Hauling Jim toward the wall, Caleb pivoted at the last second to clear a path for the humpback to stumble past him and run face-first into the front of the Busted Flush. Jim’s face hit with a dull crack and left a bloody stain upon the wood panels.
By this time, Kyle had worked through the pain shooting through his mouth and was working himself into a real lather. The taste of blood trickled into the back of his throat, causing the fat man to ball up his fists and start swinging. Even though his first wild punch clipped the back of Caleb’s head, his next punch gave him nothing but more pain as it slammed into the wall not too far from where Jim had landed moments ago.
As Caleb twisted around to deliver a punch to Kyle’s ribs, he was wearing a wide grin. “I don’t know what you were thinking coming back here,” he said while tossing a right hook into Kyle’s face. “But I’m kind of glad you did.”
The fat man reeled from the punch but quickly recovered. Before he could respond in any way, he saw Jim hop up with his arms splayed out to either side. The humpback let out a crazy shriek as he wrapped his arms around Caleb’s neck and hung onto his back like a tick.
“You boys obviously don’t come to my place too much,” Caleb continued with just a little bit of a wheeze thanks to the added weight hanging off his back. “Because, if you did, you’d know that I’m used to this sort of thing.” Rather than try to shake free of Jim or the humpback’s flailing punches, Caleb reached up and grabbed hold of both of Jim’s arms.
As Caleb turned to put Jim directly between himself and the saloon’s wall, he said, “In fact, this is doing me a bit of good.” He then pushed back off of both legs to smash Jim against the wall. “This might even serve as some advertising to show just how much I care to keep the bad element out of my saloon,” Caleb said as he slammed Jim once more against the wall.
When Caleb let go and stepped forward, he left Jim stuck there like a swatted fly.
“I don’t even care what you two assholes were after anymore,” Caleb said.
Now Kyle was standing directly in front of Caleb wearing a murderous look on his face. Fortunately, he seemed to have forgotten about the gun at his side and instead swung his fist with every ounce of his muscle behind it.
Waiting until the last moment, Caleb ducked and moved to one side. That way, Kyle got a clear shot at Jim, who was still peeling himself off the side of the saloon. Caleb almost felt sorry for the humpback as the fat man’s knuckles buried themselves into the poor bastard’s face.
Jim slid to the ground in an unconscious heap.
“All right, fat man,” Caleb said as his blood still pounded through his veins, “you can either collect your friend and leave, or we can keep dancing.”
Kyle’s eyes flashed, and he started to accept the challenge with his fists. The moment his hand brushed past his holster, his smile took on a whole new level of ferocity; and he began to skin the gun with a clumsy draw. Before he could clear leather, he was stopped by a wavering voice from a few feet away.
“Hold up, Kyle,” Orville said from where he was standing. “There’s not to be any shooting. We agreed on that.”
Neither Kyle nor Caleb would take their eyes off of each other, since doing so would only prompt the other to make a move.
“I know what we agreed,” Kyle said. “But it looks like this asshole wants to keep fighting.”
“Put the gun away,” Orville insisted. “Maybe then I’ll put mine away, too.”
That caused Kyle to swivel and get a look at the old man for himself. Sure enough, Orville was holding a revolver that looked like something of an antique. Still, the weapon seemed to be in working order, which was enough to earn a bit of respect.
“You wanna shoot this one?” Kyle asked. “Go ahead.”
Orville looked scared; there was no denying that. He also looked ready to fire at a moment’s notice. “I’ll shoot the leg of the first man who tries to make this any uglier than it needs to be. That means all three of you.”
By this time, the humpback had cleared the fog in his head just in time to see Orville point the revolver at him.
“Now, are you boys gonna act like we discussed?” Orville asked.
“Yes, sir,” both Kyle and Jim answered in unison.
Turning his eyes and his gun toward Caleb, the old man asked “What about you?”
“I’m not the one who started this,” Caleb replied.
“That’s not what I’m asking. Are you gonna come along and hear us out, or are you gonna start swinging again?”
After a few seconds of deliberation, Caleb shrugged and nodded. “What the hell? I’ll hear what you have to say. But we could have all been talking real civil right now over a drink if these two hadn’t dragged me out here the way they did.”
“Maybe,” Orville said as he tucked his outdated revolver back under his belt and covered it with his jacket. “Maybe not. Let’s just see how it goes.”
“All right, then. How about we head back into my saloon so we can have that drink?”
“No,” Jim snapped. “My uncle’s already been attacked once in there! Lord only knows what you got inside if’n he sticks his face in there.”
“He wasn’t attacked. He didn’t even—” Caleb stopped himself, took a breath, and said. “Fine. We can talk somewhere else. But I’m not stupid enough to follow you three into some alley after getting bushwhacked once already.”
“Where’d you rather go?” Orville asked.
“What about the Alhambra? It’s just one street down.”
Orville and his two nephews started walking down Main Street to where it intersected with Houston. Caleb, on the other hand, remained rooted to his spot. Kyle was the one to stop and wheel around like a bull that was about to charge.
“Come on, then!” the fat man grunted.
“First I want to know what this is about,” Caleb demanded. “I’ve been through too much lately to waste my time with senseless bullshit from the likes of you fellas.”
This time, the nephews glanced over to their uncle before saying another word.
Nodding. Orville said, “It’s about an arrangement that needs to be struck between us. After what I been through and what I done already, I deserve something by way of payment.”
Caleb let out a choppy, humorless laugh. “Look, everyone in the Flush last night got a scare, and from what I saw, you skinned out of there quicker than most.”
“Yeah, but I heard about what them gamblers said. They meant to cheat me out of my money and my claims. Them things is my bread and butter.”
“Well, they didn’t get anything from you they didn’t win fair and square. Two of those men are dead. I’d say that settles things between you fellas.”
“That still doesn’t settle up between us.”
“How so?”
“It’s because of me that you’re not sitting in that jail cell right now.”
That struck a nerve inside Caleb’s chest that had been itching ever since his backside had left that old, smelly horse blanket. “What do you mean?”
“You’re either going to make this right,” Orville said, “or I’ll rethink the story I told to Ben Mays and see to it that you get tossed right back into jail. I can also add a few more things to my story that will more than likely get you strung up.”
Caleb let out a sigh. Even as he started walking down Main Street, he felt like his boots were sinking in quick-sand. “All right,” he grunted. “Let’s have that talk.”
[11]