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other hand grabbed the seat of Karen’s pants, probably holding the belt.
    My dad taught me one thing before he died about a couple people in life one never wants to fight: Cowboys, because they always wrestled things six to eight times their size, and old men, because they couldn’t take a punch like the young pups, so they just shoot you.
    Alison’s fury confirmed that cowgirls were a different story. She was a force of nature. Cowgirls brought an order of magnitude. Alison walked Karen out of the barn on her tippy toes by a wicked combination of hair pulling and holding her by the belt. She kept herself out of Karen’s swinging hands with her nails scratching ineffectually against denim or the fabric of Alison’s shirt. Alison let her go just outside the double doors, and Karen turned for a moment, rubbing the back of her head. I remembered how rough Karen had been back in the day, and really admired Alison for how easily she gave Karen the bum’s rush.
    “What the fuck?” Karen shouted.
    “You crashed the party. Nobody asked you here. You didn’t play nice, and when my brother asked you to leave, you didn’t.”
    The slap connected and Alison’s head rocked back for the second time in as many days. The music stopped suddenly, and everybody looked when Alison reacted, her movement almost too quick to have been believable. She decked Karen in the tit.
    A gasp left Karen’s mouth as she staggered from the blow, and Ali stepped forward and kneed her in the crotch. Karen fell to her knees, and a few scattered cheers came up behind us.
    “Get out of here, before I really kick your ass,” Alison hissed.
    “Wait until I tell Tyler,” Karen said, her eyes watering and threatening to spill tears. “He’ll…He’ll—.”
    “Tell you that you’re trespassing,” Jackson finished, almost startling me as he walked up behind me, put one hand on my shoulder and his other on Alison’s. Bill stood to my side to face Karen.
    “Go home, Karen,” I told her, and turned to go back to the party, pulling on Ali’s hand. The rest of the spectators followed us.
    For a few minutes, we walked towards the refreshments and got drinks in silence. I noticed her rubbing her knee at odd moments and grinned.
    “That knee thing, isn’t that supposed to be for guys?”
    “Yeah, but it’s all I could come up with on short notice.”
    “It worked anyhow. If you want to learn how to defend yourself sometime—.” The words trailed off, and I noticed we stood in a darker corner while everybody paid attention to Karen as she shouted obscenities at the world in general.
    Alison interrupted me with a kiss so deep and passionate, it took me by surprise. For a moment, I was too shocked to respond. When I did, my hands gently cupped Alison by the side of the head, and my fingers worked their way into her hair. A polite cough behind me startled me after a moment when it repeated.
    “Oh shit,” I murmured, my face burning.
    “Um.”
    “Really, you two. You should be on the dance floor and not lurking in the shadows. Don’t make out in public, it isn’t polite.” Sandy scolded.
    “Yes ma’am,” I nervously told Sandy, not knowing what else to say.
    Behind me, Alison held my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze for comfort. Without that, I might have died of fright right there.
    “You better get to sleep soon, son,” Sandy nodded towards my now empty beer bottle.
    I hadn’t remembered picking up or drinking another.

Chapter 6 –
     
    My kiss with Alison overwhelmed my senses. I walked to Tory’s old cabin, and wandered off the path, holding my hands out so the tall grass tickled my palms as I made a path to what would be my new home. The cabin was originally built for the foreman’s family, but as the years passed or moved on, another one was built. I remembered going there a few times with my mom to check on Tory when she hadn’t come into the kitchen in the morning. She had skipped breakfast from time to time, and it was our