Chapter Ten
"What did I do?" Chance gasped as his gun fell with a splash into the river. Chase didn't' spare him a glance or a word as he dropped to his knees, caught Leah in his arms and cradled her against his body.
"You have shot a completely innocent woman. Your sister." Chase replied, deciding that perhaps Chance needed the obvious stated for him. "Oh my God." Chance mumbled before gagging and covering his mouth with his hand.
"She will be fine, it's not serious." Chase assured him quietly. The bullet was far to the side, barely more than a large gouge in her skin. Nothing serious had been damaged. Chase pulled off the red bandana around his neck and held it tight against the wound to help stop the blood loss.
He glanced at Chance and saw the man fall to his knees in the water.
"I shot my sister...." he stated numbly and Chase nodded.
"Yes you did. But you wouldn't have if she wasn't so stubborn. You would have shot me."
"Are you going to kill me now?" Chance asked and Chase shook his head though inside he was contemplating doing just that.
"You did not mean to hurt her. But if she dies then I will do to you what I did to that man." Chance glanced at the dead body in the water. The current had his head pulled back and Chance could see the slit that the Indian had made in his throat. It was deep enough to cut through windpipe and all.
"God forgive me." Chance gasped as he covered his face with his hands. He looked back at Chase with tear filled eyes. "Please help me get her home."
"That home is not her home anymore. Her home is with me. But I will help you get her to your home." Chase replied and then he looked up and laid his hand on his gun.
"What is it?" Chance demanded and his question was answered when armed men appeared on all sides of them with their guns drawn.
Chase's eyes instantly went to Boss.
"What the hell happened here?" Boss demanded and his eyes fell on Petey. "What happened to Petey?"
"What I told him would happen if he ever laid his hands on what was mine again." Chase replied coldly. Boss raised a brow and looked down at Leah in Chase's arms. He could see the worry on Chase's face though he knew the Indian was trying to hide it.
"Who shot her?" Boss asked.
"I did." Chance replied brokenly.
"And who the hell are you?" Boss demanded.
"Her brother." Chance admitted. Boss nodded, stepped forward and then brought the butt of his revolver down hard on the back of Chance's head. The man fell unconscious into the water.
Chase made a move to pull his gun but Boss shook his head.
"Don't even think about it. She'll be dead before you even get one good squeeze of that trigger." Boss warned and Chase relaxed his arm. "You've pushed me too far this time, Chase. You brought this woman here, caused discord among my men, murdered one of my men and led to this man coming here with his law dogs." Chase's eyes widened.
"That's right." Boss said with a snort. "He brought the law with him but they're dead. You could have done a lot of damage to my entire operation. After what I did to your mother I knew I owed you and your father but you've just pushed it too far."
Chase felt his blood run cold in his veins. Slowly he raised his head and met Boss's eyes.
"What are you talking about?" Boss smiled and spit in the water beside Chase.
"Why I raped and killed her of course. Most fun I've ever had." he replied. Chase let out an angry yell but before he could get to his gun, something hard struck the back of his head and the world went black.
***
Louisa stared in shock as Boss and the men carried four bodies into camp. She saw Chase hanging limp over Boss's shoulder. What had happened? What had went wrong? Chase wasn't supposed to be hurt and who was the other man?
Petey was clearly dead, which was no surprise to Louisa. She had known that would happen and had truly been hoping for it. Petey was a horrible man who deserved what he got. Abusing women such as herself who had no choice but to be what they were. Treating her like scum and beating her around whenever he felt the urge. But why was Chase hurt?
Chase was not supposed to be hurt... Louisa had been in Tig's tent and had missed the men coming back to camp. She saw now that there were more dead bodies that Petey was being tossed recklessly on top of. Louisa saw the glinting of a metal star and realized with shock that those other dead men were law.
Who had brought law to this camp? Was it the blond man? Too many unanswered questions and no way to get the answers she sought without jeopardizing her own well-being and admitting she'd played a part in Leah's rape and Petey's death. With any luck that fat bitch was dead and not just unconscious.
"What's going on?" Tig asked Yancy as the man approached his tent.
"Boss has lost his damn mind. Apparently that guy is Leah's brother." he said pointing at the blond man. "And Chase caught Petey trying to force Leah to lay with him so he killed Petey, this guy shows up with lawmen, we killed the lawmen, and then Boss turns on Chase and it all turns into one big cluster fuck if you ask me."
"What was Leah doing out of her tent?" Tig demanded, casting an suspicious glance at Louisa. She waved her hand and shrugged.
"I have no idea. Some women just don't know how to do what's best for them."
"Do you think Boss will actually try to kill Chase?" Tig asked. "I always kinda liked that quiet, little bastard."
"The chief was always good to me. He saved my life once believe it or not." Yancy admitted.
"We gonna save his ass this time?" Tig asked with a grin.
"We'll just have to see how it goes." Yancy replied with shrug.
"HeeHee!" Tig exclaimed, smacking himself on the thigh. "This could get fun."
***
The pain is what brought Leah out of her unconsciousness. Her side was burning and hot. The warm spring sunshine was beating down on her and she could only squint because of the brightness hitting her eyes.
She realized that she was sitting on the ground and her hands and feet where tied together in front of her. She felt eyes watching her and turned her head to the side to see Chase watching her intently. He was tied up as well, though they had tied him to a wooden post with his arms behind him and his ankles tied together in front of him.
She could see the question in his eyes and managed a small smile of reassurance to let him know she was okay. She was hurting from her brothers bullet but she could tell that she wasn't dieing from it. She may die of something else sometime very soon based on the fact that she was tied up like a criminal but she wasn't going to die from Chance's bullet.
Chance?! Leah turned to her left and saw her brother tied up as well, though he was staring down at the ground and a single tear had streaked his dirt covered face. Leah looked around and saw that no one else in camp seemed to be paying much attention to them at the moment. They were tied near the trees and away from the tents and main fire. Most of the men seemed to be busy digging a deep hole and Leah supposed it was for the four dead bodies lying in a pile a couple hundred feet away.. .Of course there may be three more bodies soon that they planned on adding.
Surprisingly Leah didn't feel much fear. She supposed she'd been through too much in the last few hours.. Perhaps even the last few weeks to be frightened quite as easily as she had once been.
"Chance..." she whispered and her brother's head lifted quickly and his eyes widened when they fell on her.
"Leah..." he gasped with obvious relief. "I'm sorry...."
"Not right now." Leah scolded. "Right now we have to figure out a way to get our of here. You can suck up to me later." Leah turned back to Chase.
"Are you okay?" she asked him and he simply nodded. "Do you have a plan?" she added. In true Chase fashion he didn't say a word or sugar coat the truth. He simply shook his head and then stared off into the distance, clearly becoming lost in thought and no longer wanting to discuss their situation.
Leah sighed and attempted to roll her shoulders. She saw Boss cast a glance in their direction and she could feel the rage boiling off of Chase in waves as he glared back at the man. What had happened to cause them to be taken prisoner? Why had Boss tied them up? Was it because of Petey?
"Chase." she whispered. He turned to look at her and she saw the anger still flashing in his eyes. "What happened?"
"Boss is not who I thought he was. Your brother brought law here. I killed Petey. Boss knows I love you. All those things together mean we may die today."
"You sure don't sugar coat nothing, do you?" Chance demanded and Chase shook his head.
"There is no point in lying to her. She is strong, smart and brave enough to accept the truth."
"Chase doesn't see me as a weak, helpless woman the way you and father always treated me." Leah informed her brother and Chance shifted so he was facing her.
"Leah, if you hadn't stayed here, if you had come home when you should have then none of this would be happening." he stated matter of factly.
"And if you had just listened to me instead of trying to show how tough you were then you, me and Chase might have been able to get away before being all trussed up like cattle."
"You want to fight about this now?" Chance demanded.
"You started it."
"This makes me glad to be an only child." Chase muttered.
"Can we focus on what we're going to do?" Leah asked with exasperation.
"There is nothing we can do. They took our weapons and tied us all up good and tight. Unless the Indian has some friends here I believe we're screwed." Chance grumbled.
The three of them fell silent. Leah didn't want to die. There was so much she was still supposed to do with her life. She and Chase were supposed to be leaving the camp, building their home and starting their lives together. They were NOT supposed to be facing death. She would never see her mother and father again. She would never be able to show her brother that he was wrong about Chase... She would never give Chase a son or a daughter. She would probably never again feel Chase's touch.... The hopelessness of the situation came to her all at once and she felt tears fill her eyes.
Chase saw her green eyes fill with tears as she pulled her knees into her chest and buried her face against them. The shirt he had given her to wear made every inch of her legs visible and the bruises Petey had placed on them stuck out in sharp contrast against her pale skin.
More than anything in the world he wanted to find a way to save her. Damn Petey! Damn Chance! Damn Boss! And damn himself for not getting Leah out of this world when he'd had the chance. Chase had finally found dreams and the hopes of a life unlike the hard one he'd been living and now they were being destroyed before they'd even had a chance to fully develop.
He wanted to offer words of comfort to Leah. Promise her that everything was going to be okay and they would all make it out of this with their lives. But those words would be nothing more than pretty lies and Chase could never lie to Leah. He loved her far too much to give her false hope.
***
Louisa put her bag over her shoulder and slipped silently out the back of the tent that all the women in camp stayed in. She had to get out of here. Now that she knew that Leah was alive it would only be a matter of time before her part in what had happened was brought to light and Louisa knew that if Chase got off that post he was tied to, he would end her life without a second thought.
And if not him then that other man. Leah's brother. Brother! Leah was not supposed to have two knights in shining armor to rush to her rescue. Louisa sighed. She'd had a nice life with this camp but that was over now and she'd have to find another group of men to stay with. Or perhaps she could get a job in a brothel somewhere, though she was getting past the age of most new hires she still had a girlish figure and that would work in her favor.
She grabbed the reins of a horse, only to feel a hand close around her arm.
"Where you think you're going, girl? Looks to me like you're running off with your tail 'tween your legs is what it looks like to me." Louisa felt a hot ball of dread settle into her stomach at the sound of Tig's voice.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. I just think it's time for me to be moving on." Louisa replied, yanking her arm from his grasp.
"I think it's time for you to quit being such a bitch. HeeHee, yep that's what I think." Tig countered.
"How dare you?!" Louisa demanded. "You certainly weren't calling me a bitch this morning."
"I was thinking with my pecker this morning, I ain't thinking with it no more. Nope, I got my eyes fixed right on what you really are. You kept me busy and sent Leah to that river, you did. I'm thinking you sent Petey there too, I am."
"Tig, you've lost your mind." Louisa replied with a wave of her hand.
"Haha! Can't lose what I never had darlin! You on the other hand is gonna lose your life if you don't do what I ask."
"And what exactly are you asking for?" Louisa asked suspiciously. She knew she had no choice but to do as he said. She had heard a lot of talk about the people Tig had killed. He wouldn't hesitate to add one more to that list. He would kill her in order to prove himself to Chase in hopes of keeping the Indian from killing him if he got loose, for allowing Leah to get out of his sight.
"You're going to do what you do best, Louisa. You're going to go comfort poor Chase and slip this little knife into his hands. He'll do the rest." Tig held up the tiny three inch blade and Louisa shook her head.
"If I get caught Boss will kill me." she stated.
"And if you refuse I'll kill ya, heehee! No more rides on the Spanish love train!" Louisa knew she had no choice. Either refuse and let Tig kill her or help and have Chase kill her once Leah told him of her treachery. Louisa knew that death by Chase's hand would be swifter and less painful.
She took the knife from Tig's hand and gave him a look that she hoped portrayed her full annoyance and irritation with him. He just gave her a broken toothed grin and walked away with his hands folded behind his back while whistling an upbeat tune.
Louisa walked back into her tent, laid her bag down, slid the knife into her skirt pocket and fluffed out her hair. She might as well enjoy this final time that she'd feel Chase touching her with anything other than the urge to spill her blood in his eyes.
She slipped from her tent and saw that most of the men were still busy and preoccupied with burying the dead bodies. She knew that once the bodies were buried, Boss would deal with Chase, Leah and Leah's brother and then he'd be moving the camp.
Louisa breathed deep to combat the nausea she was feeling in her gut. If Chase already knew about her part in what had happened to Leah then he was liable to use the knife she handed him to slit her throat.
Chase looked up and caught sight of her and from the look in his black eyes Louisa knew that he didn't know. He looked irritated, yes, but certainly not murderous.
"Hey there, big guy, you look like you've had better days." she purred as she came to a stop in front of him and crouched down, letting her shirt ride low and pushing her cleavage up with her arms.
"Leave." Chase growled as he turned his head and looked away from her. Louisa could feel Leah's eyes burning into her. Louisa licked her lips and sat down on Chase's lap, wrapping her legs around his waist. She felt him stiffen and his face became as hard as stone.
"Leave." he repeated.
"Come on now, Chase, you used to like it when I did this." Louisa reminded him, pressing her full lips against his neck. She realized that Leah was moving toward them, scooting across the ground, and she seemed ready to kill. Louisa slipped her hand inside her pocket and pulled out the knife.
She put her arms around Chase and slid the knife into his hand.
"I'm not sure what Tig has planned but he wanted you to have this." she whispered in his ear and then with a sigh she pushed herself off of him and sashayed away, casting a single glance at Leah and another longer one at her brother.
He was a handsome man with thick blond hair, broad shoulders and a boyish face. Though right now he looked sad, defeated and broken down with guilt. Louisa went straight back to her tent and grabbed her bag. She had done her part and now she was going to make her escape while she still had all of her blood.