Partner (Micah Bell)

4. Ain't Personal

A week. It had been a week of working with Micah Bell and Ashley was losing her will power when it came to keeping her mouth shut. She had tried to ignore Micah's comments to her and other members of the camp but the truth was that she couldn't wait to see the back of him. She couldn't wait for Arthur to be back to good enough condition to run bigger jobs with her. Arthur had healed up quite a bit but was still only doing small jobs on his own, taking some other people's advice and not straining himself too much.

The sun was setting and it was getting dark, Ashley was sat at the camp fire with Javier just talking about any interesting jobs they had done recently. Well, Javier was mostly asking how she was coping with her new partner, Micah.

"What you staring at?" Micah asked as he took a seat at the fire opposite the pair. Obviously Javier hadn't been staring at him, he hadn't even looked at Micah. So Micah was clearly just trying to start some sort of argument to amuse himself

"I don't know...you tell me" Javier asked, turning to face the man as he decided to humour him.

"Yeah well, the devil punishes people who stare" he hummed, making Ashley roll her eyes.

"That so?" Javier sounded bored as he nodded at blonde man.

"Why don't you fuck off back to Mexico? Eh?" Micah glared as he stood up from his seat, speaking in a poor and lazy Mexican accent. Javier stood up and Ashley sighed, reaching over to grab Javier's sleeve but before she knew it the two men were standing inches apart and glaring at each other. She just watched as Javier punched Micah, causing him to fall to the floor, he deserved it so it didn't bother her in the slightest.

"Why don't you fuck off back to hell?" Javier spat at Micah, who was now sitting on the floor. Javier didn't wait around before turning around and walking away, past Ashley.

"You hit like you dress...all feminine" Micah smirked as he climbed to his feet.

Javier began to turn back around but Ashley grabbed his arm. "Javier leave it, it's not worth it" she sighed and shook her head. Javier smiled at her and nodded before walking away, even though she would love to see Javier punch Micah again she knew that it was the last thing that the gang needed. Micah just shrugged before sitting back down at the campfire.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Ashley snapped, walking over to Micah after Javier had walked away.

"What did I do?" Micah asked, playing the fool, as he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, looking up at her.

"'Fuck off back to Mexico', who says stuff like that?" she asked, looking at him with a mix between anger and disbelief.

"Ah, he knows it ain't personal" he waved his hand dismissively as he lent back on the chair again, acting like there was nothing wrong with what he just did.

"There is something seriously fucked up about you, Micah Bell" the woman scoffed, shaking her head as she turned around.

"Aw, come on Black. We got a score to get" Micah announced as he stood up and caught up with her, patting her on the shoulder roughly and she was pretty sure that she was about to explode.

"No! Not tonight. You're an asshole and I can't work with you right now" Ashley snapped as she pushed Micah's hand away.

Micah watched her walking away with slightly widened eyes. He had annoyed her before and they had petty arguments every now and again but he can't remember her being genuinely angry with him. Maybe he had been pushing her too far recently, or maybe she had just always felt this way.

"I can't do this any longer" Ashley groaned as she sat down at a table, sitting opposite Hosea.

"What happened?" Hosea asked, looking up from his book and across to the woman.

"Why did Dutch have to pair me up with Micah, of all people? He is an awful person" she sighed, resting her elbows on the table and burying her face in her hands.

"You don't have to tell me that" he sighed, he actually felt a little bad for her. He knew that it must be hard work to be Micah's partner.

"Why couldn't I just choose a new partner?" she asked, still talking into her hands. Hosea stood up and walked around the table before sitting beside her.

"I'm sure Dutch has his reasons, and I'm sure Arthur will be back by your side in no time" he assured her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and pulling her into his side.

"Where is Arthur anyway?" Ashley asked as she removed her hands from her face and rested her head on Hosea's shoulder.

"He went into town with Charles to pick something up, he doesn't like not being able to help out" he told her. "I know that Micah can be difficult but try to give him a chance, he is useful in some ways. He can handle a gun pretty good, would do alright in a fight. Just try to put his few skills to use" Hosea advised, making Ashley chuckle against his shoulder.

"Thanks Hosea, I'll try" she sighed, smiling at him as she pulled away and stood up.

"Anytime Ashley" Hosea smiled at her before returning to his book as she walked away.