The rouge gunslinger

14

Before sundown I shot down a couple of fresh squirrels for dinner and skinned them ready to cook.
Lou barks at the meat as I tie it to a tree out of the way of lou's rope before taking a seat on one of the couple of logs that me and Arthur dragged around the fire.
Hosea lights it and I watch him pull a bottle of brandy out his bag.

"I figured I would bring drinks considering we are imposing on your trip" he says as I smile.
"That's nice of you but I'm happy Dutch forced you guys to come" I joke as he takes the lid off.
"He's warmed up to you sooner then I thought he would" Hosea says as I snort.
"Yeah he seems real warm" I joke as he shakes his head.

"I mean your arrangement, I've never seen him agree to that before" he tells me before taking a sip of the brandy.
"Maybe he finally came to his senses" I shrug as I pet Lou as he sits next to me, finally giving up after hours of trying to break his rope.

"Why did you lie?" Arthur asks as he puts the three squirrels on sticks so we can cook them.
"I panicked, I just needed a way out and my Brain died while coming up with ideas" I tell him as he glances at Hosea before handing him his squirrel.
"Lily, if our group is a burden I can ask them to be more respectful to you"

"It's not that... it's just bullshit, all of it" I say staring at the fire.
"You can talk to us, you know?" Hosea says as I glance up.
"No, it'll pass. How have you boys been?" I ask.
"Don't change the subject" Hosea says as I shrug.

"What do you want me to say?" I ask as he sighs.
"... Nothing. I've been good, what about you Arthur?" Hosea says as Arthur sits down handing me my stick with squirrel.
"Been having conflicted thoughts but other then that I'm great" he says with a soft smile.
"Conflicted thoughts?" I ask as he shrugs.
"It's nothing"

"Didn't that Mary girl send you a letter?" Hosea asks.
"Yeah, how'd you know about that?"
"Who do you think went to collect it from Valentine?" Hosea counter questions as I pull out my flask and take a sip.
"Who's Mary?" I question.

"Arthurs last lover" Hosea answers as I raise a brow.
"Ohhhh" I whisper as Arthur shrugs.
"Oh don't 'ohhhh' me. That's over, she just needed help getting her brother out of a cult" he tells us as I snort.

"Maybe I should join a cult" I suggest as Hosea laughs.
"Listen girl, I'm relaxed enough to let you join a gang but cults are off the table" Hosea says as I smile.
"Yeah, seems a bit far stretched" I say as I turn my stick to heat my dinner.

"I never asked, strawberry is huge. How did you find that bankers wife in less then an hour?" Arthur asks as he checks his meat.
"It doesn't matter" I shrug.
"so you killed her?" Hosea asks confused as I shake my head.
"No, Sam did"
"Sammy? Killed a random woman? For what?" Hosea asks confusion dancing on his eyes as he tries to imagine the boy he knew killing a woman.

"Not a random woman" I shrug at the end as i check my meat, the second I met eyes with Hosea he seems to understand and dips his head.
"Lily, who was she?" Arthur asks.

"I'm sorry for your loss Lily" Hosea says as I shrug.
"At least you know the truth now. You can tell Dutch the truth if you want, I just didn't want everyone in camp knowing what's going on" I tell them.
"What is going on?" Arthur interrupts.
"Diana was lily's mother, married rich when they were kids. I thought I had recognised her name when I read the story" Hosea explains as Arthur's face drops.

"There's nothing to be done now" I snap as I place down my food not feeling hungry anymore, leaving the meat to start burning.

"I had a dream about Bessie, it's not much" he says a bit more quieter as I nod, he knew in the silent seconds that I needed him to change the subject.
"What happened in it?" I ask.
"I was young again, so was she. I was just walking across a field minding my business and she appeared. We talked but I don't remenber what we ended up saying..." he explains looking kind of down.