“Okay!” The Kid said, his eyes bright. “How?”
“I don’t know, just talk to me,” Will said. I snorted. If there was anything The Kid was good at, it was talking. Jesse and Clara walked back, appearing from behind the remains of a crushed van. Jesse’s eyes turned to Will, who’d tossed the nub of his cigarette into the fire. Clara, however, stared at Will in a different way. I understood the heat in her eyes as she trailed the long lines of his exposed bronze skin and the sculpted bow of his full lips. Will was handsome. He didn’t let you forget that he was handsome.
“Can I ask you questions?” The Kid asked. Will offered him a short chuckle. I smiled affectionately. I knew what it was like, being charmed by The Kid.
“Sure, anything you want,” he said as I put the blade of the knife back in the fire and cleaned the exit wound.
“Why doesn’t Jones just give up on catching Bonnie already? He seems kinda stupid. She’s made it all this way. Why does he care so much?” The Kid asked. My hand stilled. Had I forgotten to breathe? My stomach dropped to the ground. Will laughed darkly, and I cleared my throat in warning.
“Well, that’s an easy one,” Will said. I fumbled with the rag in my hand. Panic surged up my spine.
“Will, don’t—"
“She belongs to him,” Will said with a shrug. “It’s a hanging offense.”
“Shut up—"
“What is?” The Kid asked. I scrambled for the hilt of the knife, hoping if Will was screaming, he couldn’t spill my secrets.
“She’s a runaway slave, Kid.” The campsite fell silent, an oppressive absence of noise that caused a tremor in my hands. Hot tears welled in my eyes, and I refused to look anywhere. At anyone. Especially at Jesse.
“Didn’t y’all know that already?” Will asked, confused. I pressed the blade hard against his shoulder, enjoying his tortured scream and the sizzle of his skin. Probably too much. Heat crawled up my neck and settled behind my eyes. I closed them tight and strangled the urge to cry. Pushing to my feet, I fought the need to run pulsing through my veins.
Jesse'd never looked at me like a slave. A part of me never wanted him to know. Will turned, an apology hanging on his lips. I shook my head to stave off his words.
"Bonnie, I didn't know—"
"I pay my debts," I said, louder than I intended. I felt their stares on my skin, like the unwanted caresses I'd endured my whole life. Marking me in ways I would never be able to unsee. Will's eyes widened at my words, and he stood, reaching out to me. I shoved him back, hard.
"I keep my word!" I shouted, an edge of hysteria coloring my voice as I pounded a fist into Will's immovable chest. He stood there, stoic, and let me. I hit him again, and again, and again. Until my fists ached and my words broke on the breeze.
Jesse’s familiar hands were on me, pulling me into his arms. Arms that’d always made me feel so safe.
"I'm an outlaw," I whispered, all the fight seeping from me as he held me tight. I buried my face in his chest, raking in ragged breaths, trying to remember where I'd hidden my strength. "I'm an outlaw."
"You’re an outlaw," Jesse breathed into my hair, holding up my bent frame until I could scrape together enough courage to lift my head high once more.
“Let’s take a walk,” he said. I nodded, hiding my tear-stained cheeks from the others as he led me down a winding path deep into the abandoned heart of the junkyard. I mopped at my face with the sleeve of my shirt as we walked.
“I can punch Will in the face again if it’ll make you feel better,” Jesse said after a while. I gave him a short, tearful laugh.
“Don’t tempt me,” I said quietly. After a while, I stopped walking and sat on the cracked leather of a bench seat that’d been ripped from the frame of a vehicle, staring into the distance. Silence stretched between us as he joined me.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked softly. I shrugged, staring at my boots. His arm came down around my shoulders, and I leaned into that spot the crook of his shoulder where I fit so well. The place that made me feel safe when I was tangled together with him at night. He inhaled deeply, and I gathered my courage.
“You didn’t see a slave when you looked at me,” I said. He tipped my chin up to meet his eyes.
“I still don’t,” he whispered. “You know this doesn’t change anything. Not for me.” He said it with the same conviction with which he said everything. In the deep canyon timbre I loved to listen to. He made everything sound easy, feel easy. He saw the broken parts of me and didn’t run.
“Is that why you do it? The slave revolts, the people you’ve killed, the horses in Vegas... because you were a slave?” he asked. I sighed, trying to order my thoughts.
“Freedom isn’t something that anyone should be able to take away from you,” I said. Not sure if it was an answer to his question. It was the only one I had.
“We won’t let them do it to anyone else. I promise,” he said softly. My heart squeezed in my chest, and the words clawed their way forward, barely restrained. I love you.
“The night my mom died,” I said instead. His thumb brushed my cheek. “Slavers broke into our house. After they raped and killed her, they dragged me from under the bed and threw me into the back of a wagon. Jones met them on the road and bought me.”
Jesse was quiet, steady. He didn’t falter at my words. He let them sink into his skin, sharing my burden.
“The night we were attacked,” I said, and his shoulders tensed. “If it wasn’t for you, I would’ve ended up just like her.” He pressed his forehead into mine, and his fingers buried in my hair.
“I never would’ve let that happen,” he said. I nodded, my nose brushing against his. When he said anything with that unwavering conviction, I believed him.
“I know,” I said. He paused then, his eyes suddenly pained.
“Bonnie, I have to ask, you and Will—”
“I told you, we aren’t like that. Not for a long time now,” I said in a rush. “Turns out my type happens to be you, farm boy.”
His eyes fell to my mouth, but I couldn’t wait. I kissed him, crushing my body into his until I straddled him and his back was braced against the leather seat. My hands ran up his thighs, and he moaned into my mouth. He raised onto his elbows, reaching for me as I pulled back from his mouth to drink in his desire-darkened eyes.
“Jesse James, you have taken every opportunity to put your hands all over me,” I said, my fingers running up the length of his chest to the buttons on the front of his shirt. He smiled beneath my mouth, and I bit his bottom lip gently. “It’s my turn.”
I fumbled with his buttons, impatient, as the hard expanse of his chest was bared to me. He was beautiful. Chiseled perfection, just like I’d thought since that first day. My fingers traced his open mouth and down the stubble of his chin, then followed the pounding pulse in his neck as his Adam’s apple bobbed. My hands spanned wide on the broad expanse of his shoulders before they followed the midline of his body, stopping to explore the dips and hollows of his abdomen. I pressed a hot kiss to his chest as my hands fumbled with his belt buckle.
“Fuck,” Jesse groaned, the sound dragged long from his throat as I popped the top button on his jeans and carefully slid his zipper down. I smiled wickedly at him, remembering how lost I’d been to his touch not so long ago. I reached down and took him in my hand, not for the first time marveling at the size of him.
He made a sound in the back of his throat that sent a shudder through my whole body. I stroked him, relishing the feel of him in my hand, like silk slipping over steel. As the friction and intensity increased, he swore and grabbed my hips with hard hands.
His chest heaved, and his hips bucked beneath me. It was exhilarating to have this much power over him for once. He cried out my name, and his hands bit into my flesh punishingly before he shuddered beneath my touch.
He pulled me down for a hungry kiss, his tongue diving into my mouth with ruthless intention. Instead of being satiated, he began to stiffen again in my
hand. Somehow, I’d only made him desperate for more of me.
“Jesse! Bonnie!” The Kid called, too close for us to ignore.
“The worst timing,” I breathed into his mouth as his head fell back onto the seat while he adjusted his clothes before his brother came around the corner.
“There you guys are,” The Kid said, ignoring how flushed and disheveled we looked. “Will said I could smoke one of his cigarettes if you said it was okay.”
“No!” Jesse and I both shouted, sharing a sly smile before we stood and followed a complaining Kid back to camp.
That night, after rations were handed out, Jesse and I rolled out our bedding together. No pretenses of sleeping separately anymore. Will bedded down in the wagon, his arm in a makeshift sling. Clara slept in the tent with The Kid.
Jesse and I took the first watch. As we lay down that night, tucked comfortably in each other’s arms, we spoke softly to each other. Even though we were surrounded by the others, it felt like we were alone.
“We’re almost out of supplies,” I said into Jesse’s chest, and he rumbled a sound of sleepy acknowledgement. “Are you okay?” I knew he would understand that I meant about his parents. He’d learned something hard today and hadn’t been able to talk about it for fear of his brother discovering the truth. Even if we couldn’t talk openly right now, I wanted him to know I would share his burdens too.
His arms tightened around me as if to anchor him. His nose buried in my hair for a few long moments. When he pulled back, I stared up at him, expecting I would be able to read his expression. Instead, he slid his mouth against mine without urgency. He kissed me slowly, thoroughly. As if he just needed to drown in the taste of me. When we parted, he ran his fingers through my hair. That was the only answer he gave me.
The sun had barely risen when I woke the next morning. Taking a cursory look around the camp, I noticed no one else stirred. I drank in the sight of Jesse’s sleeping face; I could stare at his contented expression for hours. But I wouldn’t. I kissed his neck until he woke. He made a sleepy sound in the back of his throat, and I ran my hands over his chest and lower. Just as I stroked his morning erection through his thin sleep pants, he cracked open bleary eyes.
“Everyone’s still asleep,” I whispered against his skin. Confusion clouded his pretty blue eyes, and I grinned. “We’re alone.”
He blinked himself into waking rapidly before he rolled me against the ground and settled on top of me. His mouth was on mine a moment later, hands exploring my curves.
“You sure?” he asked, the words tight. I nodded as his hands plunged beneath my shirt to cup my breasts. Those wicked hands. I gasped into his mouth as he teased my nipples to hard points. Tugging insistently, I guided his hand down past the waistband of my sleep pants so he could feel the evidence of my desire soaking the fabric. I felt the curl of his satisfied smile against my mouth.
“I’m not,” Will said from across the fire, stilling us both. Fucking Will. I closed my eyes and tried to swallow down the bitter disappointment.
“Let me fucking shoot him,” Jesse mumbled against my neck. I laughed and pressed another kiss to his mouth.
“You’ve already done that. It didn’t get rid of him,” I said. He ground his hips against mine for a second so I could feel just how badly I hated Will this morning.
“I’ll use the shotgun this time,” he said.
“I mean, no one said you had to stop,” Will said shoving his hat on his head. I made a disgusted sound, watching the amused grin deepen on his mouth.
“Let’s get up before Will tries to join us,” I told Jesse. He moved off of me so that I could sit up.
“I hate you so much,” Jesse said to Will.
“You just need to get a room, with a lock,” Will said standing and crossing to light a cigarette. He handed it to me. “You look like you could use one more than me, mi cielo.” A long silence ensued where Jesse and I glared at Will and he stared back at us, unaffected.
“So, serious question,” Will said, leveling his eyes at us both. “Is the blonde single?”
“Yes, but keep your grimy hands off of her,” Jesse said. I couldn’t tell if he was being protective or jealous.
“What? You want ‘em both?” Will asked, looking from me to Jesse.
“No. I just don’t want your hands on her. She’s too good for you, hombre,” Jesse said, pushing a frustrated hand through his hair.
“Well, you see, gringo, I won’t have to put my hands on her at all—"
“Don’t say it,” I groaned, burying my face in my hands.
“No one can help but fall for—"
“Please don’t say it,” I groaned into my hands.
“The Ellis charm,” he said proudly. I inhaled deep on the cigarette, coughing at the harsh smoke filling my lungs. Will smoked cheap tobacco.
“Bonnie didn’t,” Jesse said, self-assured.
“She fell for it enough to wind up in bed with me,” Will retorted. I threw the cigarette at him, making him twist away from it so he didn’t get burned.
“Yeah, notice she didn’t make that mistake twice,” Jesse retorted.
“She never does,” Will said, smirking. “Clearly you don’t know her that well.”
Jesse and I shared a smile. Will, observant as ever, noticed the look between us and whistled low. He stared at me in shock. Rocking back on his heels, he stood and stretched his good arm above his head. Clearly he wasn’t going anywhere, so Jesse shuffled out of our bedroll to start waking the others and packing up camp, adjusting the front of his sleep pants as he went.
“You haven’t fucked him yet?” Will asked as soon as Jesse walked away. I laughed, really laughed, as Will flopped down beside me.
“You jealous?” I asked. Will nodded.
“Yes, look at him. Why haven’t you fucked him?” he asked. Just having him here like this put me at ease.
“You better stop flirtin’ with him,” I said, poking him in the chest. Will’s grin only widened.
“It’s so much fun; he just gets his feathers all ruffled,” he said. “Though mostly because of you, which isn’t as much fun.”
“Will,” I said, my tone serious, and his eyes roamed over my face. “I broke my rules for him. All of them.”
“I know,” he said, kissing the top of my head.
“Okay, now get up and help pack camp,” I said, pushing the covers off my legs and standing swiftly.
“Oh, right,” Will said, leaning back onto the bedding and lowering his hat to cover his eyes. “About that. Someone shot me, so unfortunately, I only have one arm.”
An hour later we were packed and on the road again waving goodbye to the smattering of people who’d come to see us off. Talia and Mercy among them, watching us disappear with wide smiles. The Kid asked Will so many questions, I worried he would hyperventilate. Will sat close to Clara in the back of the wagon, attempting to teach her words in Spanish. He said they were terms of endearment, but they weren’t. It might’ve scandalized her to know their real meaning. Jesse rode close to me today, our weapons ready at our sides for whatever came next.
For the first time, I knew I wouldn’t have to face it alone. Not anymore.
Chapter Twenty-Two - Jesse
From our departure that morning, the heat consumed us. Almost as though Mother Nature was making up for the couple days of rain we’d gotten. The sun burned hot on our skin. Even my hat and the handkerchief wrapped around my mouth and nose weren’t helping.
I kept No Name near Eagle to be close to Bonnie. Her old pal Will brought some difficult information to hear. I tried not to worry about Sixgun and his bunch of brand-toting followers, but as the sun beat down on us, it was all I could think about.
Whatever my dad was sent to retrieve, he didn’t get it.
Who sent Sixgun to Montana? What was he looking for? Then there were the remarks about finding Bonnie. None of it made sense. Bonnie had nothing to do with Montana. Except for her ties to Sixgun. Sixgun and his men were h
ired out by someone else. But who?
I stole a glance at Bonnie. Her brows furrowed, and she worried her bottom lip between her teeth. Something bothered her. She caught me staring at her and smiled. The corners of my mouth twitched up at the thought of getting her alone again. Last night, I’d set out with the intentions of reassuring her that her being a runaway slave didn’t matter to me. I’d never expected for things to get so heated.
I wasn’t complaining, either.
The only complaint I had was that Will Ellis was awake when everyone else was asleep and ruined what could have been a perfect morning for us.
I looked at Bonnie again, not bothering to hide the hunger in my eyes. There was a lot more that I wanted to do with her before I’d find satisfaction.
While the others sat in a circle near the horses when we stopped for lunch, I rummaged in the back of the wagon. Our supplies were growing low. I dumped out the contents of all of our packs, sorting through what remained. We were good on water after the stream, but all that remained of our food from Lamesa was a single chunk of hard bread, half a bag of jerky, and a few moldy strawberries that must have fallen out in Bonnie’s bag.
We now had five people and four horses to feed. No matter what, we’d have to stop in the next town.
“What’re you doin’?” Bonnie asked from my side. I glanced at her, not realizing she’d snuck over. She moved in front of me, bending over to reach into the wagon. Her ass rubbed against the front of my jeans. Suddenly, I wasn’t worried about food anymore. I put my hands on her hips and leaned down so that when she tried to stand up, her back was against my chest. She made a sound low in the back of her throat.
“Wishing we could ditch the others for a while,” I said in a deep voice, pressing my mouth to the side of her neck. She leaned back, grinding my rising desire.
Bonnie turned in my arms, and then she was kissing me. I lifted her up onto the edge of the wagon. Her legs wrapped around my waist, and I was already reaching up the front of her shirt.
Someone kicked the side of the wagon, shocking me out of my Bonnie-haze. I looked up to see Will, settling his hat on his head and grinning.
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