Standing His Ground: Greer (Porter Brothers Trilogy 2)

Greer’s eyes went to Logan, who was sitting on the porch, watching his crazy relatives. “I’m pretty sure he’s old enough to know how to spell that word out now.”

“That’s why I misspelled it to throw him off track.”

Greer rolled his eyes. “Yeah, like that worked.”

“Do you hate me?” Rachel lowered her hatchet.

Greer swallowed the lump in his throat at the look of grief on her face.

“God, no! Vixen, why do you think that?”

“Because I healed Holly and didn’t listen to you,” she sobbed.

He tried to reach out for her, but she turned back to hit the barn.

“Vixen, I couldn’t ever blame you for something you were meant to do,” he choked out, going into the barn.

“You better not be doing what—”

Cash came out with an axe in his hand and started tearing the boards out of the barn a small distance from Rachel.

“Do you hate me because of Brett and Lindy?” Holly asked.

“No!” Greer shouted. “They were both as sick as the coon dog my pa had to put down.”

At the mention of his favorite dog, Dustin went into the barn, coming out with a hammer.

Thank fuck, Greer thought. They were out of axe’s.

Dustin used the claw of the hammer to rip the boards out. The boards that had been successfully taken out had reached a pile to his hips.

Greer went to Tate. “Why aren’t you stopping them?” His face was somber.

“There hasn’t been a day since Pa gave us that beating when I didn’t want to do it myself. He always locked us in there when he was mad at us.”

“Yeah, so? We lived through …”

Tate walked into the barn then came out with a crow bar, going to work on the other side of the barn. Greer tried to hand Ema to Sutton so he could go into the barn and get his pa’s still out, but with a shake of her head, she went inside.

“There ain’t anything left …” His shoulders dropped when she came out with a hatchet he used for camping. “I forgot about that one.” He adjusted Ema on his hip, realizing the child was sound asleep.

Carrying her into the house, he passed Logan, who was still watching his family with a serious look on his face.

Laying Ema down in the traveling playpen, he covered her with a blanket then caressed her soft cheek with the back of his fingers. “I love you. Sweet dreams.”

Going back, he saw Logan carrying boards that had been torn off to the pile.

Knowing when he was beat, he went inside the barn, dismantling the still.

Carrying a part outside, he gave Logan a pair of gloves.

His nephew grabbed him around the waist, hugging him tight and burying his face in his stomach. Greer sightlessly stared ahead, afraid he would lose his composure if he looked down at his nephew.

“I love you, Uncle Greer.”

Greer looked down for a brief second. “Boy, I love you, too.” He gruffly patted him on his back.

Embarrassed, Logan stepped back, using his glove to wipe his tears away. “Can we set it on fire?”

“Give me a few minutes,” he agreed, seeing the first sign of life on his nephew’s face since he had been shot.

“Thanks, Uncle Greer.”

He went back inside the barn, removing the rest of his pa’s still and the rest of his useless tools.

He was carrying the last load out when he heard Holly’s loud yell.

“Greer Porter!’”

“Woman, what you yelling for? You’ll wake Ema!”

Seeing what she was holding, he tried to look shamefaced but failed miserably.

“What is this?”

“You know what it is,” he mumbled under his breath.

Tate had taken the side door off, propping it against a tree, not expecting Holly to touch it. The fool woman hadn’t been content to leave anything standing and had torn it apart, finding his cache.

“That’s why you didn’t take my money. You had more hidden!”

“You know how much money it takes to keep Logan fed?”

“I know how much it takes to keep you fed!” she snarled, picking up the packages he had weighed and lovingly packed for sale. She started grabbing them into her arms. “They are going into the fire when you get it started.”

“Are you high?” He tried to grab them back.

Her pearly whites flashed at him.

Snatching his hand back, he tried to reason with her. “I have bills to pay … At least let me keep enough to pay King!”

She handed him one package.

“Woman, did you see how many hot dogs, hamburgers, and champagne we had? It’s not like we served Mad Dog 20/20 in Dixie cups!”

Holly gave him two more packages.

“I still owe for the cake.”

She gave him three packages.

When she still had the majority in her hand, he wanted to cry.

“I have to pay for my truck.”

“Your truck is paid for. Diamond told me The Last Riders paid for it for the work you did for them.”