Make You Mine by K.T. Quinn

47

Jayce

It was all bullshit. Granted, everything that happened in this awful fucking town was bullshit, but this was the grand-daddy of all bullshits.

Not what the judge was giving me. What he was doing to her.

She doesn’t deserve this.

Charlotte was just an innocent girl who’d made the mistake of driving through town on a rainy night. She wasn’t speeding nor did she run through a stop sign, yet she’d gotten arrested and thrown in jail anyways. Because it was all a bullshit charade to squeeze money into the pockets of the sheriff and judge while she was trapped in town. Motel fees, parking fees, administrative fees. The works.

She’d done everything asked of her, and handled it better than most. Now they were condemning her to even more time in Eastland.

I couldn’t let them do it. If anyone deserved to escape this hellish town, it was Charlotte.

I pulled the gun from my hip and aimed it at the judge without a second thought. “No.”

To my left, Charlotte gasped. “Jayce!”

I didn’t have a plan. I certainly wasn’t going to kill a sheriff and judge in cold blood, no matter how corrupt they were. But I had to do something to stop them from fucking Charlotte over. Even if it meant potentially missing out on getting my revenge on Sid. I still had ten minutes to fix all of this before the Copperheads got here.

As I had expected, the sheriff drew his own weapon. “Drop it, Jayce!” he commanded, holding the pistol in the two-handed A-frame position.

My hand remained steady as I kept my gun trained on the judge. “Can’t do that, sheriff. This ends here.”

Judge Benjamin slowly raised his hands. “Think about what you’re doin’, boy.”

“I am thinking,” I replied. “For the first time in my life, I’m thinking about what should be done. The corruption in this town ends today. All of it.”

“Corruption?” The judge frowned with confusion, but it was an obvious act. “We have no choice, Jayce. We’re afraid of the Copperheads.”

“Copperheads?” Charlotte’s idiot ex-boyfriend asked. “What do snakes have to do with this?”

Charlotte hissed, “Shut up, Scott!”

I ignored them and remained focused on the two men in front of me. “Don’t blame this on the Copperheads. Your corruption is every bit as bad as theirs. Worse, since at least Sid is open about being a piece of shit. Sheriffs and judges are supposed to uphold the law.”

“I’m gonna shoot you if you don’t put down the gun,” the sheriff warned.

“I really wish you wouldn’t.”

“Then put the gun down, Jayce!”

Someone to our left whistled. Both the judge and sheriff glanced over, and after a moment of hesitation I did the same. The window of Flop’s bar was open a crack, and the barrel of an assault rifle peeked out.

“Sorry to interrupt your discussion!” Flop yelled. “But I’m with Jayce on this one!”

A second gun barrel appeared out of the next window over. “Me too!” called Flop’s ex-wife, Sandra. “We need a new sheriff who’ll protect us, not extort us.”

“Count me on their side,” Mindy said as she came out of her diner. She wore an old revolver on her hip but made no effort to draw it.

“Thanks, Mindy,” I said.

Her withering glare swung toward me. “I don’t appreciate being made to pick a side right now. Be that as it may, I want to live my life without fear. I’m done payin’ for your protection, sheriff.”

“You’re outnumbered,” I said more calmly than I felt. The sheriff’s face went through all the emotions: anger, fear, reluctance, and then eventually acceptance. He lowered his gun, then carefully tossed it toward me. I picked it up and tucked it behind my belt. The wooden grip was cold against the skin of my lower back.

Mindy took the handcuffs off the sheriff’s belt and then cuffed his hands behind his back. “Now what?” she asked me.

“This is not acceptable,” Charlotte’s ex announced, as if he were making a town proclamation. “I cannot be a party to this kind of crime. Charlie, get in the car so we can get out of here.”

“Scott, you’re free to leave,” Charlotte spat. “Go back to Savannah while you can. Nobody wants you here!”

“I won’t let you remain with this… this…” He looked at me and gathered what courage he had. “This criminal. Come on.”

He reached out and took Charlotte’s arm. She shook him off, and he tried to grab her shirt.

Wrong move, asshole.

I lazily swung my pistol in his direction. “Touch her again and we’re gonna have problems.”

Scott recoiled from the gun as if it would go off at any moment. “No, please! I only want to get her out of here…”

“You okay, Peaches?” I asked while keeping the gun on him.

“Who’s Peaches!” Scott stammered. “Please…”

“I’m fine,” Charlotte told me. “You can put the gun down.”

I did, but I continued staring daggers at Scott.

“Hate to break up the jealous love triangle bullshit,” Mindy said, “but what do we do now?”

I looked to the north. There was still no sign of them. Yet.

“You all need to get out of here,” I explained. “Sid and the Copperheads will be here any minute.”

Mindy narrowed her eyes. “You need backup?”

I gave her a smile. “You think you’ll make the difference against Sid’s entire gang?”

“No, but it’d be rude not to offer.”

As tempting as it was to have some allies alongside me, it would only ensure their deaths. I’m the only one who needs to die today. And, if I was lucky, I would take Sid down with me.

I nodded at the sheriff and judge. “Take them to the motel. Or take them home. Anywhere but here.” I raised my voice. “That goes for you too, Flop. Put your guns away and hide.”

“You ain’t my boss!” he shouted back. “If I want to defend my property, that’s my God-given right as a veteran, and as an American!”

Should’ve known he would take that position. I didn’t know whether to be annoyed by his stubbornness, or grateful that I had at least one friend who wouldn’t leave me.

I turned to Charlotte and squeezed her arm with my free hand, and gave her the most loving smile I could. “Go with Mindy and hide out until all this is over.”

“No,” she whispered.

“Yes. Shit’s about to get really bad out here, and I don’t know what I’ll do if you’re in the middle of it.”

But she was looking past me, down the road to the south. Another car was approaching.

“No,” she repeated, eyes going wide. “No, no, no!”