“It’s about a few things a woman needs to know and nothing more.” She tried to square her shoulders, lift her chin and act as prideful as she ever had in her life.
Luke reached for her but she rushed by him. The tears she held while she listened to Clay’s confession fell fast. By the time she scooted up the hillside and made it to the booming saloon, her face was completely damp.
“I got a mind to kick your ass,” Luke snapped. “What the hell were you thinking?”
“She deserves a man’s honesty,” Clay deadpanned.
“What the hell for?” Levi asked. “She knows what we do for a livin’, she said so herself. Now how come we gotta tell her we’re gonna leave her all alone?”
Luke paced the floor. “That was the damn dumbest thing you’ve ever done in your life. If you’d only watched her with me and Levi earlier, you’d know how stupid you are about right now.”
“You want me to make her think I bought her this house and the four of us are just gonna live right here? Maybe pretend like we’re strangely married or something?”
“It sounded pretty good to me,” Levi said.
“Of course you’d think so, Levi,” Clay smarted off and didn’t give a damn about his feelings. “You ain’t never had a family and you’re lookin’ to make one with a girl who don’t have the first idea of what she’s doing here. We can say we ain’t taking advantage of her if it makes us feel better, and it does.
“The truth is, we’re robbing her as much as we’ve ever robbed anyone. We’re gonna take her purity, give her a few hard fucks, and then walk the hell right on out. We always do it. After all these years, she ain’t gonna change the way we do things once we get what we want.”
“Speak for yourself,” Luke said slapping his hand against the doorframe. “Now I’ve got a mind to go find her. If she comes back here first, try to let Levi do the talkin’ and say you’re sorry too.”
“Luke, listen, I ain’t gonna lie to her,” Clay said.
“You just did cousin,” Luke informed. “See, I don’t plan on leaving here unless Emily is with me.”
“Me either,” Levi quickly added. “I like having her around and as long as she likes having me around too, I’m gonna stick close.”
“Uh-huh,” Clay muttered. “And what are you gonna do when they have a noose ready for us? That Marshall Coe and his men will eventually find their way here. What then?”
“Thought you had a friend in high places in this here town?” Levi asked.
“I do but I’m planning for the worst. Percy said he’s a crooked bastard if there ever was one in Cripple Creek.”
“That’s the kind of fella we need on our side,” Levi reminded. “Maybe that’s why you and him are friends anyhow.”
“Maybe, but a crook typically bends both ways when money or power is involved.”
Luke rubbed his chin. “We’ll worry about it when the time comes. For now, I’m gonna go fetch Emily. Levi, you get that big tub there in the corner ready for her. I plan to take good care of her tonight.”
Clay took a deep breath. “You two really think she’s gonna let us all have her on the same night?”
Levi rapidly nodded. “She said so, didn’t she, Luke?”
“In so many words.”
“Is that right?” Clay asked.
“Yep, that’s about the jest of what she allowed.” Luke patted his cock. “But if she changes her mind, I can tell you for certain that I’m not the one who will step aside tonight.”
Clay stomped across the cabin. “Get the horses up to the livery stable and I’ll go find her. I’ll bring her back and try to explain things to her.”
“How do you explain true stupidity?” Luke asked.
“It ain’t easy,” Levi told him. “I try to explain myself all the time and you two always make me feel like I’m dumber than dumb when I try. Clay here is one stupid ass for running Emily off. He can’t explain it, can you Clay?”
“No brains-of- the-bunch, I can’t. But I reckon I can bring her back here and let you two make things right with her tonight if I can’t manage.”
“I hope you can’t,” Luke told him. “I’d rather share with Levi than you right now.”
Clay took his hat off in passing and slapped Luke over the head with it. “I hope for once I have a way with words as much as I do with my cock. If I do, then one thing is certain, I’ll get in ‘tween Emily’s legs first and I’ll stay for as long as she’ll have me.”
“Yeah,” Levi grumbled. “Until you pack up and move on. Remember? You always do it. Now’s not any different.”
Chapter Six
Marshall Coe stood in front of an angry crowd. They were waiting for answers and he had a lot of them but there were few he’d ever feel obligated to offer to an idiot and he headed up a town full of them.
He always thought he was a little sharper than the next guy but somehow those Justice boys outsmarted him and those good old boys—God rest their souls—who rode out to Emily Masterson’s place with him. Now their bodies were stacked high in his brother-in-law’s wagon and the whole town wanted answers. Hell, if they knew the truth, they’d settle for his hide instead.
The farmers stood with torches lit and pitchforks shaking. A few odd remarks, those that insinuated he wasn’t worth believing fell into the open air.
“What do you have to say for yourself, Marshall?” someone hollered.
“Yeah, Marshall, Miss Masterson fled out of fear and said she’d head back here. No one has seen her!” a woman shouted out this time. Her man, whoever the unlucky bastard was, should put a gag on her or stuff his dick in her mouth.
He scanned the crowd to see if he could locate the voice. He’d like to shove his cock in a woman’s mouth who needed a lesson or two taught.
“Explain why a nice woman like that gal would leave behind a note pointing her finger at you!” Another woman screamed out. Lunacy existed everywhere now. When men allowed their women to speak for them, the whole town faced deterioration.
“I don’t give a damn what that carving said. Anyone could’ve whittled away just anything in wood. Don’t you people know this?” The Marshall walked from one side of the covered porch to the other.
The crowd was split down the middle. Some pointed and accused him while others shouted for a posse.
“It’s those Justice boys again,” Marshall Coe said. “We’ve allowed them to come into our towns and steal from us. They rob our trains and our stagecoaches. We give them permission. We sure don’t stop them. Now, they are taking off with our women!”
The Marshall tried to stir a lot of commotion and during his rant, still another feisty woman hollered out, “Marshall! Marshall! That’s not true and you know it. It’s you and your men who do the raping and I’ll bet it’s you and your men who do the robbing.”
“Who said that?” he demanded as he marched down the rickety steps in front of the jail “Answer me!”
Men, women, and children turned around and looked behind them before they turned to face the Marshall again. He stormed through the crowd. “Whoever said that…you don’t know what you’re saying! I’ll lock ya up and find a charge to pin on ya because it’s lies. All of it! Nothing but lies!”
By the time he made it to the platform in front of the Sheriff’s office, the voice in the crowd sounded off again. “I ought to know. You and your boys raped me!”
No one turned around this time. Instead, the whole place fell silent. This time, the anger kicked up a notch and the entire town looked to one man for answers.
“Well, Marshall,” a farmer said. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
He backed into the building and clung to the door. “I say we need to form a posse and those who accuse the innocent should have the guts to show their face! And until they do, don’t bother me. Get a posse together and come find me.”
Clay spotted her at the piano the second he walked inside the crowded saloon. A few friendly folks smiled and a cowboy or two said ‘howdy’ as he passed.