Salvation's Secrets (The Loflin Legacy Prequel) Read Online Free PDF

acting like a
whining brat still sucking tit. I’m not putting up with anymore of
this. Do I make myself clear? One more problem and I’m shipping you
off to school.” With the flat of his hand, he shoved Seth aside as
he turned to leave. “Get this mess cleaned up.” With that, Earl
disappeared, slamming the door in his wake.
    Each of them starred at the other. Breath
came in hard pulls as Seth forced his temper under control. “You
got no right telling me I’m wrong. Not when you hire out to any
bastard with a dollar and kill men simply because.”
    “Fuck you, Seth. You don’t understand the
reason I do what I do any more than Father Samuel does. If you
think you’re not starting a shit-storm, then I pity you, brother. I
really do.” Wiping his lip, he looked at the blood on his hand. “I
gotta get outta here.” Wheeling, he left Seth standing there trying
to figure out what he meant.
     

Chapter 3
     
    Charles saddled his horse and left the ranch
house in record time. He needed space. The pressure of living in
the Loflin household always reminded him of his own old man, the
man he’d killed when he was only fifteen. Maggie quietly assured
him that he had no choice – the bastard needed killing. Still, he’d
never forget the blank stare in his paw’s eyes when he’d come to
and discovered he’d buried a hay hook between his paw’s shoulder
blades. Forcing the pain from the beatings to the back corners of
his mind, Charles managed to harbor guilt for what he’d done to
survive. Earl said he should face up to the truth. He’d done what
he had to do – what needed doing. Charles still wished there’d been
a better way. His debt to Earl Loflin was long. If it hadn’t been
for Earl, he’d have already died at the end of a gun. As it was, he
tempted fate on a regular basis without Earl knowing.
    A horse snorted.
    He glanced up to see Jake long riding in his
direction.
    “Planning on disappearing again?” Jake, the
Shooter Creek foreman, pulled up and dropped the reins over the
saddle horn.
    “No, I just needed some space, that’s all.”
Charles worked on remaining civil to the man he looked up to more
than most. “I just got a lot on my mind is all.”
    “Would have anything to do with Seth
spending the night with the Comanche half-breed now would it?” His
eyes, squint in the sunlight peered at Charles from under his
Stetson. “I can tell you didn’t know I knew ‘bout that.” His chin
jutted as he stared out over the horse’s ears at the view from one
of the bluffs dotting Shooter Creek land.
    “He’s gonna get hurt. I can’t get him to
understand, she ain’t like us. She’s part Comanche, which makes her
dangerous. You should’ve seen the way her cousin, Red Bear eyed us
when I followed him out there to visit.” Charles shook his head.
“Hell, Seth’s sees his trips out there as a Sunday social. He can’t
see any of the danger. All he sees is her.”
    “Yeah, that’s the way his paw was with
Running Deer, Tyron’s maw. He courted her like a white woman,
sending presents and inviting her to take buggy rides and the
like.” Jake huffed out a laugh. “It didn’t matter she was
Injun.”
    “She’s not Comanche either, Jake. The
trouble with the Comanche could just as easily be right here in
east Texas as it is further west of here. Seth don’t see that.”
    “Charles, if there’s one thing I’ve learned
over the years, you can’t change a Loflin’s mind once it’s made up.
You just gotta be ready for the fall out.” He winked at him before
tugging on the reins. “Come on, there’s mucking needs doing or I’m
in trouble too.”
    Turning to follow, Charles considered the
elder cowboy’s words. Jake had signed on when Earl made his first
land claim back in ’32. He’d fought with Earl and figured he’d work
with him after they mustered out of the Army together. Hard living
and straight shooting, he spoke the truth and never cheated a man
or at cards. Charles