Heart of an Outlaw *First in the Crane Gang series*

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen 

Gill was dog tired by the time they made camp that night. His legs were aching, his head was pounding and they were in the middle of some back country territory land that had his head on a swivel waiting for a renegade or an Indian to come along and relieve him of his need for air. 

It seemed everyone was equally as tired as they silently chowed down on the meager supper a grumbling Billy prepared and then made their way to their tents without very many words spoken between them. 

Gill found himself alone and wasn’t surprised. It seemed that Pete had certainly gotten quite cozy with Jane and was calling her tent home from here on out. He had to admit it made him a bit jealous and he didn’t much care for the silence. He’d gotten used to having Pete stuck to his hip since they’d been boys and to suddenly have his best friend favoring someone else’s hip made him feel more than a little forgotten. 

Gill slid off his gun belt and tossed it aside before sitting on his bedroll and yanking off his boots one at a time. His. He laid down on his back and moved his hat over his face before folding his arms behind his head. 

Gill was nearly sound asleep when a shuffling sound outside his tent flap alerted him to the fact that he was no longer alone. Tensing, Gill pulled the knife from his leg and removed his hat from his face. 

“Either reveal yourself real damn quick or wind up dead,” he called out calmly. “The choice is yours.” 

“Faster men than you have tried to kill me,” Willie boasted as he entered the tent with a smirk on his face. “And I’m still breathing.” 

“They weren’t me,” Gill countered, wondering what the other man was doing coming into his tent at night. They weren’t exactly friends--Willie was practically hostile most of the time. He holstered his knife and frowned. “Why are you snooping around my tent at night.” 

“I wasn’t snooping,” Willie snapped before flopping down cross-legged upon the ground. “I don’t snoop.” 

Gill rubbed at his face as he sat up. Damn, he was tired and in no mood to deal with Willie’s over confident, cocky ass or the chip that seemed to always be on the other man’s shoulder. “So why are you here?” he asked. 

Willie picked at a tear in his flashy pants and shrugged. “I wanted to talk.” 

“To me?” Gill was surprised. “I didn’t realize we knew one another well enough to be having late night conversations in the dark.” 

“Well I sure as hell don’t wanna have one of those talks Jeb likes to have with ya,” Willie laughed. “I just want to have a plain old talk.” 

Gill shifted uncomfortably. He wondered if he would ever grow accustomed to having folks know about his preferences and to having them accept him well enough to joke and tease him. “Well that’s good then,” Gill replied. “Jeb seems like the jealous type.” 

Willie sighed and plucked at a tassel tangling from his red shirt. “Look, I know that everyone here has accepted you and Pete. I know they trust you… but I still got questions.”