Rush

act ii. { invested }

{ ❧ Song of the Section; Moondance by Van Morrison }

❧ The anthem of my freedom will go down as the sound of hooves beating against the sun baked frontier. And you bet it damn near killed me to have Mercy to thank for that.

Even though she didn't say nothing about it, I just knew that woman wanted a thank you from me. And as I watched her that evening from across the cackling campfire, I felt a horrible thing creep up on me. I believe that thing was called, 'grace.'

"I could'a made it out of there myself, you know. I didn't need rescuing."

That was the best I could do.

My words tore through the silence like a knife. Mercy and I had hardly said two words to one another since we'd beat it out of Denver City. We rode west towards the mountains on two mustangs Mercy had mustered up from somewhere. After nightfall, the men chasing our asses had turned around with their tails between their legs and returned to their recently lawless town, I assume. Mercy and I had set up camp where the Rockies began to spring up from the prairie, right on the western face of a rugged hillside. No one in Denver City was gonna see the glow of our campfire from there. And for the first time in a long time, I was going to spend the night with a woman. And I wasn't paying her a nickel for it, either.

Mercy just smirked and stirred the hot coals around with a little stick she'd plucked up. "Lying on the floor of a cell with only your johns on was all part of the plan then?" Mercy scoffed and looked at me with that pretty gaze of hers. I then cursed the heavens for landing me with this woman. For the first time, anyway. "I wouldn't have asked you to help me if I didn't have faith in your... abilities, Boone."

The flames of our little fire licked up at the night sky, their orange glow danced across Mercy's pale face and somehow made her even more mysterious to me. "You didn't ask, honey," I snapped, stroking the stubble on my chin. For some reason I wanted to set the record straight with that right away.

See, I felt torn. On the one hand, I wanted those Bell brothers dead. Slowly, too, just like Miss Montgomery had suggested. On the other less attractive hand, I didn't want any woman dragging me down. Particularly not one who didn't seem the type to do as she was told.

"I didn't have to ask," Mercy shot back, flames dancing off her smoky eyes. "Ain't nobody in the west who wants the Bell brothers dead more than we do."

I'll be damned. That girl really thought she knew a thing or two 'bout me. How positively amusing.

Her fingers played with the hem of that scarlet dress of hers, which was dusted with that fine rosy dirt Colorado would eventually come to be named for. I smirked because that slangy drawl didn't suite her well at all. Mercy was far too educated for four letter words and 'ain't,' from what I could tell. My silence must have discouraged her because before too long she piped up again.

"They're the reason you were in that cell, weren't they?"

My smirk faded and I slid my boot across the dirt, peppering the fire with a fine layer of dust. "Yep," was my terse reply. The Bell brothers had tied me up, knocked me out, and dumped me a stone's throw away from town and right under the sherrif's nose. They didn't even bother picking up the bounty. Sons of bitches. Mercy didn't know even half of my beef with those brothers, let me tell you. But she could've gone on believing she did, for all I cared. I tossed a piece of grain I had been rolling between my fingers into the flames and I felt Mercy's expectant gaze settle on me. Unfortunately for her, I wasn't explainin' nothing.

There was that silence again. The only noise came from our tired horses. The both of 'em were a pace away, tied up against a fallen tree that was bleached by the unforgiving sun. My gaze wandered over to them. Mine was a feisty bay-colored mustang, and hers an equally feisty palomino. They nickered and nodded their heads, shaking out their manes. I stared at them, deep in my own thoughts about this whole proposal. Finally, I perked up and looked over at Mercy.