Page 21 of Grey (Little River Stallions #2)
Tatum couldn’t stop smiling every time the sunlight hit her hand and her engagement ring glittered. It made her stomach flip and everything inside her feel as warm as the sunshine all around her.
“Girl, you’re positively glowing,” Zara said, sitting back on her heels and grinning.
Tatum had come out Sunday morning to help Zara in the garden. There was always something to do in the garden, and she genuinely loved getting her hands dirty. Plus, she got to peek at Grey working with the livestock whenever she wanted because he was outside too.
She looked at her ring and smiled. “I can’t help it, I’m just so happy.”
“It’s so wild that the two of us found our soulmates after coming to New Jersey, and so close together too. I hope Avi and Ford also find their soulmates soon.”
“I hope so,” she said. “They’re such nice guys.”
Zara nodded. “The farmhouse will be bustling with families and kids at some point; we’ll either need to add more bathrooms or figure something else out.”
Tatum hummed. “Khyle and Dexter both have houses nearby, but I do like living in the farmhouse.”
“Me too, but you and I are lucky because our guys have suites with attached bathrooms. Avi and Ford are sharing the other bathroom.”
“Good point.” There were eight bedrooms, and she wondered how easy it would be to add bathrooms to bedrooms, and what they’d end up doing when there were kids running around who would need their own rooms.
“What are you two chatting about on this beautiful morning?” Avi asked as he walked up with a big basket to gather the last of the tomatoes and take them to Tris to make into spaghetti sauce.
“Babies and bedrooms and mates, for you and Ford,” Tatum said.
Avi’s brows rose. “That’s a lot of things.”
They explained their thought process regarding the farmhouse.
Avi looked at it, like he was seeing it for the first time, and then he said, “I’ve wondered that myself.
With Dexter’s construction company, we could easily remodel things.
Well, not easily , because all of that takes work and time and money, but we could definitely mess around with things in the layout and add bathrooms and such. ”
Tatum thought about the first floor, which had a few empty rooms off the kitchen, near the half bath.
She opened her mouth to question if anyone considered turning one of those rooms into a suite, and that maybe she and Grey could do that, freeing up a suite on the second floor for Avi or Ford, but the roar of an engine stopped the words in her throat.
“Where is that coming from?” Zara asked.
She and Tatum rose to their feet. Avi put the basket down and spun as a truck roared down the road and crashed through the front gate.
It barreled toward them and Tatum just knew in her heart that it was Colton behind the wheel.
Tatum grabbed Zara’s hand as Avi pushed the two of them out of the way of the truck that smashed through the garden and spun, knocking into the greenhouse that was being built, sending a spray of dirt and gravel into the air.
“Run!” Avi yelled, giving them a shove as the truck’s engine revved loud enough to sound like the roar of some kind of beast.
Colton jumped out of the truck, his face twisted in a mask of rage. “Come out, Crew! Watch while I take someone from your herd, so you pay the price for what you did to Silas!”
Tatum and Zara backed away as Avi stepped in front of them.
The front door of the farmhouse opened with a crack and Ford and Crew strode down the steps.
“You have a lot of nerve coming here, Colton. This farm is for my herd and you’re not strong enough to take my people out on your own.
You lost your number two, that’s on you.
You shouldn’t have taken Grey’s mate,” Crew said.
Two men got out of the truck and Tatum recognized the shorter one who’d been part of her abduction.
Grey appeared suddenly and stepped in front of Tatum, shielding her from Colton. She immediately felt better with him so close, and especially when she spied the shotgun held loosely at his side.
“You need to get the hell out of here,” Grey said, his voice steady. “You lost one herd member, don’t make the mistake of losing another.”
Colton’s gaze lowered and he smirked. Tatum figured he’d seen the shotgun.
Tatum had the strangest feeling settle over her and she peeked over her shoulder. She didn’t see anything, but as she turned her head back to watch what Colton was going to do, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye and let out a short gasp.
A man snuck around the corner of the barn, a knife glinting in the sunlight.
“Grey!” she shouted as she tugged on his shirt.
The truck had been a distraction.
The man had run from the truck to the barn and no one had noticed. But he was coming for them and no one was between her and Zara and the man brandishing the weapon.
Grey spun, tucking Tatum behind him.
He lifted the shotgun and the man froze, then backpedaled. Grey fired and the shot grazed the man in the arm. He shouted in pain and dropped the knife to grab his bleeding arm, nearly falling in his haste to get away.
Crew called loudly, “Get the hell off my farm, Colton. You’ll get no more warnings from me.”
“I could have killed him,” Grey said, looking over his shoulder. “I won’t go easy with my aim next time.”
Tension was heavy in the air and Tatum held her breath, wondering if Colton would take his people and leave or fight.
“Zara betrayed me and the herd. She needs to suffer.”
“Hey!” Zara said. “You treated me like a maid, you tried to abduct me, and then you abducted my friend. Go fuck all the way off.”
Tatum, standing behind Grey as he kept his eyes and shotgun on the man who’d tried to come at them with a knife, watched as Colton and his people stared down theirs.
Colton blinked first.
She was kind of surprised. But he’d clearly planned to take out Zara with his knife-wielding friend and that hadn’t worked out. They’d literally brought a knife to a gunfight and Tatum’s soulmate was badass.
“This isn’t over,” Colton said, getting into his truck.
“The hell it’s not,” Crew retorted. “Get the fuck out of here and find your own territory to settle in. Stop being an asshole.”
The truck sprayed gravel and dirt as its tires spun before it lurched forward and crashed through another section of fencing at the front of the property. He stopped to pick up his injured guy and then he raced off.
“Fucker just had to mess up the damn fence,” Ford said.
“But we’re all safe,” Avi said. “Good thinking with the shotgun.”
“I’m just glad it was in the barn so I could grab it,” Grey said. He put his arm around Tatum and pulled her close. “Are you okay, sweetheart?”
“Yeah. Just a little freaked out.”
“Me too,” Zara said. “I wasn’t sure what he was doing crashing through the gate like that, but he clearly was watching the farm and knew we were outside. Weston was coming to kill me.”
“That was his brother?” Tatum asked.
“Yeah,” Zara said. “He was a nice male when I was in the herd. I think being with Colton and his batshit crazy behavior has changed him, and not for the better.”
Crew hugged Zara, and then Tatum and Zara hugged each other.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” Tatum said.
“Because our mates and the herd are awesome and protective.”
Tatum was glad for that too.
“Tris is going to be pissed about the greenhouse,” Avi said. “Frankly, I’m a little pissed.”
“They did a lot of damage,” Grey said. “But none of the pasture fencing was ruined, so at least we don’t have to worry about livestock running around. We’ll get things repaired and back to rights again.”
She followed Grey to the barn where he put the shotgun on the rack on the wall and then pulled her close again. “We have to stop having these close calls,” he said, his voice muffled against her skin as he kissed her neck.
“Yeah,” she said. “He’s so crazy. I think he tried to run us over, but his plan clearly was to also have his brother go after Zara with a knife if he missed running her down. It’s crazy to think if he hadn’t so brazenly smashed through the fence that it might have had a different outcome.”
“He’s angry he lost his number-two, but it seems like he’s most pissed at Zara for leaving his herd. But the important thing,” he said, leaning away and smiling at her, “is that we’re all okay and no one was hurt except his brother.”
“You’re pretty damn handy with that shotgun.”
“Have to be, sometimes predators will try to get to the chickens. We all know how to shoot, but it’s the first time I’ve ever pointed it at a person.”
She leaned on him, resting her ear over his heart so she could hear the steady beat. “Do you think he’ll take the hint and find a place of his own for his herd?”
“I hope so, but he’s about as unhinged as they come and he seems to be getting worse. It would be in his best interest to move on, but sanity is not his friend at the moment.”
“So we’ll stay vigilant?”
“One thousand percent.”
They left the barn and she and Zara started the job of salvaging what they could of the vegetables and tossing what was unusable into a wheelbarrow set nearby, while the guys inspected the front fence and gate and the greenhouse and made plans to repair.
She got a text from Tris and told her what happened, and she promised that she didn’t care about the greenhouse as long as Tatum and Zara were safe, and that she’d be over with Khyle and Dexter in a few minutes to help with clean up and repair.
Zara smiled at Tatum. “That’s what it means to be part of the herd. We’re here for each other, period. Colton doesn’t understand that—the basic concept of the herd, which is that we’re a family and we all have to have each other’s backs.”
“I’m glad I’m part of the herd. I came to Little River for the library job and met Grey because I was searching for a legend and ended up finding the family that I’ve always wanted.”
“Me too,” Zara said.
They got back to work, talking quietly about the garden and the herd.
Tatum was thankful for a lot of things since she’d come to Little River, but looking around the farm and seeing that her mate and all of her friends were safe was what she was most thankful for right now.
And she hoped that Colton stayed the heck away from them.
For good.