Black Horse (Breaking Black) (4 page)

“I believe we have. I know you all too well.”

“You wanna get that weapon out of my face before things get ugly.”

“Things
are
ugly. Man up.”

“You got it,” said Colton as he pulled his gun from the waist band of his jeans and aimed point blank at Randy’s head.

“I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to break a promise to your sister. But if you so much as take off your safety, I’ll wipe your slate clean.”

“You wanna explain to me why you had your hands on my sister?!” Randy demanded.

Colton smirked, showing off his perfectly white teeth.

“Cause she likes it…” Colton said with a smug grin. “Now get the fuck out of my shop.”

“Not so fast. I have it on good authority that you attacked her at the bar.”

“Your authority is a lying sack of shit! I’ve never laid a finger on her in anger! You should know by now that I love your sister.”

“Is that so?” Randy asked in speculation, which only further pissed Colton off.

Click
.

Colton took off his safety.

“Go ahead. Do it. I dare you. Show everybody that you’re just like him.”

“I ain’t my father, but I’m not taking none of your bullshit either!”

“He murdered my parents and my brother, and he damn near killed my sister!”

“He killed my mother and left me for dead.”

“Stay away from my sister…”

“Or what…”

“I’ll fucking kill you, myself.”

“Now who’s just like Black Horse?”

“Fuck you!”

“She loves me, you know… Imagine her reaction when you tell her you’ve murdered me because you’re not man enough to say that you’re wrong.”

“You don’t fucking deserve her. Keep away.”

“She’s a big girl and can make her own decisions.”

“Did I fucking stutter?!”

“Cute. Big bro trying to be protective now, but when she’s in real trouble you’re to busy chasing tail to notice. I’ve been protecting her for the last twenty years. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not going no where.”

Colton pointed his gun at Randy’s feet and took three shots.

“Now get the fuck out of my garage!”

***

Averi ran down the street as if her own life depended on it. She barged into the garage where she found Randy and Colt in a stand-off. Both men had their guns out and pointed at the other, ready to shoot at any minute.

“Stop!”

“Averi get out of here!” yelled Randy, “This is between me and Black Horse.”

“He isn’t Black Horse! For the millionth time, Randy, he is
not
his father!”

Averi stood between the two men. As soon as Averi approached him, Colt put his gun away, but Randy kept his out.

“Put your gun away, man!” Colton yelled as he cast a protective look at Averi. “Get behind me, baby. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I wouldn’t shoot my sister, asshole!” Randy yelled.

“Put the fucking gun away then,” Colt gritted through his teeth.

When Randy refused, Colt pulled Averi behind him and took Randy down with his bare hands. Sliding the gun towards the opposite end of the garage, Colton effective
ly ended the conversation.

“I cannot do this anymore, Randy. You and Tim need to accept that Colton and I are together. We have been for a very long time.”

“I cannot accept that you could love the son of the man who murdered our parents.”

“Randy… you cannot hold this over Colton! He was a victim, too!”

“A murderer’s blood runs through his veins! Mom and Dad are rolling in their graves, Averi! I won’t stand for this!” said Randy as he climbed in his truck. “The only place this guy is gonna take you is straight to fucking hell!”

As Averi watched Randy pull away, she could feel the weight of her heart fracture under the pressure of the continued strain between her brothers and Colton. She couldn’t do it anymore. As the tears flooded her eyes, Colton wrapped her in his arms at a loss of what to do. They both knew, though, that being apart wasn’t an option.

Chapter Four

It’s Complicated

Tim Ford was diligently working in his cubicle around the time that his brother was causing mayhem Downtown. Crammed into a tiny cubicle, Tim Ford’s six foot five inch frame barely fit into the space provided. The office designers probably never thought an ex-MMA fighter would be sitting in a claims processor’s workspace. Tim typed at his keyboard when he heard his cell phone rang. He eyed the screen and grunted in annoyance when he saw who was calling.

Randy

512-555-9209

What the hell does he want?
Tim said to himself as he pulled himself from his work to answer his cell phone. He had to be discrete. The office had a no cell phone policy and his boss was mega bitch on speed today.

“Yeah?” Tim asked in a hushed voice, hoping not to catch the attention of his boss.

“Get your ass down here… We got a problem.”

“What now?” Tim asked.

It seemed like every other day, Randy had some crisis that he needed help with.

“Black Horse attacked Averi at the bar the other night.”

“Black Horse… huh?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Who told you that?”

“Jimmy Hearns.”

“Jimmy Hearns is full of shit. He’s obsessed with Averi. My boy, Robby, was at the bar that night. He said Jimmy was the one who was out of line and Black Horse put him in his place.”

“Whose side are you on?!”

“What the hell are you talking about?!”

“Sounds like you’re on Colt’s dick to me.”

“Look, you wanna get yourself arrested? Go ahead. I’m not about this shit anymore.”

“Don’t matter. We ain’t gonna have a problem from him anymore.”

“Let me guess. You went down to his garage, guns blazing?”

“Sure did. Told him to leave my sister alone.”

“Okay. Let me put this in terms that you will understand. You are
not
Dad. Colt isn’t his father… and Averi will do whatever she wants, just as she always has…”

“So you aren’t the least bit offended that she is in love with the son of the man that murdered our parents?”

“Don’t you think she’s gone through enough? Just let her be happy.”

“I feel like I don’t even know you!”

“I gotta go. Boss lady is coming.”

“But-,” before Randy could protest further, Tim had hung up the phone.

He immediately started to text Averi.

Tim: Fuck him. Do what makes you happy. I’ve got your back.

Within seconds she replied.

Averi: You don’t know how much that means to me.

***

Now I understand why some people set their relationship status to ‘Its complicated’ on Facebook
, Averi thought as she headed to her car. Averi left work for the day after the dramatic series of events that occurred on her lunch break. She just wanted to take a drive and clear her head. Her temper was flaring and she didn’t like taking it out on people if she didn’t have to. At that moment, if she spent another second in Randy’s presence, she would probably spend the night (or longer) in prison. So rather than smudging up her perfectly clean record for her idiot brother, she did the ladylike thing and walked away.

She climbed into her red Dodge Charger that she bought with her waitressing wages and tips that she had been saving for years. She slammed on the gas pedal and made her way west on Route 10. She couldn’t get Colton out of her head. They had such a history together. Starting as friends when they were just six years old, Colton had always been protective of Averi. Even more so than her own brothers, which is really saying something. Their friendship slowly evolved. When they were fifteen they exchanged their first kiss; an awkward but sweet moment that was fueled more by young love than by lust like so many teenage romances. They were
inseparable. Wherever she went, there he was, and that was exactly the way she wanted it. He was her first friend, her first kiss, her first lover… You can’t just walk away from a love like that. Especially when she loved him to this day more than anyone else. Dead or Alive.

Randy and Colton used to be best friends before their lives were changed by Black Horse forever. They played football together, played knock knock run away and tortured the neighbors, and collected frogs back by the swamp where Mr. Ford would go fishing. But when Black Horse struck, that all came crumbling down. Although Randy and Tim were at a sleep over on the night of the murders, they seemed to take the news the hardest. It almost seemed like they failed to realize that Averi was the only one to walk away from that house alive.
Everyone else that was home that night was murdered.

Randy wasn’t an angry kid before the murders, but he sure as hell was afterwards. Randy was convinced that Colton knew what Black Horse was going to do and didn’t do anything to prevent it. Randy was half right. Colton did know, and he tried to warn the Fords
. Colton got as far as the Fords’ front yard and only had enough time to throw a rock at Averi’s bedroom window before he was snatched by a member of the Seventy Devils, Black Horse’s motorcycle gang. Jerry Rogers, Black Horse’s right hand man, held Colt hostage until young Colt fought his way free and attempted to stop his father from taking Averi’s life too. As Black Horse ran from the house not knowing if Averi was dead or alive, he locked his son in his truck and ran. Colton was left for dead. He simply knew too much. Averi knew this and tried to tell Randy and Tim so many times, but it fell on deaf ears. Tim was much more easy going than Randy, but when he was younger he was afraid to stand up to him, so he just went along with what Randy said and did. Things are different now, though. While Randy still holds firm to the vendettas of old, Tim is ready to move on. He joined the Marines when he turned 18, and was honorably discharged in 2010. Before now, he never told Averi where he stood on Colton. She just knew that he always had Randy’s back.

Randy could be so damn stubborn!
Averi thought angrily.

Averi’s convictions were strong. How could a five year old boy be held responsible for crimes that he did not commit? Crimes that his father committed. He couldn’t and he shouldn’t be held responsible. It infuriated Averi that her brothers continued to
vilify Colton. She loved Colt and her brothers, but it was days like today that made her wish that her and Colton could just leave this place.

Averi hugged the curves as she turned off Route 10 and took the scenic backwoods into Helman’s Grove. It was a deeply wooded area with
picturesque valleys and meadows, farms and a handful of houses. It was no man’s land, but Averi knew it well. Her grandparents had owned several acres here. Now Averi, Randy and Tim each owned a third of the property. It was their inheritance after Grandma Ford passed away. Averi wouldn’t be going to the family homestead today, though. She gave the old farm a meaningful look before turning down an old dirt road towards Mother of Mercy Cemetery.

Averi’s heart hung heavily in her chest as she climbed the barren hill that led to the
cemetery. The dirt road that weaved through the cemetery seemed to go on for miles, until finally, Averi found the St. Jude section where her parents and brother were laid to rest.

She wasn’t alone.

Her breath caught as she took in the sight of a man standing before her parents’ graves. The man stood slumped with his head dipped in sorrow. He covered his face with one hand and laid a single yellow rose in between the two stones. Averi watched him from afar. She wasn’t the only one who remembered what today was. August 17, 2013 – the twentieth anniversary of the Ford family murders.

Averi climbed the hill with purpose in her stride. Carefully, she approached the man with a sad look upon her pretty face. Gently, she touched
his arm. He looked at her with tears streaming down his beautiful face.

“Colton…”

He didn’t say a word. Colton reached for her and buried his face in the curve of her neck. She hugged him tightly, squeezed him. She could feel his muscles quake underneath her touch.

“It’s alright, Colt…”

“No. It’s really not. Who lives like this? You deserve better. You deserve the white wedding and the babies and the beautiful house.”

“I’ll have it some day.”

“I wish I could fix it. I wish I could lift this load off of you…”

“Colton, you do… Every moment I spend with you, I know I am right where I am supposed to be. You were a little boy. You did nothing wrong.”

Averi reached up and wiped away a freshly fallen tear from his ruggedly handsome face.

“There is nothing that I can do to make things right. Everything is so complicated…”

There goes that word again
, Averi thought.