Black Horse (Breaking Black) (18 page)

“Unfortunately, he is not…”

“Yeah, but guess what… You got him good…”

“What? How do you know?”

“Before I get into all that… do you have anything to eat? I’m starving.”

“Of course! Oh, my God… I made breakfast. Colt and Randy are in the kitchen.”

Suddenly, the front door opened again and Averi’s Uncle Shawn had walked in, still dressed in his uniform.

Shelly followed Averi to the kitchen, while Shawn looked around. No one was more nervous than him… and he was determined to get his man this time. Colt knew he’d be coming. While he was not the socializing type, whenever there was trouble, he would show up to see what he could do.

Shelly was still stressed but she was trying not to let her worry show. Especially after Averi’s guilt-laden apology. Shelly didn’t want Averi to think it was her fault. It wasn’t. She was just doing what she thought was right.

“Look what the cat drug in… How ya feelin’, Shell?” asked Randy.

“Pull up a chair…”

Averi walks over to the kitchen cabinet and pulls down two more large plates. She places a southwestern omelet on each, along with a serving of bacon and home fries. While pouring two tall glasses of orange juice, Averi could feel her stomach doing flip flops… which is strange. She loves orange juice. Ignoring her queasiness, Averi brought the plates to the table sitting one in front of Shelly and another where she would sit.

As she sat down, Colton looked at her nervously.

“You okay, baby? You look like you’re getting sick.”

“I’m fine… Probably just tired,” Averi insisted but even as she said it she had her doubts.

“So the police said that Averi has a crack shot…” Shelly began, opening a conversation that the guys were definitely going to want to hear.

“Shit, I knew that…” said Randy, who recalls taking Averi to the shooting range as a teenager when he taught her how to shoot. That was back when he felt Colt was public enemy number one.

Suddenly, their Uncle Shawn appeared in the doorway.

“Holy crap… Look who stopped by.”

“Everybody alright?” Shawn asked.

“For the most part.”

“I’ll be staying in Tim’s room to make sure there’s no problems. Colt, you got everything covered out here?”

“Yeah, Randy and I have it covered. If it wasn’t so dark, I betcha Averi would’ve gotten him,” said Colt darkly.

If only they weren’t gridlocked in the dark of the cellar with no light to guide her.

“Well, I overheard the cops saying that there was a trail of blood leaving the property. They think he is badly hurt and dying
somewhere,” Shelly said hopefully.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” said Colt, refusing to give in to hope too soon.

“Colt’s right. Black Horse is cunning… Good thing we knew a thing or two.”

Shawn sat down as Averi made him a platter of breakfast. She then sat down in front of her own plate. Averi took a bite of her
omelet and as she chewed, she felt as if she was going to be sick. Her stomach churned as she pushed away her plate. Her chair skidded out from the table as she got four perplexed looks from Colt, Shelly, Uncle Shawn and Randy.

“Are you alright?” asked Randy, as Averi ran out of the room.

She ran as fast as she could up the stairs and slammed the bathroom door behind her.

“Umm… I’ll be right back, guys…” Shelly said giving them a nervous glance.

Averi was at the sink rinsing her mouth out when she heard a gentle knock at the door.

“It’s me. Open up.”

“Just come in. It’s not locked.”

“You okay?”

“So nauseous. I must be getting sick.”

Shelly gave her friend a sideways glance. She was going to have to spell this out for her. No one wanted their suspicions to ring true. Not with a murderer on the loose. Reality could not be avoided though

“Girl, when was the last time you had your period?” Shelly asked warily.

Averi had a deer in headlights stare. She would love nothing more than to have a baby with Colt, but, and this was a big but, not when the child’s grandfather was on the loose trying to kill her.

“Oh, my God…” Averi said as the thought occurred to her. She hadn’t had a period in five weeks.

“Let’s go,” Shelly said as she walked out of the bathroom and downstairs.

***

Shelly grabbed Averi’s car keys and immediately Colt saw her.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa… Where the hell do you think you two are going? No one is leaving.”

“Boys, we’ll be back,” said Shelly, clearly ignoring Colt’s demand.

“No Shelly. You’re not leaving. Not with him out there.”

“We have to go to the pharmacy…”

“For what?!” Randy spat, “You just came from the hospital. I’m sure they have aspirin or whatever the hell you need upstairs!”

“It’s not for me,” Shelly explained as Averi walked into the room with a vacant look upon her face.

“Averi, baby… What do you need from the pharmacy?” Colton asked.

Averi looked frightened as she met Colton’s eyes.

“A pregnancy test.”

Colton’s chair skidded from the kitchen table. Looking at Shawn he yelled, “Stay here and don’t let them leave!”

Chapter Thirty

A Small Hope

“You knocked her up?!” screamed Randy as he and Colt got into his truck.

“Oh, shove it, Randy! We’ve been together for eleven years!”

“You got my sister pregnant…”

“You probably got about six kids running around from those bar flies you’re always taking home…”

Randy’s eyes went wide.

“I sure as hell hope not. I don’t have the money for six kids.”

Colt shook his head.

“When I’m out with you, I seriously need a shirt that says, I’m with stupid.”

“That’s offensive. You know I was the slow kid in school.”

“That doesn’t explain your idiocy as an adult,” said Colt as he pulled up to Wagner’s Pharmacy.

“Let’s get this over with,” said Colt as he put the truck in park.

The two men searched the aisles for what they were looking for, but quite frankly, they were clueless. Eventually, Colt gave up and had to ask a store clerk for help. He found Debbie who frequently came in to the bar, and she recognized him immediately.

“Hey Debbie…” said Colton flashing her his 100-watt smile.

“My, my, my… Colt… What brings your sexy ass in my pharmacy?”

“He needs a pregnancy test,” Randy blurted.

Colton covered his face in embarrassment. Debbie stared at Randy and Colton suspiciously.

“What?” Debbie asked clearly confused by the situation that had presented itself.

“He needs a pregnancy test, Debbie!” Randy said loud enough for everyone in the damn store to hear.

People turned around to look at the two men who were purchasing a pregnancy test.

“Colton, are you expecting?” asked Debbie with a devilish smirk on her face.

“Very funny!” Colt said, “Just show me where the hell they are…”

Debbie, “Well there is no need to get snippy!”

“I’m getting that shirt. I hope you know that,” said Colton as he gave Randy an agitated stare.

“What’s wrong? Are you worried rumor will spread that your preggo?”

“Absolutely… Because I look like I have the proper equipment…” Colton said shaking his head.

“Look. Here’s breast pumps and stuff. You’ll need them.”

“I’m gonna hurt you,” Colt said leaving Randy by the nursing equipment.

As Debbie assisted Colt in picking out a pregnancy test, she glanced back at Randy with a peculiar look as he took the test model for a medical grade breast pump and placed the nipple pumps to his pecs.

“Is he drunk?” Debbie asked.

Colton looked back with wide eyes.

“Uh, probably… We’ll be leaving now,” Colton said trying not to laugh. “Just give me those early detection ones. I’ll let her figure it out.”

Colton paid for the tests in a hurry and bolted out of the store without telling Randy. A moment later, Randy ran out of the store with some snacks for the house with an amused look on his face.

“I got you good in there,” Randy said as Colt glared at him.

“Yeah, okay. I got a reputation to uphold. Get in, jackass!”

Despite the tension of late, Colton had to admit to himself it was nice to see a lighter side of Randy. The side he remembered from when they were kids. The stupid comedian that tried to get a laugh out of anyone… and with all that was going on, it felt good to have a laugh.

***

Averi and Shelly were on the couch watching one of Shelly’s ridiculously sappy love stories on the Women’s Drama Network, while Shawn sat at Averi’s feet rolling his eyes at the straight to TV movie.

“I don’t know how you can watch this crap!” Averi said as she ni
bbled on a saltine cracker.

“What?! This network is amazing! I especially love this movie. It’s about two old people who dated when they were younger and they meet in a nursing home and…”

“You’ve seen this before?! And you’re making me suffer through it again?!”

“This is like watching paint dry,” remarked Shawn.

“What would you like to watch?”

“How about reruns of Sons of Anarchy on Netflix?”

“There is a Stooges marathon on…” Shawn suggested.

“You’re kidding right?”

“At least I watch something good, and not this crap!”

“We’re back!” Randy yelled as he and Colton walked through the front door.

“Hey… how’d you make out?” asked Averi giving Colton an amused glance.

“Great. Just great. Thanks to your idiot brother, the whole town is going to think I am expecting. Oh, and be sure to ask Randy about his experience testing out the breast pumps at the store.”

“What?!” Averi asked. She couldn’t help but laugh.

“It was funny…” Randy said. “And I was curious. That thing looked like it hurts.”

Shelly rolled her eyes. “Thank God Tim has more intelligence than you.”

Averi smirked at her friend and said, “I wouldn’t be so sure… He’s just not so obvious about it.”

“Anyway, here’s the tests,” Colton said, throwing the bag from the pharmacy onto the coffee table.

“How many did you buy?!” Shelly asked.

“I want to be sure.”

Rolling her eyes, Averi took the bag and retreated upstairs as everyone sat nervously downstairs. Though Randy had tried to lighten up the mood, it was fleeting.

“Are you nervous, Colt?” Shelly asked.

Colt regarded Shelly as a look of tension grew across his face. He tried to smile to melt it away, but it didn’t work.

“Shit… I’d be nervous…” remarked Shawn as Randy agreed.

“Don’t get me wrong. I want to start a family with Averi. I love her. But I cannot, with a sound conscience, bring a child into this world, when its grandfather is a murderer.”

“Which is why you two need to find him and take him out,” Shelly said. “Look my brother is running the bar tonight. I’ll make him put her in the office, away from the crowd. You two need to handle this.”

“I’d say I’d put some officers on it… but they are all crooked one way or another. Do what you gotta do… I’ll try to keep them from breathing down your neck.”

Colt rubbed his neck. Shelly could swear she could feel the heat rising off his back.

“Danny is running the bar tonight?” Colt asked, sounding slightly relieved. “She can’t be out on that floor. I mean at all. She has to stay in that office.”

“It’s too fucking risky, man. No way!” Randy said looking at Colt like he was crazy.

“She can’t stay here alone.”

“Look. I need to make some calls. Tell your brother to put her in the back office. We, as in me and nutball here, will be at the bar by midnight. We need to handle this tonight.”

“Do you know where he is?” asked Shelly.

“I have an idea…” said Randy.

“Yeah, so do I,” said Colt.

“What are the chances that Hearns has him holed up in the church that’s under construction…?”

Suddenly, Shawn’s radio went off and he had to bolt.

“There’s been a break-in… Gotta run.”

Shawn bolted out of the house without another world. As the door slammed, Colt regarded Randy’s suggestion.

“It’s a good idea, but there’s no chance. I’m fairly certain he would flame up if he stepped foot in a church. What about the other properties that your construction company is working on…?”

“There’s this one… Right behind the bar.”

“That’s the one.”

“What now?”

“Armor up. We leave at noon.”

***

Black Horse screamed as Jimmy tried to remove the bullet from his shoulder.