Caleb's Blessing(16)

The young man who I always forgot was little more than a child himself, looked close to tears as he folded his fists and walked back the way he came with his head down. Yeah, that’s pretty much how I felt, helpless.

I don't know how long we stood there, me holding her while she cried her heart out, but when she was done her body just sagged against mine, she'd tired herself out.

"Okay now sweetheart I'm gonna take you to your room. I want you to rest for the rest of the day, don't worry about anything else just rest okay." She didn’t say a word or utter a sound.

Poor little thing she’d used up all she had it looked like.

I picked her up and carried her upstairs, all the while wondering what the hell I was supposed to do now. I laid her down on her bed and pulled the sheet up over her and still she said nothing.

There was a glassy look to her eyes that I didn’t much like, but there wasn’t much I could do; it was going to take time.

I sat on the side of her bed running my hand soothingly over her hair as her breath hitched and a stray tear would escape. When she took one last deep sigh and I saw her body relax, I knew she was out.

Still I sat there for the longest time just watching and thinking. I had a decision to make. The thoughts that were running through my head weren’t the thoughts of a stranger who’d just met her, but those of a man who’d found his woman, his other half.

When you spent your life in dangerous situations such as I have almost everyday of my adult life before I retired, you learned to make life-altering decisions quick. I think I just made the biggest one of my life, but first things first.

I pulled her door almost but not quite closed and headed down the stairs and out the back door. The guys were already gathered in the backyard looking up towards the house, just where I expected them to be.

I was finally able to let my inner fury show as I walked towards them.

"How do I get to that motherfucker without letting him get close to her?" I looked at the Scrantons because I knew they would know.

"Say the word and he's dust." Adrian never stopped looking up at the house. I could tell from the look on his face that he was using great restraint.

"No, I want his blood on my hands, it’s mine to do, how?"

Simon took a deep breath before answering me. "If we do this we do this right, no fuck ups and no way for it to come back; you sure you want to do this? Your brother's the sheriff."

"Did you fucking hear her?" Calm down Caleb, these men are not the enemy.

"Alright then, first we plan."

"Body." That's the only thing Mark said, just one word but I understood.

"We have lime." Nathan was on board, but I knew they all would be. It’s not like we do this shit every day, but there’s a reason I surround myself with like-minded men. We understand each other.

"Acid's better, then we crush what's left of the bones if anything, then we use the lime." Adrian was serious as a judge as he said this, as though we were discussing the weather.

"How're we gonna get the fucker here?" Mikey looked like he'd shed a few after all and I didn't even bother asking the rest of my crew how they'd gotten here so fast, or why none of them were trying to stop me from doing what I was about to do.

"That's the planning part, we have to do it in a way so that the fucker gets here but doesn't know she's here." Simon rolled a cigarette, the first he'd had in weeks I think.

"I don't want her to even see his ass.” We discussed ways and means until I felt I’d been away for too long.

“I better get back inside, I don't want to leave her alone too long. I'll rustle up something for dinner and then we'll talk later after she goes to sleep tonight."

They each nodded their heads, before going back to their jobs, after giving the house one last look. For the first time since I left the ring I really missed it. I was torn between wrangling with Brutus and going back to her, she won of course.

I moved slowly as I entered the kitchen, my mind which an hour ago was thinking about what kind of flowers to order her first, was now filled with ways of killing her asshole ex slowly.

The guys checked in one by one as the afternoon wore on and she still slept.

That's the kind of woman she was. She invoked that kind of care in such a short time, because everyone who met her saw the beautiful creature that she was.

Why her asshole ex had tried to snuff that out was a mystery, one that I didn't really give a fuck about. All I cared about right now was ending him and making sure that she was safe always.





Chapter 13




She slept for most of the day and I looked in on her from time to time. At lunch the boys came in to eat left overs and talk in whispers. We didn’t discuss anything major because I didn’t want her overhearing anything if she happened to wake up, but we talked.