The Man Who Hated Ned O'Leary (Dig Two Graves 2)

“Like what? I’m getting a feeling there’s more to this than the horse… Did he steal from you or something?”

“He gave himself up to the police. They’ll hang him!” Cole cried, barely able to think anymore. All he could see was Ned back on the gallows in Beaver Springs, trembling as the rope tightened around his throat. “And you just let him go!”

“I never loved anyone but you,” Ned had said with a noose around his neck. And Cole had left him behind, without saying goodbye in person.

Terje spread his arms. “How is this my fault? Hadn’t you told him you don’t care if he lives or dies?”

“You don’t understand what’s between me and him,” Cole said with a growing sense of haste. Figures loomed at the edges of his vision, but he didn’t care who they were or who could hear him. “I just need to deal with this myself,” he said and moved toward the horses.

“What do you think you’re doing? The man’s turned himself in. Move on!” Terje followed him like a nagging fly trying to sit on his nose.

“Don’t try me, Terje,” Cole snapped, grabbing his saddle and rushing toward Carol, who turned toward him with a calm huff. “You didn’t stop Ned, and you won’t stop me now.”

Cole didn’t have a plan, but he needed to stop this madness. Needed to smack Ned for doing something so idiotic. And take him back to safety.

And admit that he loved him.

“All in order?” Roger yelled from afar, when Terje, the obstructive piece of shit, grabbed Carol’s reins.

“Not really. Cole thinks that he can swan into the police station and bust out his past lover, who, by the way, is also the Wolfman of the Rockies,” Terje shouted like a kid with a compulsive need to snitch on his siblings

“Give me back my damn horse. It’s no concern of yours,” Cole said, pushing at Terje, but the other man dragged Carol away from the pasture gate, hiding behind her, in case Cole wanted to use force.

This was taking too long. What if Thaddeus Craig had beaten Ned black and blue? What if only minutes parted Ned from being transported to a high-security prison? How would Cole rescue him from there?

Faded stripes passed through his line of vision, and when he turned to see one of the fake Zebras, thinking was no longer on his agenda. He dropped the saddle and grabbed the painted horse’s short mane, leaping on its back. His heels dug into the mount’s sides even as it frantically tapped its hooves against dry dirt.

“Go! Go!”

“No! You cocksucker! Leave Tanya alone!” Terje yelled, but Cole left him to eat dust and smacked the mare’s rear in a bid to make her bend to his will.

He didn’t know where the jail was, but the sooner he arrived in the city, the sooner he’d find out. His heart pounded faster than the horse’s, and he couldn’t believe this was happening. So many times Ned had begged for his love and attention, but Cole hadn’t been ready to face his own feelings until it was too late.

If he could only get to him on time, if he only got to save Ned, he’d never reject him again. He’d be the good man Ned had always wanted him to be when they’d still dreamed of living as honest men.

Blinded by sunlight, Cole didn’t notice Judith until she screeched and dropped a wooden crate, running out of Cole’s way. But as the box hit the ground, and the air clinked with the sound of broken glass, the fake zebra reared, tossing Cole from its back.

Flying through the air, Cole thought back to the darkness in Ned’s eyes last night, but the hard fall put an end to the vision and sent him rolling to his knees while dull pain spread through him like wildfire.

At least his bones didn’t feel broken.

“Grab Tanya!” Terje yelled from afar, before Cole managed to rise to all fours, still dazed.

Someone grabbed his wrist.

“Calm the fuck down!” Roger roared at him, but Cole tried to rip his hand out of the firm grip.

“The police have him! Let go of m—” Cole’s words turned into a hiss when another pair of arms took care of his other hand, and he was helpless against the combined strength of two men.

With hair hanging in his face, Cole cried out in anger when he saw both revolvers sitting at his hips, unused. He should have taken them out in the first place. He would have never shot at Roger, but the man didn’t know that and would have let Cole go.

“What are you staring at? Get the fuck back to your job,” Terje snarled at someone.

“Judith? See if you can get Tanya back?” Roger asked in a level voice before leaning down to look at Cole. “You’re a wanted man. You’re not going to walk into that police station,” he whispered slowly, as if Cole were a child denied another piece of candy.