Renegades and Pretty Women

Chapter Fifteen

The next week of Jonah’s life was the longest he could ever remember.

Knowing what Joe looked like beneath the dirt and the buckskin was a curse. It was a temptation that Jonah could not let himself give in to. He’d been made a fool of too many times and he wouldn’t let it happen again.

Jonah desperately tried to find things to do to keep himself busy but there were only so many chores to be done and his broken arm was still healing. The bullet wounds were still tender and sore but the stitches had done their jobs and they were closed up.

Jonah was ready to be healed. He knew his arm would still need another two weeks or so for the bones to knit together properly and waiting was torture.

He was thirsty for vengeance. He wanted to find Scarlett and whoever that man was she had ridden away with and he wanted to kill them both for what they had done. The money they had stolen. The old man in the bank that had probably died from Scarlett’s bullet and for what that bitch had done to Jonah… for the fool she had turned him into.

Though really he should thank her. She had taught him a lesson that he certainly would not forget any time soon. First Penny had left and broken his heart and then Scarlett has used him and broken whatever had been left. Jonah wouldn’t make the mistake of ever letting another woman in.

“What the devil you doin’ out here, Jonah?” Joe asked as she stepped out of the cabin and onto the porch. Jonah looked away from the darkness and down at her.

“Just watching.” he replied.

“For?”

“Reb and Bart.” Jonah admitted. “I’m getting worried.” Joe had told him that Reb and Bart would be coming to the cabin but Jonah and Joe had been here for nearly three weeks and hadn’t seen the men. Were his best friends okay or had they been killed? And if they had been killed how would Jonah forgive himself?

“I’m sure they’re fine.” Joe insisted as she walked to the porch banister and leaned her forearms against the rough wood. Her green gray eyes narrowing as she too looked out into the oppressive darkness around them. “It’s cold out here, you should get back inside.” she added.

Jonah shook his head. “Not nearly as cold as it was a week ago.” he countered. “I like the fresh air.”

“Me too.” Joe’s voice was softer than usual and Jonah knew it was because the woman had gotten used to his presence. A little of that rough wall she kept around herself had lowered in the last week. While she was by no means soft and sweet, she was at least going whole days now without biting his head off and cursing his soul to hell.

Jonah was actually beginning to think they were building up a fair friendship. They didn’t talk about personal things but Joe had given him her pa’s old gun belt and revolver and his clothes. If only the attraction Jonah felt for her wasn’t constantly hanging over him… It was like a giant elephant sitting in the corner of the room and Jonah was sure that eventually Joe would notice it. And when she did Jonah had no doubts that she’d kick his ass real good and proper.

“How long you reckon it would have taken them to lose the posse?” Jonah asked, filling the peaceful quiet. Joe shrugged and let out a long sigh.

“I don’t rightly know.” she replied and then a smile pulled at the corners of her lips. “It’s been a month or two since I led me any posse’s on a wild goose chase.”

Jonah chuckled. It seemed Joe was always making him chuckle. She was good to have around and she kept him from wallowing in the self pity that he had found himself wallowing in the last time a woman had made a fool of him.