Southern Heart by Madison, Natasha (best fiction novels .txt) 📕

"Just so you know," Casey says now from beside me. "I have your file in my office."

"What does that mean?" I ask, not looking over at him.

"It means I know if you are going to throw this, just to be nice to your girlfriend’s family." He chuckles.

"You obviously don’t have the right file,” I say, firing off a shot and hitting the first target. "Because it would tell you that I don’t give a shit who I’m up against." I aim again for another target and pull the trigger. "I’II win."

I wait until my last shot to make the shot I’ve been thinking about. If you look over to the right, there is one target at an angle, and if you hit it in the right spot, you can hit two targets at one time. I hit it at the right spot, and the bullet goes through one and then straight into the one behind it.

"Ooohhhh!” the guys behind me all yell out.

"I knew he was going to do that," Ethan says, getting up when his phone rings. "Hey, Sunrise," he says and walks away to talk to her.

"Nice shot," Jacob says, holding up his hand to give me a high five.

I walk over to Casey, who looks at me, and smirk. "If you want…" I put the gun down on the table. "You can add that to my file."

He shakes his head. "How?" Beau says, leaning back in his chair and looking over at where I took the shot. Ethan comes back over now, sitting down in one of the empty chairs.

Walking over to the chair I was just sitting in, I lean over to Beau. "There are four other targets that you can do that with."

"No, there isn’t." He shakes his head, and all the other men are looking at me, even Ethan.

I point at Ethan now. "You are getting soft." I shake my head and then hold up my hand. "Right there." I point at the two on the far left. "Right down the middle. See how they are one in front of the other, but the other is far behind?"

Quinn gets up, grabbing the guns now. "He wins." Everyone gets up, getting ready to head back to the barbecue.

"What does he win?" Gabriel asks and comes over to me. "Will you share it with me?"

"I can do better than that,” I say. "You can have it."

His eyes open wide. "Thank you, Uncle Mayson," he says and runs after Quinn. "What did he win?” He hops up and down beside him.

“He won a sticker,” Quinn says, looking around. "A sticker that Grandma has at the house."

"A sticker," he says, defeated.

"And the biggest piece of pie." Quinn tries to think of another cool prize.

"That sucks," he says, and we all laugh.

"Let’s head back before the girls freak out," Jacob says, walking back into the barn and grabbing his horse. "I’m going to head back with the kids," Jacob says, and I look up, seeing most of the kids on their horses.

"I’ll help close up here," I say, looking back to see Asher cleaning up. "Tell Chelsea."

"That you love her," Toby says. "I’ll tell her." He laughs and trots out with Keith next to him.

"I’ll make sure she’s okay," Beau says, following Jacob in the back of the group.

I help Asher close the back doors and then look in to see the room that Quinn walked in before, and I stop in my tracks. "What in the…?" The whole room has wall-to-wall cages with guns in them. "You definitely didn’t show Toby this room," I say, walking in, and Quinn laughs, shaking his head.

"You and Ethan are the only ones who have really seen it," Casey says. "If you ever want to come out and shoot."

"You could bring Chelsea out, and we can see if she has a better shot." Quinn smirks at me. "My money is on Chelsea."

"Mine, too," I say, and then we walk out of the room and get on the horses. I wait outside of the barn for Casey and Quinn to come out. Asher then closes up, and the four of us ride back. A bit faster than when we got there.

Getting back to the barn, I get off the horse and walk with Quinn back into the barn. "I’ll take care of them," Asher says to us. "It won’t take me long."

We leave the horses there, and we walk back out. The party is now in full swing, and even more people have shown up. "How does it get bigger and bigger?" I shake my head. "Just when I think it can’t be bigger.”

My eyes roam the backyard, looking for Chelsea. "You know my grandparents," Quinn says. "The more, the merrier."

"Yeah," I say, not paying attention as I look to see Jacob and Kallie now together.

I walk now to them since they are the closest. "Have you seen Chelsea?" I ask, and they both shake their heads.

"She is probably inside with Gram," Jacob says, and I nod.

I’m making my way into the kitchen when I’m stopped by Reed and his best friend, Scott. "I was just telling him," he says, "about the shot you got."

I smirk at them. "All you have to do is look before you shoot." I look around again and see people coming and going. "Have you seen Chelsea?" I ask, and they both shake their head.

I nod and then make my way two steps before Ethan comes to me, holding Aubrey in his arms. "Have you seen Chelsea?" I ask, looking around, and he does the same thing.

"I saw her a little while ago," Emily says calmly. "She must be around here somewhere," she says, and I look at Ethan, who is now looking around the yard also.

"There is my mom.” Ethan points out to where Savannah is with Beau.

I jog to them. "Have you seen Chelsea?" I ask, and Savannah just shakes her head.

"She is probably inside," Beau says, and I