Title: Caught
Fandom: Justified
Word Count: 571
Summary: Raylan hadn't expected to get caught by Marshall Mullen.
XXX
It wasn't like Raylan wasn't up close and personal with ass kickings. Arlo had always been quick with his belt if he felt Raylan needed it. The problem with Arlo was that Raylan's needing it depended on how just how drunk Arlo was. Raylan was a smart boy, he learned to avoid his father when he reeked of cheap whiskey.
Deputy Marshall Mullen though? That was another thing.
The man had him dead to rights, had caught him and Boyd stealing cigarettes.
Arlo wouldn't have cared. Might have smacked him though for getting caught and losing some perfectly free cigs.
Boyd's daddy did smack Boyd for getting caught. Grabbed Boyd and belt licked him right on Main Street. Raylan figured he'd done it for much the same reason Arlo would have. Boyd's daddy was a big man, much bigger than Arlo and Raylan figured it had hurt plenty. Boyd didn't do much more than whimper.
It made Raylan wonder about Boyd.
The Marshall knew Arlo wouldn't care and Raylan figured the Marshall, being a Marshal, just had to put his two cents in.
"Stealin's wrong, son. Hard for you to understand what with your daddy being Arlo and all."
Wasn't hard for Raylan to understand. Stealing was wrong – even if Arlo didn't think so.
"You reckon you should get away with it? With disrespecting your momma like that?"
Raylan knew he shouldn't. He shook his head warily.
"Me either."
The Marshall dropped his hand to Raylan's neck and lead him behind the Five and Dime. Out of sight from other folks because whippin' a boy on Main Street like was a Crowder thing. Boyd's daddy was as mean as Arlo and Raylan wasn't sure that Boyd's daddy even drank all that much.
"So, you okay with this?"
Raylan was. It was better than Marshal Mullen carting his ass off to jail.
Oddly enough, the Marshall didn't take off his belt, instead he'd sat down on a rock – seemed like Harlan grew nothing but rocks, so it surely wasn't a surprise there was a big one behind the Five and Dime – and beckoned Raylan over to his lap.
His lap.
Like he was seven.
But Raylan went.
The Marshall was at least as strong as Boyd's daddy and his hand was plenty big. He walloped Raylan hard, sharp smacks right over his jeans. It hurt worse than any belt licking Arlo had ever doled out. And it wasn't cause Arlo couldn't lick something fierce. Arlo might be small but he was tougher than an old junkyard dog and far meaner.
It hurt somewhere else. Not just his ass, which stung like a bees, more that the Deputy had seen fit to blister his butt.
Right behind the Five and Dime.
That the man did it because Raylan had done something wrong.
After - Raylan cried. Far more than Boyd had. They had been silent tears though, and the Marshall wiped a thumb over his cheek, smearing the grimy train of dirt and moisture. A tender gesture considering how his ass felt.
"Go on, boy. Git on home." Another firm swat on his ass and Raylan was running.
He ran home. Didn't go in the house though, instead settled at his momma's grave. Givens land.
"Sorry Momma." He said soft and low.
He'd make it up to her somehow. He might be a Givens but he was his momma's boy – not Arlos.
End.