HIS | Arthur Morgan X Reader

The Outlaw

"The new girl, she's really...uh...something isn't she?"

"Yea, Hosea was really impressed with her work on the stagecoach, he thinks she'll be perfect for the job in Armadillo."

Arthur nods, his eyes watching you closely while you talk to Karen and Mary-Beth, getting to know the girls. The whiskey bottle hanging inches from his lips was forgotten. Charles eyed him curiously, sensing Arthur meant something else.

"She got any family?" Arthur continues, breaking himself from his trance and gulping a large amount of whiskey, trying to burn away his thoughts.

'Don't think so, she said she lost them recently."

"So, no husband?" Arthur asks nonchalantly but Charles isn't a fool.

"No, she said she never had one." Charles sees Arthur's shoulders drop, seemingly relieved, he smirks and decides to play with his friend. "She seems to be getting close to Javier though."

"Oh, yea? She doesn't seem his type?"

"Maybe not, but I saw the two of them sneaking down to the river late last night."

Arthur's back straightens instantly, and his head snaps up, eyes meeting Charles's only to find him staring back with a goofy grin. Realising Charles had seen straight through him he huffs out a laugh and shakes his head, hanging it low in embarrassment.

"For an outlaw, you're not very subtle." Charles slaps Arthur on the back, amused at his friend's embarrassment.

"Yea but I should know better than that. I'm with Mary."

It was no secret how the camp felt towards Mary, finding her snobbish and demanding, Charles wouldn't be sorry to see their relationship end but he knew Arthur was loyal to the bone.

"You're only human Arthur, she's a beautiful girl. You're allowed to look."

"That's the problem..." Arthur's eyes find yours across the camp and you smile at him sweetly, unknowingly causing his heart to flutter. "...I can't stop looking."

The cabin pulls into view late that afternoon, and from the outside, all appeared as it had the last time he'd been here, the grass lush and green, the sounds of the forest peaceful and optimistic. Following Charles and Sadie's lead he slowly dismounts taking in a breath of the sweet air; this was supposed to have been your home together, a home for you both to raise a child, perhaps get a dog as he'd had before, maybe a cat too; whatever the version of domestic bliss he imagined it felt so far from his grasp.

The door to the cabin slams open and Arthur is quick to grab his revolver and take aim, his old habits hard to shake. Charlotte's scowling face greets him from the other end of a shotgun which is aimed directly at his head.

"I'll give you five seconds before I ki-Arthur?" she lowers the gun; his eyes frantically shifting from his face to Sadie and Charles behind him who hold their hands up defensively.

Arthur's gut spurs into overdrive as he senses something drastically wrong. Firstly, Charlotte was always protective of the homestead but never to this extent, something must have scared her to force her into defending the place so aggressively. Secondly, where were you... and John for that matter? Surely, John wouldn't have left Charlotte to defend the place alone? If he had, he'd kill him for it later.

"Charlotte, what's going on? Where is y/n?"

She shakes her head, tears spilling over her already red and swollen eyes. She surges forwards and buries her head in his chest as he envelopes her with his arms protectively. Charlotte and he had grown close through his visits, but he saw her only as a sister figure, her heart still very much belonging to her dead husband.