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And he fucking hated them.

“Stay,” he said. And then he started the truck and drove away. He saw Bix immediately make a beeline toward the river, running like hell itself was on her heels.

Little varmint. She couldn’t be told.

He drove down the highway, deciding that he was going to hike in on their side of the creek, the same side he’d gone in on when he had found Bix.

He saw a beater truck, and a bunch of shit lying around. He wasn’t surprised.

They were exactly those kind of people. Not just the kind of people who would mooch off of someone else’s land, but who would have no respect for it while claiming it was nobody’s, too wild to be owned. But they certainly didn’t actually mean it. They meant that the world was thereforthem. That any limits prescribed shouldn’t apply tothem. If they could own things, then they would demand everybody else stay away from them.

His anger was at a boiling point. It was beyond.

“Show yourselves,” he said. He didn’t hear anything. “I’m going to start getting impatient.” He put his hand on his gun.

“Easy now,” came a voice up ahead. An older man stepped out from behind a tree. “I don’t want any trouble.”

“Well, mister, the problem is, you’re on my land. And I consider that to be trouble.”

“Are you Bix’s cop?” the old man spit.

“Yes,” he said. “I am.”

Right now, he was Bix’s warrior. Right now, he was everything. Right now, he was going to lay waste to these assholes.

“Daughtry!”

He looked across the river and saw Bix, standing there looking furious.

“I told you to stay home,” he said.

“We’re family,” said her father. “Bix is always going to be here for us.”

“That’s too bad,” Daughtry said. “Because as long as she’s here, she won’t be. I mean it. I want you off my land, and I never want to see you again.”

And that was when her brother appeared. Stepping out from behind a tree adjacent to her father. And Daughtry saw red. He crossed the space without thinking and reached out, grabbing him by the neck. “You sack of shit.”

“Hey,” her brother said, his voice getting high. Yeah. He wasn’t so tough when his opponent wasn’t a little girl.

“I know all about you. The way that you treated her. I might just kill you. Nobody’s going to dig around here looking for a body. This is my land. And everybody trusts me. I’m the good guy.”

“You don’t seem like much of a good guy,” her dad said.

Maybe that was true. Right now, he didn’t care.

He should try to get ahold of himself. Try to find the straight and narrow and get back on it. But dammit, he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. These people didn’t care.

And he couldn’t bring himself to care either. What he wanted was to hurt them. Because they’d hurt the dearest, most amazing person he’d ever known.

He wanted them to hurt too.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret,” he said. “My dad wasn’t just a moonshiner. My dad used to get out there and break the legs of people who didn’t pay him back. And I watched. I helped. And now? I’ve got the law on my side. Nobody would believe you over me. And nobody would ever suspect me of anything. I’m a changed man.”

“You’re crazy,” said her brother.

“Yes. I am. Push me to the edge and see how crazy I can be. Let’s see.”

“Daughtry,” Bix said. “You don’t want to do this. You really don’t. I know you. I know that this isn’t you.”