Ambrose
AMbrOSE
"Phew," I breathed, pulling a rag from my back pocket and wiping my forehead clean of sweat. "I think that will just about cover it."
The eternally unhappy man, whose name I still hadn't learned, looked at me. “Ya sure ya don't wanna start pickin' over every detail again?"
"If you're gonna do something, you make sure it's done right before you finish. Otherwise, it's invitin' trouble somewhere down the road," I told him, unbothered by his attitude. A bad attitude in a worker was generally okay so long as they didn't slack off. To his credit, he was a decent worker for someone from a gang, someone I expected wouldn't have much of a work ethic. He wasn't quite as good as his silent companion, but he was good all the same. "You two can go. You've done enough today."
"Won't hear me complainin'," he grumbled.
"That would be a first," I told him without thinking.
He scowled at me. “You've been around that mouthy bastard too much."
I frowned. “I don't need your opinions on what I’m doin', alright? Now go get some food."
I had to admit Samuel seemed to be rubbing off on me because that was exactly what he would say. The thing was, I was doing my best not to spend too much time with him. It was probably stupid to be worried that people might grow suspicious since I was still supposed to be in charge of his sentence, but I still couldn't shake the fear.
It didn't help that since we'd had our fun a couple of weeks ago, it had grown increasingly difficult to behave around him. Just looking at him for too long gripped my attention and refused to let go. It was worse when he was working, unaware I was watching him. His skin, covered in sweat and rippling with the muscles he'd been steadily building for weeks, always caught the sunlight and held me with a death grip. I could stand and watch him for hours, bending over and moving things, his face a mask of concentration as he worked.
Which was made even worse by the fact that we hadn't been celibate the past couple of weeks. Nothing had escalated, but we hadn't kept our hands or mouths to ourselves. I might have started off feeling awkward and bumbling when it was my turn to pleasure him, but just paying attention to him had done wonders to improve my skills. That or he was very good at pretending I was getting better to feed my pride, which was strange on its own, but I could see other parts of him I’d never imagined.
My thoughts were making my pants more than a little uncomfortable, so I did my best to push them away before they grew out of control like they so often did. Instead, I forced myself to walk to the tub in the work shed. I had told my father there needed to be water accessible to the men and nearby. It certainly created better team morale, and happy men were productive men.
Today had gone on longer than a standard work day, so no one else was around as I entered the shed and dipped my hand into the tub. I hadn't known it, but someone had recently replaced the water, so it was still cool enough to feel good against my heated skin. I pulled my shirt off, dangling it over a nearby fence, and cupped the water to drip over my head.
A shiver ran down my back at the feel of the water as it cooled my overly heated skin, trickling down under my pants as I rubbed at my face. I tried not to bend over the water and risk tainting it. One of the biggest points against water in many locations was scarcity. I had pointed out to my father that if we were smart and didn't replace it routinely, then we would be fine. The ranch was built around several water sources above and below ground that could be used and refilled every winter into spring. It was one of the reasons my grandfather had chosen the land once he'd had it surveyed, and I didn't see a point in not using it to its fullest.
A soft crunch of dirt under boots told me I wasn't alone, and I waited, unsurprised when I heard a familiar, smirking voice. "Well, I was coming to see if you were going to join us for a late supper, but I didn't realize I was going to get a nice peek in the process."
I turned from the tub to find him standing at the entrance to the shed, arms crossed with a familiar, playful smile on his face. He wasn't bothering to hide that he was staring at me, practically ripping my clothes off with his eyes. Which, of course, made my previous thoughts come back as I stared at him, feeling a familiar and usually welcome heat growing in my gut.
"Came to ask and ended up staring instead," I said, wiping my face. "How long have you been done?"
"Over an hour," he said, uncrossing his arms and pushing away from the wall. "Pretty much everyone's back either resting or getting food. Wondered what happened to you, Scowls and Mute."
"Is...you call your bunk mates that?"
"Well, they're my bunk mates, not my friends. And I'm fairly sure Mute likes me, but he follows Scowls' lead."
"Not everyone has to have a strong way of doing things like you."
"You're one to talk."
I leaned back against the tub and raised a brow. “Weren't you the one who said you like some of those things about me?"
"Some, yes," he said, approaching me, his hands resting on my chest and rubbing slowly. I tensed, knowing full well that, like every other time, we were in a somewhat public place, and all it would take was for someone to walk by at the wrong time. Two things kept me from giving in to that fear, though. One was that his touch was usually enough to make me forget all common sense and healthy thinking. The other was that as much as he seemed impulsive, overly playful, and too much of a risk-taker, I realized the opposite was true. He was just good at making himself look that way. All the while, he carefully evaluated everything and manipulated things to work out the way he wanted.
Why someone would devote so much energy to looking like an impulsive idiot rather than the careful, calculating man he was wasn't something I could figure out.
"I had a thought," he said, hands sliding down my torso until his hand came to rest on my groin. His fingers gave a gentle squeeze, immediately making me suck in a breath that was both nervous and interested in equal measure. Every time we were intimate, I felt that same conflicting feeling of fear at his ability to control me so well while simultaneously enticing me. It was difficult for me to sort through the feelings and make sense of them, and so instead, I found myself a slave to whatever emotions he drew out of me.
"What thought was that?" I asked softly as his fingers found the laces of my pants and undid them with a twist of his fingers, tugging them loose. Everything in me should have warned against being so stupid when I hadn't checked to ensure we were safe from being discovered. All I had right now was the trust that he made sure we wouldn't be disturbed and then the feeling of his hand sliding into my pants and wrapping around me.
If I had any doubts about doing this right now, they disappeared when he dropped to his knees and took me in his mouth. A low groan escaped me, and I quickly tamped it down. The last thing I needed was to make enough noise to draw attention from anyone that might happen by and drown out the sound of their approach.
My hand slid through his hair as he bottomed out, taking me deep in his throat. I had no idea how he managed to do that without a lot of fighting, choking, and gagging, but he wasn't going to hear a complaint from me. It was just one more thing that put me at his complete mercy as he hummed around my shaft, making my fingers tighten in his hair.
When his hand slid to rest on my hips instead, I took the invitation for what it was. Holding tight to the hair on the back of his head, I pulled his head back and held it there for a moment, savoring the feeling before pushing my hips forward. He’d learned last week that I gained a whole new pleasure when I was allowed to take over and fuck his mouth at my own pace. The fact that his mouth and throat could handle whatever I did just meant I was free to do as I pleased.
Which, of course, should have made me feel powerful, and I did while using his mouth. Yet afterward, I was left with the idea that, in the end, I had been used, not the other way around. It should have irritated me, or at least offended me, but considering how willing he was to use that power for the sake of my pleasure as well, I didn't complain.
Especially now as I began to rock back and forth, enjoying, as always, the feel of his muscles gripping me as I thrust into his mouth. I loved seeing him completely in my power while somehow remaining in control. There was no way I’d be able to do it without his permission, without his enthusiastic permission. He occasionally let out a low moan, just quiet enough that it wouldn't be heard unless someone was dangerously close but loud enough that I could feel the tantalizing pleasure of it up and down my shaft.
The grip around me was gone, and he jerked, forcing me to shuffle backward at the sudden movement. Then, I realized I could hear the crunch of approaching footsteps and hurriedly stuffed myself back into my pants, wincing. Samuel was on his feet in a flash, walking around the tub and pressing his groin up against it while he scooped water to splash his face. I had to do the same but instead had to turn my back to the approaching sound.
The footsteps reached us and stopped, followed by a familiar voice. "Well, hi there, and...Samuel. Didn't think anyone was out here this late."
I glanced over my shoulder, amazed and horrified that despite being filled with alarm, terror, and worry, my shaft refused to go down. "Hi, Walter, just washing up. The day went on longer than I thought it was gonna."
"And I decided it was probably in my best interest to make sure he hadn't collapsed while working. It would be bad if the person who's supposed to be in charge of me up and died. Then who would be in charge? Better the devil you know, and all that," Samuel said, his voice casual and completely normal. I had no idea how he could look so well put together as if he hadn't a worry in the world.
Walter chuckled. “Probably a smart idea. But here is made of strong stuff. You won't have to worry about him."
"You say that when your life could depend on whether he's still alive," Samuel said wryly. "Maybe then your attitudes about how strong or weak won't matter as much."
"Ya got me there," Walter said with a genuinely well-meaning chuckle. It was one thing I’d always liked about him; no matter what Walter said or did, he was always genuinely happy to be involved. I had never seen him angry or frustrated with another person, and there didn't seem to be anything that made him uncomfortable. It was probably what made him so good with the horses. Even the most ornery horse found itself calm and reasonable around Walter. "But it's nice of ya to check on him all the same. Place wouldn't be the same if something happened to here."
"Walter," I groaned, a little confused, when I realized his praise made me go soft faster than any threat of discovery. "Don't start. Every one of you could manage just fine without me, and you'd be a fool to think otherwise."
"Well, then call me a fool," he said, genuinely unconcerned by my attitude. "We might be able to manage, but it wouldn't be the same. Your daddy lets you run so many things for a reason."
"You're making him turn colors," Samuel said, not sounding like he was chiding Walter for my embarrassment but just...commenting. Then again, that was him, and all I could do was glare, even though I knew it wouldn't bother him in the slightest. He continued to look amused as he watched me, leaning on the edge of the tub, eyes drifting down toward my naked torso and coming back up again. "It's fun to watch."
Somehow, I didn't think he was talking about my embarrassment now.
"You need help with somethin', Walter?" I asked, turning around now it was safe and hoping to change the subject.
"Naw, I usually come out here and think for a bit. Things are quiet out here at this time of day," Walter said, shoving his hands into his pockets and grinning. "But don't hurry on my account, you look like you need to cool off."
"Not really," I said with a shrug. "Already done that."
"Really? Ya both looked awfully red when I showed up, 'specially you, ," Walter said, tilting his head and frowning in concern.
"That's because I was giving him a hard time," Samuel said, and I breathed a sigh of relief at the rescue. Quick thinking and words were not my best. Better to leave it up to someone like Samuel, who could think on his toes faster than anyone I knew and sound completely normal doing so.
"Well, hopefully not too hard a time," Walter chuckled.
"Don't worry," Samuel said, and I sensed danger in the smile in his voice. "He was giving me quite the hard time in return. Very hard."
I turned to give him a wide-eyed death stare as Walter let out a soft laugh. “Well, that's good. If there's one thing ain't always been that good at, it's dishin' out back to those who do it to him."
"Oh," Samuel said, and while he looked laid back and normal, I could practically see the horns pushing out from his forehead. "He was giving it to me good."
Sometimes, I thought it might have been better if I just killed him and pretended he tried to make a break for it as justification.
"Good, that's real good," Walter said, thankfully still blissfully unaware of what Samuel was actually saying. Not that the man, who’d probably never done anything abnormal in his life, would ever have a reason to think about anything of the sort. "That mean you doin' alright then, ?"
"Doin' alright," I said, trying to sound like I wasn't considering whether I had the strength and stamina to hold Samuel's head under the water without anyone noticing. Walter would probably protest, but there wouldn't be many people who missed him if I did.
Out of the blue, I was hit by a wave of regret and sorrow, turning my eyes on Samuel and staring at him as understanding dawned on me with the force of a mule's kick and all the subtlety. He really didn't have anyone who would miss him if I drowned him on the spot. His family, while avenged, was long gone, and he had never spoken of any friends. Even the two he shared a living space with barely tolerated him.
I had complaints, privately, about some of the things and the people in my life but him? He was more alone than anyone I knew. Even people in those awful gangs had one another, even if some of those bonds were fragile and barely held. By all accounts, Samuel had been drifting from place to place, constantly on the move and not really establishing any bonds with people. I had my family, troubled or not, and I had the men on the ranch, and Hipolita, for that matter. Meanwhile, the closest thing he had to a friend was...me.
And Lord above, wasn't that the most heartbreaking thought?
Samuel stared back at me, a crease forming in his brow as he sensed something was happening in my head. I could read the question in his expression clear as day, but I shook my head, hoping he would drop the subject for good. For all his failings, he didn't deserve to have someone feeling bad for him. I still didn't know how I felt about the kind of life he'd led, but I knew damn well he had fought like hell to stay alive and held tight to the things he valued most about himself. Whatever I felt about some of those things, that tenacity and strength deserved some respect.
"Well," Samuel said, breaking our gaze to look past me to Walter. "Think you might help me convince this one to go and eat something before he collapses like I feared?"
"You heard the man," Walter said with a good-natured chuckle. "Go get somethin' in that belly."
I turned to look at Walter in disbelief. “You're going to help him, just like that?"
"Man's got a good point," Walter said with a benign smile. "And if you ain't gonna take good care of yourself, then maybe havin' someone else besides me makin' sure you're doin' it is a good thing."
"I take care of myself just fine," I grumbled. "Everyone needs to stop fussin' over me for no reason."
Of course, because I was never allowed to catch a break, a huff made me glance past Walter and see a familiar shape heading toward us. Bear sauntered in, clearly done roaming around, checking every nook and cranny of the ranch. He stood at the entrance, staring at me with his huge, round eyes, and I could see the pleading and recrimination. As much as he would happily scrounge and scavenge for food throughout the day, when it came to actual meals, he would never eat unless I was there with him.
I sighed. “Not you too."
Bear let out a quiet huff that told me all I needed to know.
I narrowed my eyes. “Three against one, is it?"
Samuel laughed. “Now, how can you argue with that face?"
Bear's tail wagged at that, padding in to walk past me and bump his head into Samuel's side. I stared at the two of them, eyes narrowing as I began to suspect something. "He's been with you all day, hasn't he?"
Samuel looked up, still rubbing the dog's neck and head roughly, just the way Bear liked it. "What, was he supposed to be watching over you all day?"
I glared at my dog. “Traitor."
Which had no effect in the slightest, considering Bear's eyes were squinted, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as Samuel dug his fingers in and found the spot at the meeting of the dog's neck and chest.
I had thought Bear was good around Samuel because the man had been around me so much. Now we were spending less time together, it seemed I was wrong.
"What? He's a good boy."
"Betrayal."
"That's a little much, don't you think?"
"Loyalty counts for a lot."
"He's a dog who likes being scratched, not a soldier who turned coat to the enemy for money."
"Traitor."
Samuel snorted. “Hear that, Bear? Apparently, you betrayed your dad for me."
I raised my brow. “Dad?"
"Brother?"
"No. For both."
"Well," Samuel said, running his hand over Bear's snout. "I'm going to think of him as your dad, okay? I'm sure you will be okay with that. Because we don't care what he has to say on the matter, do we?"
I turned, glaring at Walter. "Somehow, this is your fault."
"Could be," Walter said with a wink. "Now, get going before it goes cold."
Samuel scoffed. “I doubt anything in this place could actually go cold."
"It can get cold," I said, pulling my shirt back on and motioning for Bear to follow.
"Wait till later in the year," Walter told him. "You'll see."
"Please," Samuel snorted. "Not one of you desert dwellers knows the first thing about cold. Talk to me about cold when the air is trying to slice your face off from the sheer chill outside."
"I think I'll pass on that," Walter said, looking uncomfortable at the thought. I didn't blame him. I knew what it was like to feel like the sun actively despised all living things for daring to exist under its intense gaze, but to have the air attack you? That was too far for me. "You two enjoy yourselves. I'm goin' to finish my walk."
"Where's Arthur?" I wondered, it wasn't like the boy to be too far from his father.
He gestured toward Samuel. “Ask that one. You two take care."
As we walked, I glanced at Samuel. “What was that about?"
Samuel shrugged, one hand on Bear's neck as we walked, just resting there. "He's been following me around a lot lately."
"Really, why?"
"Kids like me, pretty much always have. I think it's because I don't mind when he's underfoot."
I gave him a sidelong glance. “You play with him."
"Well, yes. He's a kid. Kids need to be played with, especially when they don't exactly have a whole lot of other kids around to play with them."
"So, you're saying he likes you because you're a giant kid."
He laughed. “Probably. I like kids; they remind me there are still things in this world that can make me happy and have fun without a bunch of strings attached. Plus, he's a good kid. Tries so hard to be good, but he's eight, so that gets the best of him sometimes, and he gets up to trouble."
"Walter's done good with him. Still, he probably could use some other kids."
"Well, when your nephews are allowed to run free, it helps."
I stopped, glancing at him in surprise. "What? They play with him?"
Samuel shrugged. “Sure. Your sister agreed all the boys need some play time with each other."
"Wh-when did you speak to Elizabeth?"
"Um...last week sometime? While she was walking the ranch."
"Since when does my sister walk the ranch?"
"Apparently, she does it once a week."
"How did I not know this?"
"Because you're usually so engrossed in your work that you don't pay attention to much else unless there's a problem. She probably doesn't want you to know."
"Why not?"
"Because, like most brothers with sisters, you would fuss, fawn, and puff up your chest, insisting she could only do it when it wasn't too hot, and with you at her side to make sure she didn't get hurt, and all sorts of other things."
"I...you make it sound like a bad thing," I said, knowing full well the protest sounded feeble because it was.
Samuel stopped, turning to face me with a smirk. "It's not a bad thing. It comes from a good place. But it must be exhausting to deal with all the time. I know you probably think of her as a woman surrounded by men, but you forget she grew up surrounded by men. And, your sister or not, a woman or not, she's smarter and more clever than you think. Clever people don't like being tied down to one thing, so she finds ways to feel free for a little while."
"Joseph doesn't know."
"Absolutely not, and he doesn't need to be told. You hover like a worried clucking hen because you care. He just wants to have anything he can under his control because he's a tiny man all too aware that he's small and wants to make up for it by seeming big."
It was as brutal as it was succinct, and I was reminded just how astute and harsh Samuel could be. Even though I knew better, it was sometimes easy to forget that under all his smiles, jokes, pranks, and smart comments, there was a man who’d been hardened and sharpened by the world into someone who relied on reading and knowing people to survive. Even if I didn't know my brother enough to agree with him, I’d seen how observant he could be and felt the bite of his verbal teeth when he was riled up.
"That's...well, fine," I said, trying to recover from the surprise of how accurate the assessment of my brother was, which begged the question of how accurate his assessment of me and my sister was.
He peered up at me, a curious expression crossing his face, brow slowly rising. "Why do you look like I gave you the most complicated question about life?"
I shook my head, trying to return my features to something a little more normal. I knew how we interacted had changed in the past couple of weeks, but realizing I was taking something he’d said as worth hearing, something deeply personal, was new. He had a good point. I saw my sister as a woman in need of protection, and if she was going to walk around the ranch, she should have an escort.
Yet she'd apparently been going on those walks of hers without me knowing a damn thing. And apparently, without the slightest trouble. Clearly, my sister didn't need as much protection as I thought...and apparently, I needed to have a little more faith in the men at the ranch. Even if they weren't all that trustworthy, the threat of what would happen if someone overstepped their boundaries would hopefully be enough of a deterrent.
"It's a shame your idea didn't pan out," I said, knowing full well any talk about physical pleasure would be more than enough to distract him from homing in on a perceived weak point and digging where I didn't need him to dig.
I was a little surprised when he immediately grinned, cocking his head. "That wasn't my idea. That was just the warm-up to my idea."
I wasn't sure if I should be worried or interested. “The...warm up?"
"Yes."
"And what's the idea?"
He grinned, leaning in close and dropping his voice. "Well, you see, ever since you decided to give us more freedom, we no longer have people watching us as closely. Especially at night."
"You had people watching you at night?"
"Maybe you didn't realize it, but yes. Your father made sure there were men taking turns watching our cabin at night. But ever since you made your decision, he dialed it back."
I wasn't sure how I felt about my father doing something like that without my knowledge, though it was like him to give with one hand while keeping something in reserve. It was also like the men of the ranch not to tell me what my father had ordered them to do. There was an unspoken agreement that so long as my father was giving the orders, you followed them and asked no questions, and you made sure to follow those orders to the exact letter.
"Ah," Samuel said with a twitch of his brow. "So you didn't know."
"I didn't," I admitted, as much as it pained me.
"Is it the fact that he did it behind your back or that he did it without mentioning it to you that bothers you so much?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Mm, fair enough," he said, though his eyes lingered on me for a little too long before he shrugged and continued. "In any case...why don't I stop by your cabin tonight?"
That brought me up short, and all thoughts of my father and his choices were washed from my mind at the implications of what Samuel said. "I...my cabin?"
"Why not?" he asked with a grin. "It's not as if we haven't already played with fire."
"So we set a bonfire instead?" I asked in shock.
"Honestly, it's probably safer than trying to have fun in random hiding places. Your cabin is away from the others; it'll be late at night, and since there's no one to watch over me, they'll never know I'm not where I'm supposed to be."
"And if you are seen?"
"I'll come up with something believable. Plus, as you've rightly pointed out many times, it's not like I could get out of this ranch without being noticed, and even if I could, I wouldn't make it very far, now would I?"
"That's...true," I admitted, a little reluctantly. "But it doesn't mean we should push things. What if you're seen coming into my cabin?"
"I doubt that," he said with a laugh, waving his hand as if pushing away the idea. "No one's ever around late at night. They stick to their cabins...well, except Walter. He likes to walk late at night, not just in the evening. Never bothered me, though."
"He's always enjoyed his walks. Says it helps him sleep," I said and then caught onto what he'd just said. "Wait, you've been out after hours?"
Samuel cocked his brow. “Do you really think you can give me freedom, and I won't take advantage of it?"
"That doesn't mean you were supposed to take complete advantage and go roaming around," I told him with a growl. "You were given more freedom to prove you could be trusted, that you were willing to do better, not to?—"
"To what?" he asked, his good humor disappearing in a flash and replaced by the brittle anger I only saw occasionally. "To go for a walk? Do you think Walter is the only one who has a hard time going to sleep at night? I get restless too, and being confined in that cabin just makes it worse. So yes, , I go for a walk, and do you want to know what I do on that walk? I look at the stars and the moon when it's out. I listen to the men snoring and groaning in their sleep, the insects and animals skittering around, and the wind. I think about everything that happened and what I've done to get to this point. Sometimes, I regret what I've done, and other times, I remind myself I did the only thing I could to survive. Sometimes, I remember what it's like to be innocent of how damned this world can be and how many people are bound for Hell. I like to remember the smell of baking bread and my mother singing while she cooked or sewed. Or how I liked listening to my father mutter to himself when he poured over account books. But most of all, I think about what I'm going to do next. I wonder how long I’ll be here, scrutinized by people who don't know the first thing about life off this ranch where you're protected from the worst of the world and never have to worry about where your next meal will come from, who you might have to hurt in order to make it to the next day, and how you're going to sleep knowing what you've done to get this far. And sometimes I wonder if maybe, just maybe, there is something to this place. Even if you don't realize it, even if your father doesn't care about all that, this might be an opportunity for me and even the others to end up in a better place. Maybe not in the way we thought at first, but sometimes life doesn't always give you the chances you want. So maybe you could follow through on what you said a couple of weeks ago and trust that I'm going to do what you want and earn the trust you've given me."
At first, I could only stand there and stare at him in shock at the sheer passion pouring forth from him. Even in the face of him insulting me and diminishing my choices, I could hear the frustration and earnestness in his voice. Much like the flash of bitter violence I’d seen back at the river, it marked the second time I had seen genuine parts of him reach the surface and show themselves.
"Right," I said after a moment, speaking slowly, hoping I didn't end up making him even more angry. "You go for a walk."
He stared at me for a moment, and I thought he was going to burst into another fit, but instead, he let out a bark of laughter. "Lord, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were being sarcastic."
"I sounded sarcastic?"
"You sounded like an idiot, actually."
I scowled. “Thanks."
He chuckled. "You might not realize it, but that actually makes it better."
"How?"
"Because it...it means you're being you. Without any social grace or understanding. You just...blurt out the first thing that comes into your head, especially when you're panicking because I lost my temper."
I scowled at him. “You make me sound like a little boy."
"And you called me a big kid earlier. I guess some things from boyhood stick around," he said with a shrug, beginning to walk off. He turned at one point, walking backward. "And for the record, if you're okay with my idea, just leave a lamp on in your window. I'll take that as a sign you're interested, and if you're not...leave the lamp off, and I'll take the hint. It changes nothing else about how we are together, whatever you choose."
I wasn't sure I believed that, not because I thought he was lying but because there was a weight to the decision. I wasn't sure even he would admit how much weight there was. As much as I knew there was a serious, and I supposed potentially dangerous, man inside Samuel, he was good at hiding his true thoughts and feelings. He was the same man capable of smiling in Walter's face like the stable master hadn't come dangerously close to finding me throat-deep inside Samuel.
So perhaps he didn't know just how serious that kind of request was. He was essentially offering to come into my private space, where we would...what? Do what we’d been doing, or was he aiming for more? It wasn't like I was prepared for that, but he had confidence. Either that, or I was reading far too much into it, and he just thought there was less danger slipping into my cabin at night.
A shout rang out, pulling me from my thoughts, and I smiled when I saw Arthur sprinting down the road. Considering the earlier conversation, I wasn't surprised when he headed straight for Samuel, who didn't hesitate to pick the kid up and swing him around with a laugh. He put him down and talked to him, both of them looking back, Samuel with a playful wink and Arthur with a wide grin and an eager wave.
Bear had retreated to my side, trotting along slowly as we watched them. At moments like this, it was difficult to remember he had come to the ranch essentially in chains, a prisoner and former member of an outlaw gang. However, when I came to think of it, I hadn't ever found out if he’d actually been a part of the gang or traveling with them briefly. As far as the law was concerned, there was no difference, and Samuel probably didn't care one way or the other. He was, after all, a results sort of person, and whether or not he was in the gang didn't matter because either way, he had ended up here.
Now he was here, and despite having been distrustful of anything he said in the past, even I wasn't so stubborn as to believe his words hadn't been genuine. Perhaps he really saw this as an opportunity to turn his life around. I hadn't considered that a possibility. All I’d seen was a chance to take a lawbreaker and outlaw out of the world and put him to good use rather than causing trouble for good, decent folk.
Was there perhaps something to that?
And though it had nothing to do with the current situation, why had my brother been so against the idea that Cortez's gang had returned?
Why was my father continuing to treat me as though I had something to prove while doing things behind my back that showed zero trust in me?
And what in hell was I going to do about Samuel’s idea?"