The Outlaw's Son

Cassidy's Memory

CHAPTER 23 - MEMORIES

"Oh, Cole... Where are you?" I whispered to no one. Looking through the gap in the wall of my prison, I could see some stars in the night sky.

I silently thanked the Creator for intervening to keep my babies safe after we were taken from the ranch. If Running Horse and the rest of my cousins hadn't been keeping an eye on us, my babies would be here. Locked in this nasty stable with me, exactly where I didn't want them.

I didn't know these people who tried to ambush us. I didn't recognize any voices and couldn't see their faces in the dark. They had tied black bandanas around their faces, too. Just like the one Cole has always worn...

My thoughts drifted back to my husband. He always saved me. He has never failed me after all these years. All these troubles we've gone through, and still he has always saved me. He was my knight in shinning armor, or wanted outlaw with pistols. Whichever way you wanted to look at it. I wasn't sure if he would be able to save me this time. He didn't even know I was missing. He didn't know Running Horse had taken the children to safety. By the time he found out, it might be too late. He and Britt were hiding out in Mexico and I had no idea where I was. I had been blindfolded for most of the ride.

These idiots were henchmen for someone, someone who apparently hates me. Not Cole, me. Which leaves me with the sneaking suspicion that a certain blonde bimbo was behind it all. Even though I was sure in my suspicions, I knew there was another. There had to be because Catherine did not know Mary Beth.

The first night I was in this "jail" I heard a man just outside the stable screaming her name in the most child like way. He whined to himself about letting her run away and how he was going to punish her for embarrassing him, but I haven't heard him since. It's been 3 nights. I saw his face for only a brief second through the small gap between the wood planks. He was an attractive man, strong build, dark hair. But what caught me where those eyes. Those bright blueish grey eyes that make you think you are looking straight at the storm brewing in his soul. He looked tormented. Broken. Angry.

I wasn't sure if the Mary Beth he was calling for was the same Mary Beth that my son was "courting", but I wasn't about to offer any information. Cole had told me in his letters that Mary Beth had become attached to Britt. I remember smiling as I read that part of the letter. Now I wonder just how much trouble and heartache she going to bring down on him...

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The sunrise was beautiful. Well, what I could see through my peep hole. The smell of whiskey and tobacco wafted through the hole and I felt my lips twitch upwards at the memories the smell brought to my mind. Like the last time I was reminded of the attraction I felt for Cole. He hadn't come to bed that night after I had finished putting the children to sleep. I knew he had been fixing the fence behind the barn so I waited a while. He never came in.

I grabbed my shawl from the rocking chair in the bedroom and wrapped it around myself before heading outside. I could smell the smoke as I got closer to the barn. The lantern wasn't burning anymore but the moon was full and glowing. I opened the side door to the barn and stepped into the darkness. The scent of whiskey and smoke was strong enough to make me believe our barn had been turned into a distillery. I didn't see Cole anywhere but could see the latch door was open on the other side of the barn. I made my way out of the door I had come through and walked around the barn to the backside, where I knew Cole was.

Sure enough as I looked up I saw him perched on the edge of the hay loft, legs dangling over the edge and taking a draw from his cigarette. He hadn't noticed me.

"Cole?" I said just loud enough for him to hear me. He jumped and instinctively pulled his gun from his side, pointing it down at me. "You better put that gun down before I beat you with it."

Cole's bare chest rumbled with drunken laughter. "Darlin', now you know better than to sneak up on me like that." He put the pistol on the loft beside him and relaxed, taking another draw from his cigarette. "You come out here to play Cowboys and Indians with me, woman?"

"Cole, come to bed." I ignored his suggestive question.

"Moon's too pretty tonight to be inside."

"You're drunk."

"No shit!" He laughed while taking a long swig of the almost empty whiskey bottle.

"Cole Mason, get your drunk ass down here and come to bed."

Cole looked down at me for a moment before replying. "Why you want me to come to bed so bad?"

I stared at him, trying to decide on a response that he wouldn't pervert. But Cole Mason could pervert anything. "Because it's late and I can't go to sleep with you out here drinkin' and possibly about to fall out of the loft."

"Naw. Naw, that ain't why."

"Then why do you think I want you to come to bed?" I retorted a little louder than I meant to, but he was starting to irritate me.

Cole stood and looked down at me. The moon lit up his body like he was a god. The soft glow emanating from his bare chest and arms. It almost looked like he was the one shinning, not the moon. His pants were dirty and his hands were too. Suddenly, he looked so young. Like the Cole I had met in the Westwood saloon. The crooked grin he was so good at making look sexy spread across his face. "I can see you undressin' me with those big, brown eyes, ya' know."

I silently shook my head but didn't deny it. It had been a while since we had been together. "Please come to bed?"

"Why don't you come up here, sweetheart?"

"Cole. Please?"

He took one last draw off his cigarette and flicked it towards me. He missed, but for whatever reason he started to laugh. He walked away from the loft which had me thinking he was about to come down, but then he came back to the door and before I realized I needed to move I heard the sound of something swirling through the air. It was too late to run then. The rope caught me and he pulled, binding my arms to my sides.

"Cole! You better come untie me this instant!"

"But Cassie, darlin', I heard in town the other day that some women like to be tied up!"

"Ugh! Cole! I'm serious!"

"I think you should try it. You won't know if you like it until you try it." He pulled the rope, pulling me closer to the barn. "I'm not gonna let you go unless you say you wanna try it."

I felt my cheeks flush at the memory, just as they did when he gave the ultimatum.  I did agree to try it.

A loud crash pulled me out of my memories and I peered through the gap in the wall, looking for the cause of the loud noise.

"You are gonna go back and instead of watchin' my wife have sex with another man, you are gonna kill him and bring her back to me! Do you understand?"

What in the world is going on?

A/N:

Well, I have the most vicious of stomach viruses. If I don't die before I can, I plan on updating again over the weekend. This has been a most miserable past 3 days. First my daughter got it. So naturally this mama stays home with her until she's better. Then she gives it to me. Of course she bounced back from it and I'm slowly suffering!

The story line I had written out for this book is seriously going to piss all of y'all off towards the end. I may not go that route if I can find a better alternative. So this is your chance to voice an opinion of what you want to see happen! I won't update the next chapter until this one gets at least 10 comments with plot line opinions. :)