The Frenchman's Revenge (20 page)

After several minutes
,
she took a deep breath and asked,

“What did you do
…to them
? To
the
bad
men
?”

There was a long silence
.

“
I killed them
.”

“
Who?
”

“
All of them
…
I burned them up.
”

Chapter 8

Alex sprawled on his bed
,
unsuccessfully trying to find a position that didn’t send shockwaves of pain ricocheting through his body.
Every breath was torture
. I
nstead of getting better with time, the pain was getting worse. He heard the door open and looked up to see the shadow of a
large
man approaching.
He saw the glow of his cigarette and knew
before he spoke
it was his father
.

Wyatt lit the lamp on the side of his bed and said in a gruff voice, “Move over, Son.
Let me take a look at you.”

Wyatt was a famed horse whisperer and all of
his
life
Alex
watched his father treat injured horses and wounded men alike. The Wyoming folklore
,
well known across the
W
est, was that if Wyatt McManus couldn’t heal a man or a horse, you may as well save time and start
digging
their graves.

Alex stuffed down his cries as h
is
father’s
strong knowledgeable
hands
ro
amed over
his
battered body
,
as though he was following a map to a treasure trove of injuries. After he felt every bone, bruise and cut, Wyatt leaned over and opened the bag of supplies he brought with him. Pouring a large glass of
whiskey
, he helped Alex to a sitting position and handed him the glass.

“You better drink this down fast, Son
. Then
start chugging on another one.
This is going to take me a while and if you think you hurt now
,
you won’t believe what making you better is go
nna
feel like.”

For the next half
hour
,
Alex did his best to hold back his groans and whimpers
as
his father
poked, prodded and
began to clean and bandage the
bruises
and scrapes
covering his body.
When he hit a particular
ly
sore place and Alex couldn’t hold back a tortured cry
,
Wyatt nodded in acknowledgment
but resolutely continued his ministrations.
Alex saw the grimace on his father’s face and knew that he was being as gentle as he could
,
but when he got to his ribs
,
Wyatt muttered under his breath that
this was going to hurt like hell
,
and hurt it did. Alex
was determined not to
cry out
,
but it was useless
. He uttered
a low hard groan as Wyatt snapped the
cracked
ribs back in place and wrapped bandages tight around his chest
. I
gnoring the tears Alex couldn’t hold back
,
Wyatt finished
wrapping his sprained ankle and twisted knee
,
then poured himself a glass of whiskey and offered to refill Alex’s glass.
Alex
nodded
. He peered
up at his father’s stern face and spoke for the first time.

“How did you know I was hurt, Father?”

“Bai stopped by my chambers to say good night
. He
mentioned that I might want to look in on you.”

Alex was silent
, He didn’t know
if he was angry or embarrassed that Bai had let his father know that he had beaten him. He thought with a grimace that he probably should be grateful. He took several more sips of whiskey
,
appreciating its numbing fingers
e
asing away some of his pain.

“Have you seen him fight, Father?”

“Yeah, Alex, I have.”

“Does he always kill his opponents?”

“I’ve never seen or heard of any he left alive. Given what he d
oes
to them, I imagine they
’d think
dying was a blessing.”

“Why did you let me fight him if you knew that, Father?”

Wyatt snorted, “Would you have listened to me, Alex?”

Alex grimaced and was quiet for a moment.

“Why didn’t he just kill me?”

“Because you’re Elena’s brother, my son
,
and Wan’s grandson.”

“That’s what he said, Father.”

Wyatt took a drag off his cigarette
. He
blew the smoke up in the air and
studied
Alex through half closed eyes
.
H
is expression was grim
.

“Knowing Bai as I do
,
I’m damned sure that’s a one time warning, Son. Don’t tempt that tiger, Alex.
I know from my own experience, we grandmasters don’t make
idle
threats.”

~~~

The next morning
,
Alex
ignore
d
the firm knock
on
the door to
his
chambers
. W
hen he didn’t answer
,
the next knock was louder
,
more persistent
.

Alex
called out in a raspy
voice
f
rom behind the closed door, “Who is it?”

“It’s me, Alex.
I came to
accompany
you to breakfast.”

Alex opened the door
to
see Wan standing in the doorway.

“I’m not hungry, Grandfather
.
I’m not going to breakfast.”

Wan gave him a hard stare
,
looking at
the d
ark
circles under his eyes
that Alex couldn’t hide
and the
agonized
movements of his body
.

Wan
said in a firm voice,
“It is
unimportant
if you are hungry or not
, Alex
.
What is important is that you show your face.
You are, after all, my first grandson, correct?
”

Alex stood in the doorway
,
then
looked away, his
anger rising
,
seeing that his grandfather also knew about
his
fight with Bai.

“So he told you
,
too, Grandfather? Did he tell everyone?
Is it all over the compound that I go
t
the shit beat out of me?”

“To my knowledge
,
Bai has told no one, except I assum
e
, your father
and Elena
. As for how I know that you and Bai fought last night, you made it clear that you would not be satisfied until you fought him.
Because I know
how
Bai
fights
, I don’t have to ask if you were badly beaten.
I’m frankly surprised and grateful to him that you are able to walk.”

Alex
grunted.

“Oh
,
great. I
am supposed to be
thankful
that he didn’t kill me, that he just beat me so bad, I can barely move?”

“As I said, Alex, I am both surprised and grateful that you are on your feet.
Now, please put on your jacket.
It will mask the bandages around what I presume are your
cracked
ribs.
I’ll wait for you by the fountain.”

With that
,
he turned away and stood at the corner
,
waiting for Alex to join him. See
ing
that he had no choice but to go with his grandfather, Alex
managed to get his jacket on
,
pushing down the nausea he felt
when he
tugged
at the bandages on his
throbbing
ribs
. He went to where his grandfather was waiting for him
. T
ogether they walked to the family dining room.

Wyatt, Lei
,
and the boys were already at the table
.
Wyatt looked up and nodded to them both when they came in
then
turned back
to referee the argument
Gabriel
and
Jacob
were having as to who could run faster.

Lei p
ointed to the chair next to her. In
a voice that
didn’t brook a refusal
,
she said,
“Sit here, Alex.”

When he sat down beside her, she
leaned over
and kissed him on the cheek and said, “We will talk
later
.”

At that moment
,
he
heard Bai’s soft accented voice and Elena’s luscious laughter in the courtyard. Bai had his arm around her shoulders when they walked in
. Elena was ogling him,
her eyes dancing.

Wyatt and Wan stood up to greet them when they entered
.
Alex kept his seat
,
more out of discomfort than rudeness
.

~~~

Bai
stood in the doorway, bowed
slightly
,
then
taking
in
all those present i
n
one quick glance
,
said, “Good morning, everyone.”

Elena
walked
up behind Alex and put her arms around his neck.
She whispered to him
,
“I love you, Alex.
We’ll talk after breakfast.”

Alex tried to push her away
,
but when she
continued to hold
him
,
he put his hands
over hers
and
held
the
m
. Staring down at
the table
,
he blinked
back the tears in his eyes
.

Bai waited behind her and when she let go of Alex
,
he
walked Elena to her
place and pulled out her chair
and
gave
her
a quick kiss on the cheek.
When he passed by Lei, he leaned down and
kissed
her
,
as well.
He looked at Alex and seeing his flushed, strained face and downcast eyes
,
he
moved by without speaking.
He met Wyatt’s eyes and
exchanged a nod with his father, then went to sit at the head
of the table.

The boys
looked up just lon
g enough to s
ay good morning to
him
and Elena
,
then
Gabriel and Jacob
w
ent back to
teasing
Deshi
a
bout dancing with Mariel Peters. The
more
Deshi blushed
,
the more insistent the young
er
boys became.

“You know you like her,
Deshi
. Don’t deny it. We counted. You danced with her four times,” insisted Michael.

Bai took in the young man
on the brink of manhood
.
He remembered the
battered
three year old boy he had carried in his arms back to Wyatt and Lei. The young child had been kidnapped
by
evil men intent on stopping Wyatt’s race to the governorship. Bai had killed four men in the rescue
,
vaulting up the ranks of the Sing Leon and earning
Wyatt’s undying gratitude.