AllFreeNovel
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“I’m gonna sue you,” the one says, his chin tilted up in defiance. “I’m gonna take everything you’ve got.”
“Okay,” I reply and turn to Axel. “What do we have here?”
“These two were caught cutting the fence about five hundred feet down from the main gate,” Axel begins, delivering the report as he would if he were still on the police force. “They trespassed onto the property, carrying bags that we now know are full of spray paint and grain filled with poison.”
“What the fuck?” Jake exclaims, eyeing the two boys about his age. “Are you kidding me?”
“Fuck you,” boy one sneers, as the other one, white as a ghost, looks like he’d love it if the floor opened up and swallowed him whole.
“What were you going to do with the poison?” I ask and cross my arms over my chest, eyeing them both with pure anger.
“None of your business.”
“What are your names?”
“None of your fucking business,” boy one repeats.
“Todd Wells,” Jake says, pointing to boy one, “and Steve Taylor.”
“You’re such a fucking rat,” Todd says, obviously pissed off.
“Hey!” I shout, getting his attention. “Eyes on me. What were you going to do with the poison? Kill my horses?”
“Like you’d miss them,” Todd replies. “You’re fucking rich; you can replace them.”
“These were the two boys caught shoplifting in my store last year,” Polly murmurs behind me. “Ex-associates of Jake’s.”
“Have the police been called?” I ask Axel, who nods.
“Affirmative, sir. They’re on their way.”
“Dude, this is stupid,” Todd says. “It’s just a little paint, and nobody got hurt. It was a prank.”
“You’re an idiot,” Jake shoots off.
“You’re a piece of fuck,” Todd fires back, using his obviously favorite word.
“Dude, just stop,” Steve mutters, but Todd doesn’t listen.
“You think that just because this asshole adopted you that you’re better than us? Bullshit. You’re nobody, who comes from shit people, and that makes you shit. You’re worthless.”
“Enough!” I yell and step forward. “You’ll keep your mouth shut. Do you hear me?”
“Whatever,” Todd snarls as we hear a car pull up outside, and for the first time, a little sliver of fear shows in his young eyes. “I don’t care about this. You’re all fucked.”
An hour later, after the boys have been cuffed and hauled off to jail for the night, I walk into the house with Polly and Jake and sigh.
“I’m sorry,” Jake says mournfully.
“What?” I turn to him and scowl. “Why are you sorry?”
“It’s because of me that they came here,” he replies. “If it wasn’t for me, it wouldn’t have happened.”
“You can’t control what other people do,” Polly reminds him and rubs her hand up and down his back. “And you did the right thing by breaking away from them after the incident at my store. So this is definitely not your fault, Jake.”
“Feels like it is,” he mumbles. “I can’t believe they were going to hurt the horses. What kind of sick asshole does that?”
“Hey.” I step to him and cup his young face in my hand. “You need to take a breath, buddy. The horses are fine. Nothing happened to them, and the boys are most likely going to juvie for a while.”
