OverTime 03: Slipping (First 70 Chapters)

Chapter 07: The Coming Storm (Lillabit)

Breath whooshed out of Jacob as he staggered back under the blow. He doubled over, but he didn't go down. Neither did he make any move to hit back. He just looked up from his bent position, eyes hard, while Benj took a threatening step forward to close the distance between them.

The mare danced away from the excitement. Benj's gelding just eyed us, askance.

Me, I dove between the two men, making a kind of wounded sound, not quite a scream. The sounds didn't match what I would have expected, neither my own cry nor the surprisingly quiet thud of Benj's blow.

Even as I got between them, Garrison swept me bodily out of the way. "Git!"

"No!" And I lunged between the two of them again.

Benj stepped back from us, raising his spread hands to show he wasn't a danger to me. He wasn't. I felt suddenly less than sure about my beloved new husband. Jacob's gray eyes burned as his hands closed on my arms and he lifted me by the elbows, physically moving me well clear of their fight. Since Benj no longer posed a threat, Garrison didn't just release me this time, either. Instead he loomed over me--and found words.

"Don't never do that again!" he growled, more fiercely than the time I'd once used the F word on him, in an early argument over the fate of a calf. His grip on my arms didn't hurt, but the force of his anger did. "Never!"

Even as I glared defensively back I had to press my lips together to fight rising tears. Because that's how I sometimes handle anger, yay. "Let. Go."

His eyes flared and he looked down at his hands, opening them stiffly. He seemed confused. Maybe something beyond wounded pride lurked behind his temper.

Before I fully understood, Benj's voice cut into the precarious moment between us. "Ain't never thought I'd see the day when Jacob Garrison manhandled a woman."

Jacob's head snapped up at that, color draining from his face.

I spun and faced down Benj instead. "How dare you hit him!"

"Ain't never thought I'd see the day when he'd delay doin' right by a lady, neither," continued Benj, still eyeing his partner. But Jacob had done right by me.

"Stop it, Benj!"

He pointed a finger at my husband. "I don't know who the hell you are anymore!"

Why did he have to be so hurtful? The urge to cry was rapidly fading, even if the upset wasn't. "Shut up!"

"Elizabeth," warned Jacob, low, behind me. He didn't sound upset anymore. He just sounded really, really tired.

Like he believed it!

"Miss Lillabit, I am loathe to distress you, but some things have to be said," persisted Benj. "Fella takes advantage of a pretty young thing like you, alone and defenseless in the world--"

So, since he wouldn't shut up, I stepped forward and stomped on his foot.

Hard.

Well, it shut him up. Benj's eyes widened as he reared backwards from me, one-footed, before I could do more damage.

"He didn't take advantage of me, you ass!" I snarled at him, advancing with clenched fists.

Benj took another hop backwards.

"You know him! If you'd just use your head instead of letting your brain turn to mush around anything in a skirt, you'd see that! And don't call me miss. I'm married now. Call me Mrs. freakin' Garrison!"