“They almost tore ya’ to shreds, Ms.Young…” Cassidy blinked as Dodge explained how last night's events folded out. She sat on a tree stump, Dodge stood nearby with a glass of whiskey in one hand and a handkerchief in the other. Mateo, who was still asleep, snoring gently. His tan face bloody and bruised, he risked so much for someone he hardly even knew - just because she showed him a small dash of kindness.
Thomas chatted quietly with Ade and Wayne, explaining his own backstory with many details left out.
“How did you find us? What were you doin’ out here?”
Dodge chuckled, shook his head, and ran a hand through his black curls, the whiskey in his hand almost gone. Cassidy finished her water and bread, before wiping her hands of the caked on blood with a nearby r
“Mateo?” Cassidy gently shook the kid awake, his brown eyes finally opening as the moon rose up and shone upon Dodge’s small campsite. Behind the blanket of which Mateo now laid, Dodge, his companions, and Thomas busied themselves of starting a fire and cooking a few rabbits which they shot earlier.“Huh?” Mateo questioned as he sat up, rubbing his eyes. “Where are we?” Mateo’s voice was like a bullfrog. Dirt, bruises, and dried blood near the left side of his face seemed to be highlighted by the moonlight.“A few miles west of where we camped yesterday…” Cassidy responded as she took a bandana out of her pocket, splash some water from her canteen onto it, and gently patted the dirt and blood off of his tan skin. The Kansas air was chilly tonight, maybe th
“Misty,” Cassidy smiled as she tightened the saddle bags, Mateo on the other side of Misty doing the same thing. Above them as the sun shined, a buzzard flew south. Her blonde hair still wet from the small, cold bath she took in the river.“She's quite the biter,” Mateo laughed, gently pushing Misty’s black and white speckled nose, her blue roan coat shimmering. Pushing his hand into his pocket, Mateo fished out a small apple and fed it to Misty as a small treat. “I was saving it for later, but I think Misty needs it more than I do,”“Mateo…” She sighed, looking over her saddle to him, meeting his brown eyes and messy black hair. “About Thomas…”He sighed as well, running a hand on Mi
“No,” Dodge walked up to the log and Cassidy gestured for him to sit, he happily obliged and thanked her quietly before continuing. “Pissant may know a lot ‘bout God but he doesn’t seem to know shit ‘bout his friend,”“Ah,” Cassidy laughed, still focused on the pink wildflower for a moment. She threw the flower down, stomped it with her boot heel, and looked up to Dodge mischievously. “I see we’ve changed out the term ‘lover’ for ‘friend’.”“A lover doesn’t treat their other like shit, Ms.Young, and if they be doin’ that, then they ain’t no lover - they’re an asshole,”Again, Cassidy laughed but Dodge noticed
Dodge bit back his shock as Cassidy held her hand out, full of clumps of emerald grass, for Miles who happily took the grass without complaining and without biting her; Misty stood next to Cassidy and nudged her nose into her owner's shoulder for her share. Cassidy chuckled silently, making Dodge’s heart skip a beat momentarily, but obliged and let Misty eat the rest.“I thought he was a biter,” Ade spoke, eyeing the blonde girl who was now plucking up more grass as the horses seemed to only eat if they were hand-fed.Ade and the other three had joined Dodge and Cassidy shortly after midafternoon before the group made their way slowly to a small spot just outside of a tiny town, Thomas instantly dragged Wayne to the local church to repent both their sins, and Mateo flopped onto a mattress of grass before
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