Helen knew that she would have competition for James from Josephine, the good looking little girl who did all the cleaning and laundry. That was fine, as far as Helen was concerned. Let the lightweight figure out that big girls can snag the hot guys too.
Helen had already worked out her plan.
*
James was sitting outside his small shack when he saw a figure leave the kitchen and stride confidently towards him.
“Hey, James,” Helen said. “What are you doing up? Can’t sleep?”
“Naw,” James said. “I ended up falling asleep with all my clothes on. Then I woke up feeling like a dirt ball. Now I’m smoking, which usually isn’t my thing.”
“Yeah, it’s a nasty habit to pick up, but if you don’t do it a lot it can be soothing,” Helen said. “Would you like company for a minute?”
“Sure,” James said.
Helen sat beside him in silence, and he offered her a drag of his cigarette.
They sat there staring at the starry night sky, enjoying each other’s presence.
“Well, it’s been a slice,” Helen said exhaling. “But I’ve got to be up in a few hours for breakfast!”
“Damn!” James said. “They sure run you ragged.”
“True,” Helen replied. “I make decent money, though. And I’m my own boss in that kitchen at least.”
Helen stood. James couldn’t help but notice all of her beautiful curves filling out her dress. She really was a good-looking woman.
“Well, I’ll see you around James. I hope you get some sleep,” Helen said.
“Sweet dreams,” James said with a wry smile.
Helen looked for a moment like she didn’t know what to say, then she quickly turned and headed towards her quarters. James’ eyes followed her plump ass in her cotton skirt as she walked away. He admired a hardworking woman, and how she handled it with such grace.
James butted his cigarette out on the ground under his boot and headed back to bed. He had to be up early as well, and the day would be full of manual labor that would wear him down. If he didn’t get enough shut-eye, he’d be dragging, and Billy wouldn’t be happy about that. Neither would Mr. Frederick.
As James drifted off to sleep for a second time, he found himself in a dream world full of Helens and Josephines. He had to pick, though; he couldn’t have both. When he woke, his hard on was straining at his briefs. He tried to remember which woman he had chosen to kiss in his dream, but his mind was drawing a blank.
*
“I saw you and Josephine talking after breakfast,” Billy said. “It must be tough to have a buffet of options to choose from.”
Billy was just talking to pass the time while they mended fences. James had thought that their days of mending fences were over, but lo and behold, one of the new corrals went and broke. He and Billy were the only ones around who knew how to make a proper corral, so here they were, pounding in metal fence posts, and setting up the corners so that they would last at least five years.
“At this point, Billy, they each have a lot going for them,” James said. “I did talk to Mr. Frederick in passing, and he said that he wouldn’t have any issue with either of us pursuing the women because he knows we’re both gentlemen. But we can’t go buck wild and sleep with all the new women, we’ve got to be careful with our first selection. We’re not going to be able to change it up so easily, without leaving a trail of angry jaded women behind us.”
The sun hung high and hot in the sky, beating down on them relentlessly. It was a beautiful day with a decent enough breeze, but there was no escaping the sun or the heat. The fence mending, they both knew, would be over shortly. They were both so good at it that they got it done in a matter of hours what would have taken five times as many people all day.
“Well,” Billy said. “I’m not sure how you’re going to choose. I would just figure out which one makes my pants tighter and pick her.”
James stopped what he was doing and looked at Billy.
“Thanks, pal,” James said. “That’s a real scientific approach.”
“I’m just joshing you,” Billy said. “Although, for real, I would figure out quickly what you want. There are a lot of men here, and just those two gals. They’ll be snapped up and bunking with one of the junior ranch hands in no time”
James didn’t answer. Within the hour, they had wrapped up the job and were headed to the chow hall for lunch. It was crazy how much more food the new Rusty Spur Ranch served compared to the old—which had served exactly no food. Now James and Billy didn’t have to heat up old cans of soup to kill their pangs of hunger; they could go to the chow hall. And hell, all the new people respected them.
CHAPTER FIVE
When they got to the chow hall, they saw a sign scrawled on a scrap piece of paper, tacked to the door with a nail ‘Lunch Cancelled’.
“I’m sorry,” Josephine yelled, peeking out from the back. “I should have told you two yesterday. Today’s lunch didn’t happen because of some mix-up with the food delivery.”
Josephine put her hands on her hips and giggled. She pulled a strand of her curled brown hair from the bun at the nape of her neck and played with it while sashaying in front of them. James waited a few seconds for her to say something intelligent before he turned and left. He could feel that he had the potential to be sweet on her, but at the same time, he was repelled by how she acted like so many of the other women he’d known in the past who had bored him to death.
“Well, all right then,” Billy said as they both walked out.
“What do you think that’s all about?” James asked.
“I’ll tell you what,” Mr. Frederick said. Making both of them jump in surprise. “Bandits are hitting our supply trucks as they come out. I’m having my son move here from the east coast. He’ll be able to handle this sort of thing—he’s a former Marine.”
He’d practically come out of nowhere. It went to show them that he was always around, and they should always be careful about what they’re bitching about.
“Mr. Frederick!” James said. “That’s too bad to hear about the bandits. I’d thought me and Billy here had fought the last of them off when this place started, but maybe they just left us alone to focus on other prey.”
“That’s what I reckon,” Mr. Frederick said as he walked with the boys toward the ranch. “Oh, and that reminds me. I want you to meet up with Helen and see what she needs from town – ask her to make a list. I spoke with her this morning, and it was only a few things, but they’re the kind of things that she can’t do without. While you’re in town, I want you to pick up my son from the train station.”
“Of course, Mr. Frederick,” Billy said. “We will get your son back here safe and sound.”
Mr. Frederick’s speech softened, and he nodded.
“I guess I knew that already,” he said. “I’m just a little stressed out is all. With all of these changes to the ranch, there have been a lot of things going wrong. I’m glad you two were here to fix the fences or I would have been in trouble!”
James and Billy nodded their heads simultaneously, then turned and headed for the kitchen.
“Jesus,” James said right before they walked through the door. “He seems uptight.”
Billy nodded in agreement.
*
James was back in the stock room of the kitchen with Helen. They were both taking a quick inventory so that the two cowboys could get on the road as quickly as possible.
“Here, this is low,” Helen said.
James walked over to see what Helen was talking about. It was the lard.
“I don’t need a lot of it,” Helen said. “The next time supply makes it out there will be a big tub. So, just pick me up a small barrel of it while you’re in town.”
“Well look at you bossing me around like you own the place,” James said.
Helen shrugged.
“I’m just trying to get things done, cowboy,” she said. “I hope I’m not being too rough on you.”<
br />
There was something about Helen, her attitude and all her curves, that really turned James on. He stood behind her trying to think of something to say, but was drawing a blank. James turned her around and pressed his lips against hers in a kiss so fierce it pushed her back against the shelves. Helen returned the kiss full force, slipping her tongue between his lips and sliding it against his tongue. James fumbled with the string on her bodice to free her heaving bosom from its confines. James knew that Billy must have heard the commotion from outside, but he didn’t come in. Which was good, because neither James or Helen would have stopped.
They kept kissing and pawing at each other for the next five minutes. James kneaded her one breast and gathered her skirt up with the other. She responded undoing the leather string at the top of his chaps. It became pretty apparent that they needed to pump the brakes before they went any further and couldn’t stop.
Billy banged on the storage room door and James and Helen reluctantly pried themselves apart and fixed up their buttons and fasteners. Helen gave James the short list of necessities, and he and Billy headed into town.
*
“What was going on in there?” Billy asked with a knowing grin as they rode out of town with an extra horse in tow for Mr. Frederick’s son.
“You know God damn well what was going on in there,” James said, returning Billy’s grin. “And I ain’t ashamed of it none, either.”
Billy busted out laughing.
“I wasn’t saying that you should be!” Billy said. “I was just asking! Helen is a hell of a woman, so I’m not making any negative judgments. She’s got a body that Josephine doesn’t, and I have to say that I think she’s also got a little more going on upstairs, if you know what I mean.”
James nodded and they rode on. Town was a few hours away by horseback, and they needed to make haste if they wanted to make it there before nightfall. They’d be riding back in the dark, which meant there was a possibility of bandits attacking them.
“What do you think is up with the law not taking care of the bandits?” James asked Billy in a low voice, as if the desert was listening.
Billy was silent for a long time before he answered. James knew that Billy had mixed feelings about the law, and he wasn’t going to mince words trying to make it seem like a black and white issue.
“Well,” Billy said. “The law doesn’t have much reason to come out here. Mr. Frederick runs a tight ship and is well liked. The law has to make money, and there just isn’t much of that in coming out to the middle of the desert to catch a few washed-up robbers.”
James couldn’t help but agree, even though he was one to think more of the law than Billy. But that didn’t make James naïve. There was a lot of truth to what Billy said. The law never came out here because there wasn’t anything out here for them. If there were some way for them to levy a tax, or issue some tickets, the law would be at the Rusty Spur Ranch in a second.
The small town that Mr. Frederick’s son was arriving at was on the horizon now. The air was filled with smoke. There was something wrong, and both of the cowboys slowed the pace of their steed to a slow walk. The town was on fire, the glow that they had at first thought was the reflection of the setting sun against windows was actually the buildings engulfed in flames.
“Let’s go!” James said as he urged his horse forward.
Billy followed. They both knew that the bandits had burned the town down. Not that it had been much of a city. But there was no denying that it was the closest thing to civilization that the Rusty Spur Ranch had in an afternoon’s ride. As the cowboys approached they saw a group of people on the side of town closest to them, huddled together watching as the city went up in flames.
“What happened?” James asked.
He and Billy’s horses skidded to a stop by the somber crowd.
“The bandits.”
That was all the people said. They didn’t know what else to say. Most of them were older and infirm. They’d never thought that their little corner of the world would ever be sundered from them. But that’s exactly what had happened.
“What made them do this?” Billy asked.
No one answered. James tried to get the small group of people watching their homes and businesses burn to speak with them, but none would. They were all struck mute by what had just happened. Finally, after riding around the town, James and Billy found Mr. Frederick’s son. He was shot in the shoulder and leg, sitting on the ground with his back leaned against a rock.
“Well I’ll be damned,” he said. “My names Johnson. Yeah, my daddy gave me a last name for a first name. I don’t know what he was thinking.”
Billy and James both laughed at this. Johnson took a long pull from a bottle of whiskey.
“What in the hell happened here?” James asked.
“Seems as though someone who lived here ratted out some bad guys who have been hiding in them hills.”
“Any idea why? Or who these fellas are?” James asked Johnson.
“Who they are? That I don’t know,” Johnson answered, trying to sit up, but falling back on the rock. “I have a good idea of why they burned this place down, though. The bandits see the Rusty Spur expanding and don’t like it. That’s why they’ve been hitting the supply coaches headed that direction. It’s been hard to get any real information from any of the people who lived here. They seem to think that their silence will protect them.”
James nodded and jumped off his horse, Billy followed suit. James looked at Johnson’s wounds and found them to be superficial. Johnson would be all right once he had a chance to rest and heal. But for the moment, he was out of commission. And he’d most likely not be able to put weight on his leg for a few weeks.
“So, there was a shootout?” James asked.
“Yup,” Johnson said, then took a long pull of his whiskey. “I thought they were going to smoke us out and cut us down like the savages they are, but we managed to wound a few of them. I think I did most of the shooting, but a few of the townspeople helped. It’s strange how whipped they acted before it even started. I got here, waited for you two, then the bandits show up on the hill over yonder, and everyone acted like they were the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.”
James nodded grimly and helped Johnson up onto the horse. Even though he was hurt, he was going to have to ride to the Rusty Spur Ranch tonight. They’d have to come out tomorrow and collect the rest of the folks who would be willing to come to the ranch to live and work until they had a chance to figure out their lives. Some of the folks wouldn’t come, James knew that already. As the three men turned their horses toward the Rusty Spur Ranch James spoke in a small voice.
“The people here have long had something worked out with the bandits. I’m not sure what the terms were exactly. But I’ve long suspected something was going on, some unholy alliance. Johnson, you’ve got to remember this, we’re out in the middle of nowhere here, and many of the country folks believe whatever they’re told. So, I’m not surprised at all that they were somehow intimidated into cooperating. I don’t hold it against them, and I hope you don’t either.”
Johnson didn’t answer. They rode in silence for a while, until the sound of hooves sending rocks clattering down the slope of the hill off to the north made them all aware that they were not alone in the desert. James had figured that whoever had burned the town down would probably still be worked up enough to do something about Mr. Frederick’s son, Johnson, showing up. It was strange to think that the bushwhackers were sophisticated enough to know that they should try to stop Johnson from becoming part of the Rusty Spur Ranch. It would be a hell of a power shift.
“Well boys,” James said. “I think our nice ride through the night is about to be interrupted.”
The sounds of horses rushing down the slope that was a half a mile away from them were clear as day in the night air. All three men pulled their six shooters from their holsters and loosed a few shots in the direction of the hill before putting their horses to a gallop to
ward the Rusty Spur Ranch. As much as James wanted to stand and fight, he knew that now wasn’t the time for that. With Johnson wounded they needed to think about the future, not about revenge. Mr. Frederick would want them to get back so that his son could live to fight another day.
They rode the horses hard for about ten miles, then slowed them to a trot. James could barely make out the dark figures in the night behind them, and shot in their direction accordingly. Billy and Johnson joined in, emptying their chambers. All of the men knew that their lives depended on keeping the bandits back far enough, or killing them. That meant that, until they got to the Rusty Spur Ranch, they’d be sending shots in the dark toward the ominous shapes that followed them.
Finally, after what seemed an eternity, the Rusty Spur Ranch loomed up in the night in front of them. Mr. Frederick and some of the new cowhands were on the road behind a barricade made out of old barnboard and wire. Mr. Frederick was armed with a rifle and the other hands had pistols and shotguns.
“We saw the smoke from that little spit of a town and figured what must have happened,” Mr. Frederick said. “And then we heard shooting when you got close, so it seemed the right thing to do to set something up that we could fight from.”
James surveyed the barricade and wondered how the rookie cowhands had had the wherewithal to know how to set it up in a way that would protect them. It had to be Mr. Frederick’s work. There was more to him than met the eye, James decided.
“Johnson,” Mr. Frederick said. “Is that you?”
“Sure is,” Johnson said. “You got me shot before I even made it to the Rusty Spur Ranch!”
Both father and son laughed at this. Billy shot James a look that communicated more than ten minutes of talking would have. It was becoming clear that much more than just the Rusty Spur Ranch had changed while they were on the last drive. Somehow, Mr. Frederick had become aware that the increased size of Rusty Spur ranch, would make it a target. James wondered if Mr. Frederick could have warned the small town that had just been torched, or if he had and they’d ignored him like they ignored the rest of the world.
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