Dodge turned his body sideways and faced Cassidy, who laid on her unwounded side facing him, as he spoke of his murder, that goddess beauty fizzling out for a haunted look. “It happened years ago, actually…”
“So did mine,”
Together the two laid on a patch of grass, saddle blanket over the tops of themselves that left their legs to fight off the cold; fall was coming quicker than expected. Even though their chests were mere inches apart, their faces too, they did not touch one another - only Dodge knew how Cassidy had curled into his warmth as she slept earlier in the night. Only Dodge knew how he pulled her closer, drowning himself in her lilac scented perfume, and sought comfort in someone's arms.
“I was just fourteen when this man came
“Name.” Thomas sighed, watching as his best friend paced back and forth as the others started to pack up the campsite, Mateo having just a little too much fun stomping the fire out; Dodge let his eyes watch the two friends closely in discretion. “We need a name, Cass.”She chuckled dryly, resting her thumb underneath her chin. “A name would be smart if I knew it, but sadly I couldn’t ask the man as he grabbed me years ago,”Thomas tightened his fists at his side, thinking back to Cassidy’s past. “But does Mr.Moore know the name? He must if he was close to this kil-"“I’ll ask.” Cassidy stopped Thomas’ words short and faced him, turning her body and ignoring the thumping pain in her side; Thom
Wayne was so drunk off his ass that he thought he was back home, sharing tea with his mother, that both Mateo and Ade agreed to play along; Wayne was drunkenly paying for both food and drink, so why not take him up on the offer?“ ‘Careful kiddo,” Ade warned Mateo as the more than familiar cigar smoke filtered through the air, watching as the young boy had started to sneak glances towards a specific saloon girl; her curves impossibly tight due to her corset, long chestnut hair curled, and her natural beauty breathless. “Women like her don’t catch feelin’s,”Mateo smirked, watching as the saloon girl danced between the crowded tables from where him and his two companions sat near the very back, most people ignoring their presence. His eyes flickered away from the beauty for a momen
Thomas threw Mateo another shirt as the others were currently being washed among all of their other clothes and combing his wet and now clean hair back; Mateo quickly shoved his head through the shirt hole, tucking the tail into his pants, and rushed to put on his boots before rushing back down the stairs of the saloon. Men had gathered themselves into a poor excuse of a line, all waiting to see if they had the magical answer that was the key to Cassidy’s body though with Dodge standing beside her sitted self made most squirm in their bones - he was Death incarnated.Cassidy, on the other hand, loved the way men had lined up, offering her any information that they deemed worthy only to fall short to the girls expectations, and even though disappointment flooded her veins at the lack of knowledge of her father's murder -other things included- but if all else failed, he’d find
“I never thought I’d see the day that you’re scared of someone,” Dodge said, listening to Ruby’s retreating steps and hollers of drunken men, and moved closer to the standing Cassidy.“I’m… I’m not scared of Silas,” Cassidy retaliated, her eyes focused on her bare feet.“Then why you shakin’ in your bones?” Dodge cracked a rare, small smile and chuckle.Cassidy released her own dry chuckle, plucking her gloves off and discarding them somewhere in the room; she’d stolen the dress and accessories from the closet down the hall and more than glad it fit. “Mr.Moor-”“Please,” Dodge stopped her mi
Misty nipped at still hungover Wayne, who was just trying to pick himself up off the stable floor, and he cursed at the mare with a swat; Ade chuckled as he finished grooming Miles, giving each horse he had groomed an apple as both a distraction and reward.“Dodge and the Viper are gonna check out a farmstead ten miles north of here,” Ade informed, cleaning his hands in one of the water buckets. “You can join ‘em if you want, but they leavin’ in twenty.”Wayne opened his mouth, ready to respond, but instead of words, bile escaped his lips and onto the dried hay beneath his boots; stopping for only a minute to continue throwing up and finally after a few moments, Wayne caught his breath, downed a handful of water from a bucket, then spoke.
Dodge leaned back in his seat, the wood creaking out from underneath his weight, and watched as a brown haired man eyed his goddess, darkness glinting in his ice blue eyes; Dodge then turned his attention to Cassidy who hardly moved an inch, as if this man's voice had casted a curse over her beautiful self to stay frozen.“Silas,” Thomas spoke first weakly, breaking the table’s silence and encouraging Dodge’s confusion to come to a sudden halt and become replaced by enmity; tucking his shaking left hand away in case this ‘Silas’ liked to pinpoint weaknesses.Cassidy didn’t dare glance up, trying to pull that familiar fake confidence out of thin air when everything inside her screamed to run, hide, and vanish off the face of this ruined planet, nor did she glance up when Dodge stood.
Ruby was correct in every aspect, except one.A deep washout laid a mile out from the farmstead on the west side, disguised by long golden prairie grass and blended in so well with the otherwise flat ground that when Dodge was busy casting hand signals to Mateo, he had fallen face first into the sudden sandy dirt with a thump, almost choking on his tobacco chew in the process.Mateo laughed so loudly from where he crept through the tall grass lowly for only a second before clasping both his hands over his lips to force the laughter back down, both for the fear of getting caught by whoever may be in the farmstead and also for the fear that Dodge might rip his head off to avoid self embarrassment.Coughing lowly to rid the sandy dust which now housed itself in Dodge&rsqu
“What the hell do you mean?!” Dodge roared, his oak green eyes flaring into a emerald whiskey in the light of the golden sun that had started to hide behind the horizon, people of all kinds still busied themselves in the streets of Dodge City, and Mateo watched the scene in front of him unfold with wide eyes; his cheeks pinched pink from the sourness of his last few pieces of lemon candy.Thomas didn’t reply, fixing his spectacles, and returning his gaze elsewhere; together they stood outside the saloon, not knowing that Ruby watched from afar in curiosity while she went about her business, and only a few people stared at the Reaper when they passed.“Where is she?!” Mateo’s heart plummeted to his boot clad feet as Dodge yelled again and rushed forward so quickly it was a blur, grabbing