The Boss Lady's Man

{Chapter} 12

{Chapter 12}

A week passed and Toni’s impatience grew by the day. She was beginning to regret her decision to let J.T. go, but she knew she couldn’t undo what she had done.

She had the men lined up in front of the larger bunkhouse, walking by placing a six-shooter in each of their hands.

“What’re these for?” Tiny asked.

“They’re to defend yourself with, but if I find one of these bullets in my chicken, there will be consequences. These are for rustlers only,” Toni said.

The other men snickered and Tiny scowled at them.

She got down to the last man and held out a gun to Erik.

“I don’t need one, Boss,” he said.

She looked at him. “Why not?”

“I’ve got my knives. I’m better with them, anyway,” Erik said.

“I’d feel better if you had a gun on you, though,” Toni said, trying to reason with him. “They can shoot farther than a knife.”

“Not if I can’t hit my target,” Erik said.

Toni sighed and thought a moment. She needed her men to be armed. All of them. Sure, she had seen what Erik could do with a knife, but she didn’t feel easy about him not having a six-gun.

“I’ll make a deal with you. We’ll pick out a target, and if you can hit if with your knife, I’ll let you hold off on the gun. If you miss, you’ll pack one. Deal?”

Erik thought a moment before a grin stretched over his face. “Sure.”

Toni picked out a fencepost about fifty paces away and stood beside Erik.

“Reckon you can hit that?” she asked with a smug grin.

Erik shrugged. “Guess there’s only one way to find out.”

He twisted his oak-handled, steel bladed pig-sticker in his hand and eyed the distance. With a brief moment to aim, he drew back and threw the knife through the air at an arc. The blade came down and stabbed into the top of the fencepost.

Toni was impressed, but she didn’t dare show it.

“Hmm” was all she said.

Erik grinned at her, but not out of pride or conceit, but more out of the fact that he knew she was impressed.

Anxious to try to prove him wrong, she held out her hand. “Let me try.”

Erik’s grin widened as he gave her a massive knife.

“Gotta smaller one?” she asked.

He gave her a much smaller one that more suited her hand size.

She aimed, drawing the blade back, and threw the knife with as much force as she could muster. She failed to hear or see the blade stab into the post, so she looked around for it. It wasn’t in the air, so she was beginning to think that she had completely missed when a strained, whimpering sound came from Erik.

She looked at his tensed up face, his mouth agape in a silent scream, his eyes directed down. She followed his gave to his feet, where a pearl-handled knife stuck out of his closest boot.

She stared at it, shocked at what she saw.

“I didn’t do that did I?” She asked, cringing when the toe of his boot began to stain with blood.

Erik looked like he was about to burst, and the pain was evident in his eyes. He directed his eyes toward her.

“You… You stabbed my foot,” he squeaked.