A/N Thank you to DXRULES103 and Speakfire for your reviews. They are much appreciated.
Silent question
He asked her the same silent question that he asked to every girl he chose. He phrased it as a statement, an idea, an option, but the question was there, hovering below the surface, weaving its way through the tone in his voice. This one did exactly what all the others had done before her, she scoffed, she laughed bitterly, and she rejected him. She thought, like they all had, that he was jesting. She thought that the offer of a life with Ben Wade was a fantasy he conjured up for the bedroom. It was a vision spoken of in the atmosphere of the chamber, sealed off from the world, where the very air breathed was laced with his intoxicating presence.
Again he ran his rough hands over smooth, unblemished skin, and whispered words of escape. He had long since acknowledged to himself that the possibility of affirmation was non-existent. Only a foolish girl would act on what he offered and Ben Wade did not suffer fools, nor sleep with them. Only a girl with not a drop of logic in her head would accept him, despite his attractive appearance and because of his dangerous reputation. He had learnt that early in his career and the sharp sting of rejection he had felt each time they turned him down had long since worn off.
He still made the suggestion because of that lingering worm of hope that wriggled in and out of his mind, but he had crushed the pain so it didn't seem to bother him. Nevertheless, each time his silent question was answered in the negative the empty part of him grew a little bit emptier and his eyes darkened a shade further.
Ben Wade asked his hidden question in a statement spoken to any woman he chose to present it to. Though the statement varied, the question remained unchanged, and each time he spoke it with a deadly earnestness that his audience never noticed. What the legendary Ben Wade, soulless outlaw of the west, wanted was for someone to let him know that they cared about him. The love that he had never been given, even by his own mother, ate away at him. He wanted one of them to accept him as he was and he craved for one of them to wrap their arms around him and tell him yes, that they would go away with him, because he was worth it. He wanted them to say that they would gladly give everything up for him. But until that day came he would just keep asking the question, even if he never received an answer.
