Chapter 1

It was Austin’s first day at his new school, and his dad was cooking breakfast.

“Remember, pick out the toughest-looking kid and lay him out so the bullies will leave you alone.”

Austin nodded his agreement to appease his dad. Clay had admitted to being a bully in high school and wasn’t proud of it.

His dad had told him a story about an incident that straightened Clay out. His main target was Billy Clark, a skinny nerd from a well-off family. He’d roughed the kid up and taken his lunch money on a regular basis until Billy’s cousins visited.

Clay said there were six of them, all older and not afraid to hand out some cowboy justice. That meant they would take someone to the middle of nowhere and use them for target practice. Clay stood firm until the oldest drew his forty-five and shot Clay’s hat off. Austin’s dad believed he wouldn’t have lived to become Austin’s father if Billy’s cousin had been a poor shot.

That story convinced Austin that, if confronted, he would let them know he owned guns and wasn’t afraid to use them. He’d been hunting for as long as he could remember and could take a deer or hog from 500 yards. Austin had once taken an elk from 1,200 yards. So if he got within a quarter of a mile of his target, he could easily take it down.

Austin had also learned to quick draw. He carried a twenty-two with a forty-five as a backup. Austin was good enough to hunt quail or rabbit with the smaller gun but carried the larger one for when he ran into wolves or the occasional aggressive bear.

Clay’s bragging about his son’s gunplay at the local watering hole had meant no one ever messed with him. Not that Austin had ever drawn down on anyone or even thought about it; his mom would have skinned him alive if he’d ever tried that.

Her solution was to talk to someone and reason with them. She would be appalled at his father’s advice.

Speaking of guns, the school required Austin to go in and take placement tests. Since he’d been homeschooled, they wanted to make sure he would fit into the freshman class. Mr. Winehouse, the guidance counselor, administered the tests. He gave Austin a little pep talk before starting the test.

“Just do your best. We have programs to help you catch up if ... is that a gun?”

He looked like he’d never seen one before. This confused Austin because this was Texas, the home of John Wesley Hardin, the most significant gunfighter in American history. While no one knew exactly how many men Hardin killed in his lifetime, he’d put 27 men in the ground before he turned 22.

He’d once famously said, “I never killed anyone who didn’t need killing.”

Austin did not intend to shoot anyone, but it did seem ironic that Mr. Winehouse would act so funny around a gun.

“Yes, sir.”

“Guns aren’t allowed in school.”

A ‘duh squared’ moment came to Austin as he realized that it might be an issue with all the school shootings nationwide. His only counter to that was with him armed, he might help end one of those incidents.

“I promise not to bring it again,” Austin said.

“If the school was in session, you would have been arrested.”

Austin nodded his understanding and said, “It won’t happen again.”

“Why don’t I take that for now? When your dad comes to pick you up, I’ll give it to him,” Mr. Winehouse said.

That all turned into a big deal, and his dad was forced to take his guns away from him. Some laws said someone his age wasn’t allowed to have a gun.

Austin passed all his tests and was admitted to the freshman class.

Before leaving, Mr. Winehouse asked, “Do you know what you want to be when you graduate?”

Austin played along because guidance counselors’ reputation was they couldn’t help but meddle.

“I’ll be a cowboy.”

“Cowboys were important in the creation of this country and have been glamorized in books and movies, but it’s no way to make a living. Cowboys live a life that’s rough, lonely, and sometimes grueling. It’s not for the faint of heart. You might be better off doing something else.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t think there are any ‘real’ cowboys anymore,” Mr. Winehouse said.

“Then I’ll be the last cowboy.”

On the ride home, Austin thought about what the guidance counselor said. Now that his dad managed the Houstons’ farm, he didn’t spend much time on horseback. Clay spent most of his time in his office, ordering supplies or planning. It also fell to him to babysit all the guests and cater to their needs.

While Austin loved caring for the animals, this bore little resemblance to the cowboy life he’d left in Montana.

As they pulled away from the school, he turned to his dad and said, “I don’t think I’m going to like it here.”

“We moved here because of you. We had a choice: either this or go along with your mom’s plan to move you east and have you attend a private boarding school,” Clay said.

Austin hadn’t known that. With the new information, he mentally vowed not to complain anymore.

Besides, his dad remained in a funk since his mom left. Now that their divorce had become final, he hoped his dad would find someone to make him happy. The problem was, when would his dad have time to do that?

The oven timer sounded, and Clay pulled out a pan of biscuits and put them on the table. Austin grabbed two of them and quickly made egg-and-sausage sandwiches because he needed to run. The school bus was due soon, and he had to walk over a quarter of a mile to catch it.

Austin stuffed one in his mouth and ran down the stairs. Halfway to the end of the drive, he heard one of the Houstons’ big pickup trucks barreling toward him. He stepped to the side and, as it passed by, saw Kelly driving with Maverick, Nora, and Travis. Travis looked at him out the side window and gave him a little wave.

When Austin made it to the road, he saw the school bus come flying down the asphalt. He had to flag it down because the driver wasn’t used to stopping there. He jogged down the road to catch up with where it had pulled over.

When the door opened, an old, heavyset lady gave him an appraising look.

“You know it ain’t Halloween?”

“Sorry?” Austin asked.

She just shook her head and said, “Get on. We don’t have all day.”

He climbed onto the bus and looked around. No one else wore a cowboy hat. A few were wearing baseball caps. The way everyone stared made him feel uncomfortable. He quickly found the first open seat, which happened to be next to a girl. She scooted closer to the window like she feared he might get her dirty or something.

That set the tone for his first day of school. Wherever Austin went, people stared. So, at lunch, when this older guy blocked his way to the tables, he’d had enough.

“Listen, freak—” was all the boy got out before Austin used his lunch tray to hit the bigger guy under the chin.

The whole place became silent, which never happened in a high school cafeteria. Austin later learned that he’d laid out the school’s starting quarterback. Texans took their football seriously, and Austin had just knocked out the school’s golden boy.

His chance of making any friends had just hit rock bottom.

The teacher on duty must have been off smoking or something because she freaked when she walked in.

In the following commotion, Austin put his tray on the garbage can and slipped out. To his surprise, no one told on him, apparently, because the summons to the office he expected never came. When he walked out to the bus, Travis found him.

“Come on. My dad’s giving us a ride home.”

“I can take the bus.”

“My dad wouldn’t hear of it. Only when my stepmom drives will you have to ride it. She has this thing about the ‘help’ knowing their place,” Travis explained.

“You’re sure?” Austin asked. “I mean, after what happened at lunch and all.”

Travis shrugged and began walking to where parents picked up their kids. Once they got into the truck, Zeb turned around and asked, “How did your first day go?”

Before Austin answered, Maverick said, “He knocked out Luke Allen at lunch today. I told everyone they hadn’t seen anything. I’m just glad someone had the balls to finally stand up to him.”