Unlawfully Yours

Chapter V



Cole woke up with a start, surprised to find himself in total darkness, until he remembered where they were. His eyes grew accustomed to the weak light given by the myriads of stars in the sky and searched for Paul, whom he found sitting about ten feet away. The man was dozing off. Cole knew that he had barely slept in the last few days and his stubbornness at not letting him take his place told Cole how little he trusted him. What remained uncertain however was whether it was his inexperience Paul had misgivings about, or his dispositions… or both...? However justified this might have been though, it still annoyed Cole. He got up and went to Paul decidedly.

"Hey!"

Paul seemed startled by his arrival.

"See, you didn't even hear me coming," Cole pursued. "I believe you need some sleep…"

Instead of answering, Paul was staring at a luminous point in the distance. Cole followed his gaze and guessed that it must have been the others' campfire. At least, they had stopped as well, he reflected, although he had difficulties estimating just how far they actually were.

"Can I trust you to keep away," Paul suddenly asked.

"Away?"

"Turner, I'm not joking…this is our best chance to get to the money. You can't mess it up because you're horny…"

Cole eyed him angrily, but instead of answering the offence directly, he used another approach.

"Whether you trust me or not is a moot point right now. If it had been one of them coming here instead of me, we'd both be history. Besides, you gotta sleep or you'll fall off your horse from exhaustion while riding. What good's it gonna do you if you break your neck before we get to the gold?"

Paul wanted to protest more, but even then, his eyelids were closing on their own. He was exhausted; Cole was right about that.

Without another word he went to lie down and, in spite of his doubts, he fell asleep almost immediately.

Cole took his place and, same as Paul had been doing, he began staring at the dim light of the campfire in the distance. Meanwhile, a million thoughts were crossing his mind and, along with it, impulses which annoyed him. Sleeping had not lessened in the least his concerns for her, or the jealousy that he felt for that matter. Nevertheless, it had given him time to get some perspective. This, coupled with Paul's rude comment about his motivations, was forcing him to take a hard look at himself. It also kept him there rather than running toward the other camp to get to Phoebe, which had been his first impulse. Now in the dark and alone with his thoughts, he was getting a handle on what Paul had meant. What was it that he truly felt? And really, what did he expect would come out of it?

He theorized that thinking of her, and of possessing her, had set aside all of his inadequacies of late. This, along with the shock between his formerly ordered life and this unbridled adventure could very well have been the cause of the turmoil that shook him to the core. In spite of the fact that change and adventure had been his goals in coming here, he realized that he had not been prepared for it. All those who tried to dissuade him, they knew better than he. Still, he had laughed in their faces, telling them that no challenge had ever been too great for him and that he wasn't about to be deterred by this one. How they would laugh now, seeing him defeated by his own pride, sitting in the middle of the desert with the certainty that he had no clue what he was doing, let alone how he felt.

It didn't mean that he had gotten nothing from this adventure however. On the contrary, even in this precarious situation, he had never felt more alive. Somehow, he wondered if that sensation didn't come from the fact that death had come knocking a few times already.

Invariably however, and no matter how many tangents his musings took, Cole's thoughts always came back to Phoebe and the dilemma that she posed for him.

What was if that she represented? Escape… Lust…Love? "Love," he whispered aloud, as if trying to put sense into the word by hearing himself saying it. No, it couldn't be love. Love was something born out of respect and knowledge of each other, that much he thought he knew. It was about sharing common life experiences. What did Phoebe and he have in common really? "Nothing," he had to admit, somewhat painfully. "Nothing at all…" In his world, she would be a pariah, looked upon as some kind of freak of nature. After turning these thoughts in his head for quite a while, he finally managed to convince himself that she shouldn't matter so much to him. That his original goals had only been sidetracked by her appeal, and that she should no longer be his main concern. Yes, maybe Paul was right and he should try his best to concentrate on what was real…Once he had made this decision, he thought that he could relax somewhat. However, a faint noise on his left alerted him…

Phoebe watched Reggie discussing with the two men now completing their little band. These had come to them near Tucson, but Reggie had sent them away and only now were they rejoining with their group. When he had dispatched them the first time, Phoebe had simply found it strange. However now, she decided that this new development was really worrisome. Particularly because of the manner in which they had come back to them… These men had arrived under the cover of night and from a different direction, telling her that they had sought to avoid something behind Reggie, Lenny and her, or so it seemed. This something was pretty obvious to her.

For a while already, she had been wondering about Cole and Paul. She was certain that they were somewhere behind, but the real issue was how much Reggie knew. After the two accomplices' arrival, she had a terrible presentiment. Earlier, she had shed most of her clothing quickly and rolled herself into the thick blanket that she'd brought along; mostly hoping that Reggie would think her asleep and that he would leave her alone. Now, she had the urge to grab her things and try to go warn the others out of a strange sense of loyalty, which still puzzled her. However, she had noticed Reggie watching her and she decided to wait and see. Meanwhile, and trying to set aside her fears, she reflected about the way she felt at this point.

Reggie seemed to have no carnal urge whatsoever at the moment, to her intense relief. She was still in pain physically, but most of all morally. Even if she was no stranger to man's violence, this time it had gone much farther. At the very least, she thought so, as she felt a strange need... one that had been totally unknown to her before… In the past, when her soul had suffered, she had used physical love to fill the void inside and most of the time it had worked marvels. However, it wasn't the anticipated pain that stopped her from seeking this form of relief, but rather the fact that she aspired to something different. Compassion… Communion with one who wouldn't be only interested in her body, but also in how she felt... Phoebe knew that this was only a dream, for no man was able of such a thing. Much more, in order to attain this, she would've had to willingly give something of herself in the process, which was even more unthinkable.

Or was it? For a short while, back at the shack, she had believed that she had seen such a sentiment in a man and had the urge to give in to this very strange weakness. In a small corner of her soul, she had let herself hope that he was the one who would prove to be different from all others. Then, the harsh reality had hit her more than she was willing to admit. Yet, even if she knew that he was no different in her mind, she had not been able to stop herself from getting those urges repeatedly through this day. Obviously, it was what had inspired the need to warn him.

As she realized this, she also understood how much of a mistake it would be. Phoebe had always acted in her best interest alone. If it might seem somewhat selfish to many, it wasn't how she saw it. For her it meant basic survival. Phoebe was not about to risk everything for someone else, because she knew that no one would take care of her… only herself. She was a survivor who would never relinquish to anyone the control over her destiny. Even Reggie knew that he had no power over her, in spite of the fact that she had been part of his little band for a while and that he expected this from her and everyone else. Surely, that was why he mistrusted her, but this couldn't change the way she was. So that when the impulse to help came to her, she forced herself to remember that no one would worry for her safety and most of all, that Cole and Paul only had themselves to blame if something happened. Yet, she still worried about what would become of them.

The men had stopped talking suddenly and if she had not known the tone of their conversation, seeing the two newcomers getting up and leaving told her all she needed to know. She closed her eyes almost completely when she saw Reggie looking her way, and his expression suddenly made her fear for herself as well. Until now, she had assumed that he had stopped believing in her involvement with their pursuers. However, right then, a sinking feeling crept inside of her. What if he had played her? Wanting to see if she would crack? Reggie watched her for a long time, and she stayed as immobile as she could, trying to fool him into thinking that she had indeed fallen asleep and didn't care one way or another about what those men's fate or that she had no fear about her own. When he finally made a move toward her however, it took her all she had not to get up and run. Instead, she watched him coming and was surprised that he went by her without trying to wake her. She was almost sighing in relief when she heard the distinctive sounds of him undressing behind her. She had hoped to avoid this, but at this point, although her concern for the others still weighed heavily on her mind, she was relieved that it was all he had wanted with her. He pulled at the blanket and soon he was leaning against her, while his hand caressed her sides rudely.

"Don't play games with me," he said then as his hand went down to her bare buttocks and grabbed one firmly. She jumped slightly but didn't react otherwise, waiting to see what he would say next. It was soon obvious that her relief had been premature…

"So, my sweet," he continued in a low voice, his mouth inches from her neck, "what do you know of our unwelcome escort?"

Taking a deep breath, she uttered.

"I don't know what you're talking about…but Reggie, could we skip it tonight," she tried instead…I don't feel too good," she added, although she didn't make any move to get away from him. She knew that it would only make things worse. She felt his arousal twitching on her lower back and reflected dejectedly about how men found a woman's fear exciting.

"Oh Phoebe, you never refused a little fun before…are you worried about something?" he asked as his grip tightened on her buttock and she couldn't help a wince.

"Just that you're bothering me," she tried. "You know what happened to me…That stupid guard hurt me good. I could use a little break…"

"Is that right," Reggie continued, while his hand relaxed on her buttocks. However, it soon slithered between her legs. "Or is it that you want another warm body against you tonight? Maybe you expect one of those to be some kind of knight in shining armor taking you away from all this?"

"You're crazy," she uttered, even as his purposeful touch still excited her in spite of her fears. She felt ashamed at her reaction, suddenly cursing her weakness as tears formed in the corner of her eyes. "I've got no idea what you're talking about," she pursued aloud, and then bit her lips when she felt his hand probing her and the pain mixing in with the arousal.

"You're lucky I still like your beautiful ass Phoebe, or I'd break your neck right now," he growled, even as she heard the first gunshot in the distance, then another and another. She stifled a scream of distress, but Reggie still sensed her tensing and seemed to find this amusing, and even more so, exciting. He pinned her face down and parted her thighs with his knees. "See, even now your pussy is all willing to open up for me. Yeah baby, you really are one of a kind," he added as he lifted her hips and entered her forcefully. "Now you see that I'm the only one you got left," he continued when she groaned as much in sorrow than pain. "But I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself, Phoebe. Just because I'm not tired of you yet…just make sure that doesn't happen and that you don't betray me again," he pursued threateningly, even as his breathing quickened along with his movement inside of her. "That's the only way you're gonna live…" and Phoebe knew that he meant it, as she made no move to resist him. In fact, to her utter disgust, and in spite of the pain, she felt the first wave of pleasure coursing through her even as she cried softly for the loss of something she wasn't even sure she ever had.

The two acolytes moved cautiously toward their victims, surprised as they were by their failure to respond to their fire. What they found, however, were a couple of coyotes still trying to defend the corpse of a slaughtered mule along with the bloody remains of blankets apparently shredded to pieces. They shot one of the coyotes and the other one ran away. A little further, they found a bloody trail leading toward the desert. Something had been dragged away... something heavy. All of this told them all they had to know. Whoever these men were, the beasts had surprised them in their sleep and they had no chance to defend themselves. Maybe their throats were slit first, they reflected, as they also found a gun lying on the ground, unused. They also saw the prints of horses moving away in another direction but only assumed that these had run to escape the coyotes. Satisfied, they turned back toward their own camps to give the good news to Reggie…



Cole watched Reggie and Phoebe in abject fascination, torn by an urge to shoot them right away, while he knew that it wasn't the answer. What really stopped him however, besides the firm grasp of his companion on his arm, was the look on her face. The fire gave more than enough light for him to see even from a distance, and he could read fear and sorrow in her expression. When he was certain of this, he took one step ahead, but Paul tightened his hold on his arm, urging him to stand back imperatively.

Earlier, Cole had found that the faint noise he'd heard were coyotes roaming about. However, it also brought back to him a memory of the sound he'd heard back at the shack and he'd suddenly wondered again what it might had been. This got him to reflect on their quarry's slow pace. If it could have indicated they didn't know they were followed but were in no hurry, it could also have meant that Paul and he were being set up. The more he thought about it, the more likely the latter became to him. It also meant that Phoebe was in fact in danger… unless she had betrayed them. The thought didn't sit well with him.

At last, he had awakened Paul and convinced him of the possible danger to them. It hadn't been too hard, as Paul had asked himself the same question a few times that day. After Cole also told him of the coyotes lurking about, he seemed to have an idea. Without a word, he got up and apparently looked around for any sign of surveillance. Then, he came back toward Cole and pulled a serrated knife out of his belt. Lifting his sleeve, he cut a deep gash in his forearm, dripping blood all over his blanket. Then he grabbed it and quickly tore it apart with the help of the knife, and under Cole's astonished stare. What really horrified Cole however was when he slaughtered his own mule with one swift move and then went on slashing the animal, until all that was left was a bloody mess. Picking up Cole's blanket, he put more blood on it; some from the mule mingled with his own, and then filled it with rocks.

"Drag this as far away from the camp as you can," Paul then told Cole. This one didn't make a move at first, stunned by Paul's actions.

"Hey, you're gonna move or not," Paul almost screamed.

This shook Cole as he grabbed the heavy blanket, and then reluctantly took the knife that Paul was now offering him. Dragging his burden for a good distance in the darkness, he finally stopped, emptied the blanket and dropped it even further after having slashed it in the same fashion as he had seen Paul doing with the other one. He went back toward Paul, dragging a thick twig behind him to mask his own footprints while his mind was in turmoil, wondering if the man he was stuck with wasn't as bad as the ones they pursued. Yet, he had to admit that this made some sense. If the gang thought them dead, they would probably lead them to their real destination at last. Of course, throughout all of this, Cole wondered if his intuition was the right one. It wasn't until he heard the gunshots, even as he was watching Phoebe and Reggie, that he knew he had been dead on the mark.

This had been Cole's only other request. In spite of his doubts about her, he had insisted on them going to see for themselves if she was ok. By the time he had rejoined with Paul, he was convinced that Reggie must've conned her into thinking that she was safe. He had no idea why the man didn't kill her on the spot, but he wasn't going to wait until he found her body on the way. Surprising Cole, Paul agreed almost immediately and after going cautiously around their camp, and then leaving the horses behind, they had made their way toward the campfire only to witness this appalling spectacle. At least, it was for Cole... He painfully had to see the whole thing through. Then it was only when they heard the horses coming back that Reggie pulled away from Phoebe. This one remained face down a little longer, while Reggie didn't even bother to get dressed before turning toward his men. Phoebe, for her part, finally got on her side and pulled the blanket toward her, under the lurid stares of the acolytes. A hard glare from their leader straightened them up however, and they told him of what they had found. Paul exhaled in relief when he saw Reggie smiling cruelly, obviously convinced of their demise. Phoebe grimaced slightly herself, but to Cole's consternation, she suddenly got up and went to Reggie. When he saw the way she acted next, he truly believed that he had dreamt the pain of earlier. Now she seemed confident and remorseless, as she shamelessly rubbed against him. She was grabbing his buttock with one hand and loosely holding the blanket against her with the other. Oblivious to the acolytes, she purred.

"Alright now, are you done already? Can we get back to business?"

Reggie gave her a somewhat uncertain look.

"Babe, are you trying to make me believe you don't care what happened to those guys? It didn't feel like it back then…"

"Since when have you known me to care about anyone but myself? I was just worried that you'd turn on me, Reggie."

"I saw you with them back at the shack, Phoebe," he revealed threateningly.

Phoebe was a little startled, but she quickly recuperated.

"If I'd told you they'd followed me there, you'd have suspected me. And then, when you said they ran away, I thought this business was done with…"

"And what about Carl…?"

There, she visibly flinched. However, instead of trying to deny her knowledge of his fate, she went on:

"Reggie…I swear I didn't have anything to do with his death. They killed him when he surprised them. I didn't know how to tell you; I was scared of your reaction…You can understand that, can't you," she added as she looked up with her most innocent gaze.

"And you didn't think it was important to tell me about Carl being dead, or them," he asked suspiciously.

"I told you…I was scared. Then, when Lenny shot at them and you told me they ran, I didn't think they'd follow us. What do you want me to say? I have a good ass but no brains, I guess," she continued, while an alluring smile formed on her lips and she tightened her grip on him. "You're ass is not too bad either," she continued then.

"Don't push it, Phoebe," Reggie said, even though he appeared to soften.

"Come on, it was never my intention to betray you, Reggie," Phoebe then said almost plaintively. "You know I'm with you all the way."

Reggie watched her uncertainly a moment longer and Phoebe felt a chill. However, when Reggie spoke again, she thought that things weren't as bad as she had feared.

"Well, babe, I guess I can give you the benefit of the doubt. And since those guys seem to have gotten what they deserved…No more funny business though…" He grabbed her buttock in turn and pinched it almost gently. Then:

"But for now, you better get some sleep, babe. We'll have plenty of time for fun later. Me, I still have some business to attend to."

Phoebe pouted, seemingly unhappy about it, but she finally walked away and went back to lay by the fire.

If at first, Paul had to restrain Cole, now this one was standing as immobile as a statue, and then Paul practically had to drag him toward a boulder nearby, worried that the gangsters would come look their way. Even in the semi darkness, he recognized the confused expression of his companion but didn't comment at first. Then he heard Cole grumbling under his breath.

"Bloody bitch. I should've known better…"

Paul wasn't one to defend another usually, but this time, he felt the need to try.

"Hey, it was her life at stake there. Phoebe isn't one to let her emotions get in the way of her survival. You should admire that at least."

Cole cast him a seriously dubious look, but didn't answer. Instead, they both looked back toward the camp, watching for their next step.



Reggie was signalling for Lenny to come to him and this one grabbed his leader's outfit on the way, while giving Phoebe a chilling look. Phoebe stared back, unflinching and then after he left, she turned her back to them, convinced that she had gotten in Reggie's good graces again.

Lenny was watching his boss unhappily while this one dressed.

"Reggie, you can't be seriously thinking of keeping that broad around after this…" he finally uttered, "She's gonna betray us at the drop of a hat."

Reggie cast a glance toward Phoebe but she didn't seem to pay them any attention.

He still pulled Lenny a little further before answering this.

"Don't worry… tomorrow we'll have some fun with her. This should be a good distraction. I'll have first dip of course, then you, and then the others. Afterward, when we're done…"

Reggie didn't finish the sentence, but the look on his face was eloquent. Lenny smiled in the same fashion while looking back at her.

"Yeah…" he simply added.

Right then, Reggie was back to business.

"But for now, I wanna make sure that those guys are out of our hair for good. One of us is gonna stay here to keep an eye on her while we'll do a little search for the coyotes' leftovers."

"Right," Lenny acquiesced, while Reggie gave his instructions to the others. Then, Lenny, Reggie and one other got on their horses and left the campfire.

"Hey," Paul whispered at this, "we gotta go. It wouldn't do us any good if they found us now…"

"We're not going without her," Cole said at last, surprising Paul, who no longer believed he cared.

"Don't worry about her, she can hold her own against Reggie. You saw her, didn't you?"

"Didn't you see the look on those men's faces?" Cole replied stubbornly. "They're gonna kill her. I'm sure of it and I can't let that happen…"

By then, he wasn't sure of much else anymore, except that he couldn't let her die. In addition, he was determined to see for himself whether she was as bad as her actions seemed to indicate, or if Paul was right. At any rate, if it was the latter, then he most certainly couldn't risk leaving her behind.

"We're getting her out of there and that's that. I'll knock down the guard from behind and he'll think that she did it. They'll just think that she ran away on her own."

Paul had serious doubts about this plan and was about to tell him, when he felt a strong breeze on his face.

"Ok," he suddenly said, "I think you're right. It's very possible that Reggie didn't buy her act. He was probably just horny, that's all," Paul went on with a hint of mockery. "You should know the kind…"

The fact that Cole didn't even react to this told Paul even more how determined he was. The thing that worried him however was that the bandits might follow their tracks afterward and figure out they were still alive. He knew that this possibility had not occurred to Cole in his haste to save the girl. Fortunately, the desert was about to provide a ready-made solution.

As minutes went by, the breeze only strengthened, telling Paul that his assumption about the coming weather was the right one. He convinced Cole to wait while the man who was guarding the camp seemed to come to the same conclusion about the weather, because he rolled himself in a blanket and no longer worried about Phoebe but rather about the coming sandstorm. Besides, from the way he positioned himself, near the horse, it was obvious that he believed she wouldn't have left on foot. At any rate, Phoebe seemed fast asleep at this point. Afterward, it didn't take much longer before the storm struck. Another stroke of luck for them was that the others didn't come back right away, making it easy to enter the camp unseen under the cover of the dense storm. When he was certain that the guard didn't pay any attention to Phoebe, Cole cautiously went toward her and, without giving Phoebe a chance to protest, he grabbed her with the blanket and threw her over his shoulder, soon kicking and screaming. The deafening wind covered her protests enough that the guard never looked back, although Paul had been prepared to end his life had he done so.

When Cole saw that she wouldn't stop kicking, he reluctantly hit her through the blanket. She then went limp on his shoulder. Cole trudged his way toward the horses with Paul in tow. After dropping Phoebe on one of them, he climbed behind her and they walked the reluctant animals toward a small mountain range Paul had spotted. Paul hoped to find shelter there and, in addition, to be in a good position to watch the camp from afar without being seen themselves. The storm was strong enough that as Paul had foreseen, their winds erased their tracks even as they went.

For a while, they wondered if they were heading in the right direction as the storm blinded them just as much as the guard had been. This until Paul distinguished the first signs of the rocky formation ahead. He urged Cole to hurry and they soon found cover inside a crevasse. There, in the relative calm, Cole took Phoebe off the horse and anxiously looked her over. She hadn't moved since he had hit her and he feared that he'd hit harder than he had intended. Although, she was still unconscious however, her breathing seemed normal enough. Paul came around and questioned teasingly:

"Hey, I thought you wanted to rescue her, not kill her…"

Cole growled unhappily before defending his action grudgingly.

"She wouldn't stop fighting me. I had to make sure she wouldn't run back or alert them," he said in guise of excuse.

Paul still watched him dubiously, unsure if Cole had not used this as retaliation against her as well. Cole shrugged while he reported her attention toward Phoebe and began trying to shake her awake. Finally, to his relief, her eyes fluttered opened and her first reaction was a weak smile.

"You're alive," she whispered hoarsely. Then she seemed to remember what happened.

"You son of a bitch," she exclaimed, as she pushed him away rudely. "Why in the hell did you do this?"

Cole responded angrily:

"Hardly enough, we were trying to save you…"

"Oh and you did such a great job of it," Phoebe screamed angrily. "I didn't need saving. You should've saved your own asses and left me alone."

"You know, just about now, I think so too," Cole answered then. His voice was low and calm, yet she sensed barely contained anger in it.

"Then, if you don't mind I'll find my way back" Phoebe still said stubbornly while she turned away.

"Because you got such a nice ass that you think he won't snap your neck," Cole sarcastically added.

Phoebe stopped short without looking back. This, she knew, meant that he had been watching. Until that moment, her anger had been mitigated, only driven, as she was, by the feeling that they had messed up with her plans. This however, gave Phoebe the irrational, but to her very real, impression that he took her away only because he somehow wanted to punish her, not save her. She was not about to give an inch.

"So that's how you get your kicks, cowboy… Was that fun," she asked derisively.

Cole was about to reply, but Paul thought it a better idea to stop this now.

"Ok kids, this might seem fun to you, but I'm passed this sort of entertainment. As for you Phoebe, you're not going anywhere. For your information, I'd say that your life expectancy just went up tremendously, thanks to Turner here. How long do you think it'd have been before Reggie got tired of banging your devious ass? A week... less...? He'd have killed you and taken as much pleasure in it as he had earlier pinning you down."

"This is my business; you had no right to interfere. I'd have gotten away the moment I found the money. I managed through life without your so called help, and I will again…"

Then Phoebe tried anew to go toward the entrance to the crevasse, but Paul put himself firmly in front of her.

"Now, now… first of all, that's really stupid of you to wanna try and run back half naked in a sandstorm …" Paul said as he eyed her from head to toe. Phoebe didn't even flinch.

"But much than that, Phoebe, how stupid do you think I am?" he growled then.

"Do you really believe I don't know what's brewing inside that pea brain of yours?"

Cole frowned at the sudden change in Paul's attitude…

"Paul?"

"The little angel here is planning to go and give us up in exchange for her share of the money."

Phoebe's jaw set at this.

"You bastard…you probably say this because that's what you'd do!"

"Don't try to sweet talk me babe," Paul said as he pushed his vest to the side and rested his hand on the revolver nestled in his belt. "I've seen and heard them all. I know what you care about and that's not us."

Cole tried to protest for it seemed too terrible even for her, but then he thought back of what he had witnessed and kept quiet.

"That's it," Phoebe snapped angrily then. "You say you wanna save me; then I become your prisoner. You're no better than Reggie. At least, he doesn't pretend to be a good guy."

Paul ignored her.

"Turner, better get a rope. The lady here might need some encouragement to accept our hospitality… and frankly I need some rest."

Cole hesitated at length, but Paul glared at him and Cole shrugged before going to the horse.

When he came back with the rope, Phoebe mocked:

"Hey cowboy, watching wasn't good enough for ya? You think if I'm bound and naked, it'll be easier to dip your dick…"

It took Cole all he had not to knock her down again.

Seeing Cole's growing anger, Paul intervened:

"You know… the girl has half a point. I can't trust you two to keep quiet as long as she's like that."

Cole watched Paul going to his horse with a serious urge to beat the crap out of him. Yet, when Paul came back with pants and a shirt, he was actually relieved. He still eyeballed his companion, but kept his comment to himself. Paul wasn't paying him any attention anyway.

"Put that on," he told Phoebe instead, while ostensibly fingering the gun at his belt.

Phoebe let the clothes drop at her feet while she protested again.

"What? You're gonna kill me if I don't get dressed? The both of you are quite the pair…hum I wonder…"

Where Cole had hesitated, Paul didn't. He slapped her hard across the face.

"Get dressed, I said. I'm grumpy and in no mood for your antics, babe."

Cole took one step toward Paul, and then hesitated only a moment.

"Don't touch her again," he finally uttered firmly.

Phoebe was wiping her mouth angrily while she eyed Paul.

Neither one seemed to pay any attention to Cole's comment. Instead, they went on staring at each other. She sensed danger emanating from Paul and decided that this wasn't worth it. "You bastard," Phoebe still barked before she picked up the clothes anyway.

She glanced back at Cole while dropping the blanket.

"Hey, you were a little late to be the knight but… here's your reward anyway…"

He winced and looked away, while she put the clothes on slowly.

"Don't be shy, lover; it's nothing you haven't seen before," she sneered, "more than once…"

He still didn't look back and she shrugged as she finished dressing. She had to tie the belt with a knot, as it, and the pants were much too large for her, in the same fashion as she had with Cole's clothes not that long ago, she remembered.

As soon as she was done, Paul tied her wrists behind her back and this time she didn't resist, although she still promised herself to try escaping later. All the while, she observed Cole, wondering why she was so angry with him. Maybe it was the fact that deep down, she kept some hope that he would be different from the others. Yet, he was treating her just as badly as many other men would. Why did it still annoy her? She had no forthcoming answer however, and he wasn't helping in the least, as he avoided her eyes completely and allowed Paul to escort her deeper in the crevasse. There, he forced her down, tying her ankles as well, and then turned around.

"So that's my sleeping arrangement?" Phoebe called to him angrily. "Remind me not to recommend this establishment," Phoebe still protested, albeit mildly. The rope only reminded her painfully of Carl's treatment of her. However, she soon stopped her protest, for in spite of her anger and frustration, deep down she knew they were doing it in part for what they thought was her safety. Besides, and no matter her harsh affirmations of earlier, she didn't believe for one moment that Cole would molest her or let Paul do it.

Outside, the storm was still raging and the sounds gave her a chill. Once again, she glanced toward Cole, not knowing exactly why but seeking something from him nevertheless. However, this one still avoided looking at her and instead went toward the entrance to take his watch. Meanwhile Paul believed that he could get some rest at last and, sitting up against the rocky wall, he pulled his hat over his face and fell asleep almost immediately.

Phoebe finally shrugged and lied down herself, realizing how tired she was. She closed her eyes but the cold had her shivering. After a moment, she felt something covering her shoulders and when she looked up, she saw Cole stepping back, seemingly in a hurry to get away from her. Phoebe watched him with mixed feelings as he was taking his post back at the entrance. Warmth was coursing through her now that had little to do with the blanket and she went to sleep still wondering about it…