His Brutal Game by Audrey Rush

CHAPTER 16

Maisie

Neither of us spoke on the way back to the house. But the tension had changed between us. In my bedroom, I gazed up at the ceiling. Was Wilder sleeping? Did he ever dream? Have nightmares? Was he restless like me? But an hour later, his bulky bare feet smacked against the floor, heading to my room. He scooped me into his arms, bringing me to his bed. He laid me down, then crawled under the covers. Flipped onto his side. Faced away from me.

I smiled to myself. Even if we weren’t touching, even if he was facing away from me—Wilder wanted me next to him.

The next day, everything continued as normal. I didn’t acknowledge the change in our sleeping arrangements, knowing that it might make Wilder uncomfortable, having to face what this small, but significant difference meant. He woke before me, heading to a long day and night of work. I stayed in bed until the sun rose, thinking about what this meant.

That evening, a wiry alarm blared through the property. I looked out the window; the ranchers turned toward the speaker, then headed to the Calving Barn.

My fingers twitched at my side. I checked the time; Wilder wouldn’t be back for a few more hours. He had stopped by for dinner but had left to hunt another livestock order. It unnerved me. Was I supposed to go to the Calving Barn too? What were they doing?

Someone banged on the front door. I jumped, adrenaline coursing through me. I took a deep breath, then adjusted myself and answered the door.

“Better head to the Calving Barn,” Sawyer said. “Everyone’s waiting.” I bit my inner lip. What was I about to walk into?

“Where’s Wilder?” I asked.

Sawyer scoffed at my question, waving a dismissive hand to the side.

“Don’t think about leaving,” he said. “I’ll be back to check on the house.”

Then Sawyer went to the Calving Barn too. My gut sank. Something bad was happening. I grabbed my purse, then peeked in Wilder’s nightstand. I slid the drawer open: knives, clubs, grenades, rope. Anything I might need, except for guns. He must have had all of his guns on him. What the hell was going on? I grabbed a knife, then headed toward the door.

Another knock tapped on the back door, this one faint compared to Sawyer’s. I held my breath, racing to it. I knew who it was before I even saw her.

Bambi darted inside, ducking behind the countertops, hiding from the windows. I kneeled down beside her.

“I didn’t know where to go,” Bambi said, her voice panicked. She pulled on her hair, then tucked it behind her ears. “I didn’t know what to do. I told him not to, but he did anyway. And I just—”

I grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to lock eyes with me. “It’s okay. We’ll get through this.” She batted her lashes, trying to focus, and once she did, we both took deep breaths together. We had been through crap like this before; we would get through it again. “What happened?”

“Green has been stealing from your in-laws,” she whispered. “A lot. That alarm. They know, don’t they?”

I had a gut instinct that Wilder knew about Green and Bambi long before that alarm had gone off. They must have been waiting for the right moment to set their traps.

Outside of the window, the last of the ranchers disappeared into the Calving Barn. They must have been rounding everyone up. Everyone who was innocent. Which meant that they knew it wasn’t me. But it also meant that they knew Bambi was here.

I had to get Bambi out of here. Fast.

“Where’s Green?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she stammered, her voice getting louder. “Please. You’ve got to—”

I put a hand over her mouth. “You’ve got to follow my lead, okay?” I said. I let go of her mouth, and she nodded, biting her lips. “They’re dangerous. Not like Green-dangerous. Like, hitman, or even serial killer-dangerous. Focus on me, all right? Do what I say.”

The cars weren’t an option—not until they had lost interest in Bambi and Green. But could I take her there, letting her hide in my car until this was over? Would she be safe there?

I peeked out of the back door, then around the house to the parking area. One lone rancher stood there, a gun in his hand.

That wasn’t an option, then.

But there were trees on the outskirts of the pastures, where the grass grew into thicker woods. We could wait there until business resumed as usual. That was our best chance. If we stayed here, they would find us.

I grabbed her hand and we scurried to the trees behind the house. We kept going forward, one step at a time. It was quieter than usual. The cows were silent, not daring to moan at a time like this. A spotlight flickered on, illuminating the trees. Laughter echoed through the grounds. A shotgun fired into the air and Bambi gasped.

We had to get out of sight. We couldn’t hide in the trees.

The Dairy Barn loomed in the distance.

I grabbed Bambi’s hand, taking her straight forward. This was our only path.

I creaked the door open as quietly as I could. I held my breath.

“What did I tell you?” Green asked, standing up from behind a crate, a green cast on his forearm. I closed the door behind us. “Stay in the car. You blew our cover, you idiot.”

“Shut up, Green,” I hissed. “You had an arrangement. Forrest gave you more than—”

His eyes lasered in on me, then he shoved my shoulders so hard I hit the ground. He turned to Bambi, ignoring me there. “If you had stayed in the car, we wouldn’t—”

The door creaked open and I grabbed Bambi from behind, pulling her behind some crates. Lights flickered on. Two sets of footsteps shuffled along the floor. Green was gone. I covered Bambi’s mouth. She shook against me. Wilder popped into my vision, followed by Sawyer. I tightened my grip on Bambi’s mouth.

“They’re in here,” Sawyer said. Wilder sniffed deeply. “You smell them?”

Wilder nodded. The two of them pulled back the hammer on their guns. Sawyer stepped closer to us. We had to go. If he caught us, I wasn’t sure what he would do. He wasn’t Wilder. We had to get away.

Sawyer blocked the entrance with one of the hay racks, the metal screeching against the concrete. It would be impossible to leave without being caught.

I motioned silently for Bambi to follow me. We inched our way through the crates and equipment. The openings between the crates filled with light. Sawyer’s dress shoes clicked across the cement.

The crack of a hammer hitting someone’s head echoed through the room. Sawyer headed toward the sound.

“You found him,” Sawyer said.

Fabric dragged against the floor, a body being pulled.

“Let go of me,” Green said. “You sad pieces of shit. You pathetic—”

“Looking for this?” Wilder said.

Green’s gun fell to the floor, the metal rattling against the concrete.

“You think he’s working alone?” Sawyer asked.

Wilder grunted. “He’s the brains,” he said. “Not much, though.”

“Fuck you!” Green shouted.

“How the hell is he still awake?” Sawyer asked.

Wilder dragged Green across the floor. Green’s feet shuffled. Bambi trembled and I held a hand over her mouth. Wilder took his knife, slicing along Green’s neck. Green coughed, the blood gushing down, and Wilder eased out the ropes of Green’s esophagus from his neck. He held the fleshy cords in his hand, the blood soaking his fingers, then grabbed a coil of rope out of one of the pens. He threaded the rope around his neck.

Bambi closed her eyes. I pulled her in close to me. We had both been exposed to violence before, but never like this.

Wilder hoisted Green up, the blood trailing down his neck to his cast, then falling to the concrete. Bambi’s shivered. I held her tight.

Stop crying, I mouthed. They can’t hear us.

Bambi wagged her head back and forth. I did it too, she mouthed.

Did what? I asked.

I stole too. They’re going to kill me!

My palms were damp with sweat. I measured my breaths, trying not to make any noise.

I warned you to stop, I mouthed.

It was your idea! she replied.She was right, but I had told her to stop. She added in a loud whisper, “Your idea!”

Wilder and Sawyer stopped. For a moment, no one moved. Green’s blood dripped on the ground.

“You hear that?” Sawyer asked.

Wilder stepped forward. “I’ll check,” he said.

Bambi flinched. I glanced around; we were in a corner. We had nowhere to go. If we tried to leave, the hay rack would block us from getting out. All we could do was hope that Wilder didn’t come this way. I got in front of Bambi, using my body as a shield. We had both been taught to steal, to use every situation to our advantage. But this was my responsibility. I had tried to warn her, and I had failed.

Wilder’s face came into the light. I blocked Bambi with both arms, not letting him see her. His eyes fell on me. I grabbed the knife from my pocket, making myself clear. If he wanted to hurt Bambi, he was going to have to hurt me first.

Wilder’s eyes scrutinized me. But a calmness passed through him, lifting the storm. He raised his gun, shifting his aim away from us, and headed toward his brother.

“Nothing,” Wilder said.

Their footsteps resumed.

“Check over there,” Wilder said. He pointed his gun in a different direction, away from us. Then Wilder headed for the hay rack blocking the door. The metal scraped as he moved it forward effortlessly.

“What are you doing?” Sawyer asked.

Wilder eased Green’s body from the makeshift noose, then strapped him across the rack, displaying him in his agony. A warning to others.

“Creative,” Sawyer said.

“Easy access,” Wilder said.

Wilder removed a cleaver from a tool chest, and Sawyer powered on an electric saw. The two of them laughed as they mutilated Green’s body.

But the door wasn’t blocked anymore. Bambi and I crawled toward the door.

“Call Kyle,” Wilder said. “Get him on the radio.”

“Why?” Sawyer asked. “We’ve got it covered.”

“He saw something, I’m sure of it,” Wilder said.

The radio scratched to life in the room. The two of them faced the back wall, talking into the radio, and Bambi and I scrambled through the door. As soon as we were out, I whispered, “Follow me! Run!”

We raced to the cars. Gunshots sounded in the distance, followed by hollering. I got into my car, thanking our luck that the rancher from before wasn’t guarding the cars. Maybe that was Kyle. Maybe that was why Wilder had told Sawyer to call him. To give us a chance to get away. And if they were tracking the cars, only Wilder knew that Bambi was with me. I trusted Wilder.

I drove as fast as I could. Bambi flailed her arms, fanning her face.

“What just happened?” she asked. “They killed him. Like that. Like he was nothing.”

I shook my head, trying to reason through it myself. Wilder had killed Green, mutilated his corpse. And he had not only let me go, but he had let Bambi go too. He had saved us both. Saved us from his brother. And from himself.

He cared about me.

“We have to get out of here,” I said. I flicked on the radio, punching the buttons until some generic song filled the speakers. I needed to calm down. To stop talking. To relax until the adrenaline stopped spiking through my system. We had almost died, but we were alive. More importantly, Bambi was okay. I hadn’t screwed it up any more than it already was.

And now, Green was gone. Bambi had another chance.

“Who the hell did you marry?” Bambi hissed. “You told me to steal from some Ted-Bundy-mother-fucker?”

I rolled my eyes, gripping the steering wheel. It was easy to dismiss him as a serial killer, but that wasn’t the whole story. Bambi wouldn’t understand.

I didn’t quite understand either. No matter how hard I tried, I might never truly know Wilder, and that scared me.

Who had I married?

“I don’t know,” I said. I increased the volume on the radio.