“I’ll be right back,” Dan
ni promised him.
“All right.”
“I’ll be fine,” she promised him. The parking lot was swarming with people. She knew she would be safe.
Danni ran outside and opened the truck door. She leaned in and grabbed her camera off the seat. Her hat became stuck on the sun visor. She was trying to get it unstuck when a man said, “Here, let me help you.”
She knew that voice. Her heart raced in her chest. She felt his body so intimately close to hers as his fingers messed with the hat on her head. He stepped back. Then she felt a gun at her waist. She moved back cautiously. “What do you want, Jesse?”
“I need Walker’s help.”
“What do you want me to do?” She wanted to turn around and look at him but was afraid to move with the gun digging into her ribs.
“Got your phone with you?” He asked.
She did. It was tucked in the pouch at her waist. “Nope,” she lied. He groped her until he found it. She wanted to turn around and slam her fist into his face but instead she peeked over her shoulder. Jesse was wearing a cowboy hat with a scarf around his neck. It made him less noticeable in the dark with everyone else in their costumes.
He slammed her phone into her hand and said, “Call the bar and ask your Dad to send Walker outside.”
“I won’t not while you have a gun. You’ve taken enough from Walker,” Danni declared.
Then she heard and felt the crushing blow that Arte rained down on him from behind. “I would recognize you anywhere, Jesse Wild. You are not going to ruin this for Walker,” she screamed at her youngest son.
He whirled around. “I just used the gun to get Danni to help with Walker, Momma. Nothing more. I only used the gun to scare Danni. I wouldn’t hurt her.”
“No,” she shouted at him. She struggled with Jesse for the gun, tears streaming down her face. Danni pulled back on Jesse’s arms as Arte struggled pulling forward on the gun in Jesse’s hand. Danni released Jesse afraid she would cause him to pull the trigger.
“Stop Arte, let him go,” Danni pleaded with Walker’s mother. She could see that the release was off. Jesse’s finger was on the trigger.
“I’m not letting him ruin Walker’s life again,” Arte shouted back.
Danni saw them at the front door. Matt was holding Walker back. Her mother had gotten her father, Ben, Elijah, Matt and Walker. They weren’t sure what to do but most likely the call her father was making was 911.
Arte lunged forward. Danni was pinned against her truck by Jesse. Arte wasn’t going to give up fighting her son for that weapon.
“Momma stop it,” Jesse growled. “You’re going to get hurt.” Danni could barely breathe with Jesse crushing her against the truck.
“Let go of the gun,” Art shouted at her son. Danni saw her brothers approaching cautiously. They didn’t want Jesse to decide to fire on them or hurt Arte or Danni.
Matt and her dad kept Walker at the door with her mother. Then the loud bang rang in the air and Danni could see by the look in Arte’s eyes that Arte had been hit by the bullet.
“No, Momma,” Jesse cried. He turned his stricken face to Danni. “I didn’t mean it, Danni.”
He moved away, and Danni gasped letting air into her lungs that had been struggling to fill by the weight of Jesse pressing her into the truck.
She dropped to her knees and removed the vest that covered her white, shirt. She pressed firmly on the blood that was pouring from Arte. Her brothers moved in then and approached less cautiously now that Jesse was distracted by his mother’s wound. It seemed like it was happening in slow motion, but it was happening too fast.
Jesse realized they were closing in and took off towards a truck, not his usual sedan. He slammed the door shut. Tires squealing on the dry asphalt he disappeared into the distance, only the red taillights of the truck he was driving let them know he had been there.
“Did you get the truck description and license plate?” Her father asked his sons. She heard them talking but Danni focused on Arte. She was growing paler by the second as she lost more blood. No matter how much pressure Danni applied she couldn’t seem to stop it. She watched the bleeding getting worse; her hands covered in Arte’s blood.
Then she looked up and saw Walker’s face. “Give me the keys to your truck,” he said.
“I will not,” she replied. She knew he wanted to find Jesse. If he did, it wouldn’t be good. “You stay here with me.”
“Danni give me the goddamned keys.” His tone was low and hard. She shook her head no.