and I don’t want you in the firing—” I didn’t get to finish giving Dillion a heads up because an almighty crack broke through Drixx’s growling, signalling my triplet just broke Dusty’s nose already.
“Shit,” I muttered, taking off at a sprint to stop my brother from spending the night in the lock-up.
“Make the calls, Dillion,” I shouted, adrenaline pumping in my veins, the feeling so fucking good. If there was one thing the Hott brothers were known for other than cattle and horses, it was our fighting skills. We excelled at boxing, our dad demanded we know how to protect ourselves and our mother, and in our youth we never missed an opportunity to hone our skills.
“Fuck Hendrixx, you broke my fucking nose!” Dusty accused, unnecessarily stating the bloody obvious.
“You get that from the cracking sound your bones made or the blood gushing out of your nose, Dustyn?” I drawled, coming up to the two men and standing in between them. As much as I wanted to see Drixx rip our childhood friend’s head off, I was acutely aware that Hendrixx could do more damage than a broken nose, and Dusty wasn’t worth the trouble.
Although Hendrixx might not agree.
“You have some balls showing your face around here after the shit you pulled.” Hendrixx rounded me to face Dusty again. “You brought criminals to the Triple H, tried to kill my wife’s horses and your mate fucking shot me!” Hendrixx bellowed angrily.
“He wasn’t my mate. I was desperate for money, I made a bad decision, that’s all,” Dusty pleaded, holding his hands to his face, blood dripping out from between his fingers. Behind me, I could hear Dillion giving someone, Noxx most likely, a running commentary of the unfolding drama. No doubt, Noxx was on his mobile and on his way over here to join in the fun and games. After Dusty admitted to his part in the attempted horse decimation, he went to court and received a suspended sentence, all thanks to the kindness of Blake. She heard that Dusty’s parents were doing it tough due to the drought over the last couple of years that had hit country Australia. If it had not been for her thinking of his parents and the shame of their son going to prison, Dusty would not have gotten off so lightly. Lucky for him, though, he’d kept a low profile until today, knowing that if Drixx saw him in town, he would have suffered more than a broken nose by now.
“That’s all? They were after Blake and the horses, Dustyn. What would you have done if Blake was the one that took that bullet and not me? Would you have stopped him? Or would you have gone through with slaughtering the brumbies and fuck Blake?”
“I would answer his question carefully, but honestly if I were you, Dusty,” I warned, getting closer to Hendrixx again just in case Dusty fucked up and said the wrong thing.
“Of course I didn’t want Blake to be hurt, I had no idea about Roberts’s issue with her. As far as I knew, it was just about getting the mob on the Triple H, I swear to God it’s true.”
“But you know how she feels about them and you still trespassed and brought that piece of shit with you,” Hendrixx accused, his voice dangerously quiet. Not a good sign for Dusty or his unbroken bones.
Darting a look at Dillion, I gave him a questioning look, then sighed with relief when he held up five fingers then a thumbs up. Either Noxx was close or Marty was on his way; either way, all I had to do was stay between my brother and Dusty, and the afternoon should end without further violence. Not that I would stop Hendrixx from punching Dusty one or three more times. The night he was shot looking for Blake, I was in a panic myself, I had seen her only minutes before she took off on Hercules that night. We had been talking about Farron, but Eddy interrupted with a phone call. Had I known her intentions, there was no way I would have let her go out there on her own. Had I gone, Hendrixx wouldn’t have faced the rustlers by himself, and Blake would not have been in danger and—
“Nixx, don’t,” Hendrixx muttered roughly, “I know what you are thinking, so stop it,” he warned, giving me a quick wink then turned his attention back to Dusty.
Ahh, the joys of being part of