Page 36 of Vortex

Allegra grabs one of Marisela’s ankles and begins dragging her to the road again. Marisela’s head bounces as it hits every rock or pothole as they go. Allegra looks toward the house and must see me through the door as she blows me a kiss and waves.

Ghost comes running across the yard and heads my way. When he gets inside the house, his eyes take in the mess and then fix on me. Squatting beside me, he gives me a quick check-over and then looks at my neck.

“You’re going to have some lovely bruises there, Silas. They are already showing. Marisela was serious about ending you, my friend. How’s the breathing?”

“My throat is sore and I have a headache that feels like I’ve been on a drinking spree. Otherwise, everything seems okay. Where is Allegra taking Marisela? I thought the hole Chips dug was in the back pasture?” Oh, my voice sounds like a cartoon frog out of a Disney movie.

“Allegra said it was time for Marisela to leave, so she was taking her to the bus. I don’t know where she hears some of her stuff from, but she always makes it uniquely hers.” Ghost shakes his head and then helps me to my feet. He takes me to the couch and I’m just relaxing when Chips bursts in through the back door.

Ghost shakes his head at him. “Last one to the party, as usual. Stay here with Silas while I catch up with Allegra.”

“It’s my party and I’ll be last if I want to…” Chips sings loudly and out of tune as Ghost disappears out the front door. “So, Silas. What the fuck went down…”

Chapter 21

*~* Vortex *~*

I’m back at the ranch again, having received a cryptic message from Chips to get here pronto, as Allegra’s done it again. I didn’t waste time asking questions, I just grabbed Hellion, as he was the nearest brother doing nothing, and we hightailed it here pronto as requested.

Having heard Silas’s version and then Ghost’s, I just look at my woman and wonder if she isn’t a distant relative of a Roman praetorian guard or something. She gets into more shit just by being in the right place at the right time than I ever could trying my damnedest.

She’s sitting next to me, cradling a cup of coffee, as if this were all in a day's work. I can’t help but smile and shake my head.

“What?” She asks, tilting her head to one side. “What makes you look at me so, my man?” She places a hand on my shoulder and smiles.

“I don’t know how you can be at the center of so much drama when you are the least dramatic person I know.”

“How can you say that? I am Italian. We thrive on drama, though we don’t always create it, we will never back down from it. Would you have had me stay in the corral and let Marisela kill this good man? Of course you wouldn’t, and what sort of woman would that have made me? Certainly not one fit to be your old lady or part of a powerful club like yours. No, I did the only thing that I could do. I defended my friend. I would do it again in a heartbeat.” She raises her cup to Silas in salute, and he tips his head in acknowledgement.

“You did the right thing, my love, of that I have no doubt. It also proves that your instincts about staying here were right on the money.”

“I accept your compliment and will reward you accordingly at a later time and place of my choosing.”

Ghost adds to the conversation. “It’s a fact that neither Chips nor I would have known anything about it ‘til it was too late.” I look around for Chips, noticing for the first time that he isn’t present. “Don’t worry about that idiot, Vortex. He started singing a song called Fist City by Loretta Lynn. We couldn’t stand it any longer, so I sent him back outside to watch the road in case Marisela came back with her husband to finish the job.”

“You don’t think they’ll try that do you, Ghost?” Allegra sits up straight as she asks this and adds, “I told her that if she came back, I would introduce her to Percy.”

“Truthfully, I didn’t think she’d try to kill her father, but she did. I wouldn’t be surprised by anything from here on out, and I don’t like surprises. I think Silas should go armed from now on, and I hate to say it, but be prepared to have to defend himself against his daughter and her man. What is the husband's name, anyway?” Ghost looks at Silas.

“His name hasn’t crossed my lips in years, and I don’t intend to start using it now. He’s just a worthless piece of shit that doesn’t deserve the air it takes to keep him alive. Why the fuck she took up with him, I’ll never know. All I can think is that he must be hung like a donkey because he has nothing else going for him.”

“What is this, ‘hung like a donkey’? I have never heard this.”

Ghost, Hellion, and I all look at Silas. He can explain it to her.

“It means he must have a large you-know-what.” He blushes as he says this.

“You-know-what?” Allegra frowns at this.

“My love, it means he probably has a big dick because he has no other redeeming qualities.” I say this and hope it clarifies it for her.

“Oh, and a dick is also a you-know-what? Ha. I will think on this and see where I can use it.”

I groan as I imagine that coming into a conversation at the least suitable moment. Hellion laughs, so he must have a similar train of thought. Just then Ghost’s phone pings and he glances at it.

“We have company on the ranch road. The bitch is back with her husband.”

I tell Silas and Allegra to stay in the house, as Ghost slips out of the kitchen door while Hellion and I go out front. A battered old junker comes to a halt, and Marisela and her man get out. We see he is holding an old hunting rifle. Hellion just shakes his head in disgust. By the time the husband raised the rifle enough to take a shot, he’d be dead four times over. By now Ghost and Chips will have him in their crosshairs, Hellion has his hand at his spine holding his pistol in his waistband, and I can throw a knife faster than he can draw and fire.