Buck Wilmington was at his wits end. He was ready to kill all of the bastards in the jail cell. He had discovered during the past three hours that trying to drag any information out of them was more pointless than emptying your gun into a dead horse. He was infuriated that in those three hours he'd only gotten a couple of names out of the three outlaws. And, to make matters worse, further in his questioning, he discovered that he had been handed fake ones at that.
"You son of a bitch! I wanna know why. You had better tell me why!" Buck screamed at the red-haired one as he slapped him across the face. Refusing to talk, the man simply smiled tauntingly at the gunslinger, just as he been doing during the entire questioning. Buck was still on a tirade, swearing and smacking the guy when Chris walked in.
"Hey, Buck, " he called out after watching his old friend for a few moments. The tone in Larabee's voice stopped Buck cold in his tracks, right arm wound back, left one still holding the other man's collar. Buck looked over his shoulder at his old friend waiting for him to continue.
"How about goin' over and checking on Julian and Ezra. I'll handle this from here."
In all of the years he had known Chris, Buck had never seen Chris as incensed as he did at that moment. He nodded in agreement and thrust the outlaw away from him into the stone wall. He knew better than to try and argue with Chris when he was in that type of mood.
As Buck closed the door to the jail house behind him, he heard Chris say sinisterly, "Now let's get down to business. . ."
As Julian gradually became aware of her surroundings, she saw that she was in an unfamiliar room. Grateful to see light no matter what the source after being deprived of it for so long, she began to slowly take stock of her surroundings. The walls were clean but bare of any decoration, as was the rest of the room. She saw that it was a sparsely furnished room devoid of any personal items except for some plants and books. All that she could see were two cots including the one she was laying on, a few small tables, low to the ground and piled with bottles and bandages and an old wooden chair. .
She closed her eyes in an effort to gather some strength and struggled awkwardly to sit up. As her eyes fell on the cot across from her, she could see it was occupied as well. When she found that there was not too much pain rushing through her, Julian moved carefully to stand up. She knew without looking that she was dressed in someone else's clothing; they were a bit tight on her. Cautiously, she moved slowly over to the other cot, not wanting to disturb the person sleeping there but needing to satisfy her curiosity.
She drew in a ragged breath at the sight of a heavily bandaged body that was covered in multi-colored bruises and red stained bandages. She could see the sheer exhaustion clearly evident on the man's features. His face seemed strikingly familiar to her, like an old friend that she couldn't quite place. The afternoon sunlight washed over the room, casting heavy shadows across the man's form.
An errant thought hit her then, triggered perhaps by the low light as she squinted closely at his face, wondering...
In exact moment that she bent closer to study the man, his eyes fluttered open and caught her gaze. With green eyes boring into her own, she heard him quietly inquire in a pleasant drawl, "Hello there, Miss. And if may I ask, who are you?"
Julian was positive now. She would recognize that accented croak anywhere.
"Hey, Ezra" Julian said, grinning at the man. Who'd have thought he'd be so attractive in the light? She nearly hugged him, but restrained herself, opting to shift closer to the bed.
"I am glad to see you doing you so well , Miss Larabee. I had feared the worst for you" he softly replied. He turned his head, to look directly at her, not allowing her to break that small contact with him. "You are well, I trust?"
Julian tore her gaze from his moved back a step. She knew what he was asking her. She also knew that Ezra was too much of a gentleman to ask her if their captors had raped her again, after he had been removed from their cell.
Julian's eyes restlessly hunted for something to stare at before answering the implied question. Instinctively knowing that this man could spot a lie from a mile away and feeling just how important it was to him to hear the truth, she drew in a deep breath as her gaze met his once again. "Th..they didn't...Not again. Only that once."
Ezra slowly held out one hand to her, resting his smooth palm on hers.
"If you ever need anyone, ever, at any time, to talk to, I will be here for you, my dear."
"Thank you." she whispered. It was if the man could read her mind, discovering her decision to never tell her brother what had happened. She knew that if Chris ever found out he would never forgive himself from not protecting her, regardless to the fact that he had no way of controlling what had happened.
When she heard the muffled boot heels on the wooded steps out front, she quickly moved back to her cot. Even in the short time she had spent in the clinic, she was aware of the rules. Nathan was in charge of his domain and he would be the one to dictate when any of his patients got out of bed.