Outlaw

Dust

The horse above is Dakota! At least an idea of him.
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After hitching both horses to the post she walked into the saloon. The bartender Max looked over to her, "I see you brought my horse back?"
"Yeah Max, your mare is tied up outside," she chuckled as he gave her a friendly glare.
"You know, if we weren't such good friends I woulda put a bullet through your head for that"
"You say that every time I come to town," she laughed.
"Well every time you come to town you steal my horse!" He went back to his job of cleaning out the dirty beer mugs and shot glasses.
"Say Max, since we're such good friends and all I need some answers." When he gave her a nod to continue she went on to say, "that boy in the house down the way, he's got the pudgy father."
He turned and leaned against the counter, "that man ain't no father to the poor boy, he's in and outta here every night drinkin himself to death. The boy comes to my place sometimes, afraid to go to Doc because of Doc's wife's mouth. He comes to me with bloodied lips and black eyes. You see his momma died giving birth to him, and something clicked in Winston, he saw his wife in the poor boy and was so angry because of it. I've walked by his house before and heard him screaming at him asking why she left. It's sad really. I would do anything to get him out of that place but Winston is a cruel man..." He sighed and ran a hand down his face.
"I think I know a way to get him out of there, I've got to go, I'll see you tomorrow Max."
"G'night miss Lakota"
I bid him fair well and went back to my paint. I grabbed his reigns and led him towards the livery to bed him down, tossing a coin to the stable boy and led the stallion into his stall for the night. Looking around I noticed a few small bales of hay and set up a cot for my self to sleep.
Many don't think this is proper for a lady to be sleeping in a barn, most think they need to pampered like some delicate flower but not this woman. I'm hardened as the iron on the bottom of a horses hooves, stronger than the old oak atop the hill of my birthplace, and I can be meaner than a wild stallion.
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I was awoken by the shuffling of boots on the other side of the stall wall. Dakota lifted his head to look over the stall wall then turned to nudge me awake. I stood hiding behind him, peering above his back to see who had walked in.
It was the boy from the night before.
"Hey kid," I greeted, Dakota let out a soft whinny and bobbed his head.
He jumped and looked around, once he saw me and smiled, "hi miss, I'm sorry I never caught your name yesterday, I'm Dustin but you can call me Dust."
"I'm Lakota, and this big boy here is Dakota," I walked around Dakota and shook the boys hand.
"You know both your names mean friend in Sioux?" He laughed then winced, worriedly I put my hand on his shoulder.
"Are you alright Dust?"
He gasped for breath, "I'm fine just fine."
"No your not" I told him as he started coughing, I led him in the stall and sat him on the hay bales. He doubled over and tried to draw in deep breaths, I lay a hand on his back. He gripped his side, near his bottom ribs. I pushed him back gently and grabbed his shirttail easing of up enough to see a huge bruise blossoming on his side.
"I think you broke something Dust," I wrapped an arm under his arm and hefted him up, holding most of his weight I walked him towards Max's house, knocking on the door once I walked in and led Dust to a chair in the kitchen.
"MAX! Get in here!" I hollered down the hall, he came running down the hall as fast as he could.
"What happened?" He asked.
"I think something's broken," you need to help him. I'm going to go to the sherif and have a little chat on the situation." With that I swung around and marched off to the sherries office.
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After much convincing and a pretty hefty bribe I got Dust into my custody. Heading to his fathers house I got the papers out and knocked on the door, Winston answered and glared at me.
"What do you want," his voice slurred.
"I want to inform you that your son Dustin is now in my custody and you are no longer allowed contact with him unless he permits it." With that i turned around and walked back to Max's house.
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Hey guys! So yeah I'm in the car... I finally decided to update, sorry if anything is misspelled, I'm writing all of this on a phone! Luff y'all! <3
P.s. Best way to make someone driving mad is by singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall.