randy’s hand, effectively burying the hatchet after two decades of contempt.

“No more. Let’s do this.”

***

Tim was sleeping when Averi and Shelly arrived. He was still hooked up to a heart monitor, but he had regained much of his color. His chest rose and fell peacefully. Averi leaned over him and kissed him softly on his forehead. His opened his eyes slightly, and released a sigh of relief. Grabbing his sister’s hand, he slowly dozed back to sleep with a relieved state of mind.

***

“Carl, I need a listing of all the structures we are doing renovations on…” Randy said with a serious tone of voice.

Carl replied, “You know I can’t give you that… What do you need it for?”

“I just do don’t ask questions.”

Randy listened to the voice on the line.

“I’m not risking my job…. No.”

“No seriously… If you don’t want to be involved, don’t ask. Just get me the addresses…”

Carl didn’t seem to be listening to Randy. Colt rolled his eyes and grabbed his cell phone from Randy’s hand.

“Hey Carl…”

“Black Horse…?”

“Name’s Colt. I’ll be stopping by the office. I need the keys to the house on Sycamore behind the Monkey Bar.”

“Uh…”

“Carl… I’m not asking. Have the keys for me.”

“I can’t just hand the keys over…”

“My father is hiding in the house of Sycamore, you’ll give me the fucking keys.”

There was dead silence on the phone.

“The secretary will have the keys for you at the front desk.”

Before Carl could respond in his shaky voice, Colton had pressed the end button and looked at Randy.

“That is how you handle business. Let’s go to the office.”

***

“Colt McClain…” Stephanie Rogers said as she took in Colt’s physique. “What brings you here?”

“Here for those keys, Steph…”

Stephanie pursed her bright red lips and played with her dyed black her. She was clearly trying to flirt with Colt… badly.

“Oh, Randy… You shouldn’t have.”

Stephanie Rogers was one of Randy’s ex-girlfriends. A notoriously bitter one.

“Hey Steph…”

“Hand over the keys. We have something to take care of…”

“Here,” Stephanie said bitterly, as she passed the keys over to Colt. “Boss said you’d be coming, otherwise I’d never hand it over to someone who hangs out with
him
.”

“Thanks Steph…” Colt said as she stormed out of the office. Randy didn’t leave so quickly as he taunted his ex with a sweet smile.

“Bye baby…”

“Get the fuck out, Randy!” Steph yelled as she threw a roll of tape at his head. She missed and this only made Randy laugh louder.

As soon as his shadow was out of sight, Stephanie picked up the telephone and called her father, Jerry Rogers, high ranking member of the Seventy Devils, a motorcycle gang that was loyal to none other than Black Horse, himself.

***

Black Horse hid under the windowsill as the shadow of two men walked past.

“The boy is not as dumb as he looks…” said Black Horse to himself out loud. “How the fuck did he find me?”

“I work for the same construction company as Randy… They probably called the office.”

“I thought you said you paid Carl off?!”

“Apparently not enough.”

“Fucking moron!” yelled Black Horse as he sent a beer bottle flying across the room. The bottle clunked Jimmy in the head knocking him out cold.

“You want something done right, you gotta do it yourself,” Black Horse said darkly as he tried to hide from his son’s prying eyes.

***

“Think he’s in there?”

“I know he is.”

“How?”

“I just know.”

Colton inserted the key in the front door as Black Horse scrambled to his feet. His eyes searched the room wildly as he looked for a place to hide.

The front door creaked open as Colt stepped inside. He paced the dark living room of the empty house. He kicked a beer can, sending it scrambling into a corner. Colt stalked the room, amplifying the tension in the tiny house.

“I know you’re here and I’m not leaving until you give me some answers.”

Colt waited for a response, but he heard nothing.

“How funny… The man who strikes fear in the heart of so many… Hiding…”

Still there was no sound.

“Are you behind the door?” asked Colt as he swung behind him, knowing damn well he wasn’t there. He was simply playing his father’s game.

“In the kitchen?”

But all he found in the entryway of the kitchen was Jimmy Hearn’s unconscious body. He could have shot him on the spot, but he didn’t. Something about shooting a man when he’s down didn’t bode well on Colt’s conscience. Even a man so sheisty as him. Black Horse was another story, altogether though.