Cowboy from the Future (9 page)

The
man shook her off, intent on killing the boy.  Addy fell backwards, swearing a
blue streak.  “Get away from him!”

Jake
rolled into a ball, trying to protect his head as they stomped on him.  “Addy,
run!”  He got out between blows

She
ignored that (probably good) advice, too.  She needed to do something.  Judo. 
Yes.  Addy staggered back to her feet, finding her center of balance.  She
needed to use Judo and…

The
gunshot caught her by surprise.  It actually didn’t
sound
like a gunshot
or anything else she’d ever heard before.  It sounded sort of like the ping of
fine crystal mixed with a vacuum cleaner’s whrrrrr.  She knew it was a gunshot
though, because a
Star Wars
-y laser blast caught one of the guys in the
shoulder.  He toppled away from Jake, clutching his scorched arm and screaming
in pain.  One of the other men dropped to his knees to help him, while the
other guy took off running.

Addy
looked over to see Cade holding a weird rifle/crossbow.  With his angular
cowboy hat and the weapons in his hand, he looked exactly like a gunslinger.  A
really, really hot gunslinger.  All the hormones in her body gave a cheer at
the sight of him.

Wow
.

“Are
you alright, Adeline?”  Cade asked, stepping off the back step.  His attention
stayed on the attackers, even as he reached down to help Jake to his feet.

“I’m
fine,” she swallowed hard, “but I think those guys just tried to mug Jacobi.”

Cade
sent his brother a sideways look, his expression dark.  “If this is about a
fucking card game…”

“I
won that hand fair and square!  I swear to the gods, I did.”

Somehow,
Cade didn’t seem appeased by that vow.  “You played with the Caroillos?  Are
you out of your mind?  They don’t give a shit about ‘fair and square?’”  Addy
had never seen him so agitated.  “What if I wasn’t here, Jake?  What if they’d
caught up with you alone?  Or what if they’d taken it out on
her?
”  He
gestured towards Addy.  “Damn it, I told you to look after her!”

“I
would
never
put Addy in danger, Cade!  I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“You
just
did
, Jake!  Where the fuck is your
head?!
”

“I’m
fine.”  Addy repeated.  She moved so she was standing between the brothers. 
“Don’t yell at him, Cade.  It’s all over, now.”

“It’s
not over.  Because of Jake, I just shot Orly Caroillo.  You think that won’t
lead to a lot of badness?”

“It
wasn’t his fault.”

“It
was
my fault.”  Jacobi interjected, looking like he was about to cry. 
“Cade, I’m sorry.  Don’t be mad.”

Addy
flashed him a quick glance, surprised that he didn’t see what she did.  It
seemed so obvious. “Sweetie, Cade’s not mad at you.  He’s just lashing out,
because he’s scared.”

“Scared?” 
Jacobi echoed like he couldn’t imagine
anything
scaring his brother.  He
swiped a hand under his bleeding nose.  “Of what?  The Caroillos?  No way.  Cade
could take Orly and Branson and Werd all at once and not…”

“No.” 
Addy interrupted, cutting off his fervent defense of Cade’s fighting skills. 
“He’s scared that you might’ve been hurt.  Give him a minute and he’ll calm
down.  He’s just terrible at showing how much he cares, so he’s bellowing at
you instead of giving you a hug.”  One look in Cade’s eyes told her all of
that, so she wasn’t sure why Jake still looked worried.  “His grouchiness is
just part of being a cowboy, I think.”

Cade
slanted her a glare.  “You understand me so well, huh?”

She
fixed Cade with an exasperated frown.  “Don’t be more of a jackass than you can
help.  Look at how upset the boy is.  How about just a pat on the shoulder?”

His
scowl got deeper.

“Please?” 
She tried.

Cade
let out a frustrated breath at the simple word.  “This is ridiculous.”  But he reached
over to slap Jake on the back.  “I’m glad you’re not dead.”  He told him
gruffly.

Jacobi’s
eyebrows soared at that Hallmark moment.  Clearly he didn’t expect much in the
way of brotherly affection.  Just as clearly, he reciprocated Cade’s feelings,
with far less awkwardness about showing them.  His arms wrapped around Cade in
a bone-crushing hug.

Cade
sighed, his eyes rolling towards the sky.

“See?” 
Addy beamed up at him, ignoring his sour mood.  “Emoting isn’t so hard, is it?”

“Voltyn
don’t
have
emotions.”

She
touched his arm and adopted a wise tone.  “Of course you do.  This one is called
love.”  How could the moron miss the fact that he adored his little brother?  Just
the fact he wasn’t shoving Jake away should prove that.  “Enjoy it.  A lot of
people would die to have a family who cares for them.”

Cade
studied her for a long moment.  “What the hell am I supposed to do with you,
lady?”  He finally asked.

Addy
grinned, sensing victory in that tired question.  “Well, you could tell me my
sonically-cleaned hair looks nice.”  She teased.

“I
could leave you out in the snow and save myself a lot of headaches.  Jake,” he
nudged Jacobi towards the house, “take Adeline inside and make sure she stays
there.  I’d rather deal with Branson and Orly, than more of her craziness.”

“Sure,
Cade.”

Once
Jacobi had caught hold of Addy’s arm and was tugging her towards the back door,
Cade glanced back at the Caroillos.  The wounded one, Orly, was still on the
ground with Branson trying to bind his injury.  Cade snapped something at them,
apparently telling them to get off his property.

That
suggestion was met with more guns.  Branson Caroillo stopped caring for his
brother and pulled his weapon out, aiming it at Cade.  He screamed out
something, preparing to fire more laser blasts.

“Cade!” 
Addy shouted in panic, when he didn’t duck.

Then
again, he didn’t have to.  A loud report sounded and Branson fell backwards
with a singed hole in the middle of his skull.  He sprawled in the snow, his
hand still clenched around the gun he never had a chance to fire.

Addy
looked up at the ceiling.  She guessed that Deke had killed fifty-seven men,
now.

Cade
glowered at the rooftop, where Deke was watching over his brothers like a
sniper.  “Did you have to aim for his head?  Now, Branson’s
dead
, you
idiot.  Werd is going to demand a honuel.”

“So
you’ll kill Werd and there’ll be one less asshole in the world.”  Deke retorted. 
“Problem solved.”

“Shit. 
You
know
I hate killing people.  Their auras go flickering off and it’s
fucking creepy.”  Cade stomped up the porch steps, pissed at the world.  “Jake,
I told you to take Adeline into the house.  Why does nobody listen to me?  I’m
the only sane one here, so you’d think
somebody
would listen to me.”

“You
talk too much for anybody to listen to you.”  Deke called back.

Cade
shook his head.  “Gods, I should leave all
three
of you in the snow and
finally have some peace and quiet.”  He slammed through the door.  “Where do we
keep that damn
honuel.
band?  I’m about to need it.”

“Closet.” 
Jacobi reported, tagging along behind him with a concerned frown.

“Of
course.  Right where it was the
last
time you got me into one of these
things.”

“I’m
sorry, Cade.  Really.  I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

“You
never do.”

Addy
followed Cade into the saloon, even though she knew she should stay out of it. 
She should go back upstairs, lock her door, and wait until the western pass
opened.  Engaging with the Westins would just lead to trouble.

“What’s
a honuel
?
”  She asked anyway.

“It’s
like a…” Jacobi hunted for a translation.  “Duet?  Dude?  …Duel?  Yes, duel!  After
a feud, the heads of two families must meet in combat and fight to the death.” 
He looked more upset over his brother’s irritation than that amazingly horrible
news.  “Cade always wins them.”  He tacked on, as if that might improve the
situation.

“I’ve
had a lot of practice.”  Cade muttered.  “Just go upstairs and let me handle
it, Jake.  Adeline, you go with him.  I don’t need either of you underfoot.”

Jake
retreated with an abashed expression.

Addy
wasn’t so obedient.  “Are you
kidding
me?”  She hurried after Cade.  “A
duel?  Who are you, Clint Eastwood, now?  You cannot
possibly
be
considering something so stupid.”

He
stopped in the hallway outside the kitchen and yanked open a closest door.  The
whole thing popped off its hinges the moment he touched it.  That must’ve been a
regular occurrence thanks to Cade’s carpentry skills, because he impatiently
dragged the door aside and braced it against the wall like it was no big deal.

“Because,
I’ve been making such smart choices lately?”  He grabbed some kind of leather
holster thing from a shelf and fastened it around his waist.  “And who’s Clint
Eastwood?”

“It
doesn’t matter, because you’re not living in a Spaghetti Western.”  She really
did intend to stay unengaged from the Westins’ problems, but she couldn’t just
stand aside while Cade risked his life in a showdown.  “Whatever that gun belt do-hickey
is, just put it back.”

“I
can’t.”

“Of
course you can.  Just forget this whole thing and…”

“No,
I mean, I
can’t
.”  He cut in.  “There are laws.  If I don’t fight in the
honuel, my family’s property is forfeited to the other side.  The Carriollos
will take
everything
.  Any idea where we’re going to sleep tonight
without this tavern?”  He arched a brow.  “Believe me, you’re not going to like
camping in the woods, Adeline.  I don’t think you’re the type.”

“They’ll
steal your house?”  Jesus, who invented the stupid rules of this stupid place? 
“That’s the most asinine law I ever heard!”  She paused.  “Well, maybe not as
asinine as the Voltron discrimination stuff, but pretty close.”

“It’s
Vol
tyn
.”  He corrected.  “And since a honuel is the one instance where
I’m allowed to fight back against a human, I think it’s
far
less asinine.” 
He headed for the front door, grabbing his coat from a hook.  “Don’t worry.  No
one’s stealing our house.”

Addy’s
stomach dropped.  He was really going to go through with this.  “Wait!  I just
remembered I
like
the camping.  I joined the Girl Scouts and
everything.”  She’d been expelled after one meeting for eating all the troop’s
fundraiser cookies, but he didn’t need to know that.

…And
did he just call it “
our
house”?

“Girl
Scouts?  What is that?  A military unit?”

“Not
exactly.”  Addy was growing increasingly panicked over the possibility of a
shoot-out.  “The point is, I think you should just give these Carriollo guys
the bar.  It’s not even that
nice
a bar, Cade.  You can find someplace way
better.  Like with indoor plumbing.”

He
reached for the knob.  “I don’t know what indoor plumbing is, so I doubt I need
it.”

“If
you knew what it was, you’d already
know
you need it.  Damn it, just
stop
.”
 She caught hold of his arm and he obediently halted.  She stared up at him,
breathing hard.  “What if you get hurt out there?”

“I
heal fast.”  His said vaguely, his gaze locked on the spot when her hand
touched his sleeve.  He seemed fascinated by the polish on her nails.  “Voltyn
were bred to be stronger than…”  Something new occurred to him and he hesitated,
purple eyes flashing up to hers.  “Wait, are you
worried
about me?”

“Yes!”

“Oh.” 
That seemed to confuse him for a beat.  Then, the corner of his mouth curved
ever so slightly.  “Well, don’t.  Everything will be okay.  I promise.  These
fights happen every other week, with my brothers around.”  His voice turned
suddenly serious.  “Just stay in the house.  I mean it.  I don’t want you to
see this.”

Addy
swallowed.  If this man got himself killed, she would never recover.  It didn’t
make any sense to be so invested in someone she barely knew, but she couldn’t
argue with the facts.  Something about Cade blasted through her intentions to
stay distant and unengaged, making her care about him.  A lot.

This
wasn’t good.

“If
you die out there, I’m screwed.”  She informed him, because it seemed like the
safest argument to make.  “I’ll be homeless.  Deke will kick me out before your
body’s even cold.”

“No,
he won’t.”  Cade sounded very certain and annoyingly reasonable.  “My brothers
will look after you.”

“Look,
I don’t want you to die, okay?”  Was it
really
so hard for him to
understand that?  “While you’re playing OK Corral out there, just think about me
and
don’t die
.”

Cade’s
expression softened.  “Haven’t you noticed?  I can’t think of anything
but
you, Adeline.”