The Outlaw

Chapter Four

No one else came in Ethan's tent all night but he could see the shadows of the guards that his father had left outside the flap. He figured it was probably Doomer and Franks since those were those most faithful men his father had.

Dawn was upon them now and Ethan knew his father would be loading everyone up to move on soon. It was still a good two weeks of traveling before they reached the hideout down on the Mexican border. Ethan hated this life but he was just as much a prisoner as Caroline and her sister were now. He had tried to leave several times over the last ten years since joining his father at the age of sixteen but had learned fast that leaving meant dying… His father did not allow any man to ride away from him and live.

He groaned as he pulled himself up into a sitting position and listened to his stomach growl. His mouth was dry and his head was spinning. He needed food and he needed water. The whiskey wasn't doing anything but drying him out more.

He heard someone walking up to the tent and Caroline pulled back the flap and walked inside.

"Your fa….Mitchell... wanted me to check on you this morning. Make sure you were still alive." she said and he could hear how tired and worn down she sounded.

"How did you sleep?" he asked. He prayed that his father and his men hadn't taken advantage of her or that little girl as they had so many girls before them.

"Jasmine and I had our own tent. Mitchell says I need to be broken in a little more before I share his tent…. Apparently he didn't think it was funny when I bit his lip." she replied and he could see the spark of fire in her green eyes. It made him happy to see that, though she was tired, she was far from broken.

"You'll probably be safe til he gets to the hide out." Ethan said matter-of-factly. She nodded and was about to leave when she heard his stomach growl.

"Have you had no breakfast?" she asked. He shook his head. "Water?" she asked and he shook his head again. Her green eyes shone with anger and she stormed back out of the tent. Ethan scooted closer to the flap and peeked out to see her standing toe to toe with Franks with her hands on her hips.

"He needs food and water." she said matter-of-factly. Franks laughed.

"Too bad." he said.

"Do you want to explain to Mitchell that his son died because you let him go thirsty?" she demanded. Ethan snorted. His father would probably be thrilled if Ethan dropped dead from dehydration. But this seemed to put a little fear in Franks and he walked over to his horse and grabbed his canteen and several strips of jerky and handed them to her.

"You must have made quite an impression on all of them." Ethan said as she walked back in the tent.

"No your fa…Mitchell, told them all to make sure I was kept happy and satisfied or else he would put a bullet in them himself. I guess he thinks that by doing that I might warm up to him a little." she replied as she handed him the canteen. He looked at her dry cracked lips.

"Have you had anything?" he asked. She shook her head.

"Not this morning." she replied. He reached the canteen out to her but she pushed it back toward him.

"You need it worse than I do. There's not much left in there." she said.

"Darlin', I ain't taking a sip till you've drunk your fill." he replied holding the canteen out to her again. "You saved my life last night.. Least I can do is make sure you get a drink of water." Caroline took the canteen from his hand and took a sip before handing it back to him.

He smiled before pressing it to his lips and Caroline felt her heart speed up at the sight of his smile. She handed him the jerky, though he insisted that she eat some of it too, and as they both sat there chewing in silence Caroline took the time to look at him.