𝐂𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐔𝐩 ✧ 𝐑𝐃𝐑𝟐

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫.

"John," Audrey announces herself walking through the trees to John who was on guard duty. He looked over his shoulder, holding a chuckle back as he watched her struggle to walk through the shrubbery with her skirt getting caught on sticks. She gave him a cold look, telling him not to laugh.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked as he looked away from her, scanning the trees for danger or anything that should be acknowledged. Audrey joined him, standing beside him as she folded her arms across her chest, trying to figure out what he was looking at.

"Abigail," Audrey answered. John immediately sighed in annoyance, shifting his weight as he became uneasy at the subject. 

"What does she want now?" John groaned. Audrey held back her tongue as she wanted to just rant at him about how he needs to father Jack and get the child and Abigail out of here. "New clothes?"

"No," Audrey answered. "Her and Jack need to leave, this is too dangerous for a boy," Audrey explained. "Hell, it's too dangerous for anyone but here we are."

"Well why can't she just leave then?" John argued. "I've told her I ain't leaving Dutch, he is a better Father than my own Father ever was," he sighed, brushing a hand on his chin as he grew angry. 

"So why can't you be a better Father than your Father?" Audrey questioned, not afraid of pushing his buttons. John looked at her in frustration yet he was mixed with a little bit of surprised by the fact she wasn't afraid to speak her mind. 

"I don't even know if the boy is mine," John sighed, trying to brush off Audrey's comment. 

"If Abigail says he is then he is," Audrey argued. Hooves began to approach them but the two of them were too busy in a heated discussion to realise. 

"Why are you getting involved in this? I've already had Hosea and Dutch pestering me, not to mention Abigail," John grunted, not even looking at her at this point. 

"Because I can't stand to watch the boy be Fatherless!" Audrey defended herself. "Abigail's real upset, John," Audrey recalled the conversation earlier with Abigail and Sadie. "Soon Jack will be able to see that and it won't be good."

"They've managed a year without me," John grunted. Arthur had mentioned to Audrey that John left for a year soon after Jack was born, most likely to the fact he didn't want to Father a child. "I'm sure they're fine."

"They had to manage because you took off without warning! They struggled," Audrey hissed, growing frustrated with John's stubbornness. John finally looked at her, his face furrowed with anger. 

"I..." His sentence was stopped when his eyes spotted Arthur riding back in along the track to camp. "Arthur!" He called out to him. Arthur looked over at the two, frowning to see the two were extremely heated with each other. "Control this woman!"

"I don't need controlling!" Audrey remarked, glaring at John. "You're the one who needs controlling!" She snapped back. John sighed, looking over at Arthur again who was now riding towards them. 

"Tell her to stop sticking her nose into business that ain't hers," John ordered Arthur. Arthur chuckled quietly to himself, resting an elbow on the saddle horn of his saddle as he watched the two bicker. Audrey and John's conversation soon became inaudible because they began arguing over each other, causing Arthur to finally speak up.

"Enough!" Arthur groaned, rubbing his forehead with a hand from a growing headache from listening to the two of them. Audrey and John fell quiet, they both looked at Arthur. "Marston, back to work. Audrey, get over here. Now," he ordered the two of them. John scoffed before moving away, disappearing through the shrubbery of Horseshoe Overlook. "What the hell are you doing out here?" Arthur demanded an answer as Audrey stumbled around towards Arthur, trying her best to avoid her skirt from getting caught on anything.

"Abigail," Audrey answered. Arthur immediately shook his head at her before pointing a finger at her. 

"That ain't your fight," Arthur reminded her. Audrey sighed, nodding her head. 

"I-I know. It's just Abigail's real sad and as a friend who cares about her, I felt inclined to speak to the fool," Audrey explained. "You would do the same, I know you would."

"Perhaps but this situation is different," Arthur tried to explain. He outstretched a hand down to Audrey to take in hers. She grabbed his hand and he heaved her up on the horse with ease, Audrey wrapping her arms around Arthur to hold on. "This situation is a personal situation, it's between Abigail and John."

"John won't even listen to her though, he's avoiding her," Audrey argued. "I heard Abigail calling for him the other evening when he was sitting at a table with Javier and he almost instantly took off," Audrey recalled one of the previous evenings. Arthur kicked the horse up into a walk, the two continuing back to the camp. 

"Well, like I said. It ain't your fight," Arthur sighed. She could tell Arthur wished John would also step up and help Abigail. Audrey just knew that Arthur didn't want to try and tell John what to do. "Dutch and Hosea have some guts with getting involved themselves but I guess Hosea is Abigail's father figure and Jack looks up to him. Look, we all want the best for that kid and we all hope that John will step up since no other fool will but this ain't involve us," Arthur explained his perspective of the situation. Audrey immediately started to feel guilty for getting onto John like that. 

"Did I do the wrong thing, Arthur?" She asked, her voice shaky with guilt as Arthur halted the horse by one of the hitching posts. Arthur sighed as he got off the horse, tying to reins to the post. 

"No... Maybe... I ain't sure," Arthur answered honestly, walking back around to her. "He needs to hear it though, just maybe not from you," Arthur explained. He extended his arms out to Audrey and lift her off the horse. Once her feet touched the ground, she pouted her lips as a wave of guilt and sadness washed over her. Arthur chuckled at her facial expression, holding her chin in his hand. "Don't do that look," he chuckled at her. Audrey laughed before Arthur kissed her lovingly.  

"You sent the letter?" Audrey asked as she pulled herself from the kiss. Arthur nodded and Audrey hugged him tight, placing a kiss on his cheek before continuing to hug him. Arthur turned his head to her ear, his lips hovering over her ear. She felt chills rush through her from his breath. 

"Come with me," he muttered. Audrey pulled back from him, looking at him before she smiled. She took his hand in hers as Arthur led her to a secluded and quiet spot through and trees away from camp so no one would interrupt them. Audrey gasped in shock when Arthur ripped her towards a tree, her back connecting with the trunk of the tree before Arthur's body collided onto hers, his lips meeting hers as he pressed her against the tree. Audrey placed a hand on the back of Arthur's neck, her fingers brushing into his hair as she pulled him closer to her. She heard Arthur's gun belt fall to the ground as his hands fumbled to undo his belt, Audrey's heart beating fast as a fire warmed her stomach for love.