Against the Grain by Ian Daniels Read Free Book Online

night a while back limping and bleeding. My sister in law Cary told me about it. She cleaned up his arm and took a chunk of metal or wood or something out of his leg, and then he was gone again before they were up the next morning.”  
    “Whoa,” I heard Megan’s muffled reply.
    Yeah I remembered that one very well. It had been a hell of a hike after a run in with a couple that saw me before I saw them. I had dove around the corner of the house I was checking out just before they fired. I landed on some broken window glass and managed to cut my arm up pretty good. As for my leg, the best I can figure is that one of their shots must have hit a propane tank. I hated propane tanks. It wasn’t a big movie explosion or anything, but it went off enough to lodge something in the back of my leg right where I couldn’t get to it. I had barely made it to Andrew, Cary, Jake and Julie’s house to get patched up. The two couples were all best friends and had moved in together just down the road after I brought them along with Nick, Breanne and their kids all out here from the city.  
    For their help, and I had hoped until now their discretion, they got a nice slightly used lever action 30-30 out of the deal. The original holder of the gun had opted out of ownership earlier that day.  
    My leg had hurt like a bitch and I ended up drinking the last of my good whiskey that next day.   
    “And no family?” Megan continued to ask about me.
    “Not anymore.” Breanne answered. “But he’s as much a part of this big family as anyone is. Like I said, he and I were friends before my husband and I got married… and before all this… and he’s a great guy. I won’t say I haven’t wondered about if things were different somehow…” Catching herself thinking aloud, she stopped in mid sentence, probably surprised at how much she enjoyed talking with a new friend.
    With that I softly knocked on the door to announce my presence. They both jumped.
    “Damnit I’ve had cats that are louder than you are,” Breanne breathed.
    “I’m headed out, just wanted to give you two a heads up,” I said trying not to let on that I had heard them talking.
    Megan took a step forward towards me.
    “You’re leaving?”  
    “I’ve got some stuff I need to take care of. I’ll be back in a few days though. Are you going to be okay here?” I asked, not pretending that her new hostess was not in the same room and listening.
    “I think so, everyone is really nice and, well, I wanted to say thank you again… for everything. But really you look tired, why don’t you stick around tonight?” Megan answered.
    Tired? She had no idea… I was beat. I was mentally exhausted before I had spent two days tailing her group, sleeping lightly, moving cautiously, with my brain never able to go on auto pilot. Now that there was an end in sight, the pace I had been on was catching up to me quickly. I hadn’t pulled this type of schedule in a long time and I was out of practice. That was the real reason why I was headed out, I needed some rest and relaxation, big time. The constant work, and more so the constant questions around here, would not allow me the luxury of rest if I were to stay.
    “You just stick with Bre, she’ll get you settled in and show you the ins and outs of this zoo,” I said with a slight smile at Breanne standing in the background.
    An awkward hug or no hug moment was building so I began to retreat out the door but Megan caught me tight before I could escape. She held on just long enough for me to get a stiff arm around her shoulder. I’d been living in the woods too long because she smelled good. I took a step back and looked at Breanne who was now headed my way too. Ah hell.  
    “Stay safe out there,” she admonished and gave me a rare quick hug as well… she smelled good too.
    “I’ll see you soon,” I said to the pair and as casually as I could, turned, and promptly banged into the door frame.
    Keeping my back turned and