Cord’s Redemption by Jaxson Kidman

Chapter One

Three milesjust outside the Salis Valley, right where the Kaigne Creek finally decided to run dry, stood a dive bar with buzzing neon lights and the smell of cigarette smoke which forever hung in the air with nicotine stains on the ceilings from years past.

Sometimes the only way to survive was to respect those ceilings.

The amber stains and the clank of bottles - whiskey and beer - were the soundtrack to a way of life that didn’t exist unless you knew where to find it. And while some men dropped to their knees and shed their pride at the ringing of a church bell, everyone knew it was damn easier to bow to the altar of whiskey.

Through the crooked front door, which took Annie ten minutes each night to finally get latched, stood a group of men near a dartboard.

Two men stood in department store flannel shirts, buy one get one half off jeans and cowboy boots that were shipped for free with only two days waiting time. One had the balls to even wear a cowboy hat. Curled tight, nothing authentic, but that matched the clean scruff on his face and the freshly cut nails on his fingertips.

He smelled of expensive cologne, which was like blood to a hungry animal for Destry Lynot.

Destry stood in ancient jeans that survived hell and time. A black t-shirt that wrapped around muscles earned from living on the family ranch. When some kids were learning how to ride a bike or beat the boss level in a video game, Destry Lynot and his brothers were tossing hay bales, catching snakes and jumping into creeks that were too damn shallow.

So when someone asked Tripp Lynot what the hell was wrong with him, he knew to say it was jumping headfirst into those damn creeks.

Destry’s fists were balled up tight, looking like boulders. His face was far from clean cut. The cowboy hat that sat on his head came from a man who took his last breath on the family ranch.

Next to him stood his brother, River. His arms folded, carefully watching the two outsiders as they put money on the pool table.

“Hey, partner, never caught your name?” the one with the cowboy hat asked.

Destry looked at River.

“Partner?” River whispered.

“They want an experience, right?” Destry asked.

Destry Lynot was mostly known as Des by those who knew him and dared to speak his name as such. The first time saying that, you were left with one of two outcomes.

One - Des would acknowledge your existence and time would continue.

Two - Des would put your jaw on the back of your head.

“Another round over here?” a chipper voice asked.

Des and River looked over and nodded to Annie as she put four filled to the top beers on the pool table.

“Oh, we aren’t drinking that,” one of the other men said. “We ordered martinis.”

“This is a martini,” Annie said. “This is how we do martinis here.”

“Meaning you can’t make a mixed drink?” the other man asked.

“That a problem?” River asked. “Can’t shoot some darts and drink a beer like a man?”

“Oh, this is going to be good,” the first guy said.

Annie walked toward the Lynot brothers and tucked the old food tray under her right arm.

Des had no problem letting his eyes take a quick downward glance to Annie’s beautiful perky tits. She was a good-looking woman but carried more baggage than an airplane. For Des, Annie would be good for one night. But she was the one who served drinks and her grandmother owned the bar. That meant Des could use his eyes and nothing else.

Now as far as River went…

Annie poked at River’s chest and opened her eyes.

“Don’t say it,” River said.

“I’m not going to say it. I know what you’re going to do. Just take it easy.”

“Martinis?” Des whispered to Annie.

“I know,” Annie said.

She rolled her eyes and walked away.

Des let his eyes dance on Annie’s firm ass.

He punched River’s arm. “When are you going to get on that?”

“Who? Annie?”

“Brother, if she was any wetter for you, she’d need to carry a mop around when she talked to you. We’ve got business here first though.”

Des stepped toward the two men.

He watched as they both froze.

Des lurking in the shadows looked much different than Des standing face to face with you.

“You said fifty, right?” Des asked.

“Sure,” the man said. “I’m Mike, by the way. This is my best friend from college, Tony.”

“Nice to meet you,” Tony said. “We’re kind of on a road trip. Blowing off steam. Finding little towns, places to crash and enjoy.”

“I like the hat, Tony,” Des said with a grin.

Tony hurried to take the hat off. “Oh, this thing? This is for fun. Saw it in a store. Thought it would be cool to wear.”

“And now you think it’s cool to show up to this bar and ask us to shoot some darts for cash, huh?” Des asked.

“For fun,” Mike said. “Don’t let anything fool you. We won a lot of free drinks playing darts back in the day.”

Des chuckled, walked to the dartboard and plucked the darts out of the beat-up board.

He stepped back to a line that had been taped on the floor longer than Des had been alive.

He lined up his throw, squinting his eyes for a second.

River jumped forward and touched Des’s arm.

“Wait a second,” River said. “Let’s make this interesting.”

“What do you guys want now?” Mike said. “We just want to throw some darts. Come on. What’s the deal? Blindfolded?”

“No,” River said. “We’re going to show you how the Lynot’s play darts.”

Des looked at River and nodded.

River walked up to the dartboard and placed his hand against it. He spread his fingers.

“No way,” Tony said. “I’m not going to be part of this. I am not doing that. This is stupid. You guys want to be tough because we’re in your bar, fine. Be tough. We’ll leave. No hard feelings.”

Tony hurried to the pool table and grabbed the money he and Mike had put down.

Des quickly flicked his wrist and sent a dart through the air.

It hit a twenty-dollar bill, keeping it on the table.

“Hey, asshole!” Tony yelled as he stepped back.

“Your hand is on the board,” Des said. “Now.”

“The fuck it is,” Tony said. “You’re crazy.”

River lunged for Mike, grabbed his shirt and lifted him up.

Tony made a move for River and Des jumped into the fun next.

His left hand grabbed Tony’s left shoulder and he slammed his right hand to Tony’s back.

Des drove Tony right into the dartboard. Face first.

Tony’s nose exploded.

“Stop it,” Mike cried. “Keep the money. We learned our lesson.”

Des grabbed Tony’s wrist and placed his hand against the dartboard.

“Spread your fingers,” Des growled. “Gives you a better chance of not taking a dart to the hand. Even if you do, don’t worry, we’ll help patch you up.”

Des looked at his brother and laughed.

“This night is better than I expected,” River said. “I’ll throw the dart. Unless you want to, Mike. What do you think, Mike? You want to do this?”

River threw Mike into the pool table and he fell to the floor.

Behind River, there were sudden thunder-like footsteps.

“Ah, fuck,” Des whispered. “I guess the fun is over.”

“Why are you two here?”

River and Des both looked at their brother.

Cord Lynot stood dressed in all black. Boots, jeans, shirt, scruff on his face, plus his hat.

In a world battling for new opportunity and old tradition, there were few truths that held tight.

One of them?

When Cord Lynot spoke, you better be listening.

Des stepped backand released his hold on Tony.

“You’re lucky,” Des whispered.

He then threw his shoulder and smashed Tony off the dartboard a second time.

Tony collapsed to the floor.

“Make it stop, man!” Mike cried out from the floor.

Cord stepped toward Mike and placed his giant right boot on Mike’s chest.

“This isn’t the kind of place you visit when you’re passing through town,” Cord said.

“Yes, sir,” Mike whimpered.

“This is the kind of place you forget even exists. Got that?”

“Got it.”

“You’re going to pick you and your friend up off the floor and walk the fuck out of here and never come back.”

“Yes. Of course. I swear. I fucking swear, man.”

Cord moved his foot, crouched down and picked up the cheap fake cowboy hat off the floor.

“This yours?” Cord asked Mike.

“No. It’s Tony’s. You can keep it.”

“I’ll wipe my ass with it,” River said. “Then it’ll have purpose.”

Cord flung the cowboy hat at Tony.

He folded his arms.

He waited.

Des and River did the same.

This was their bar, in their town, near their creek, that touched their ranch.

Mike and Tony got to their feet and scrambled to run out of the bar.

Des move toward the pool table and pulled the dart out of the twenty-dollar bill.

“At least I made some cash out of the deal here,” Des said.

He held the money up between his pointer and middle fingers as though it were a cigarette.

Without hesitation, River swiped the money out of Des’s hand.

“You know where this is going,” River said.

Des reached for River and Cord stepped in.

He hooked his arm to Des’s and gave a nod. “River is right.”

“Yeah, like River knows what to do with it anyway,” Des said.

“Let’s go,” Cord said.

Led by Cord, three of the five Lynot brothers walked up to the bar.

That’s where Annie stood with her arms folded.

Cord looked around the bar.

All eyes were on him.

He was next in line to the entire Lynot ranch. In some way that made him kind of royalty. He never asked for respect but he got plenty of it.

“Annie,” Cord said as he reached for his hat and took it off.

“Don’t give me that nice cowboy shit, Cord,” Annie said.

Cord smiled. “Yes, ma’am. How’s Ma doing?”

Annie looked up and pointed. “Sleeping the night away. Don’t know how she does it.”

“Give her my love,” Cord said.

“She’ll be down around one in the morning. After her nap.”

“She still drink whiskey like its water?” Des asked.

“She still wants to know when you’re going to pay her back for the window you put that guy through,” Annie said.

“That was ten years ago,” Des said. “And that guy was grabbing for your booty.”

“Don’t ever call my ass a booty again,” Annie said.

“Why don’t you give us a spin so we can see what we’re working with?” Des asked.

“You want something to look at? Here you go, Des.”

Annie lifted the middle finger of her right hand.

“Annie, here you go,” River said. He put the twenty-dollar bill on the bar. “Not sure if those assholes had a tab or not.”

“They ordered martinis and nothing else,” Annie said.

Cord slowly looked at his brothers. “Did she just say martinis?”

“That’s right, Cord,” Des said. “Fake clothes and pussy drinks.”

“Hey, don’t insult pussies,” Annie said. “The one thing guaranteed to bring you big, bad cowboys to your knees is pussy.”

“Now you’re just talking dirty to me,” Des said.

“Well, damn, if I knew those guys ordered martinis, I would have put them through a window myself,” Cord said.

“Do I have to wake Ma up to come down here and chase you Lynot boys away?” Annie asked.

She stuck the twenty-dollar bill down into the front of her shirt.

Cord watched the way Des grinned and the way River looked ready to drool.

“I think there’s some blood on your dartboard, Annie,” Cord said.

“Always the dartboard trick,” she said, shaking her head at Des and River. “Can’t just break a pool cue over someone’s back like a normal outlaw, huh?”

“We like making a scene,” Des said.

“Well if this were a movie, then this is where the scene ends,” Annie said.

“We didn’t even get to drink those beers you poured for us,” River said.

River and Des walked back to the pool table to get all four beers.

Then they walked to the front door.

“Bring those glasses back!” Annie yelled.

She looked at Cord and after a few silent seconds, she grinned.

Cord nodded and turned, head down, and walked to the door.

That was enough playtime for one night.

In the world of being a Lynot, there was always another fight coming in just a few seconds.