“They didn’t deserve you, and you know it,” I hiss.
She lowers her head, looking at me from underneath her eye lashes. “Family before anything else, remember?” She blinks a couple of times. “I knew there was no stopping you, and I didn’t want you to feel torn. Like you had to stay because of me. So … I broke up with you.”
Wow.
Is she saying she did it for me?
I thought she wanted me gone because her dad hated me.
All this time, I believed something I told myself.
“I didn’t want to, but I had to,” she says. “There was no other way it could end.”
“Yes, it could’ve,” I say. “You could’ve come with me.” When she tries to interrupt me, I quickly add, “I would’ve been your family.”
Her lips part, but no sound comes out. The silence is overwhelming, but her eyes speak volumes. She’s almost on the verge of tears.
I know I have no right to say these things.
I hurt her more than any other man on this planet.
But I want her to know that I felt more for her than any other man did too. That I cared about her more than her dad ever did. Maybe I still do. It’s hard to tear the hatred from my heart after carrying it for so long. I still don’t know what the truth is … Except that I’m falling for her again.
Slowly. But inevitably.
I grab a strand of her hair and tuck it behind her ears. “I’m sorry, Dixie Burrell. That I made you suffer like that. For being a piece of garbage who doesn’t deserve to live.”
A tear rolls down her cheeks, and she snorts herself into laughter. “That’s true.”
Suddenly, the door bursts open, and the spell is broken … by none other than her dad.
Click, click.
It’s the barrel of a shotgun aimed at my head.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Brandon
“Get the fuck away from my fucking daughter!” Mr. Burrell yells as I turn around to face the barrel of his shotgun while he locks and loads.
I hold up my hands, but I wanna protect Dixie too, so I have no intention of moving away from her. I’m not sure he’d let her live because I’m sure he definitely saw us kiss.
“Son of a bitch,” her dad mutters. He’s definitely getting ready to shoot.
“Dad, no!” Dixie suddenly jumps off the table and runs toward him.
Right then, he shoots.
In the blink of an eye, Dixie’s pushed the barrel up.
The bullet penetrates the roof, and rubble falls to the floor. I feel as if I narrowly escaped death there. My eyes widen as Dixie grabs her dad’s gun and fights him over it.
Is she trying to save me?
“Dad, stop it!” she says.
“No, that motherfucker needs to die,” Mr. Burrell growls. “Get out of my fucking way, Dixie.”
“No, stop, please,” she says. “He’s different. I’m different.”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass. That redskin killed my boys. He’s gonna pay for that.” He shoves her away, aiming his gun at me once again.
I duck for cover and roll away right before he shoots the workbench we were just banging on.
Fuck, things are getting heated.
“DAD!” Dixie screams.
I reach for my gun and get up on my feet, aiming it straight at his head.
We’re at an impasse. I don’t flinch and neither does he. Both of us are staking our lives. Neither of us is willing to give in.
Should I shoot to kill? End his misery once and for all?
Dixie’s eyes lure me in, forcing me to look at the pain inside her soul. The wound is too deep, still too fresh. I’m responsible for the death of her other family members. I can’t kill her last one too. It wouldn’t be right.
I suck in a breath, but my throat feels clamped.
If I don’t act now, this could be the end.
That man has always hated my guts, but his hatred turned to a death wish the moment he saw me kill his sons.
There’s no way he’s going to let me outta here alive.
So I unlock the safety of my gun.
“Don’t do this, Brandon,” Dixie says through gritted teeth. Then she turns to face her dad and says, “Dad, stop this shit. You’re better than this.”
“I don’t give a damn what you think. That motherfucker is not laying a hand on any of my children again.” He shoots the floor in front of my feet. It’s a threat, but I’m not budging. “Think I’m gonna stop and let you go? Tough luck, buddy. You’re not gettin’ outta here. Not on two legs yer not.”
“If you try, I’ll kill you,” I say.
It’s not a threat.
If I have to choose between my life and his, I choose mine.
“STOP!” Dixie screams, stomping her feet. Her body shakes violently as she stands between us. “For once, can’t you both stop the fuckin’ violence? No one needs to die.”
“Yeah, he does,” her dad spits. “Did ya fuckin’ forget he killed your brothers?”
“I didn’t forget, Dad,” she says. “I hate what he did as much as you do.” With tears in her eyes, she looks at me, the pain in her voice too real. “But I can’t let you kill him either.”
My knees buckle. I feel weak. Incapable of keeping my gun pointed at the man I’ve hated for so long just for denying me what I wanted the most.
“Brandon? What are you doing?” Her eyes widen when she looks at me giving up. “Get up.”
But I won’t. She was mine all along, all this time. Even through all the suffering, through all the turmoil. Every crushing inch of agony I laid onto her. She took it all and still holds her head high, knowing she can’t let me die. After all this, she still needs me. Just as much as I need her.
But none of this was about me.
It was about her all along.
And when I decided to fall for Dixie Burrell once more, I knew I signed my own death warrant.
I sink to my knees and wait for the barrel of his gun to release me from my anguish.
“Get up, Brandon,” Dixie commands, still holding strong between us. “Get up!”
“Fuck that. Let him have it. It’s what he wants, can’t you see?” her dad interjects with a vicious smile on his face. “He came here to die.”
“No, that’s not at all what this is about,” she yells back.