Escapism (Arthur Morgan x Reader)

Chapter 3

I yawn as I open my eyes to find a beige fabric over my head, I stretch and perch myself up on my elbows to see the sunlight gleaming in. What a beautiful day..

I walk out to see Arthur making a fire.

"Mornin." I acknowledge, he turns around dusting his hands off,

"Mornin'" He nodded. He got two iron cups and turned to me,

"you wanna coffee?" He asked raising up the beans, I nodded.

"Sure thing." I sat down at the fire. It was quiet. It was peaceful and all I could focus was on the fire crackling, the birds chirping, the coffee pot boiling, and an occasional horse trot from a nearby place. Arthur hands me a cup and he joins me by the fire.

"Thanks." I say grabbing it. He scratched his beard and blew on his coffee taking a sip,

"So how did you get to bein round these parts anyway?" He asked, now facing me.

"Well I live on a ranch out west, dad runs it and mom does medical business on the side. I felt bad bein' a parasite and felt I should carry my own weight or at least get out of their hair yknow?" I say. He nods,

"I do know." He says.

"Do you got a family mr. Morgan?" I ask. He sighs,

"Well yes. Yes and No. I can say I got a big family, it ain't exactly by blood." He explains.

"Well havin a bunch of people to look out for you is pretty good too." I say patting his shoulder, he looks over at me. We get in a staring match. For some reason I couldn't drag my eyes away from those bright blue eyes, his sharp jawline, his rough features, but it seemed he couldn't unglue his eye contact from me either. We sit there for a minute too long and I shake my head. He looks away quickly, his ears looking rather red. I turn from him.

"A-Anyways! Let's uh." I pause to hear horse hooves from behind us. Odd because last I recall, there was no trail behind us.

"It's Ol' Driscolls" Arthur leaped down and grabbed his revolver beginning to shoot the incoming rival.

I hid behind the fire and began to shoot, I took one fresh off the horse, but the others had persisted and one hit me in the leg. I dropped the gun and winced in pain. Arthur had shot the final man down. He began to rob some and turned,

"We got to get out- what happened.?" He asked now kneeling where my bloody thigh was.

"I was shot." I grunted trying to stand while admittedly balanced on one leg.

"I...damnit!" He frowned.

"No no it's fine, you've helped enough." I waved and tried to limp off,

"I'm not lettin yah leave like that." He rolled his eyes.

"Shit! Alright hold on." He came over, and scooped me up on the horse.

"I ain't suppose to bring you here, let me do all the talkin." He said sternly.

"Okay." I agree and we were off ridin in and out of trees and dirt roads. We approach an old camp with various off color white tents and a fire. A man points a gun,

"It's alright Bill, she needs medical attention." He waved Bill off,

"Dutch won't be too happy, we don't need to lend anything to no strangers, 'specially if they know where we are at." He grunted. Arthur towered over him,

"Listen here Bill. We may be outlaws but we ain't monsters. If a lady needs help by god we help her." He threatened. He scooped me up bridal style, I gasped. He was so strong. His arms cradled me so easily, it was....kinda hot. We moved through the camp with eyes lingering on us until he turned to Dutch,