CHAPTER 9 - RUNNING AWAY AGAIN

When I woke the next morning I was disorientated for a moment and almost thought I was still at the whorehouse, forgetting we'd had to make a run for it. I felt warm and comfortable and I wasn't alone. I could feel the heat of my companion as they rested against my side and when I moved my arm, my hand brushed through long hair. Weren't whores supposed to kick you out afterwards? I opened one eye and saw black hair. My girl had been blonde. I opened the other eye and tried to blink away the fuzziness left by the whiskey. Shit, it was Chavez next to me.

For a moment I couldn't remember what had happened and I froze, not even breathing. My trousers were unfastened; what had I done? I wasn't sure if remembering would be a good idea, but I closed my eyes again for a moment and thought about it. We'd been drinking whiskey, complaining about the law turning up before we got laid. My eyes flew open again. Did I screw him? No, I couldn't have done, I would have remembered that, surely. I frowned and thought about it some more. We hadn't done anything more than fool around, but it had been damn good, I could remember that much. I looked at him again and raised a hand to brush his hair away from his face, but then snatched it back quickly. He would probably wake up and be horrified and I'd look like a damned idiot. I needed to get myself together. I grimaced and quietly edged away from him, sitting up slowly. I cautiously got to my feet and my boot made a slight noise on the stone beneath the straw.

I should have known that Chavez would sleep with his ears alert. He opened his eyes and his hand immediately shifted towards the knife which lay to the far side of him. Then he pulled his hand back and sat up too. He had straw in his hair and his clothes were loose, trousers undone the same way mine had been. I avoided looking at him. I felt very uncomfortable and my only saving grace was that I hadn't progressed beyond what my hands had gotten up to. I brushed straw off my own clothes and took a step backwards. Jesus, what was wrong with me? Not long ago I would have thought my standards had slipped completely to even consider him, but now there was that strange niggling thought in my head that I had liked it rather too much.

"Where are you going?" Chavez asked quietly.

"Outta here," I said through my teeth. Suddenly I couldn't wait to get away from him. He fastened his trousers and stood up. I couldn't seem to stop myself taking another brief look and my eyes met his. He had a mixture of what looked like hope and confusion on his face and for the first time he seemed unsure of himself. I wondered what he was thinking; he sure as hell didn't look as if the idea of waking up with me had horrified him all that much. He took a step towards me, dropping his eyes, giving me a half smile and I panicked and lashed out. My fist caught him in the mouth, much harder than I intended and his lip split. He fell backwards into the straw and the worst of it was that this time he didn't fight back, or even draw a weapon. He just sat there and looked up at me and I cringed inwardly. Damnit, I needed to learn some restraint in all departments.

"Hijo de tu puta madre," muttered Chavez then. He looked both angry and hurt and I figured what he said was some kind of insult.

I turned away before I did anything else I'd regret and marched outside. I wished he'd pulled a knife on me or something. Now I not only felt sick, but guilty too. I was feeling a lot of things that were new to me lately. I didn't even know why I'd hit him; I sure as hell regretted it a lot more than I regretted touching him. As usual, I buried my thoughts rather than dwell on them and went to my horse. It had gotten itself free from the fencepost, but had stayed close to Chavez's identical animal; identical in that they were both sorrel, but there the similarity ended. Chavez's horse was fit, muscular and glossy. I grabbed the reins of my own sorrowful looking mount and climbed on. It never even crossed my mind to steal the other horse. I paused, wondering which way to go and then headed off in the opposite direction to White Oaks. I guessed I would catch up with the others sooner or later.

After riding for most of the morning, I finally saw horses in the distance, travelling at an angle to mine which would eventually bring us together if we stayed on our present courses. I squinted against the sun, wondering if it was some of my gang. There were three of them. I pulled my rifle out just in case and continued until I made out Doc, Hendry and Tom.

"Dave," Doc greeted me reluctantly.

"Mornin', boys. Where's Billy?" I asked.

"He went after Jane," said Doc. "He'll catch us up."

"The lucky bastard!" I exclaimed, cringing when I thought I could have gone after the blonde instead of….instead of what I had got up to.

"Where's Chavez?" asked Doc then.

"How the hell should I know?"

"Just wondered if you'd seen him."

"No," I said shortly.

"Hope he's alright."

'He's fine,' I thought and then looked anxiously at the others in case I'd said it out loud. They were gazing about them.

"I think we should head north," Doc said.

"North? What the hell for? We're going to Mexico!" I protested.

"I think Billy was heading in that general direction. We'll likely run into him eventually."

Doc, Hendry and Tom all urged their horses onwards immediately and I followed them, thinking we were more likely to run into Pat Garrett going north. Ah well, we might get another fight out of it.

Half an hour further on, we halted and turned in our saddles at the sound of hooves pounding behind us. It was Chavez riding flat out to catch up. Shit. I turned back to face the other way and hoped he wouldn't give any indication that I was a liar when I'd said I hadn't seen him.

"Chavez!" cried Doc.

Chavez halted beside him and nodded. He glanced over at me and glowered.

"What happened to you? Get in a fight?" asked Doc, eyeing Chavez's split lip.

"Some pendejo thought he'd try his luck," grunted Chavez.

"I'd love to know what he looks like now," Doc grinned.

"He's a dead man," Chavez replied, shooting me a look that said he would kill me if he got the chance.

Things just kept getting better and better and as usual, it was all my own fault.