AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sunshine!” Gray yelled, pushing Mercy into his arms as Jason turned.
“No!” Mercy tried to shove Jason away, but he pulled her to safety behind the thick post that supported the tavern’s porch roof.
Gray turned to face the gunman, dragging in deep breaths to try and clear the fog in his head. The adrenaline coursing through him burned off whatever final alcohol still lingered in his system. But that bullet had gotten too close. His head throbbed again, and he pressed a hand to the jagged line of burning pain on his scalp. His hand came away slick with blood.
Way too damn close.
He swayed but managed to keep to his feet. Barely. His hands reached for his guns, but it felt like he was pushing through mud to get to them. Maybe that graze went deeper than he thought. His vision swam, black dots flooding his periphery.
The gunman who’d shot at him dismounted and sauntered closer, living up his moment of besting a legendary gunfighter for all its worth. Irritating for certain, though Gray couldn’t really blame him. He was a catch, after all.
“Thanks for making this easy, Old Man,” he said, waving at Gray.
At least Gray thought he waved at him. He couldn’t quite make his eyes work right. He leaned his shoulder against the post at his right. It would make it harder to pull his gun, but he wasn’t all that sure he could pull it anyway. Certainly not fast enough to best a man who already had his gun trained on him. Why hadn’t he shot again? Still trying to savor his moment of glory, maybe?
“I aim to please,” Gray said, though his voice sounded like it was coming from far away.
“No!” Mercy shouted. She broke free from Jason and rushed to Gray.
“Stop!” the gunman yelled.
Jason skidded to a halt a few feet away from them. Mercy however, placed her body in front of Gray while she clapped a handkerchief to his head.
“Mercy, get back,” Gray said.
She ignored him. Because of course she did. She dabbed at his head again and winced, though whether it was from causing him pain or because she was using her injured arm to tend him, he didn’t know.
“Don’t you ever listen, woman?” he mumbled.
“No,” she said with a tremulous smile. “I’d have thought you’d be used to that by now.”
His eyes shot to hers as her other hand trailed down to his until she reached the gun in his hand. Her eyes bore into his. She was steady, calm, and his shaking fingers released the weapon. He glanced over to Sunshine who was hopefully the only other one who noticed Mercy hiding the gun in the folds of her skirt. Jason’s hand made a subtle move toward his own gun, and Gray let out a long breath. They were both too stubborn for their own good. He loved them for it. But damn.
“I said, get away,” the gunman said, keeping his gun trained on Gray and Mercy.
She half turned to him. “Are you really going to shoot a man who doesn’t have a fair chance?”
The man snorted. “For seven hundred and fifty dollars and the right to say I killed Quick Shot Woodson? Hell yeah.”
She gave him a slow, cold smile that both filled Gray with pride and a hint of fear. “Good,” she said. “I wasn’t planning on being fair, either.”
She and Jason both pulled their guns, and Jason moved until he stood shoulder to shoulder with Gray. The gunman’s eyes widened, and he pulled his other gun, keeping one on Gray and Mercy but aiming the other at Jason.
Gray tried to take the gun back from her. He appreciated the thought, but the last thing he wanted was for Mercy to be dueling for his life. But every time he’d tug at her or try to move to pull her arm down, Mercy would swat at him with her other arm, though it must have pained her to do it.
“Blasted woman, give that to me,” he muttered.
“No. Now hush,” she snapped back without an ounce of bite.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to do, mister,” the gunman said to Jason. “But I ain’t got no fight with you. Or with the woman. I’m just here for Woodson.”
“Then you do have a fight with me,” Jason said.
“And with me.”
Gray’s mouth dropped open as Doc stepped up beside Jason, pulling his own gun from somewhere to aim at the gunman.
He shrugged at Gray’s (and Mercy’s and Jason’s) obvious surprise. “I keep one around for emergencies. This seems to qualify.”
