Chapter Six
Hank
Women’s leggings leave little to the imagination, and hardly give off the aura of manliness I was hoping for, but I guess this is better than wandering out with my cock on display.
I’m expecting one of the other miners, but when I step closer, I see Joe in the moonlight waving around a gun.
“Good thing I followed you,” he laughs. “Looks like you found yourself a party.” His smile only grows wider, and his posture only straightens taller. He’s always been thin and lanky, but with all the shadows he looks more emaciated than normal. I could take him, barrel him off the side of the ridge and into the ravine with one push, but I don’t want to put the girls in danger. And right now, I’m not sure what his next move will be. It’s odd that he came up here himself.
“You don’t have to be like this, Joe. They aren’t going to tell anyone.”
Reese stays tucked into the tent, not a peep coming from her, which surprises me considering she’s been so outspoken about most things tonight. Then again, we were in the middle of a pretty vulnerable moment. I hate that this is her memory of her first time.
Joe releases his grip on Brianna’s arm and smiles, sarcasm in his voice. “Oh, okay then. Thanks, brother! If you say they aren’t going to tell anyone, I guess that’s all I needed to know.” He pretends to walk away, but we both know he’s only digging in harder.
“Brother?” Brianna screams out, her voice torrid and wretched like she’s been betrayed.
I did fail to mention the fact that he was my brother.
“This disgusting piece of shit is your brother?”
I sigh long and hard, lowering my head before making eye contact with her, but Joe interrupts my thoughts.
“He didn’t tell you that I’m his eldest sibling? What else is he hiding?” Joe looks toward me and grins.
I shake my head. “It’s true he’s my brother, but we barely talk anymore. There’s nothing to hide. He left the family a long time ago and he—”
“Take a seat, Hank.” Joe motions to a log on the north side of our little camp. “You two ladies,” he says with a smirk, “you both stay right where I can see you.” He points his gun at Brianna and Reese flippantly. What does he have in mind?
I sit alongside my brother on the log, and I look over to Reese who’s still popping her head out of the tent that’s no more than ten feet in front of us. “You were always a bastard, Joe.”
“Please, don’t be that way. How many gold rushes have I taken you on that went just like this? We swoop in and take a cut. It’s fine. But instead, this time you get caught up in some girl. What were you thinking?”
“Joe, you know it’s never been like this. We looked for gold, by bending some rules at times, but never at the threat of violence.” I lower my head. “I don’t know what happened to you.”
“What happened to me?” Joe asks with a growl. “What happened to me is I used to have a trustworthy crew. Don’t you remember the good old days when we set out from Mom and Dad in the hopes of making it big. We lived for the adventure, for the thrill.”
“Joe, we all left because you lost it. This snatch and grab style of mining is bullshit.” I turn toward him, straddling the log, prompting him to do the same. “Don’t you remember all the complaints from the original crew? I spent months trying to talk them off the ledge, and when they left, I stayed for as long as I could. Then you hired the crew you have now, and they’re trash. You hired people who acted just like you, no decency at all, and that was enough.”
I look over to Reese, who’s soaking this up like a sponge, but she gives me a reassuring nod. I don’t deserve her. She could do so much better than me.
“Please, they’re nothing like me. They don’t have the stomach for real mining. They heard what I said to you and abandoned the job. How can I expect a crew to follow orders if my stupid brother won’t?” He takes a deep breath trying to collect his thoughts. “Tell me one thing. If I was so bad, Hank, why did you come back?”
“You know why. Times have been hard on the family, and they have next to nothing left.” I grit my teeth. “If you gave a damn about any of them, they wouldn’t be in this mess. And now, when your brother tells you that he won’t kill someone for you, you track him down with a gun.”
Joe smiles like a monster in a children’s story. “All this talk about family is bullshit! I don’t owe anyone, anything!” He stands from the log and looks down directly on me, our eyes locked, his gun in his hand. “It will only ever be about gold! That’s all that will ever matter!”
A figure comes in from the night, then pushes Joe over the top of the log, and into the mud. The surprise is perfect timing as he’s so invested in his monologue, that he let his guard down, and didn’t see it coming.
“Now, Hank!” a Reese-like voice yells.
I squint my eyes trying to make sense of what I’m seeing. That can’t be her. She’s tucked into the tent. I turn to check on her, only to see a hole sliced by a knife through the fabric. She must have snuck out and moved through the forest while we were arguing. I jump on top of Joe and pin him face down to the ground as Reese steps on his hand until he releases the gun. Reese carries it away, holding it between two fingers as though it’s poisonous.
Joe’s no longer a threat. He couldn’t out wrestle me even when we were kids. “When I get up from here, Hank, you’re done!” Joe growls. “This can’t be the end.”
“Joe, trust me when I tell you that it’s over. You went too far. You let your obsession get the best of you, and you made some choices that you can’t come back from.” I look over to the girls who are handling this remarkably well. “Will someone throw me some rope?”
Brianna tosses me some of the cords from the tents. I tie Joe’s hands together, then tie him to a nearby tree. The rain has slowed to a light mist, though it’s still cold. I can’t leave him out here long in the elements, or his body will shut down. I’m not looking to kill the man. I only need him to leave these women alone.