Partner (Micah Bell)

31. I can Handle Myself

The camp was quiet, Ashley and Micah were out on a job while everyone else was relaxing around camp. Something about the camp just felt laid back and calm, until everyone's attention was turned to the two horses riding into the camp. Robin and Baylock carrying Ashley and Micah up to the other horses.

"If you could just be patient for two fucking seconds" Ashley snarled as they rode into camp.

"If you could just stop whining for two fucking seconds" Micah retorted as they both dismounted their horses and hitched them.

"I'm not whining, I'm telling you what you did wrong" she rolled her eyes, neither of them noticing that the rest of the camp was watching them.

"Sounds like whining to me" he shrugged, smirking slightly when he saw her glaring at him, both of them walking further into the camp.

"How would you know? You never listen to me, if you listened to me before then none of this would've happened" Ashley scoffed, unable to believe what she was hearing while the rest of the camp wondered what they were even talking about. Obviously the job that they went on didn't go well but that's all that they could clearly understand.

"Never listen to you? How can I not listen to you? You never shut up" Micah rolled his eyes as he placed the score in the gang donation box, while Ashley stood behind him with her arms crossed over her chest and glaring at his back.

"Yeah, sure, I never shut up. You should shut up and get your head out of your ass. Next time you pull a stunt like that, I'm going to leave you in the dirt" Ashley warned him as they walked towards the campfire. As they passed the crate of beers, they stopped while Micah grabbed two bottles and opened them.

"Just shut your mouth, Black" he growled, handing one of the beers to Ashley, which she accepted without hesitation.

"Kiss my ass, Bell" Ashley snapped as they walked towards the campfire again and Micah sat down on the log that was acting as a bench in front of the fire.

"Don't need to tell me twice" Micah smirked, causing Ashley to kick him in the shin before she sat beside him.

The two outlaws sat side by side in silence, neither of them looking at the other. Charles and Javier, who were already sitting around the fire, looked at the them before looking at each other with confused but amused expressions on their faces. Micah and Ashley just sat together like they hadn't been arguing and threatening each other only a second before. More than that, Micah just openly flirted with Ashley. The two men assumed that it was only to annoy Ashley but they had both joked that Micah was sweet on her before, maybe their jokes had more reality behind them than they thought. They couldn't help but notice that Ashley didn't really react to Micah's comment. Yes, she kicked him but she didn't actually look disgusted at the suggestion like they thought she would.

They decided not to think too much of it, just shrugging it off before turning their attention back to them. "So...the job didn't go well?" Javier asked, a smirk on his lips and Charles just smiled to himself, ready to hear the two sides of the story.

"Don't get her started" Micah groaned, rolling his eyes. He didn't want to have this argument again.

"Micah couldn't keep his mouth shut and, like usual, it got us in trouble" Ashley explained, sending a quick glare to Micah which made the other two outlaws chuckle to themselves.

"They deserved to be spoken to like that" Micah scoffed, making the same point that he made about ten times before they even got back to camp.

"They definitely did not. You called that woman a whore for no reason, I would've slapped you too" she shook her head, everything had happened so quickly that she couldn't prevent the fight that broke out.

"I don't really have to do much for you to slap me though, do I?" Micah asked, glaring at the woman beside him.

"That man had every right to try to hit you, he was about half the size of you, you didn't need to knock him out" she pointed out but once again, this was nothing that Micah hadn't heard before.

"I did nothing wrong" the blonde outlaw defended himself again.

"Maybe you should just leave before I hate you even more" Ashley sighed, drinking from her beer and turning back to look at the fire. Javier and Charles looked at each other in an amused manner, watching the two outlaws argue with each other.

"Y'know what, I think we are going to leave you to it" Charles laughed, tapping Javier's shoulder before they both stood up and walked away.

"You shouldn't have spoken to her like that" Ashley sighed once Javier and Charles had walked away.

"She shouldn't have spoken to you like that" Micah shrugged, both of them watching the flames of the fire instead of looking at each other.

"I don't need you too look after me, I can handle myself" the woman shook her head.

Here's what happened, how this whole argument began. Ashley and Micah had just finished the job that they had gone on and decided to get a drink in the saloon. An very drunk women had stumbled over to Ashley and called her some rather nasty names but Ashley didn't care, the other woman was drunk, didn't know what she was saying, and it really didn't even bother Ashley. Micah didn't share that view. Micah decided that this woman needed to be insulted but of course her lover was with her and tried to defend her honour. Micah avoided the punch that the other man threw but then threw his own punch, cleanly knocking the other man to the floor.

"You're too nice sometimes. You should've insulted her back instead of shrugging her off" Micah sighed.

"I was trying not to cause trouble. Next time, just let me deal with it" Ashley insisted. She knew that Micah was trying to do a nice thing in his own way but it had pretty much gone in the other direction. Ashley tried to tell herself that it was the thought that counts and Micah was behaving with some sort of good intentions, she did appreciated that.

"Fine, I just couldn't help myself" Micah mumbled, sipping from his beer.

"How sweet" Ashley rolled her eyes as she stood up. She quickly glanced around to make sure that nobody was watching before whispering a tiny 'thank you' and kissing Micah on the temple, she flashed a quick smile before walking away.