The wild, wild West (Arthur Morgan x f!reader)

CHAPTER 26 - Drunk idiots

„...And then I chased him for half an hour until he calmed down.", John ended and I chuckled.

I was sipping some juice out of my can of peaches, using the tip of my boot to push a twig into the campfire and listening to Johns anecdote about how his horse had spooked at a snake and bucked him off. The story itself wasn't that funny, but John was a good storyteller. He was fun to talk to.

„That sounds like somethin' Smith would do.", I joked and tried to poke a peach with my knive to get it out. „Hell, you wouldn't even need a snake, just show him some water."

„What good is a horse that's afraid of water?", John asked. Harsh, but realistic.

I sighed. „He's not a bad horse, he's just so dramatic. And virtually worth nothin', he's got no papers. So I couldn't make enough money selling him to get me a well trained horse."

John grinned. „No one said you'd have to buy a horse."

I chuckled again and took a bite out of my peach. „Sure, I'll consider stealing next time I see one I like." Of course I wouldn't, but sentimentality was not a good argument for keeping a horse to an outlaw. I had finished a recall training session with my horse, he was picking up on the basics quite well and the water-problem was getting better too. There was no way that I was getting rid of him now.

John took a sip from his coffee. „Where's Arthur? It's odd seeing you two apart." He grinned.

„I've got no idea. I was down by the river and when I came back, he was already gone. You were here, weren't you? Haven't you seen him?"

„No, I wasn't. Abigail wanted me to do somethin' useful, so I went hunting."

„Arthur's out drinkin' with Lenny.", Charles chimed in. „He arrived at noon and they went to Valentine."

I snorted, amused. „How much are we gonna bet they will get in trouble?"

„Nothing, I would loose that bet." The corners of his mouth twisted upwards in a silent grin as he stood up to get himself some stew.

I put my empty can aside and placed my knive back on my belt. A lose strand of hair fell into my face and I blew it away. It was growing to long, if I kept it open I would look a lot like my younger self on the bounty posters. I would have to cut it soon. My knive was getting dull too, something else I had to fix.

The people around the campfire had grown quiet, everyone was lost in their own thoughts, just like me. John cleaned his fingernails with the tip of his knives, Uncle was asleep in a half sitting, half laying down position, Charles stared into his half empty bowl of stew and Javier looked sleepy as well. We were past the point of telling stories and listening to Javier playing the guitar, now everyone pondered if there was a point in staying up any longer.

I decided that there wasn't. If I was being honest, I had been waiting for Arthur to return. Now that I knew that he was out drinking, there was no point in waiting. If they returned this night (and that wasn't likely), they would be drunk as hell. Still I glanced over at the hitching posts right behind my tent.

The dark coat of his mare was missing from the small herd, then I remembered that he sold her yesterday, and that he was riding the big grey Hungarian halfblood mare now. It was easy to see that she wasn't there.

When I passed by Arthurs empty bed, I saw an envelope on the dark sheets. I stopped and stared at it for a moment, then I kept walking, slipped into my tent and told me it was not worth worrying about that idiot.

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I stopped Smith in front of the sheriffs office and jumped off. I had recognized the grey mare next to a smaller palomino. So they were at the office, like Dutch had assumed. He had asked me to take a look around the town for them.