Chapter 52 #2
“Six.” Fate would not make me wait so long only to take him from me so soon.
“Seven.” This isn’t the end.
“Eight.” It’s a beginning.
“Nine.” Aiden takes a step, and Maddock takes…off, absolutely sprinting in the same direction as the coach, and as fast as he’s going, he might just catch it.
“Well, guess that’s that,” Aiden says as soon as I come to stand next to him to watch the rest of Maddock’s retreat. “Bet he’s wishing he hadn’t brought that reporter now.”
“Somewhat anticlimactic,” I agree, having to squint now to see the small man in the distance. “Must not think he’s so untouchable after all. Too bad. Really was hoping you were going to shoot him.”
“Waste of a bullet,” Aiden mutters, shaking his head. “Plus, I think we’ve had plenty of climaxes for a while.”
“Well…maybe a few more wouldn’t…” I trail off as he rolls his eyes.
“Suppose I set you up for that one.”
“You set me up for most of them.”
“Only because my mind doesn’t work the way yours does.”
“How fortunate for me and my desire to corrupt you.”
He snorts, turning with me as we move out of the street. “That what you’re doing?”
“God willing.”
“Saddist.”
“Masochist.”
I look in time to see Dolly stick her head out the door with an expectant expression. “Show’s over, I’m afraid.”
Frowning, she glances up and down the street. “Where’s the body?”
“Running for the hills.”
“Sounds right.” She gives a whistle that causes every window in the front of the building to close at once. Noticing the sound, Aiden looks up, then at me.
“What?” I say. “While I have no doubt in your abilities, there’s nothing wrong with having an ace up your sleeve. Just in case.”
“Cheat,” he mutters, shaking his head again, but he’s fighting a smile when the reporter makes his second approach in under five minutes.
“I think I’ll start walking back to town,” he says, already scribbling away in his notepad. “Want to get this into the Sunday edition.” He glances once more at Aiden, holding out his hand. “Been an honor.”
Aiden blows out a breath, then takes it. “Sure.” He waits until the man is out of earshot before adding, “Least he didn’t take any pictures.”
“I could run after him and give him one of the cutouts from the wanted posters I saved?” I offer, helpfully. “The sketch isn’t bad. They really captured your roguish cowboy-turned-outlaw charm. Would pair wonderfully with the article.”
He gives me a hardened stare. “Don’t you dare.”
“It’s no trouble. I have extras. Plenty to go around.”
“Cypress, I swear to—”
The sound of someone clearing their throat interrupts what I’m sure would’ve been a tantalizing threat, both Aiden and I finding Arty still lingering on the other side of the road.
“What’s that one’s name again?” Aiden asks, and now it’s my turn to shake my head.
“How can you not know? You worked with him. For weeks. For nearly as long as it took you to fall in love with me.”
“Didn’t take me that long,” Aiden mutters, starting to cross the road with me. “What’s the point in getting names? Not everyone feels possessed to talk to every person who crosses their path. Remembered yours, didn’t I? And Dolly’s? I remember the ones I like.”
“Along with Maddock?”
“Right, the people I like. And the people who would like to kill me. The important ones.”
I laugh, unable to debate the efficiency before we come to a stop in front of Arty.
“I’m sorry,” the young man says again. “I’m sorry about Soldana. I was—”
“Scared,” I answer for him, and he nods.
“Yeah.” He takes a nervous step away from Aiden. “Still am a bit.”
Aiden sighs something unintelligible before giving Arty a look that likely doesn’t help. “You the only one left of Maddock’s crew?”
Arty nods.
“You didn’t take that as a signal?”
“I did,” he replies, twisting the bottom of his shirt in his hands. “But I didn’t really have anywhere else to go.”
I look at Aiden. He looks at me, then hangs his head before grabbing me gently by the arm and leading me a couple feet away. “Would Dolly take ‘im?”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Take him?”
“Give him a job. Give him some people around him, so he doesn’t end up…like us.”
“Why wouldn’t he want to end up like us?”
“Or a lot worse.”
I fold my arms, pretending to mull over the options. “Probably. At the very least, she’ll need someone to bury bodies for her once we go back to Arizona.”
“Not that.”
“I could teach him to play poker before we go.”
“Not that either.”
“You could teach him how to be menacing.”
“Cypress.”
“Fine,” I say, not wanting to push him too far on what has already been an eventful day. At least, not until later. “I’m sure she could find him something boring.” I glance back at Arty. “Go on inside and get something to eat.”
He only stares at me until I tilt my head toward the door once, then twice when he doesn’t move.
His expression shifting from flustered to tentative hope as he walks up the stairs to be ushered in by an intrigued Dolly, who I have no doubt will find a place for him as she does everyone else. As she once did for me.
“He’ll be all right,” I tell Aiden, noting the way he also watches him. “Might not turn out to be a gunslinger or a gambler as you said, but not everyone is destined for that sort of greatness.”
Aiden chuckles. “My father used to say, there are a lot of things you can be in this life, but the most important is a good man. Hopefully he still has a chance at that.”
He starts to head for the door. “Aiden,” I call, waiting for him to turn before I say, “You are one, you know? A good man.”
His eyes fall. “Not sure some would agree with you.”
“Doesn’t matter if they do.” I walk over and grab his hat, lifting it off before I snag his shirt and pull him to me, kissing him hard enough that he blushes, the color deepening after I remind him, “You are to the important ones.”
He nods, smiling and kissing me back before he murmurs, “Think I can live with that.”