5. Wyatt
Wyatt
" J ust a little further," I tell Riley, as we make our wind out of the winding forest trail to find where it attaches to the main street beyond.
"So where exactly are we going, again?” she asks me, biting her lip nervously. She has been peppering me with questions since we left my cabin, not that I blame her.
I might not be able to bring her that drink she mentioned, but I can sure as hell manage an iced tea, and I am not going to let her think for another moment that this place is so impossible compared to where she came from before.
I’m still wrapping my head around the way she invited me to her bed last night. It’s been a long time since I’ve been with a woman, one hell of a long time, and I can’t shake the feeling that she was handed to me right here to try and salve the aching emptiness in my life.
My father’s tried to set me up with more girls than I can keep count of, and, even though not a single one of them appealed to me, I’m not sure if he’ll be glad or furious that I am walking into this place with a woman on my arm.
I had to come down to the village anyway – sell some rabbit fur and buy some dried goods for the rest of the winter. The sun is high in the sky, even though the air is still cold, and it feels like it’s scrubbing away the memory of the storm the night before.
“The Saloon," I reply. "Once I’ve sold the furs to Mrs Yumi."
"Does she...?”
"She makes clothes," I reply. "Could probably stand to get a few for you, now you mention it..."
I cast a gaze to her outfit, which is mostly made up of what articles of clothing she could belt or coax into fitting her. At least she isn’t still wearing what she arrived in yesterday, or we’d really be in some trouble.
She’d cause a goddamn riot, walking around town with the curves of her lean body showing like that. Can’t let my head linger too long on that thought, or I’m going to have to find an excuse to bring her back home after all...
She pauses as we turn the corner on to main street, her eyes widening slightly as she takes in the shops and the people bustling this way and that.
"What’s wrong?" he asks her, a note of amusement in his voice. She shakes her head.
"I just...I didn’t expect there to be so many people, that’s all," she murmurs. "Where are we going, exactly...?”
"The saloon, first," I reply. "They have tea there. Might not be iced, but it’s somethin’."
She parts her lips in genuine surprise.
"You’re taking me for tea?" she laughs, and I nod.
"Like a date?”
"Like a what?"
She bites her lip slightly, eyeing me.
"Nothing. Come on, I want to try this tea..."
We head into the saloon, where Hines has some cool sweet tea waiting for anyone who doesn’t want to touch a drop of alcohol so early in the morning – I order us a couple of servings, and watch as she lifts the cup to her lips and takes a long sip.
"Oh, that’s actually really good," she remarks, as though surprised.
"You thought it wouldn’t be?”
"I didn’t say that," she shoots back, a note of amusement in her voice. "It’s just...it’s delicious, that’s all. Take the compliment, alright?”
I can’t help but grin back at her. She’s got a real attitude on her, the kind I can tell will have gotten her into trouble – hell, maybe things are different where she’s from and she doesn’t have to watch her mouth as much as she does here, I don’t know.
But I like it.
I like the way she speaks to me, like she’s got nothing to fear, and, as we work our way through the tea together, she casts her gaze around the saloon, which is already creaking with people.
"So, you going to introduce me?" she asks, as she looks around the room.
"To who?”
"Anyone," she replies. "You’ve lived here a while, right? You must know a few of these people..."
I follow her gaze around the room. Not like she’s wrong, but I have no great urge to go shaking hands and playing nice with them. A few of these men, they’re from families of the girls I turned down the chance to marry, and I’ve no doubt they’ll still hold it against me given half the chance.
"Go on," she urges me, tapping my leg with her foot beneath the table as though to spur me onward. "If I’m stuck here, then I’m going to have to get to know people, right?"
"That how you feel?” I reply. "Stuck here?”
But, before she can respond, I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn around – to find myself faced by none other than Bobby Bates. My shoulders tense.
I know his family well, better than I’d care to admit. My father, when he was alive, at least, had plenty of run-ins with them and the trouble they caused over the years, as willing as they were to take whatever they thought they were owed without second thought.
"Granger," he slurs to me, his tongue heavy with booze. "What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were slummin’ it out in the woods..."
I remove his hand from my shoulder – I can feel a few people looking in our direction, perhaps away of the kind of relationship that my family has always had with men like him.
"Slumming it?" Riley cuts in, before I can stop her. "You think he’s slumming it out there? Shit, his cabin’s nicer than anywhere I’ve seen down here-"
"And who’s this?" Bobby asks, as his gaze roves to her, looking her up and down with a leering smile on his face. "Think I would have remembered a pretty little thing like her..."
"Back off, Bobby," I warn him through gritted teeth. He turns to me, a brow cocked.
"And what you doing to do if I-"
Before he can finish what he is saying, I take a swing for him.
My fist connects with his jaw in a sickening crack, sending him sprawling out across the bar, and the people who were content with just looking suddenly spring into action.
Riley’s lips part in shock, but before she can say anything else to land us in trouble, I catch her arm.
"C’mon," I mutter. "Let’s get out of here."
"But I-"
"The outlaws’ll hear about this!” A voice cuts in. I don’t care to find out where it comes from. I duck my head low and make for the door, my hand wound around hers, pulling her along with me like it’s the most important thing in the world right now.
I should have known better, should have controlled myself, but there’s something about the way Bobby was staring her down that made it impossible to keep my fists to myself.
"Jesus, Wyatt!” Riley exclaims, as soon as we are outside, but there is the hint of a grin on her face as she stares me down. "What are you-"
I look over my shoulder, and there are a few people spilling out of the saloon – though most of them have no argument with me specifically, they’ll take a fight wherever they can get it.
I lower my head and make for the path back to the cabin, keeping her close at my side, when a voice catches my attention.
"Wyatt? That you?”
My gaze snaps up. I recognize the voice at once. How could I not?
After all, it belongs to my own damn brother.
"Cade?” I mutter, frowning at him. No reason for any of my siblings to have come all the way down from the house to town, they got their supplies delivered, unless-
"I was looking for you," Cade tells me, as he runs a hand agitatedly through his hair. "Headed for the cabin."
"What for?” I shoot back, suspicious. His gaze shifts to the woman beside me, and I can tell he has questions, but he thinks better of pressing on them.
"For Ma,” he replies. "She’s...she’s not good, Wyatt. And it’s only right you say goodbye to her."
I freeze on the spot. The thought of setting foot back in that place after so long, turning around and walking back to the life that I have tried for so long to leave behind, it’s-
But then, out of the corner of my eye, I notice the look on Riley’s face. A sudden certainty, like there’s no way she’s going to settle for anything less. And, when she turns to face me, her tone is just as sure as her expression is.
"We have to go see her, Wyatt," she murmurs. I clench my jaw. Can’t argue with her, as much as I wish I could. Which means my only choice is to see this through. I turn back to Cade, and nod for him to lead on.
Before I have a chance to change my mind.