To Tame the Wild: a Red Dead Redemption fan fiction

Chapter 3 - Horseplay

"Hey, princess. Princess, wake up!"

Still in the realm of his dreams, Jack lay on his side in bed unmoving, the sheets pulled up to his face.

"PRINCESS!"

He jerked awake. His eyes snapped open, and he rolled over with a groan of protest and glared up at his overseer. She stood at his bedside, her hands on her hips and her duster pulled back behind her fists and revealing her pistol and sheathed hunting knife. She kicked the mattress, jostling him further.

"Get up, you lazy prick. We've got work to do."

"'We'?" Jack questioned, his voice hoarse. Clearing his throat, he sat up in bed and rubbed a hand over his face and through his disheveled hair. "I never knew you did any work around here. All you do is stand around and nag, nag, nag."

"And all you do is whine, whine, whine." Her long hair swayed as she shook her head. "You're not really in the saddle yet, huh, Marston? I was expecting a better start from you today after those miserable come backs from last night. Are you losin' your touch, boy?"

He glowered up at her. "No, I'm just losin' sleep is all. You and Bonnie got me so damn overworked, I feel like an over-used whore."

"Well, you sure stink like one."

"At least I don't look like one." He swung his legs around the edge of the bed and faced her.

She kicked his left shin, making him cry out in agony and slouch forward. "To hell with you, Marston! I refuse to be like those pieces of trash who sell their bodies for little more than paper! You, on the other hand, I can see you selling your body for even less, hell, even for free!"

Clutching at his leg, he hissed back through his pain, "If I were free, I'd come to women like you who don't have a chance at getting any satisfied customers!"

She raised her eyebrows. "That's a goddamn lie if ever I heard of one!

Jack scoffed and sat back up. "Well, ain't you just the most uppity, self-centered woman."

"I may be all high and mighty, but I sure as hell am not a salacious son of a bitch like you. You never know when to shut your trashy mouth."

"Hey!" came a commanding feminine voice from the doorway. "If you two are done talking pleasantries, I'd like to see you both outside for a minute."

Jack and his overseer looked over to see Bonnie standing in the doorway of the sheriff's office, her arms folded across her chest and an annoyed frown on her thin lips. "Now finish this pointless banter and come out here."

"Yes, ma'am," the woman responded. She looked back down at her slave. "That is what's known as showing respect. I was hoping you'd eventually pick up on that, but I suppose you're a tenacious bastard." She turned and walked out of the cell.

"Lady, you've gotta give respect to get it, and so far, you haven't earned my respect."

She half-turned and glared at him over her shoulder, her hair and duster whipping about angrily. "And you won't be receiving any respect from me any time soon, or from Bonnie."

"What else is new? You two hate me more than a horse hates rattlers. You've both been against me ever since I got my face on a wanted poster."

"For good reason, Jack."

"In you women's eyes, sure, but not in mine."

She cocked her head to the side and glared down at him from below the brim of her hat. "You're not even close to bein' a man, Marston, and until you get anywhere nearer to the day of your redemption, you'll be revered as nothing more than an angry, vengeful boy who thinks his stupid actions and decisions are justified just because his pa got shot down by men who were doing their jobs."