Chapter 15
Beta's Saddletramp and Nakoosay
Jess's POV
The sound of Slim's voice though hoarse and almost cracking slightly was still music to my ears.
"Slim, Slim are you okay?" I didn't like the way that Slim lay beside me sort of gasping like he was a fish out of water. His eyes seemed to be glued to the gun that was still pointed at his head and I got mad. "You mind?" I snapped angrily to Josh before recoiling inwardly because for a second I had forgotten that Josh could still pull the trigger. Josh looked at me and gave me an evil looking lopsided grin. The type a wolf gives to its cornered prey.
He twirled the gun that was still a million times too close to Slim and my heart stopped for a second when Josh in twirling the gun put his finger on the trigger. I inwardly cringed when Josh burst out laughing and shook his head at me with an expression that said that Slim's life wasn't worth a blade of grass in his eyes.
I scowled at Josh but kept my mouth silent not wanting Josh to put on another gun-twirling show and maybe next time pull the trigger. I say anything to Josh for fear of Slim's safety but inside of me I was burning up with white hot anger. My mind was taken off Josh when Slim turned his head ever so slightly and the movement caught my eye. I looked at him and like a rain that washed away the heat on a summer day, my anger washed away. Slim is the only one who could ever really calm me down when I get going. I really wanted to get the gun out of Slim's face.
So, in hopes of getting Slim away from Josh's gun I said, "Slim is no good to you dead Josh. You kill Slim and you lose your leverage with me. so why not get the gun out of his face huh?." Through some miracle I was able to keep my voice even and calm something that I always had trouble with. He laughed at me for a minute and Slim taking his eyes away from the gun once again turned his head towards mine and looked at me with confused and somewhat frustrated eyes. His blue eyes locked onto my face I realized that he had said something earlier. Racking my brain, I remembered, and froze.
Did I have the strength to tell my best friend that the reason this whole thing was happening was because of me? How could I look into his eyes and say I had gotten him involved in another of my mistakes? My eyes locked onto his and I just stared, trying to draw from the immeasurable strength that he had. Slim has the kind of strength that one draws from the inside and not the out.
A smile twitches my mouth because Slim is patient to a fault and if he wasn't on the floor beside me, I would have already blown up at Josh about 10 times over. Slim had lent me his patience and for that I was grateful.
Unlocking our eyes from each other, turning my head, and stared at the ceiling ashamed. I told Slim everything. I'm not really one to mince words so I told Slim as bluntly as possible and fast; just wanting it to be over with. I told him the tale of how me and Josh found our lives intertwined with each other.
"I had been in jail for a couple of days when the sheriff let me go. This was about 6 years ago, Slim. I was even more hotheaded then when you met me. Anyway, I thought the sheriff was letting me go out of kindness, pity, I didn't know what. It turned out that as soon as I went through the sheriff's door and onto the sidewalk my arm was grabbed by a Marshal. The Marshal led me back into the sheriff's office and wordlessly the sheriff left when the Marshal nodded at him. He told me that there was a gang that was running around hitting banks. During the last robbery they had savagely beaten one of the clerks and killed the stagecoach driver who had been in the bank and had been able to rip off one of the robber's masks.
"They had to be stopped he told me. I asked why he was telling me all of this. He said that he had heard of a gun slinging kid who was starting to get himself a reputation as being very quick. He wanted me to join the gang and learn where they were going to hit next so they could capture the gang. I gave him a flat-out no. He just smirked at me, raised his eyebrows, and told me that there was a reward for the capture of the gang. I told him that I hated bounty hunters and was never going to do the dirty work that they did for money.
"He had raised his eyebrows at that and asked me how I could hate what I already was. I had frozen at the last part and the smile on his face had gotten bigger and he told me that he knew that I had been a bounty hunter. He told me that he knew all about what I had done and good at it I had been. He told me that there was a 10-thousand-dollar reward on the gang. I told him that I wasn't going to do it for money. He looked shocked told me happily that if that was what I wanted then fine.
I stopped and faced Slim amazed eyes and said "I had become a bounty hunter Slim, because a very, very close person to me was murdered. I became a bounty hunter because I had needed to learn the skills to have a showdown with the person who murdered that person. But while I was hunting the murderer and getting bounty's I learned what a bounty hunters' life was genuinely like and I hated it, every last part of it.
"I eventually found the murderer though and it turned out that he had a bounty on his head. We had a showdown, and he was killed. I collected on the bounty and even though I had lawfully avenged the person's death I felt dirty and lowly because after avenging their death I had collected money on it. Almost as if I didn't really care that bringing the murder to justice mattered at all. All I seemed to have cared about was how much the bounty was. I didn't want to be like that so I quit Slim and I promised myself to never bounty hunt again. But the gang the Marshal had talked about were murders and they need to be stopped. Knowing that I was going to be going after a murderer once again strangely didn't feel wrong. I had figured that if I didn't collect money on it then my promise to myself wouldn't be broken. I had thought that maybe just that once even though I hated it I would bring them to justice but this time not for money but because it was the right thing to do.
"Two weeks later I was in the gang. We pulled a stagecoach robbery that I made sure the Marshal knew about and he made sure that there were no passengers. After that, they sort of trusted me and decided since they had recently become one man short I would be in on the next bank robbery. The leader of the gang was Josh, Slim. He had a girl, and her name was Charlotte." Josh's gasp as I said her name drew my attention. He stretched up from his squat and stepping over Slim to me he backhanded me across the mouth. I was stunned for a second but thankfully it was a rather weak hit but still hurt like heck because of y other bruises and aching jaw. I waited until Josh stepped back with eyes that glared evil at me but also if he wasn't a complete monster had a hint of tears in them the next moment though the hint of tears was completely gone, the evil intent in his eyes had simmered down and he walked away from us and over to the kitchen table and sat down as if giving me permission to continue on with my tale. So I continued though in a much lower voice this time.
"Anyway, she ah started to get the wrong idea about me. She started to think that I liked her. She was very pretty but I told her I wasn't interested. The last thing I needed was to get involved with the leader's girl. When she threatened to tell Josh that I had come onto her, I told her to go ahead. She was angry when she went back to Josh. I didn't know what she actually told him, if anything at all, but I waited up all night ready to take Josh on if he came after me.
"Apparently, she had said nothing, but she kept a close eye on me, and I wasn't able to get away to tell the Marshal which bank we were supposed to rob. The day of the robbery came, and I was able to meet the Marshal. Unfortunately, Charlotte followed me. Anyway, she overheard everything, but she tripped when she tried to leave, and we caught her.
"The Marshal took her to the jail while I went back to the gang. We rode into town the next day for the robbery. There was no sign of the Marshal and his me as we were backing our way out of the bank with around 15 thousand dollars. We had just stepped outside when...
"Josh started firing; the Marshal and his men started to fire back. We were pinned down. I wasn't shooting though, using the excuse that my gun was jammed.
"Suddenly, I heard Charlotte's voice. I peered over the top of the water trough that I was hiding behind and saw Charlotte running towards the bank. She yelled to Josh that I was a backstabber, but he didn't hear her.
"I yelled at her to get back, but she ignored me and continued running towards Josh. She was halfway there trying to tell him I was a traitor when a bullet struck her. Both sides stopped firing, stricken that she had been hit. Josh had finally taken notice of Charlotte at the exact moment that she was hit and with a scream fell to the ground. He had stared at her for a moment then screaming her name savagely at her had dropped his saddle bags and jumped onto his horse hightailing it. The rest of the gang gave themselves up without much resistance.
"The Marshal shook my hand in thanks and then told me that I had better beat it before Josh came after me. The Marshal formed a posse and went after Josh, but they never found him. The money was returned to the bank and I left. I haven't returned there to this day. Sometimes I can still see Charlotte lying there in the street, blood soaking through her dress and Josh's wild almost animal like scream in my ears."
"You took her from me. You killed her!" Josh's eyes were frantic and his voice loud as he had apparently heard the last part of the story even though I had kept my voice as low and quiet as I could not wanting Josh to do something rash like hurting Slim.
"Did you not hear a word of what I said!" my eyes flashing once again with that same anger in them and then again, I lowered my voice but continued. "I didn't fire a single bullet. She got caught in the crossfire. It was no one's fault."
"No, no-see that's where you are wrong Jessy boy. YOU were the reason she was in jail. YOU were why she was trying to tell me what you truly were. YOU got her killed. I thought you were just a traitor but after hearing your pitiful little story I realized something. YOU were going to betray me from the beginning. You…You were going to run away with her, weren't you? What kind of person takes another man's girl?"
"I would never take another man's woman." I said bitingly.
"Doesn't matter now though does it? She just would have had to been cut in on the money now." My eyes glancing back and forth between Slim who was still processing everything and Josh's maniacal face, I said.
"What do you mean money now? There is no money. The Marshal gave it all back to the bank."
"Well then Jessy, my lad" Josh said while he wiped his eyes on the back of his hand and sniffed really hard "Guess what. We get to have a do over on the at last nasty little bank job. We're going to rob the Laramie bank tomorrow and if you don't comply, I'll kill your friend.
"So, cowboy" Josh's drooping mustache went up as he smiled, and his yellowed teeth came into view "What do you say huh? Will you give our little friendship another try? Except this time there won't be a Charlotte for you take from me." Josh laughed a little at the end. I knew for certain right then and there that Josh had gone insane.
TBC!
