“W-welcome back.” Even from this distance, he could see the fine sheen of perspiration across her brow. The sparkle in her frozen gaze said she was trying to act normal.
The only other person watching him was the guy at the counter, who had a long scar across his face and the bearing of a cage fighter, not a shopper looking for antiques. He was leaning onto the counter, thrumming meaty fingers over the glass as his gaze remained locked on Clancy’s.
Clancy nodded and confidently strolled into the store, humming nonchalantly, hands in his pockets.
He knew a rat when he saw one. Five of them, to be precise. He knew when people looked like they were up to no good. It wasn’t subtle to someone with his eyes.
This wasn’t the first time he’d stumbled upon a scene like this one.
But for some odd reason, he felt particularly protective of this woman and her store, even if she had said no to him. So he wasn’t going to go starting a fight if he didn’t have to.
In a moment, he reached the register, and he noticed the woman’s hands were clenched into tight fists at her side. Whatever had been going on, Clancy had arrived just in time.
“Just wanted to ask you if you got any books on pest control in here?” Clancy asked, approaching the counter so he was right in front of her.
The big guy leaned back, still staring in a way that would have certainly unnerved most regular people.
Lucky for her, he wasn’t any normal person.
“Uh… used books are over there. I’m not sure what you’re asking.” Her big eyes blinked, and he could see a vein at the base of her neck quivering.
Seeing her scared like this made Clancy pissed as hell, though why, he wasn’t quite sure.
Clancy leaned his back to the register, giving him a perfect view of all five men. “I tried using the Google, but I got some big rats that don’t take to normal means of extermination.”
Each of the men was looking up at him from their spots in the store, irises narrowed.
“You know anything about Texas rats? Real big. Real mean too. Thought maybe one of your old-timey books could give me some advice about… rats.” He shot a glance toward the man he presumed was the ringleader on his right.
From his assessment of the situation, these guys were here for something. And if bad luck and fate were any indicator, it was the coin sitting in the display case right behind him now.
The man with the scar growled, and Clancy got a whiff of shifter from him. “Beat it, mister. We got business with the lady.”
Clancy waggled a finger. “That’s where you’d be wrong. I have business with the proprietor of this fine establishment. Ain’t that right, Miss…?” He looked over at his shoulder, and the woman’s mouth was parted, eyes darting back and forth. She didn’t even realize he was asking for her name for a moment.
“Billie. Uh, Billie.” Her reaction would have been cute if not for the tension so thick in the room you could cut it with a knife.
“Ms. Billie. Cute name, by the way. It suits you.”
She sent him a look that said, What on earth are you doing? but Clancy just resumed his relaxed posture.
One of the men on his left decided to approach, putting down an old lunch pail as he strode toward Clancy. He had a fist in front of him like he was ready to take a swing.
He’d be damned if these guys broke a single thing in Billie’s store right now, though.
“Look, mister, you need to leave. And we’ll make you if we have—”
Clancy leaned forward and reached out a hand in what would have looked like a normal, friendly handshake. Instead, as he grabbed the guy’s hand, his fingers crushed down on the unsuspecting thug’s digits and palm. “Pleasure to meet you, friend. Name’s Clancy. Where you from? Lovely weather we been havin’, right?”
There were little cracking sounds that came from the man’s hand as Clancy shook it up and down, wearing the friendliest smile to hide his utter rage. The guy let out a pained, whining sound from the back of his throat as his eyes bulged, but he did an admirable job of not screaming right there in the middle of the store.
“Always nice to make a new friend.” Clancy’s eyes shuttered, and his grip tightened, hard enough that the man tried to pry his hand away, to no avail.
The man’s face was going pale, his teeth chattering, when Clancy finally released him, and he let out a harsh gasp as he moved away, uninterested in further discussion.
Clancy leaned back on the counter in front of Billie. The next guy that dared approach would get a “friendly” pat on the back the likes of which they’d never forget.
“So many customers. So busy. Maybe y’all should come back another time. Maybe never if ya know what’s good for ya.” Clancy glared out at the room.
He heard a growl from scarface, and Clancy looked over to see anger in those almost-black eyes.
The guy was reaching for something tucked into the back of his jeans, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know what that was. “I’m tired of waitin’. You scram, or I’m gonna—”
“Gonna what?” Clancy still wore his smile, but his tone was sharp. Before the man could move another centimeter, Clancy reached into his vest and unholstered a snub-nosed .38 he always kept on him for moments like this, his gunslinger reflexes kicking in without even the slightest thought.
He kept the gun tucked to his chest, just letting the barrel peek out, pointed right at the guy’s face. But Clancy kept his body angled so Billie had no way of seeing it past his big chest and shoulders unless she physically came around the counter (which she was unlikely to do right now).
No need to worry the pretty lady, after all.
The man froze where he was, and the others with him did too. If they had half a brain at all, they’d watched as Clancy had drawn so quickly none of them had even known he’d been carrying in the first place.
“I wouldn’t go doing whatever you were just thinking, friend…” Everything was utterly still in the shop. “Not unless you an’ yer friends wanna walk outta here with a few more holes than you walked in with.”
The man with the scar grimaced but reached his hands out in front where Clancy could see them. Clancy kept his eye on all the men in the store in case any of them got ideas of testing him today too.
Then the leader looked over at the coin in the case, then at Clancy, and huffed. “It ain’t worth it.” He glanced over at Billie, and Clancy wanted to lay the man out just for the way he looked at her. “But we’ll be back for what we want, little lady.”
“Git, or I’ll make ya,” Clancy demanded.
And with a nod to his compatriots, scarface and the rest strode for the exit, the one with the broken hand nursing it as he skittered away behind the rest.
It made Clancy wonder what anyone would want with the dragon’s talon, especially after so much time.
Even stranger was how all his years of experience as a gunslinger came back to him faster than lightning could strike the prairie, all because a few thugs were bothering a woman he’d barely met all of five minutes ago.
Clancy eased down the hammer of his gun and slid it back under his arm. But it took a long moment to calm his nerves. To calm the dragon inside him that was pacing back and forth protectively.
“What just happened there?” Billie’s voice cut through the silence, and Clancy turned around to face her, glad to see confusion in her eyes instead of fear.