No, now was not the time for those thoughts. No way she could go up against all these assholes, and having her near him was already fucking with his head. Yeah, he wanted her, had wanted her the moment he first saw her, but this was reality, and nothing would work out between them. It just couldn’t, because adding her to the mix, having her remind him of what he lost, was almost too painful.
He had Asher, cared for the man deeply, and the man knew when to back off when he needed it. But Sparrow had a mind of her own, liked to mouth off, and thought she was as strong as they were. Besides, no way in hell would she be all about shacking up with both of them, because honestly that’s the only way it would work. He wouldn’t isolate Ash, not after everything they had gone through.
Pushing those thoughts aside too, he moved with Asher to the front door and stepped outside. The main guy, whom Mason assumed was the leader of this little posse, grinned broadly at them. He had some nasty-ass yellow teeth, a few scars littering the side of his face, and it was clear he hadn’t cleaned up in probably the whole five months the shit hit the fan. The stench of him under the sun was pretty ripe too.
“Drop the fucking weapons and kick them away.” Mason tightened his hold on his gun, but the other four men lifted their own weapons in warning. He and Ash slowly lowered their knives to the ground and kicked them away. “The guns too.” Mason pulled the gun from his hip, and Asher did the same. Once those were on the ground, they straightened. The guy clearly thought those were the only weapons they had, but that was all right. The more ignorant, the better. “I asked for the girl.” He still held a smile. He flicked his eyes toward the inside of the store, but Mason knew he couldn’t see Sparrow. “Saw the three of you enter my town. I’m not very hospitable and don’t take kindly to strangers coming in unannounced.”
“Next time, I’ll phone ahead.” Mason said the smart-ass comment with a straight face. The guy chuckled and looked behind him at the other four men.
“We got a comedian on our hands, boys.” That had the other men chuckling as well. “Listen, I’m gonna be straight up with you, because you guys know what it’s like to be without female company, right?” Neither of them responded. “It’s just me and my boys, and I’ll tell ya, we can get pretty lonely at times.” His smile vanished, and he glared at them. “So, how about helping a brother out and passing that pretty little thing on over to us? I’m sure you two had enough fun with her. Time to share.”
Mason gritted his teeth. “First off, we are not your brothers. Secondly, I’m not giving you a damn thing. If you want her, you’ll have to get through us first, and I’m going to warn you that the ending to that will be five motherfuckers lying dead at our feet.” They stared at each other for a long second, and he sensed the anger coming from Asher as if it were his own.
“Don’t like to share, huh?” The fucker in front of him grinned once more and shrugged. “That’s all right. Neither do we. So, when we get that fine piece of ass back to camp, I want you to know she will be good and used by all of us plenty of times.”
Asher took a step forward, the low sound of warning coming from him like a blast of fire. Mason reached out and gripped his shoulder, stopping him.
“She isn’t yours, will never be yours, and if you want to keep this going, I’ll make sure to cut out your tongue and shove it down your fucking throat before I shoot you in the goddamn head.” He had seen Ash pissed plenty of times, but this was near to explosive. But Mason couldn’t blame him, not after what this douchebag said, because Mason was feeling the same kind of homicidal need. No one said anything for several seconds, but everyone’s guard was up and blaring strongly. There was a crashing sound in the back of the store, and he and Asher turned, but the sound of guns cocking had them turning back to the men. Five guns were pointed right at them.
“Don’t fucking move, boys, or I’ll wound you just enough so that I can fuck her in front of you before I kill you.” One gunshot rang out. “Martin, what the fuck is going on?” the leader yelled out. There was a grunt and a scream, and then the heavy footsteps of something being dragged coming right at them. The sound of Sparrow struggling had every protective instinct in him roaring.