35. Gunner

35

Gunne r

Three Weeks Later

I sit in an empty bar at a table in the corner across from Blade. He shows me the video on his phone again that I’ve requested to see four times already. My Montana being dragged unconscious into some warehouse this morning. He scratches his red beard with his calloused hands. “He’s there right now. About twenty minutes from here. I can kill him if you want. Your payment covers that.”

I take a look at the piece of paper in front of me, memorizing the map and address he wrote down. “That’s alright. I want to kill him myself. If you could handle cleanup, that’d be more than enough.”

Blade and I stand up, and he shakes my hand. “Sure thing. Call me when it’s done.”

I wait a moment for him to leave, and then I head out to the Camero and drive .

Three weeks. I haven’t held, seen, or kissed my baby in three weeks. But today, our suffering ends. Today, I’m rescuing my girl, and I’m killing the man who stole her from me.

I haven’t slept more than four hours per night for the past three weeks. I’ve spent every waking moment trying to find Montana. The day Dallas and I went to Nebraska and found nothing, we came back to town that night, calling any and everyone we could for information on Mason Barnes and Montana. Had anyone seen them? Did anyone know his plan? We didn’t get answers, and each person we asked ended up dead.

I drove around for hours a day, going in circles. I went back to the home Montana grew up in. I went through her old room and Mason’s office, spending hours searching for the slightest clue. I went back to the casino in Vegas where I was almost arrested for being recognized from the last time I was there. I went back to Colt’s to see if we’d left anything behind useful. I stopped at every motel, hotel, diner, and restaurant that Montana and I’d ever been to together. And all I did was waste time.

Through some connections from Colt and Dallas, I found some useful killers who had the skill to filet Mason in ways I never could, but I didn’t need a killer. I needed a hound. Someone to find him. I called endless amounts of candidates, but no one was good enough. Until three days ago.

I don’t know where Blade got his training, but there’s no one like him. And after receiving fifty thousand dollars up front, he found Mason and Montana in seventy-two hours.

He pinpointed that they were in Kansas yesterday, and I drove here immediately. It didn’t take him long to find the town and neighborhood, and once Montana’s back in my arms, he’ll get the other half of his money.

I take a peek in the back and see I have my shotgun, but I’m only going in with my pistols and knives. I don’t know where Mason will be hiding in the building, and I don’t want to be weighed down by anything heavy.

Here it is.

I pull up close to the warehouse and get out, going in a door at the back of the building. The lights are out when I get in, but I use a flashlight to guide me through.

This place was probably used for a major business at some point, but it’s a wasteland now. I listen out for any possible sounds, but there’s nothing.

I keep an eye on my watch, and after fifteen minutes of walking down corridors and going in circles, I stumble upon a room with a light coming from it .

I run to it, full speed ahead, and when I step over the threshold, I see her.

I barely recognize her with her black eye and busted lip. Blood drips slowly from her head, and her body slouches to the side on a metal chair.

Tears fill my eyes, and I don’t bother to hold them back. I don’t even say her name because I know she won’t hear me or believe I’m in front of her. When I’m a foot away, I kneel before her and pull out my knife to cut off the rope restraining her. Her healthy eye springs open, and she starts kicking and jostling while I hold her steady.

“Montana, it’s me. It’s me, baby. I’m right here.”

Her wide hazel eye focuses on me, and then she bursts into tears while her shoulders shake. She’s wearing nothing but a bra that used to be pink and coordinating underwear. Welts are on her chest from where he beat her with that belt, and her arms and legs are scraped from when she probably tried to escape.

I want to scoop her up and get her back to the car, but I can’t leave here until he’s dead. With Montana unchained, I stand up and turn around, and that’s when I see him.

Mason Barnes is a man who has haunted my dreams for weeks, and this is the first time I’m seeing his face. He’s ugly. Probably was good-looking at some point in his life, but not anymore .

He doesn’t waste time to tell me what scum I am or how much he hates me. Instead, he charges at me, and I shove Montana out of the way, knocking her out of her chair by accident so she doesn’t get tackled.

Mason lands on me, and his fist collides with my face. I spit on him, and we roll until I’ve got him on his back, slamming his head into the concrete floor. He knees me in the groin, but I ignore the pain, knowing there’s no way in hell I’m losing this fight. When he gets me on my back, I whip one of my knives out my pants and flip it open before lodging it into the side of his neck.

His blood squirts out of his flesh and oozes onto me like a thick sludge, but he doesn’t quit fighting. I get another punch to the face, but I catch his wrist before he can deliver a third blow and flip him until he’s face down on the ground.

With his nose against the cold floor, I stomp the back of his head repeatedly, smashing his face into nothing while I’m rewarded with loud crunches while my boot gets soiled.

I look over at Montana who’s sobbing, and when I pull out my gun and point it at Mason’s pile of head matter, she nods her head. Knowing he’s dead, I fire one round in him anyway, making sure that whatever part of his brain he had left never works again.

Montana sleeps in the back seat of the Camero while I drive slowly down the road to my house. I wanted her in the front next to me so I could hold her hand until we got back, but I needed both of mine on the wheel to focus. And, I wanted to make her as comfortable as possible. Looking in the rear view mirror, I see her still nestled up to her pillow with a blanket over her. I might be burnt out, but I can’t wait to take care of her and nurse her back to health.

When I park, I glance around the yard, making sure no one’s waiting for us. Blade did some digging as a courtesy for me, and no one else is left to hunt us, but I’m still paranoid all the same.

I see an old pick-up truck beside the house, and I smile to myself, thankful to have Dallas as a friend. I get out of the car and go to the back, easing Montana out of it slowly while I hold her bridal style, not wanting to cause her any more pain.

I got an X-ray done on her, and she has a cracked rib, but she’ll be alright. With some bed rest and an inhaler, I’ll have her lungs working at full capacity in no time .

When I get to the door, I wrap the blanket around her tighter and use my elbow to ring the bell. Dallas come up to it and opens it for us, and I step inside slowly, feeling like I just got home from war.

I’m in disbelief when I look past the entryway to the kitchen. There are a million grocery bags and some flowers on the table. Dallas starts unpacking things and putting them away. “I wanted to make sure you guys were set when you got back.”

I tell him thanks and leave him to it while I head upstairs with my injured little fox in my arms. The second we’re in our room with the door closed, her body softens as if she’s just realized she’s okay. A hospital would probably do her good, but I’m going to repair her myself just like I did the first time that I found her.

“You’re okay,” I tell her. My words are more of a reminder to myself. I dreamed of Montana every moment my eyes were closed, and I was devastated when I opened them and she wasn’t around. For the first time, I don’t have to worry about anyone coming after her. For a moment, I wasn’t sure if this day would come.

When her back is on the mattress, I swaddle her in her blanket while I fluff up a pillow behind her head. She stays still and quiet while I go down the hall to get medical supplies and bring them to her side of the bed .

I know she wants and needs rest, but I have to clean her up first, so I run her a warm bath without soap to ease her wounds and soreness without irritating her delicate skin. I let the water fill in the tub while I get her a glass of cool liquid from the sink to drink. She won’t want it, but she’s dehydrated. And she’s fifteen pounds lighter than she was when I saw her last, so I have to get her weight back up to what it was when I met her and then some before I’m comfortable letting her out of my sight again.

I change into a clean shirt and jeans then go to where she is on the bed. Once I get her undergarments out of the way, I carry her to the tub and place her in gently, staying right by her side so her head doesn’t go under.

She winces at the contact to her open wounds, but I keep her in the plunge, knowing it’ll help her more than it hurts her.

“Gunner,” she groans while she leans her head against the side. “You came back for me.”

I kiss her hairline next to the wound I bandaged up when I put her in the car. “Of course I came back for you, Montana. I know you didn’t leave me.”

I want to tell Montana how hard I looked to find her and how sick I was without her, but none of it even matters right now .

Her eyes water, and she grips my hand that sits on the edge of the tub. “I don’t want to be without you ever again.”

Grabbing the washcloth at the edge of the tub, I start to clean her gently, doing my best to hold it together. “You won’t be. Don’t worry about anything else. All that matters now is getting you better.”

Her eyes close, and once I get her body clean, I wash her face and put ointment on her injured eye as well as the scrapes on her face and neck. Once we’re done in the bathroom, I dry her off and get her in one of my shirts to go to bed.

I tuck her in gently and rest her head on the pillows. When I’m getting ready to go downstairs to make her something to eat, she grips my hand. “Do you have any painkillers?”

I look at Montana, still in disbelief that she’s conscious right now. She needs more than a little ibuprofen. “You want some morphine?”

She smiles through her bruised lips and gives me a thumbs up. “Yes.”

I give her one more kiss on her head and set up her IV, making sure she’s got everything she needs before she drifts back off to sleep.

It takes a full week before Montana can get out of the bed and walk around comfortably on her own. While it’s been a month since we’ve met, I’ve spent less than half of that time with her, and I’m eager to get back to the life we were building before that horrible day last month.

She sits at the breakfast table while I cook for her. I’ve made her breakfast, lunch, and dinner since she’s been home, and I’ll do it for the rest of our lives if that’s what she wants. Her hair is a little longer than it was when we met, and her thick waves hang past her shoulders. “Do you think I can go riding again today?”

Since Montana’s been back, she’s asked me daily if she can get on Violet for a ride. I know Violet misses Montana too, but I’m still on the fence about whether I want to keep that horse or not. She let my first love die, and she caused me to almost lose my second one too.

I plate her food, giving her a hearty helping of toast, eggs, bacon, and fruit, and put it in front of her. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Today is her first day without bandages, and I’m not even sure she’s strong enough to sit upright on Violet .

Montana huffs and rolls her shoulders back. “Well, I want to have some fun. I’ve been allowed to do nothing but lay in bed the past seven days. I’m ready for a good time.”

I get my plate and sit at the table across from her. “You can have a good time inside.”

Her eyes rake over my white T-shirt that’s soiled from working outside this morning. “You’re right. I can have a good time inside.”

My mind goes straight to the gutter, and when I see her eyes travel down my body, I know hers has too. “Montana, you’re underweight, and you have a cracked rib.”

She frowns and looks up at me with her wide doe eyes. “Do you not think I’m attractive?”

I nearly choke on my piece of toast. “Montana, are you serious right now?”

Her eyes roll, and she bites into her eggs. “Well, you’re acting like you don’t want me. You’ve hardly cuddled me at night, and you won’t even consider anything else.”

I grab her chair legs and pull her beside me. “Montana, I want you just as much as I did the day that I met you. However, I just got you back after you almost died, and with four weeks of not being inside you, I’m worried I might take things too far. ”

She softens against me immediately, leaning against my shoulder. “You won’t.”

My body heats from her touch, and I feel myself starting to get hard. “You don’t know that.”

She grips my bicep with her small hands, squeezing me as much as she can. “I do know that. You can control yourself. Control yourself for me, Gunner. I miss you, and I need you. This’ll help me feel better and get better faster.”

I’ve spent every night this week, tossing and turning while I watched Montana rest, hoping her little heart didn’t give out. And while I was hoping her heart didn’t give out, I was beating off beside her, missing her touch and wondering when I could feel her body underneath mine again.

I don’t feel like I can control myself. My hunger is too great, and I want her too much. But she’s right. I can do it for her. I can act like a civilized lover and give my little fox slow and tender sex for the very first time. And it won’t just make her feel better. It’ll make me feel better too.

I clear our plates and help her up from the table gently, picking her up while she wraps her legs around my hips. “Alright, Montana. You win. Let’s go have some fun.”