His first shot at us lit up the growing darkness, but didn't hit anything but a tree. The affect was spectacular. The blast shattered the tree, throwi...g bits of it around. It also caused the others behind me to screech in fright. Then Vicky took her shot.The big rifle was deafening. It was also deadly and effective. One minute the Turtle soldier was in my sights and the next he was gone.We waited. We waited a whole fifteen minutes to see if anything else happened. By now all the women in our. ‘It reminded me of you.’ His eyes lit with pleasure. ‘Thank you, Mistress. Merry Christmas. I’ll be back as soon as the family thing is over.’ When he left the collar with me, I slipped a piece of paper into his pocket, kissing him, and he got into the car. Baby, acting as driver, had dressed for the occasion in a pair of leather trousers, a silk shirt with long full sleeves, and a heavy wool coat. He wore kidskin driving gloves and a chauffeur’s hat. I laughed as I watched them leave. Baby. I don’t have a hopped-up new convertible to save money on a twenty-one-mile commute each way but as an edge for impressing young men. I liked young men—really young men. Well, teens. Boys. And at thirty-two I needed all of the ammunition I could get to stay in the “catch ‘em and fuck ‘em young” game.Not that I wasn’t in tip-top shape. And that’s how I managed to breach the divide between farmers and interlopers. I quickly found that there weren’t many interlopers in my enclave who excited. There was too much unknownfor him to just surrender to her. No matter how tempting it might be.Laura was no more responsible than Lawrence happened to be. Kenneth hatedhaving to wait. Every day for three weeks he called her. No matter howmany messages or texts he made he couldn't get in contact. The message onhis voicemail came from Laura. That meant he had the right number.Keeping his anger in check grew worse and worse.Once Kennedy thought that her sister was actively avoiding her. She.