“Not in my book,” Nicky supported his new friend.
“Good.”
Side-by-side, Nicky and Julian strutted through the swinging doors of Caliber, Gravestone's largest saloon. First, they went to the bar, where Nicky ordered a bottle of whiskey. With a few more shots flowing through them, they were ready for action. Julian's dark eye scanned the saloon for a pliable target, preferably one with an ample amount of cleavage.
Eventually, Julian's gaze landed on a very voluptuous redhead, possibly forty, who was standing alone at the bar. “How do you feel about older women?” he asked his companion.
“Love 'em,” Nicky replied.
“Me too.”
“Good, let's go.”
When they were in agreement, Nicky and Julian crossed the bar and approached their target. They stood against the wall on either side of her, where they studied her with appraising eyes and approving grins.
“Well, hello boys,” the woman greeted them.
“Hello there, lovely.” Julian took her hand, in which there was a smoldering cigarette, and brought it to his lips. “Care for some company?”
“What's a beautiful woman like you doing all by herself?” Nicky added with a wink. “That should be a crime.”
“Goodness!” As the compliments flew at her, the woman giggled. “What did I do to deserve all this attention?”
“You deserve all this attention and more, beautiful,” Julian assured her.
Nicky briefly removed his hat and dragged a hand through his hair. As long as it was clean—which it was, miraculously—women loved his hair.
“I'm Susan,” the woman introduced herself, “and you boys are cute.”
“Cute?” Julian disapprovingly clicked his tongue. “Aren't we worth more than a cute?”
“Fine!” With a roll of her eyes, Susan amended her word choice. “You're gorgeous.”
“So are you.” Julian's fingers briefly tugged at one of the woman's spiral red curls. When the curl snapped back into place, he added, “I have a weakness for redheads.”
“Is that so?”
Julian answered her question with an assertive nod.
“Good. So does my husband.” As she brought her cigarette to her mouth, Susan's lips were smirking.
“Damn...” Nicky disappointedly snapped his fingers. “That figures. All the best ones are married.”
“Of course, being married doesn't mean I can't have a bit of fun.” Susan's hazel eyes flickered back and forth between the hopeful faces of Julian and Nicky Gunn. “Like I said, you boys are cute. Which one of you wants a kiss?”
“It better be him,” Julian pointed at Nicky. “As much as I'd love to... believe me, I'd love to... I'm already spoken for.”
Susan didn't complain or question the choice. Without a word, she seized the lapel of Nicky's black coat and pulled him down for a kiss. She tasted like smoke and vanilla, and when her tongue slipped out to touch his, Nicky moaned.
As her lips retreated, Susan patted his cheek. “Good luck, sweetie,” she cooed. “Any of these girls in here would be lucky to have you.”
When they were dismissed by Susan, Nicky and Julian returned to the bar and treated themselves to another round of shots. As Julian perused the room, he said, “Don't be discouraged. There will be other women.”
“Discouraged? Are you kidding?” Nicky threw back his head and laughed. “That kiss was the best thing that's happened to me in three months. I'm the opposite of discouraged right now.”
“Good. Keep that confidence and follow me.”
Nicky's body trembled with restrained excitement as they crossed the room to approach a pair of beauties. One was a blonde, while the other was a freckled brunette. They were both very young and equally fetching.
“Mind if we join you, ladies?” Julian tipped his hat as he asked the question.
“Not at all!” the blonde replied. She even pushed out a chair for him. “What's your name, handsome?”
“Julian Featherstone. And you, my dear?”
“Agatha Holliday,” she responded with a sneer. “It's an ugly name, I know.”
“Aww! It's not ugly at all, Miss Holliday!” Julian defended her against her own foul opinion. Turning his attention to the brunette, he asked, “And what's your name?”
“Arabella Carpenter.” The brunette had her eyes on Nicky, who timidly sat in the chair beside her. “Who's your friend?”
“I'm Nicky.” Freckled Arabella was so adorable, Nicky momentarily lost his confidence. While he was never as dire as Flynn, he rarely flirted with truly beautiful women. Nicky always assumed they were beyond his reach. “Nicky Gunn.”
“It's a pleasure to meet you, Nicky Gunn.” Arabella held out her hand. “You're really cute.”
Nicky's smile broadened as he took her hand. Bolstered by her compliment, he replied, “And you're a rare beauty, Miss Carpenter.”
“So, ladies...” Julian attempted to strike up a conversation. “What are you doing here in Gravestone? Do you live here?”
“No, we're originally from Honeyman,” Agatha replied.
“We moved here to escape Agatha's crazy ex-boyfriend,” Arabella explained. “We're trying to get jobs at Caliber's.”
Julian focused on the first part of her story. “This crazy ex-boyfriend... he's not going to show up all of a sudden, is he?”
“There's no chance of that,” Arabella promised him.
“He doesn't know where we are... thank god.”
Julian drove the conversation forward. Nicky was glad, because small talk wasn't his forte. “Are you two sisters, or...?”
“Just friends,” Arabella was the first to respond.
“Arabella's like a sister to me, though.”
“We're very close.”
A soft moan slipped from Julian's throat as he tried to imagine just how close they were. He imagined them together, their legs entwined. He imagined their supple lips locked in a kiss. Then he imagined himself in the middle of them.
Finally, he remembered Lettie, so he banished the image altogether.
After seven minutes of small talk, Agatha found her way to Julian's lap. Lettie would kill me, he cautioned himself. You don't want to lose her. Nevertheless, he didn't ask Agatha to remove herself, not even when her arms coiled around his neck and her breasts were squashed against his chest. He was weak.
A few minutes later, Arabella was on Nicky's lap. She stole his hat, ruffled his hair, and buried her lips against his neck. As Arabella covered him in kisses, Gwen passed through the saloon with one of her aunts. When she saw Nicky with another woman on his lap, she paused to scowl at him.
“Sorry, Gwen...” Nicky whispered to himself when his eyes met hers. If he ever had a shot with her, he probably ruined it. “I'm real sorry.”
“Hmm?” Arabella lifted her mouth from his neck. “Did you say something?”
“Nah.”
“Do you want to come back to my room?”
“Uhh...” Nicky's gaze returned to Gwen, who pretended indifference when their eyes met again. He liked her, but it wasn't as if Gwen was his girlfriend. He wasn't expected to remain faithful to a girl who hadn't officially expressed an interest in him, was he? “Sure.”
“Do you want to come back to my room?” Agatha repeated the question to a slightly nervous-looking Julian.
His answer came quickly. “I can't.”
“Awww.” Agatha's ringed fingers grazed Julian's bristled cheek. “Why not, baby?”
A little over a year ago, Julian would have considered himself mad for refusing such an offer. But Lettie had changed him. “I just can't.”
“That's a shame. But... oh well. I guess that means we'll have to share Nicky Gunn.” To her friend, she said, “Come on, Ari. Let's go.”
Agatha took Nicky's right arm, while Arabella took his left arm. As both women dragged him away, Nicky turned to Julian and mouthed, “oh my god.”
Julian's deprived loins were envious of his young friend. However, a
s he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms, he knew he made the right decision. One day, when Lettie was naked in his arms, the endless wait would be worth it.
Thirty minutes later, Nicky returned to Julian's table looking considerably more disheveled than when he left it. He looked exhausted. He was stumbling. He could barely walk. But he was smiling too.
“Well?” Julian raised a quizzical brow. “How was it?”
“I...” Nicky's eyes were wide and dazed as he dropped into the chair across from Julian. “I feel...”
“You feel what?”
“I feel...” Nicky finished his sentence with the dopiest of grins, “reborn.”
Eighteen
Julian and Nicky spent the rest of the night together, drifting from saloon to saloon, where they sipped shots and serenaded each other. As they stumbled away from their sixth saloon, Julian warbled, “They call him Nicky Gunnnnn... he seems like lots of funnnnnn... I really like his, uh... his bunnnns.”
“You like my buns?” Nicky cackled with laughter as he burst through the saloon's double doors and staggered onto the street. As intoxicated as they were, they could barely walk, but they somehow managed to hold each other up.
“I liiike hiiiiiiiiiiiiis buuuuuunnnnns!” Julian bellowed at the top of his lungs, which made Nicky laugh so hard, he had tears in his eyes.
“Go go go go go!” Nicky exclaimed as he pushed Julian in the direction of an accessory shop. As they stumbled into the shop together, laughing and whooping, the stern shopkeeper glared in their direction. He assumed they were there to cause trouble.
“Look, Babydoll!” Nicky stopped at one of the racks and picked up a red leather eye patch. As he slipped it over Julian's good eye, he roared with laughter.
“Did you just call me Babydoll?” Julian tried to suppress his chuckles, but hysteria overcame him, and he exploded in a fit of giggles. He was too drunk to care that both of his eyes were covered by eye patches, leaving him unable to see anything.
“I think I did. And you should call me, uhhh... Booboo.”
“I like Booboo.”
“I like you-you,” Nicky declared. He picked up a fake mustache, pipe and newsboy hat, then he decorated Julian's face with all three items. “You look like... P-P-P...” Inebriated Nicky thought it was so hilarious, he couldn't get the words out. Finally, he sputtered, “Professor Patches!”
“I don't want two patches!” Julian whined. “I don't wanna be Professor Patches!”
“Fine!” Nicky removed Julian's red eye patch and haphazardly tossed it on a shelf. “How'd you lose your eye, anyway?”
“A lunatic took it.” Julian stumbled away from Nicky and went to look at some wigs.
“Where'd he take it?” Nicky asked, but he didn't get an answer from Julian, who was too entranced by wigs on a rack to pay attention to his friend.
“I like redheads,” Julian whispered as he petted a curly red wig. “I've always had a weakness for them. Always. Always... hic!”
Nicky tittered with laughter at the sound of Julian's hiccup. Then he picked up Julian's favorite red wig and plopped it on his head. “How do you like me now, Babydoll?”
“Youuuuu look gorgeous, Booboo,” Julian's lazy tongue and liquor-addled brain made the words come out slowly. “If I was a man, I'd deffffinitely have sex with you.”
Nicky scratched his head in drunken bewilderment. “Waaaait... you're not a man?”
“Ohhh yeah.” Julian suddenly looked enlightened. “I guess I am!”
To the shopkeeper's surprise, Julian paid for the wig, the hat, the pipe and the mustache, and then Nicky and Julian returned to the outside world.
“I love you, Nicky Gunn!” Julian declared to the heavens. “I love love love you, dammit!”
“I love you too, man!” Nicky, who was much taller than Julian, swept him off his feet and spun him around in circles. When he finally put him down, Julian almost retched.
Undeterred by how close he came to vomiting, Julian asked, “Where have you been all my life, Nicky G?”
“I dunno. I dunno, man. I think I've been right here all along, waiting for you.”
“That's deep.” Julian clapped an arm around Nicky's back and steered him forward, to no particular destination. “That's so deep.”
“Where're we goin'?” Nicky asked.
“I dunno. I thought you knew.”
“I thought you knew!” Nicky poked Julian's chest as he threw the words back at him.
“I really thought you knew!”
“Well... I really really thought you knew!”
“So... where are we going?” Julian scratched his head as he repeated the question that had them thoroughly stumped.
“Maybe we should go to your airshhhip?” Nicky slurred the suggestion.
“No. That's too far away! Like three blocks away. We'd never make it.”
“Alright then...” When Nicky scratched his head, his wig went a bit lopsided. “I think I was staying at Gertrude's. Maybe we should go there?”
“Good plan!” Julian declared. “I like it!”
It took them a moment to decide which direction they needed, but when they finally figured it out, they linked arms and skipped in the direction of the hotel. When they reached its doors, they danced into the lobby, arm-in-arm.
“What's your room number?” asked a light-headed Julian, whose head was swimming in a pool of whiskey and rum.
“You know what, buddy?” Nicky laid his chin on Julian's shoulder and exaggerated a pout. “I really don't know.”
“Aah, that's okay.” Julian gave his inebriated friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “We can get another room, can't we?”
“Yes! We can!” Nicky cheered as they stumbled to the inn's front desk. Julian's depth perception was wrecked by alcohol, so he tripped over a potted plant as they made their way forward.
“Hello!” Julian exuberantly greeted the girl behind the hotel's front desk. He even bowed—and his head clunked against the counter as he did. “I'd like a room.”
In the most feminine voice he could manage, Nicky repeated the words, “We'd like a room!” He stood behind Julian, simpering and winding a lock of red hair around his finger. His exaggerated femininity had Julian cracking up.
The girl behind the desk looked puzzled, but they were potential patrons, so she treated them politely. In a perfectly placid voice, she asked, “Do you need one bed or two?”
“One,” Nicky replied in his feminine voice. “We need one.”
“We do?” Julian looked back at Nicky, whose shoulders were lifted by a shrug. “I guess we need one.”
“Alright then.” The girl slid a key across the counter. “That'll be two dollars and fifty cents.”
Julian tossed a wad of singles on the counter, not caring that he overpaid. When the key was in his hand, he grabbed Nicky's arm and steered him in the direction of their new room.
“You look beautiful, Nicky,” Julian slurred as they stormed up the stairs together. “You do. You really really do.”
In his lady voice, Nicky replied, “Why... thank you kindly, sir!”
They burst into their room and staggered to the bed, which they fell into at the exact same time. They were so intoxicated that they passed out in each other's arms, but not before Julian nearly forgot where he was and almost kissed him.
Fortunately for them, neither of them would remember that moment.
Hours passed. For Julian, it felt like two minutes. Before he knew it, Wiggly Joe was pounding on his door the next morning.
“Captain!” cried his loyal companion, whose pounding continued as Julian dragged himself to his feet and sauntered to the door. “Captain, are you in there? It's real important! Captain!”
“I'm coming, Wiggly! For goodness sake, hang on!” Julian shuffled across the room, took a deep breath, rubbed his pounding temples, and finally threw open the door. “You needed something, Wiggly?”
“It took me forever to find you, Cap'n! I was asking around for
the last half-hour!” Wiggly complained. “Where'd you go?”
“I've been right here.”
Wiggly glanced over his captain's shoulder and spotted Nicky, who was still slumbering in their shared bed, facedown. “With a man?”
“Mmmmfm... it's not what it looks like,” Julian mumbled. “Now, did you need something?”
Wiggly swept his dirty cap from his head and gave it a nervous twist. “It's... about Lettie, sir. I'm afraid I'd got some bad news.”
“Lettie?” Julian winced. “Is something wrong?”
“You could say that...” Wiggly's gaze dropped to the floor. “I'm sorry I couldn't protect her, sir.”
“What is it, Wiggly? Tell me! Spit it out!”
“I couldn't protect her, sir...” Wiggly repeated with a sigh. “She's... gone.”
“Gone?”
“Aye.” Crushed by his failure, Wiggly Joe wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. “Someone's taken her away.”
Nineteen
When Carol opened her bedroom door and saw Josiah standing on the other side, she belted a squeal that pierced his ears.
“Josiah!” She seized his arm and dragged him into her room. “Josiah Josiah Josiah... where have you been? You've barely talked to me in the last two days!”
“Nah.” Josiah dismissed her concern with a shake of his head. “That's not true.”
“But it is! It feels like you've been avoiding me on purpose!”
“Nah. I haven't been.” Though he denied it, it was probably true. For the last two days, Carol was often in the company of Patrick Amberley, and Josiah had an aversion to seeing them together. He hated to see them flirting, gazing at each other, and engaging in light touches. He especially hated to see Carol giggling at every word that passed through Pat's lips. Carol and Patrick had chemistry—any fool could see it. In Josiah's mind, they were falling in love right in front of him, and it wasn't something he cared to witness.
“Patrick keeps coming around,” Carol said, which made Josiah's eye twitch. “I've got to say, your friend is coming on strong. Last night he tried to kiss me.”
Josiah felt his body freeze. “He did?”
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