"Skittery?" Now I was beginning to worry. One moment he had been near the crowd, watching me, and the next he wasn't there. I quickly scanned the closer areas to where I was standing. He wasn't there either. "Skittery!"
The nearby alleys were clear. I found myself in the middle of the street, looking left and right. Where had he gone? A horse and cart were heading my way so I stepped off the street to avoid being hit. I went to my right and looked in the alleys on both sides of the street. No sign of him.
Retracing my steps, I went in the opposite direction of where I'd last seen him. I quickly looked over an alley on the other side of the street and kept going until I thought I heard a noise. I stopped and went back. There was nothing in the alley across the street except for a few crates. Crates that blocked the view of the street.
Looking both ways, I crossed the street as quickly as I could. As I entered the alley I heard a quiet shuffle. I broke into a full run to see what was on the other side of those crates. Two younger men were beating another. One of the two was the one I'd seen earlier on the corner. The man on the ground was Skittery.
A fierce rage enveloped my senses. With a grunt, I leapt onto the young man I had seen spying on us, using the element of surprise to knock him over with his face to the ground. When he was down, I balled up my fists and connected with both of his kidneys. He howled in pain as I leapt back onto my feet, ready to face the other. He watched, and I saw a glint of steel in his hand. And a hint of blood.
Without looking at Skittery, I brought my full attention to this man. He was younger than me, but bulkier in the shoulders and had the knife. Though I had fought and wrestled with my brothers before, I'd never faced them when they were armed.
"Don't make me use this."
He was bluffing. I'd seen that look in my brothers' eyes plenty of times before. "I'm not the one you're here to get."
He flinched, but held his ground. "Jus' let me take my friend an' this slime bag outa your territory, an' I won't hurt ya."
"You can't hurt me anyway. If you try to, you'll have Cowboy all over you and that'll make things tense between him and Rascal."
"This doesn't concern you!"
I stepped toward him, masking my fear and keeping an eye on his comrade, who was still lying on the ground in pain. He wouldn't be able to move right for at least another two minutes, or at least he wouldn't be able to walk right without someone else to help him. I was ready to say more, and then Skittery lunged up from the ground and tackled the second man, plunging the both of them down into the crates. The knife went flying.
When the knife landed, I spared no time in retrieving it. Skittery had the man down, but couldn't hold him. He escaped from Skittery's hold and went to his friend. "Keep it. Ya might need it yourself."
I let them go as they limped from the alley. Once I was sure they were gone I rushed to Skittery. He was groaning, but conscious. I took his hand.
"Can you walk?"
"Yeah." He gritted his teeth as I pulled him to his feet. "I'll be okay, they didn't get me much."
I noticed the red streak across his chest and panic swept over me as I flashed back to the murder I'd witnessed. "You're bleeding! Oh God, they got you! We've gotta-"
"Calm down, they din't stab me. It's jus' a scratch."
"I don't care, let's get you back to the lodging house. Kloppman can fix you up."
We took a step together, but he stumbled. "I think they waked over my leg. Oh, my papes-"
"Leave them."
"No, I can't afford t' eat my earnings today." I retrieved his papers, then he slung his arm around my shoulders. "Ya sure ya can carry me?"
To the ends of the earth! "I'll manage."
"Kloppman!"
I set Skittery down on a nearby bench and put our stack of papers on the desk. Kloppman came out of his room in the back and when he saw Skittery, went as quickly as his body could take him.
"What happened?"
"Some boys from midtown." He hissed in pain. "I'll be okay."
"Seven, get him upstairs and clean his wounds with as much soap as you can. I'll bring you some witch hazel and some bandages."
I hefted Skittery up again and we slowly made our way upstairs to the washroom. Thankfully, no one was there. I set him down on a chair next to the water pump and grabbed a nearby towel.
"Take your shirt off." I started pumping water into the basin.
"For a buck, I might." He started unbuttoning his shirt, but I ignored his flirting.
"The underwear, too. We need to get that wound to stop bleeding."
"Laura, I'm okay!" He unbuttoned the top part and slid his arms out, letting his underwear hang down from above his pants. "Aside from the cut an' th' leg, I'm gonna be fine!"
I hastily rubbed soap onto the wet towel until a decent amount of lather foamed. "I won't be convinced until I see how bad that cut is."
He didn't argue, and I quickly pressed the towel against the wound, scrubbing it harsher than was probably necessary. He hissed quietly but didn't complain. The wound had eased to a slow trickle when I was finished. Kloppman still hadn't shown up so I kept the towel pressed up against the wound to stop the bleeding.
"Ya seem pretty intent on keepin' that there."
I nodded. "One of the first things mama taught me about scrapes."
"Ah. I take ya skinned your knees more than once when you was a kid?"
"Wait'll you see my knees." I tried to laugh, but my humor quickly died. My heart caught in my throat when I remembered the man I'd seen die a week before. He had had two stab wounds in his chest.
"What's wrong?" He covered my hand with his own. "Ya've had that look since ya saw this. Don't tell me ya can't handle th' sight of blood. Ya don't seem like that kinda girl."
It was only his blood that I couldn't stand seeing. I didn't want to picture him in the place of that other man. "It…" I exhaled and looked away from him. "I saw something last week. On my way here."
"Saw somethin'? Saw what?"
I turned back to him, but I didn't raise my eyes to his. "I saw a man die."
"Oh, Laura." He touched my face gently. "What happened?"
Sighing, I met his eyes. "A guy was drunk as a skunk, and his friend tried to drag him home. The guy pulled out a knife and stabbed his friend twice in the chest. He died shortly afterward."
For some reason, once again I couldn't repeat the entire story. The promise I had made to that dying man weighed heavily on my heart. If I only knew this man's name, or even the man he needed me to tell he was sorry to, I could do good on my promise. How was I supposed to fulfill this?
"Was that why ya needed t' stay 'ere that first night?" Skittery asked, snapping me back to reality.
"Yeah. I was in a state of shock. David didn't think I could make it back to his place so he agreed that I should stay here."
"Come here." He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into an embrace. I clung to him with my free arm and held the towel firmly in place with the other. "How are ya takin' this? I can't imagine what that must've been like."
"I'll be fine. It's been on my mind, but no one saw me, and there's nothing I could have done except what I did do."
"What did you do?"
"I just went to him to see if there was anything I could do. I took his hand, and I think it comforted him a little." I sniffled a little. "He knew I was a girl. My hat fell off when I went to him. He said I was his angel."
"That was sweet of you."
"Thanks." I pulled away and checked his cut. "You're still bleeding a little. What's keeping Kloppman?"
He shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe 'e didn't have what we needed."
"Maybe I should go down and check."
Before I could react, I was suddenly aware of my left hand. My right was still holding the towel against Skittery's wound, but my left was pressed directly against his chest. I hadn't realized I had put it there, and I gasped quickly and my face flushed red. Skittery noticed as well. He looked up at me and his eyebrows lifted.
"Ya jus' couldn't resist, couldja?"
I hastily withdrew my hand. "Sorry."
"Don't be. I liked it."
"I'm sure you would."
"Did you?"
His question caught me off guard. I fumbled for the right words. "It's just…I haven't…well, I've never touched a man there before."
"Really?" He took my hand in his. "Ya've always been th' only girl with guys an' you've never touched one before?"
"Not like that. Don't forget, you're the first man I've ever kissed."
"Right." His mouth tipped slyly. "So, you like what ya felt?"
My face was flaming. I did very much like having my hand on his chest, but I couldn't admit to that. We may be an item now, but I was still very new to this.
"I think ya did." He gently guided my hand back to his chest. "If ya want, ya can feel free t' explore a little."
"I'd be too embarrassed." I replied quickly.
Our eyes met, and he smiled softly. I looked down at his chest and admired the outline of his muscles. He really was beautifully made. I lifted my hand gingerly, but allowed my fingertips to stay in contact. I slowly began to brush my fingers across his skin. My body began to tremble as I traced his features. His body was trembling too. I looked at his face and saw him watching me with curiosity and intrigue. And enjoyment.
The door opened and Kloppman finally entered. I quickly withdrew my hand and focused my attention on Skittery's immediate wound. I also took that time to assess any other wounds he received. There was a bruise on his jaw line, another at the corner of his forehead, and a few more on his wrists but none on his knuckles. The worst injury thus far was the cut, and I still had yet to look at his leg. Thankfully, considering how well he was able to walk on it back to the lodging house, I didn't think it was broken or even sprained.
"What took you so long?"
Kloppman harrumphed. "We were out of witch hazel, young lady, so I had to pick some up at the general store down the street." He handed me the bottle, another jar, and some strips of cloth. "That's the witch hazel and some ointment." He turned to Skittery. "How ya feeling, boy?"
"I'll live."
"Looks like the one that's bleeding there could've gotten your heart."
My blood went cold at his statement.
"Good thing I moved fast enough when the guy pulled th' knife on me."
"Do you know who did this to you?"
Skittery looked at me, sighed, and then back to Kloppman. "No. All I know is that they're from midtown."
"Well, I'll keep an eye out. Seven, can you handle this or do you need help?"
I opened the bottle of witch hazel and dabbed it onto a clean towel. "I've got this."
When he left, I carefully dabbed Skittery's cut with the witch hazel. He hissed in pain, but didn't whine about it like so many other guys I had treated or seen being treated before. That was definitely something that appealed to me.
"This looks like the worst of your injuries." I began applying the ointment, which smelled strongly of aloe vera. "You've just got bruises here and there, and hopefully that's what's wrong with your ankle too. But why aren't your knuckles bruised?"
He cocked an eyebrow. "Knuckles bruised?"
"I'd have figured that if you tried to defend yourself, you'd have bruises on your knuckles from fighting back."
"I wasn't fighting back."
His admission filled me with both admiration and reproach. "Why not?"
"They're mad 'cause of what happened t' Pepper."
"I don't think that's it." I pressed a clean wad of cloth on the cut and made Skittery raise his arms so I could bind his chest with bandage strips. "If they had wanted to just beat you up for that, they wouldn't have pulled a knife on you. I think there's something else going on."
"I dunno." He looked me straight in the eye. "If there is, ya gotta promise me ya'll stay outa trouble."
"I can't promise that." The dead man's promise had made me realize that I had to be careful with what I gave my word to. "If anything, trouble seems to find me."
"I'm serious." He put his hands on my shoulders. "If anythin' happens t' you, I'd go crazy."
"Likewise." I threw the blood-soaked towel into the nearby basin. "Skittery, I care about you. And I do try to stay out of trouble. But this is something different." I wrapped my arms around his waist. "I've never been with a man before you. And I care about you. Maybe too much. So I want you to know that if something happens to you, I could go crazy too. And I'm the protective type. Now that you're my man, nobody's gonna mess around with you." I kissed him quickly on his lips. "Except for me."
With a playful grin, he swiped the hat from my head and pulled me into a thrilling kiss. I rested my head against his bandaged chest and heard his heart beating. It was a comforting sound. And then I realized the contact we had made and withdrew again.
"'S matter?" He asked. "It's just me, and ya liked that earlier."
"I know, but…" I reached down and grabbed my hat. "I don't know, something about being so close to you like…this…is a little overwhelming."
"It's only my shirt, Laura. Not my pants."
When I blushed, he laughed softly and tipped my chin. He kissed me, and I returned his kiss willingly. Then we sank into an even deeper kiss and I was suddenly aware of the situation. Skittery and I were in this large room all alone with beds all around. I broke our kiss abruptly.
"What?" he asked.
"Look, I'm not sure I'm…comfortable like this. Being alone, and all."
He nodded understandingly and pressed his forehead against mine. "Then I'll make this promise t' ya. I promise that I won't do anythin' that ya don't want me t' do. I won't try t' get ya t' do somethin' I want ya to, or put ya in an uncomfortable situation."
"Promise?"
"Cross my heart and hope to die."
So I kissed him again, we kissed for a very long time. It began as the sweet kissing we had been sharing before this, but before long, it become more hungry. When I was with him, I forgot to breathe. More than anything, I wanted him. Not even the air I breathed seemed to be enough to satisfy me. Then he sat down on the chair and pulled me into his lap. Very carefully, he began to kiss my face away from my mouth. He kissed my cheek, my jaw, and went down to my neck. My back prickled with delight. He had kissed me softly on the neck the night before and had hoped he would do it again. Then I bent down and kissed his neck. His head tilted back and he sighed deeply.
There was noise coming from the stairway. I was up like a flash and yanked my hat onto my head, shoving every wayward strand of hair inside before whoever was coming came. I motioned for Skittery to stay in the washroom while I went to see who it was. Snipeshooter, Itey and Jake came in with small stacks of papers, chattering. Snipeshooter was covered in dirt.
"Hey guys." I waved to them. "What happened?"
"Snipeshooter took a tumble." Itey gave him a light shove. "We jus' came up 'ere so 'e could change."
"What're you doin' up here?" Jake asked. "I thought ya went off with Skittery."
"I did, but…" I cut myself off. Should I inform them of what just happened?
My answer came when Skittery walked out of the washroom, buttoning his underwear. "Some midtown guys tried t' soak me."
"Midtown?" Snipeshooter instantly froze. "Why'd they do that?"
"I dunno, kid, but I think I'm gonna lie low 'round here for th' rest of the day."
"Nice shiner!" Itey joked.
"Ha ha. I'm serious, I think I'll stay 'ere." He turned to me. "Seven, wouldja mind sellin' the rest of my papes for me? I can't afford t' lose another day."
"Sure thing." I grabbed his papers and added them to mine.
"Ya gonna be okay here alone?" Jake asked.
Skittery shrugged. "Kloppman's here, ain't he?"
"Nothin' against Kloppman, but 'e's useless if a couple other midtowners come this way. I can stay wit ya."
"Ya sure?"
"Sure! It's obvious Seven already did 'is job, so why don't I take a watch?" Before Skittery could reply, he turned to me. "Ya don't look waked over. Ya get hurt at all?"
"No." I adjusted my hat a little. "When those guys got on Skittery, I tackled one and punched out his kidneys."
Groans of pains erupted from the younger boys in the room.
"I'll bet that guy learned 'is lesson."
"I certainly hope so. You want me to sell your papes too?"
"We can help out." Itey offered. "If the three of us all work together, we can have everyone's sold by evening."
Snipeshooter nodded eagerly. "Yeah! Come with us, please? I wanna learn from what you can do."
I cast a glance at Skittery, and he cracked a small smile and nodded. It was probably best that Jake stay here with him, seeing as how he was a guy. I may have had four older brothers who taught me to fight and take a guy down, but Skittery was in no condition right now to have to worry about me. I turned back to the boys and nodded.
"Alright, we'll do it." I quickly counted out the papers I had. "So I have twenty-two left and Skittery has fifty-seven. How many do you guys have?"
Itey counted his stack. "Thirty-four."
"I got thirty-eight." Snipeshooter took Jake's papers. "How many you got?"
"I think I got forty-one." He turned to me. "We still gonna sell tomorrow?"
"Sure, no problem." I ushered the boys toward the stairs. "See ya, Skittery."
"See ya, Seven." He winked quickly, and I held back my response for fear Jake would see it.
