Word count - 3370
Arthur develops an obsession with a working woman after accepting a luxury bath experience.
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It had been storming all day, from Valentine to Saint Denis the roads had been soaked and mixed into a deep mud that Arthur couldn't seem to avoid. A day full of errands, you can say, starting off with a short robbery of a stagecoach and ending with rustling cattle with Uncle.
He wouldn't have took up that offer if he knew they'd only get fifty dollars rather than a decent wad of cash. It was a horrendous endeavor in which Arthur was forced to leave his horse out of the pen and slosh his way through the knee high mud to get the cattle out as Uncle watched with his excuse of lumbago.
Arthur was irritated, dirty, and in need of a short break from running around constantly. Therefore he returned to the familiar parlor in Saint Denis, passing by Shady Belle without a second thought, a mixture of excitement and desire in his chest.
He stomped as much mud from his boots as he could before he pushed open the parlor doors. The familiar piano filled his ears accompanied by the everlasting chatter flowing through the large room, an ambiance Arthur didn't quite know if he loved or hated, as he had become somewhat of a regular here.
Surpassing the poker table of players beckoning him to join in, he approached the bar and waited for the bartender to stop chattering with the regulars to his right. "Will it be a room or bath tonight, Mister?" He finally asked, noticing the muddied man growing irritated.
"Bath," Arthur grumbled, sliding a quarter across the wood.
"Should be one ready for ya, sir." Said the bartender, taking the quarter with a smile.
Arthur scowled, starting towards the stairs. He glanced around the room, yet he could not spot the familiar face he so desired to see. He fell melancholy, ascending the stairs, and making a straight line for the bath room.
A woman stood opposite the door, fanning herself, lidded eyes fixated on his approaching form. "Need some company?" She asked alluringly. Another scowl crossed his face, as she was not the face he had hoped to see. "No," He barked. She glared at him as he closed the door and threw a filthy remark that he chose to ignore.
The disappointment inside him was quite confusing. He didn't know why he kept coming back, to see that face after the second time, a feeling deep within he couldn't quite pinpoint, as he had almost forgotten it over the years of his lonesome.
The woman he had once loved had come back into his life, but alas, he should have known, only for a favor of the family that hated him dearly. Her brother Jamie was in need of help, had joined a religious group that seemed to have been worshiping turtles and worried his sister. He quite liked Jamie, therefore he set off to gather him, and he was truly happy he did as the boy tried to end his life in a fit of despair.
Arthur had felt this feeling light inside him with a spark of hope from the words of Jamie as the boy practically begged him to be with his sister once again. Then it was stomped out as her words battered his laden soul.
"You will never change."
That was months ago. It burned his throat to see a new letter from her laying on his table. He threw it away after days of debate.
So why was this feeling different than that flame in his chest for dear Mary? It was unwanted, unnatural, yet he couldn't seem to have the willpower to push it away. The small talk he shared with that beautiful face, a working woman, who spoke softly and kindly even after he found himself sharing more than he should.
