Disclaimer for Scandals books:

Thank you for taking interest in reading my newest Scandals book. The series is composed of fourteen interlocking stories. DO NOT read this story unless you have read the previous parts. Otherwise it will not make sense, because there is a lot going on in every part. The rating is for language, sexual references, mild violence, and adult themes. Some of these stories are based on things that actually happened in history, others are not. Please, enjoy the story, and look for the next part in the series!

"What's that raisin' such a dust," Teaspoon said. He got up from the table and went to the window.

"Who is it?" Buck asked, interested.

"Well I'm not really sure…" Teaspoon continued to look closely at the horse. "Hell, that's Jimmy!"

'I'm gonna kill him,' Jimmy thought to himself. He wasn't furious. He was more than furious. He was pissed, and the rage that filled him was stronger than that of a "snake with its tail stepped on," as Teaspoon would say. Jimmy stopped his horse, dismounted, and stomped "up to the rider's house. He whipped the door open.

"Jimmy, what happened? Girl too fast for you?" Kid said, as he grinned. The other riders smirked, and Emma even laughed, but quickly caught herself and stopped.

"William Cody," Jimmy pointed a finger at him, "I need to have a word with you." Cody stood up, laughing, thinking this was some kind of joke. He walked towards the door, but before he could get there, Jimmy grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him out of the house.

"Hey, simmer down. What the matter?" Cody said, still smiling. "What is this, some kind of a joke?"

"Why did you sleep with Anabelle?"

"Who?" Cody looked confused, as Jimmy slapped him across his face.

"You know who, Anabelle. Blonde hair, pretty eyes, long legs. Anabelle." Cody thought for a moment.

"That whore is your girl?" Cody said, laughing even harder. Jimmy slapped him again, this time harder.

"Whore? Who are you calling a whore?"

"I'm sorry, is prostitute a better term?" Jimmy went to smack him, but Cody stopped his hand. "I went to the saloon last night. There was a really pretty dance girl there with blonde hair. Now I don't know who it was, but I do know that I went over and connected with her. Found out what business she was in, gave her the bills, and we went off."

"So you did sleep with her?" Jimmy looked him straight in the eye. "You bastard."

"Jimmy, look, if I had known, I never would have-"

"But you did. So just leave. Now."

"I didn't know. And anyways I was drunk. How was I to know that-"

"I said leave." Jimmy pulled out his pistol and shot at the ground right in front of Cody's feet. Cody took a few steps back, afraid now.

"Okay, Jimmy, I-I'm going," Cody said, shyly, as he backed away from the raged rider. Cody backed over to his horse, got up on her, and rode away for the saloon. Jimmy put his gun back in his holster, and went back inside the house.

"What was that all about?" Emma asked, interested.

"It's personal stuff." Jimmy replied, sharply.

"Hey, where's Cody going off to so fast?" Kid asked, confused at what had gone on.

"I said, it's personal." Jimmy picked up a plate, plopped some stew on it, and ate, chewing every bite loudly. Ike made some signs, which Buck translated.

"Ike wants to know where you learned your manners?" The rest of the "family" chuckled, as Jimmy paused for a moment.

"Is something really that funny. Because I don't see anything funny." He stared straight at them.

"Oh, Jimmy, lighten up." Emma smiled at him.

"No, it's complicated you wouldn't understand."

"Oh, Jimmy, it can't be that bad," Emma said, still smiling. He glared at her, and she promptly excused herself from the conversation. Jimmy then stood up, and walked out of the house, headed for the barn.

Cody had galloped his horse in to down, and stopped it dead in front of the saloon. There was a different bartender there today, not the same one as last night. Cody walked in, and leaned up against the bar.

"Sarsaparilla," he ordered the man. The bartender came over and looked at Cody, confused more than anything.

"Isn't it a little early to be drinkin'?"

"Nah, I've got some troubles I wanna wash away." The bartender kept staring at Cody. "You got a problem with me?" He said, disgusted.

"No, just figured you'd have to tell me all about whatever it is that you're drinking about, like everyone else ."

"Well I don't need to tell nobody nothing. But I do know that if I'd known that that girl was Jimmy's girl, I never woulda slept with her, that's for sure." The bartender reached behind him, grabbed a glass and a bottle of sarsaparilla, and poured a glass for him.

"Well, drink up, cowboy. I'll be here all night…

"I'm gunna go check on Jimmy," Kid said, as he stood up. Jimmy had been in the barn for two hours now, which had given the riders plenty of time to forget about him; all except for Kid. Kid had always been one who cared about other people's feelings and could sense when something wasn't right. And this time, he knew there was something wrong with Jimmy.

Kid left the house and crossed the dusty yard to the barn. He stepped in, where he was startled by a glass bottle smashing against the wall, just inches from his face.

"Jimmy?"

"Go away." Jimmy sat in the corner of the barn on the hay bales, his face hidden with his hands, and three empty glass bottles by his feet.

"Jimmy, I just thought we could ta-"

"Get the hell outta here, I said. God, you don't listen worth a shit." Kid, a bit disappointed that Jimmy didn't want to talk, turned to walk away, when Jimmy poked his head up a bit.

"Kid, wait," Kid turned around and looked at him. "I'm so fucked up right now." Kid walked over and sat on a hay bale next to him.

"What do you mean?" There was a long pause.

"Cody slept with Anabelle." Kid 's eyes got huge.

"What?!"

"At the saloon, last night. Cody got drunk. He and Anabelle hit it off, and we aren't really going steady, they, they…" His voice trailed off

"You okay?" Kid put his hand on Jimmy's shoulder, only for it to be pushed off.

"I'm gunna kill him, Kid. I think I might do it." Kid was shocked by this statement.

"Jimmy, I know you're mad, but I don't think that violence it the best opt-" Kid cut himself off when he noticed Jimmy reaching between the bales, and to his surprise, pulled out another bottle of liquor.

"Sweet, sweet relief." Jimmy opened it up and downed about a fourth of the drink in less than a minute.

"How many of those have you drank?" Kid asked, referring to the large bottle in his hand, along with the ones on the ground.

"Including this one, five." Jimmy said, continuing to drink.

"Jimmy, that's not okay." Kid tried to explain to him why alcohol was probably not the best route to take right now, and really wouldn't help his problems anyways. But Jimmy didn't want to hear that. So Kid reached over, and pulled the bottle out of his hands.

"What the hell?" Jimmy asked, confused and clearly drunk now. Kid drank the little swig that was left.

"Well, if you're going to hide all this," he said, as he motioned to the bottles, "you're going to have to share." Kid handed Jimmy the empty bottle, who eagerly grabbed it and smashed it against the wall. "Now, let's start from the top…"

"Hey," Cody waved his hand in the air, sloppily, "Bring the booze over here." The bartender stepped over and leaned on the bar towards Cody.

"Look, fella, I don't know why you're here. But you've been here since two o'clock. It's almost eight now. Maybe something in your life is just going to hell, but you've finished off the sarsaparilla, and already burned halfway through the whiskey, and until you sober up, I refuse to serve you a drink."

"Goddamit." Cody slammed his fist down on the table. The bartender stepped away from the bar to help stop a fight before it started over by the piano. Bummed and intoxicated, Cody tried thinking of a way to appear like he was sober so he could get some liquor. Suddenly, Cody realized the bartender was gone. He snuck around the bar, grabbed a bottle of rye and a bottle of brandy, and stumbled up this stairs to a room, where he began to guzzle his troubles away…

"And that's all I know."

"Well that's just shitty." Kid said to Jimmy. Jimmy had just explained exactly what Anabelle had told him on their date earlier that day. The two had talked about everything that one could think of, but until Jimmy sobered up, he kept coming back to the same story about Cody and Anabelle. After a long silence, Jimmy opened his mouth.

"You and Lou gotten together yet?" Kid glared at him, clearly unimpressed.

"What?"

"No, I'm serious, I'm sober and I wanna know."

"Well, we did a few times, but I don't know, it was never… it wasn't…"

"Special?"

"Yeah, it was never special. It never felt like we were going all the way, and I don't even know if she liked it."

"Then you gotta make it special. Make it memorable."

"But how?"

"I don't know, take her to the ridge. Yeah, take her to the ridge at sunset. Oh, and go down by the lake, under the big willow tree. And then, make it special."

"Just make it special? It's that easy?"

"Easy as pie." Jimmy and Kid smiled, and then Kid pulled himself to his feet.

"It's almost eight-thirty, Jimmy. I'm going in."

"Okay, g'night."

"Night." Kid walk away, but then stopped. "Oh, and Jimmy,"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for, well, you know." Kid smiled as Jimmy waved him on into the house.

'Stupid kid,' he thought to himself, laughing just a little. As soon as he heard the door to the house close, Jimmy reached further between the bales, and pulled out three more large bottles; rum, rye, and whiskey. As he popped the top off the first bottle, he knew in a matter of hours, he would be passed out, drunk, on the floor of the barn. But little did he know that Cody would also be in the same state in the saloon, and Kid would be planning the night of his life with Lou.

Early that morning, around three, when Jimmy was passed out in the barn like he imagined he would be, Kid was fast asleep on his bunk in the house. And he was dreaming. He wasn't dreaming, he was dreaming. Of Lou. Of Louise. And when a loud noise awoke him, he found himself aroused, and in a puddle of "wet." Still a developing young man, Kid knew this was normal. But now more than ever, he realized it was the right time for Lou. He knew….

TO BE CONTINUED…