Breaking Down Defenses (3rd in Breaking Series)

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Thomas didn't plan on getting drunk when he walked into the saloon that evening but he had always had a nearly impossible time stopping at just one shot of whiskey. Whiskey let him forget about the things he had been a part of. It washed away the faces of widows and orphans crying as their husbands and fathers were shot down. Whiskey helped his ears forget the sounds of their screams as they were abused and tortured while he stood by helpless to stop the unthinkable from happening.

But whiskey also washed away every trace of the good man he was and turned him into a loud, rude, thoughtless jackass. He'd been told as much a time or two, and he knew he shouldn't drink but he seemed to forget the negative effect the whiskey had on him after one or two shots began to warm his blood.

"Back again, Tommy-boy?" Wendell questioned as he sat down on the stool beside Thomas at the bar.

"Yep," Thomas said as he downed a shot and then sipped at his beer, "What the hell you doing back in here?"

"I like to play poker some and drink a few. Mrs. Atkinson don't allow no alcohol at the ranch so we gotta come out here to have a few."

"Those damn Atkinson's think they're something special." Thomas said with a snort. "Perfect men, perfect women.. .Too good for the rest of us."

Wendell took a drink of his own beer and frowned, "I didn't just come out here to drink. You're my friend and you seem like something's bothering you so I wanted to make sure you were alright. Are you alright Tommy?" Thomas nodded enthusiastically, spilling a little beer on his denims. He stood and wiped his face on his shirtsleeve.

"I'm great Wendell. I ain't never been better. I don't need them damn Atkinsons to tell me I'm a good man to know that I am. To hell with Brody and his brow raising disapproval. To hell with Jacob and thinking I'm not good enough to touch his sister. And to hell with Sally too! The damn bitch is so caught up in the fact that I left back then she can't see over her raised nose enough to see that I didn't have a choice!"

"I think you've had enough to drink," Wendell noted as he tried to take Thomas's beer.

Thomas jerked his beer back and shoved the other man, "Who the hell do you think you are to tell me I've had enough?" Thomas demanded. The fact that Wendell had been his friend for years before he'd left seemed to have left his memory. "You ain't nothing but a ranch hand and I'm a god damned Texas Ranger!"

Wendell wasn't a high tempered or overly proud man but he'd be damned before he stood here and took this abuse from a drunk, "Clearly you got something going on in that head, Thomas. Something that's making you forget who your damn friends are. I'll see you around," Wendell turned and walked out.

Thomas sneered and waved his hand dismissively, "See ya 'round," he said with a rough laugh.

"Hey there cowboy," Thomas turned to see the whore from the night before. What was her name again? He couldn't remember, but then again that didn't really matter.

"You want another ride?" Thomas asked with a smirk as he pressed his lips against her ear.

"Yes sir," she purred, "You go on up to your hotel room and wait on me and I'll be there in a minute. I'll even sneak up the back stairs to make it extra naughty"

Thomas winked, "Yes, ma'am,"

He downed the rest of his beer, wiped his mouth on his shirt sleeve and walked, a little crookedly, out of the saloon.

***

Sally was sitting in her room feeling sorry for herself and angry at Jacob when a sudden thought occurred to her. She needed to go to town. She needed to talk to Thomas. Their talk had actually been going somewhere earlier before her big nosed brother had butted in. She jumped from the bed and pulled off her sleeping gown.