Beau recognized the voice, although Jimmy was facing away from him as he continued to rant loudly to the group of rowdy men sitting at the table.
When the man turned, Beau met Jimmy’s gaze from across the bar.
“What about you? You’re Ethan’s new little girlfriend, ain’t ya? He turned another one into a faggot, didn’t he? How many is that now?”
Beau took a step forward only to be stopped by a firm hand on his shoulder. He glanced over and saw Curtis on one side of him. He felt a hand clamp down on his other shoulder and looked over to see Sawyer coming to stand beside him.
They were obviously prepared.
“Aww, look. Your little fuckin’ girlfriends are gonna hold you back? Don’t worry, ladies, you can have him back after I beat his ass. Just like I gave that one back when I was done.” Jimmy smirked, nodding toward Ethan.
This time, Beau wasn’t the only one being held back. Curtis was too. Beau had to move in front of the older man in order to keep him from tearing across the room. When Sawyer growled, Beau knew it was all over.
“That’s right, ladies. Let’s do this.”
“Outside.”
Beau’s head snapped toward Ethan, startled at his instruction.
“Outside? You’re telling me to go outside? Lookin’ for a repeat?” Jimmy’s voice lowered, and a murderous growl took its place. “This time, I won’t go easy on you. I’ll take your life the same way you took my brother’s.”
“Out-fucking-side,” Ethan repeated, breaking the words down as though Jimmy was too stupid to understand. Maybe he was.
When Ethan took a step forward, Beau pulled away from the hands still holding onto him. “What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m done,” he answered harshly. “He wants to settle this once and for all, I’m all in.”
“Bullshit,” Braydon argued, moving in close. “They aren’t here to play fair.”
That’s when Travis stepped up. “Neither are we.”
Beau found himself in the middle of the group, making their way to the door, following behind Jimmy and the others he brought with him.
Right there was where the organization stopped, and all fucking hell broke loose.
Ethan had just stepped outside, moving ahead of the crowd when Jimmy lunged, slamming him back against the wall of bodies. Before Beau even had a chance to think, Ethan retaliated, and from the looks of it, every single ounce of anger and hatred he’d built up over the years escaped in a blur of motion.
Jimmy went down, but got right back up, the two of them grappling as they fought for purchase on the gravel that lined the parking lot.
When it was clear Ethan was definitely not backing down, two others moved in, but Sawyer was quicker than anyone else, going after them both. From that moment on, fists were flying. Grunts and groans sounded from the bodies colliding, no one backing down. Beau had to beat off two, and he took a brutal blow to the head when he looked over to see Ethan on the ground, Jimmy on top of him.
He saw stars flash behind his eyelids, but he never stopped moving. His fists connected with flesh and bone as he refused to be taken down by the biggest bastard in their bunch. No longer capable of watching Ethan, Beau had to defend himself but the shouting and arguing continued around him.
“You son of a bitch!” Jimmy yelled at Ethan. “I should’ve killed you when I had the chance.”
“Too late now,” Ethan spat, shoving Jimmy off of him.
Beau had no idea how long the fight lasted, but the next thing he knew, there were red and blue lights flashing around them.
“Get the fuck inside,” Curtis barked, his deep baritone echoing in the still night air, effectively halting the fighting.
Beau searched for Ethan, unwilling to move until he had him right there beside him. He wasn’t the only one who didn’t move. There were two guys on the ground, one holding his face, the other looked like he was out cold. Beau didn’t recognize either one of them, so that was a good thing.
He finally spotted Ethan, leaning up against one of the posts, rubbing his jaw. Beau moved with purpose, closing the gap between the two of them.
“What the fuck is going on here, Walker?” Sheriff Endsley asked.
Beau had no idea exactly whom he was talking to since there were more than half a dozen of them there.
Not surprising, but none of the Walkers responded.
“Just a little payback, Sheriff,” Jimmy huffed.
“Payback?” the sheriff questioned.
“An eye for an eye.”
Sheriff Endsley looked over at Ethan, then back to Jimmy.
“This ain’t the Old West, you dumbass,” Sawyer remarked with enough bite to down a tree.