Hosea Matthews X Caring Female Reader
Summary: Arthur and Uncle take the girls (including the reader) into Valentine and they get ambushed by some O'Driscolls, and the reader gets kidnapped by them.
Word Count: 1880
Arthur and Uncle had taken you, Mary-Beth, Karen, and Tilly into Valentine whether they had the intention of robbing someone or just getting out of camp for the day. You didn't even get into Valentine. Arthur had stopped to help a man get his spooked horse back, and while he was away from the wagon a group of O'Driscolls ambushed you all.
You and the other women managed to climb down from the wagon in time to get away from the other gang. You gasped as a strong hand grabbed your arm and pulled you backwards, another arm wrapping around your waist. You screamed out for somebody to help you, Arthur looked over at you and tried to get to you but another O'Driscoll got in his way and knocked his gun out of his hand, starting a messy fist fight.
You called out for somebody to help you again and the other woman shouted Arthur to do something, considering they didn't have any weapons on them. Uncle had shot at the man pulling you away from the group but missed him. Before you knew it you had be hoisted up onto a horse and had left the others in your dust.
The other O'Driscolls fled, leaving Arthur, Uncle, and the other women behind. "Arthur, you have to do something!" Karen told him as they climbed back onto the wagon.
"Uncle, take them back to camp. I'm going to see where they took Y/N" Arthur ordered before calling his horse and riding off in the same directions that the O'Driscolls went.
When everybody got back to the camp, without you or Arthur, people had questions about what had happened. The news of your kidnapping had spread through the camp quickly and soon reached Hosea. As soon as he heard the news, he was concerned. You were the nicest and most caring person that he had ever met. He wouldn't know what to do with himself if something happened to you.
Arthur had found the O'Driscoll camp but decided not to risk going in alone, so he returned to Horseshoe Overlook to gather up some assistance. Of course Javier, Charles, Sean, Lenny, and a few other gang members offered to help bring you back home safely. However, the most keen to go with Arthur to bring you was Hosea.
The O'Driscolls had your hand's tied behind your back and tied to a wooden post so that you couldn't move. You hadn't been there for too long, a few hours perhaps, but the O'Driscoll boys hadn't stopped tormenting you. Whether they were making crude comments, kicking you on their way past you, or spitting at you as they walked past.
One of the men had knelt down in front of you and reached his hand towards you, tucking your hair behind your ear. You tried to pull away from him and turned your head away from him, a look of disgust on your face. He just chuckled as his finger tips grazed down your neck. You could feel yourself tearing up but refused to actually cry in front of this man. Your eyes shot open and you looked around to see what was happening when you heard gun shots.
The man that was kneeling in front of you shot to his feet and hurried towards the rest of his gang. You watched as the O'Driscolls slowly dropped dead, flinching slightly when a gunshot sounded too close for comfort.
Your eyes widened and you gasped on shock when you felt somebody behind you untying your hands. Once your hands were freed you pulled away from the post and whoever was behind you before turning to face the person who untied your hands.
"Hosea" You sighed in relief when you saw the familiar face.
"Are you alright?" Hosea asked as he stepped towards you, leaning down and gently holding on to your forearms as he helped you to your feet.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine" you nodded frantically, still in shock from what had happened to you.
"Your wrists are bleeding" Hosea frowned as he took your hands in his, holding your wrists up to where he could see them better. You hadn't even realised that your wrists were bleeding until now, they had been rubbed raw by the rope that you had been tied up with and you knew that they were going to be sore for a while.
"Come on. I said that I would find you and take you back to camp" he explained, placing his hand on your shoulder and guiding you towards where he left his horse.
"What about the others? Are they alright?" you asked, looking over your shoulder to see the others who were still fighting. Hosea couldn't help but smile slightly, you had just been kidnapped and you still just wanted to make sure that everyone else was alright.
"They will be alright. Let's just get you back to camp and look at your wrists" he assured you, helping you onto the front of his horse.
Hosea mounted the horse so that he was sitting behind you, he wrapped one arm around your waist and let you lean back against his chest as you rode off towards your camp.
You took the moment to relax, the feeling of Hosea's chest against your back and his arm wrapped around your waist. You were actually glad that he was the one who came to untie you and take you back to camp, you had always felt differently towards Hosea. You had a crush on him for a while now. You always spent a lot of time together in camp because you enjoyed each other's company.
Hosea smiled as he tightened his hold on you ever so slightly, he had wanted to hold you close like this for a long time now but he wished that it was under better circumstances. He was just happy that you are alright.
Once you got back to the camp Hosea helped you down from the horse and ushered you towards his tent. Mary-Beth, Tilly, and Karen had hurried over to make sure that you were alright when you first got back to camp. After you assured them that you were fine and that you would catch up with them later, they left you and Hosea.
Hosea sat you down on his cot, frowning at your wrists. "I'm just going to wrap them in bandages" Hosea told you as he knelt down in front of you and began to wrap the bandage around one of your wrists.
You frowned at him as he seemed so distracted. "Hosea?" you asked but didn't get a response from him. Actually, he hadn't been acting like himself since he found you at the O'Driscoll camp. "Hosea, stop. Just look at me, please" you whispered as you cupped his cheek in your hand and lifted his head to look at you.
Hosea released his gentle hold on your wrist and looked up at you. "You had me scared for a moment, Y/N" he confessed, hoping that his confession came off as friendly rather than something else.
"Yeah...I was pretty scared too" you chuckled, no real humour in your words. "But I knew that someone would come and get me" you smiled, and it was true. Of course you knew that they wouldn't leave you there.
"Well, I'm not going to leave you with the O'Driscolls. Arthur was just going to take Charles and Javier with him, but I insisted that I went with them" Hosea told you as he began to bandage your other wrist.
"Now, why would you do something like that, Mr Matthews?" you asked as you smiled at him, actually happy to hear that he had been so concerned about you.
"I couldn't forgive myself if something happened to you while I was sitting back here at camp" the older man admitted as he finished bandaging your other wrist.
"You, Hosea, are a very sweet man" you smiled as he dropped your wrist, using your other hand to rest tenderly on his cheek. He looked you in the eye and couldn't help but smile at you, he just couldn't help but adore that tender and affectionate glint in your eyes. You hand was soft and warm against his cheek, a feeling that he couldn't help but lean into.
"Not as sweet as you, Miss" Hosea spoke softly, his voice barely above a whisper. Your cheeks heated up at his words, not expecting him to say something like that. He smiled when he noticed your cheeks had turned a light pink colour.
Your hand was still gently on his cheek, so Hosea turned his head ever so slightly and pressed a light kiss to your bandaged wrist. You were very shocked at his actions and it caused your cheeks to turn a darker shade of pink. When you didn't pull your wrist away, Hosea assumed that you weren't bothered by his actions but didn't think that he should push his luck and try anything more.
Hosea began to pull away from you and began to stand up but stopped when you gently grabbed the collar of his jacket. "Hosea..." you spoke but didn't know how to continue your sentence. "...thank you, for everything. I'm glad that it was you who found me in that camp" you smiled, feeling your eyes tearing up at the thought of beginning stuck in that awful camp with those awful men for any longer.
"You're welcome, I would do it again if I had too" he assured you but frowned when he saw you tearing up. "Come 'ere, you're alright now" he smiled comfortingly as he stood up and pulled you into him for a comfortable embrace. You smiled to yourself, wiping away the few tears that rolled down your cheeks as you lay your head against his chest and Hosea wrapped his arms around you.
You both stood together for a moment in each other's arms, just enjoying having each other so close. You poked your head up and kissed his cheek, causing Hosea to look down at you. When his gaze caught yours, you both paused. You could feel the tension in the air and the pulled that seemed to moved between you both. You knew that he wouldn't make a move, he was too much of a gentleman even if he wanted too. You took a breath before leaning up and pressed your lips so softly against his that Hosea wasn't sure whether he was imagining it.
You were about to pull away and apologise, but just before you did Hosea began to kiss you back. His hands pressed gently against your back while your hands moved to cup his face.
You both pulled away from each other and smiled, your fingers running through his hair affectionately. "You must be hungry, Pearson should've made the stew by now. Come on, let's go get you something to eat" Hosea smiled as he held his arm out to you, you held onto his arm as you both ducked out of his tent with content smiles on your faces.
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