I crawled out from under the large porch surrounding the general store. The sun wasn't out quite yet, but I knew it was only a matter of hours before the small town in which I had been staying would stir. I can't begin to tell you how many places I've been to, how many fields I've robbed of vegetables, how many porches and trains I've slept in. I was 16 years old at the time and knew far more than any girl my age knew, but then again I wasn't a girl. I was a woman. Not by choice of course, when I was twelve my mother had died of pneumonia, since then I had pretty much been on my own. My father left the first year of my life, hell I can't hardly remember him, and I don't care to try. I hate him with every fiber f my being, always have. I hate all men. When I turned 15, I noticed I was developing at a faster pace than the other girls, that combined with my thick blond hair and big brown eyes, made it easy for boys to notice me. It was a very cold night that I first used this to my advantage. I was hungry as anything but it was to dark to steal anything without making any noise. When the older man approached me with a wad of bills held out, I had no idea what he wanted from me in return. When I found out, it didn't bother me as much as most would think. I obliged him and he paid me well. Since then I've been selling my body for money, food or shelter. But this town was different, they weren't interested in that kind of thing, not for money at least. So here I found myself, once again crawling out from under a building, getting ready to steal some unfortunate farmer's crop. I made my way up the dirt road towards the countryside of town. I had seen many healthy farms out there and knew it would be an easy steal. I pulled my hair to one side of my shoulders and began to braid it. It was the only way to get all the knots out. I tied the braid with a string in my pocket and slowed my steps as I approached a large farm. Most farmers own several dogs for the propose of keeping people like me off their property, and I wasn't taking any chances by moving too quickly. I crawled along the ground beside the house until I reached a cornfield, ran like the dickens right into the center. Turning half my shirt inside out I began pulling husks off and throwing them into the makeshift pouch. The sound of a back door opening stopped my movement completely. "God don't let him see me." I whispered, "Please." my prayers were in vain. No sooner had the words escaped my mouth than I heard the sound of dogs barking, the noise was fast approaching. I dropped the stolen goods and ran in the opposite direction. I soon reached a dead end and stopped, catching my breath and trying to decide in which direction to turn. There were raised voices quickly approaching and I ran to the right, hoping to escape them. No sooner had I began running again than I ran head on, to the owner of the land.

"Well look what we got here. A little thief. We'll show her what we do to thieves around here, won't we?" he asked, patting the dogs on the head. He grabbed a hold of my braid and painfully dragged me across the field. The amount of time it took for him to cross the field felt like half the time it took me to run through it. We reached the house, but he turned, directing me towards the wood shed. The thought of what goes on in most woodsheds dawned on me and I started struggling anew.

"Sir, no! Please!" I said pulling. He stood his ground, throwing me into the shed and closing the door behind him. I ran into the dark corner and pulled my knees to my chest. I felt a vice grip on my arm pulling me t my feet and shaking me wildly.

"YOU TRIED TO STEAL FROM ME YOU LITTLE BITCH. I WORKED GOOD AND HARD FOR THAT CROP, AIN'T NOBODY GONNA TAKE IT AWAY!" I winced as I felt rope around my wrists being tied tightly. He turned me around and lifted the rope, hooking it on some typed of peg that was hanging from the wall. I gasped as the shirt was ripped clean off my back, and heard the sound of his belt being unbuckled. "In what world did you think you would get away with this?" I heard the sound of the belt slicing through the air and braced myself for the blow. The leather bit into my skin like a thousand bees and I cried out. Another blow fell, and another, each one hurting more than the one before.

"PLEASE!" I wailed as he whipped it across my back again. He ignored me, as I felt the burning sensation across my back I began to cry. It must have rose and fell at least thirty times before I heard the door to the shed open. Somebody else was there. "

"What in the hell do you think your doin'" came the voice of what must have been a young man.

"Why Jesse James. What are you doin here?"

" Mr. Robinson that is not the question." I felt hands on my wrists, letting me down onto the ground gently and untying me. I realized for the first time that my wrists were bleeding. I looked up into the darkest brown eyes I have ever seen. He looked at me smiling. "Are you okay there miss?' he asked. I merely nodded, unable to speak. The pain in my back seemed to be growing and new tears were threatening to fall. He stood up and faced the farmer. "What the hell business do you think you have beating this girl like a slave for Christ's sakes."

"She was stealing from my crop! You would have shot any man where he stood if he had done the same to you. She should be thanking me that she's still breathing." He yelled angrily. " And she won't be if she don't git off my property within the next minute." Jesse's eyes flared as he looked between the farmed and me, as if unable to make a decision. He was obviously angered by the previous statement, but a me or the farmer I wasn't sure. He looked at me and blushed as if it were the first time he had notice that I wasn't wearing a shirt. He threw his at me and waited as I buttoned it up. He grabbed me by the arm, much like the farmer had done earlier and pulled me out of the shed.

"Richards, consider her gone. But if I ever catch you doin' harm to another lady, I'll shoot you dead." He continued to pull me towards a carriage and lifted me up into the seat, climbing in beside me.

"Thank you." I mumbled, looking at the ground. He didn't answer as the snapped the reigns and the horses' started. "look.if you-"

"People in this town don't look too kindly onto thieves 'round here." he said harshly, "But they especially don't look kindly to the mistreatment of women. Where do you live, I'll drop you off. Maybe your parents will have something to say about this." I shook my head in frustration, jumping out of the moving carriage. He stopped and looked at me.

"What? You 'fraid of your parents too?" he asked angrily.

"Ain't got none, ain't got no home." I said as I began to walk down the dirt road. The carriage started up again and I didn't look up as his horses matched my pace.

"Waddaya mean you ain't got no parents? You a runaway?"

"My daddy left and my mom's dead." I said as I kept walking, never looking him in the eyes.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." I said crossing my arms. The back of my shirt was sticky and I stopped, reaching back and feeling it. The small amount of contact to my back caused me to cry out in pain. I drew my hand out in front of me and saw that it had blood on it. The carriage stopped too. I realized I was still wearing Jesse's shirt. "You probably want this back." I said pulling it painfully over my head and throwing it at him, "Sorry it's got blood on it." My state of nakedness didn't bother me, as I stated earlier, he definitely wasn't the first man to see me naked. He sighed as I began walking again and jumped off the carriage, running after me and standing in my way.

"Look." He said putting both his hands on my shoulders to stop me. "Get in the damned carriage. You can come back to my place, we'll clean your back up a bit and see where we go from there." I looked at him, my brows furrowed. If there was one thing I hated it was charity. But I had never been in so much pain before. My back seemed to be falling off.

"Fine." I said turning and climbing onto the carriage. "But whatever you give me, I'll pay you back in full." He sat down beside me and urged the horses on again.

"You don't have to." We were approaching town now and were seeing more and more people passing us. They were all starring disapprovingly at me. Jesse looked at me and his eyes widened, as if he had jus remembered I was topless again. "For god's sakes put a shirt on." He said passing me the shirt that I had been wearing earlier. I merely pressed it against my chest as we continued.

"I'm gonna pay you back." Was all I said. I rolled my eyes as we passed a group of boys, all starring and winking at me. It was only when the all jumped onto the carriage that I realized that they too knew Jesse.

"Looks like Jesse's got himself a-" the eldest one stopped as he looked at my back. Now I don't know how bad it was at that point, but I do know it was bleeding something awful. "What happened here?"

"Cole Younger meet…" Jesse's voice trailed off as he looked at me.

"Katie Wilder." I muttered hugging the shirt tighter to myself.

"Nice to meet you." Cole said reaching over and extending his hand. I lifted my own hand to shake it but the shirt dropped.

"Christ." I muttered bending over to pick it up. I turned around and faced the rest of them. "Well it's nice to meet you Cole Younger. Though I haven't had the pleasure of meeting all the other men you keep company with." "Oh.well this is Jim, Frank and Bob." He said pointing at the others. They all muttered a pleased to meet you ma'am and tipped their hats. We pulled into a large farm and they all hopped out. Cole helped me down. I smiled and thanked him and looked at the ranch before me. The boys had all gathered around a rather short woman and were hugging her. Jesse was saying something and pointed at me.

"That's my aunt, she's real great." Cole said as she rushed over and looked at me empathetically. "You poor dear." She said grabbing my hand a leading me into the house. The rest of them followed closely behind and into the living room. "Now Jesse you draw a nice hot bath. We're gonna clean you up and fix that back of yours. I'll bet you're hungry too. You look like you haven't eaten in days. We'll get you some new clean clothes. All though all I have are boys clothes. Looks like you might fit something of Jim's, don't you worry about a thing."

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