Chapter Ten
Gill paced the small tent he shared with Pete and buried his hands in the wiry strands of his black hair. Shit fire and save the matches, what the hell had he done?! His body was still humming and tingling from the pleasure that Jeb had shown him but it had been wrong--all wrong.
Jeb was the enemy. Gill was going to turn him in. Gill couldn’t let himself lose sight of that! Not only that but Gill couldn’t allow Pete to know what he was.. Pete couldn’t know what he was because Gill would lose his best friend and he knew for a fact that would be a loss he couldn’t handle. Pete had been his best friend since they’d been boys….
“Gill?” Pete’s voice was cautious as he poked his head in through the tent flap. “Is it safe to walk in or will I get hurt? Should I throw my hat in first and see if it comes back chewed up?”
Gill rolled his eyes and stopped pacing, letting his arms fall to his sides. “It’s safe.”
Pete stepped inside, his brown eyes still cautious. “What’s the matter? I’ve known you long enough to know you’re upset about something…”
“It’s nothing, Pete,” Gill insisted.
Pete feigned hurt and covered his chest with his hands. “Gill, don’t shut me out,” he implored, batting his lashes. “We share a heart beat, best friend. When you hurt, I hurt, so why are we hurting?”
Gill sighed and flopped down on his bedroll, lying on his back and throwing his arm over his face. “I don’t want to do this.”
He heard Pete’s movements as the other man took a seat on his own blankets. “It’s our job, Gill. Ain’t that what you were just telling me last night? We do what the Captain tells us.”
“If J.T wants this shit done then he needs to come do it himself,” Gill snapped, rolling onto his side and looking at his best friend. “It just doesn’t feel right, Pete.”
Pete shifted in his cross-legged position and picked at a ball of lint on his wool blanket. “I know. That Jane is something else, Gill….”
“No, Pete. No getting involved,” Gill warned, feeling a million times a hypocrite as he did so when memories of the woods flashed through his mind.
Pete raised a red brow. “If you don’t want to get involved, why did you beat the hell out of those men for picking on Wyatt?”
“Just keeping our cover and trying to gain trust,” Gill lied.
Pete laughed. “You never could lie to me. Admit it, Gill, you like these people and I’m not the only one getting attached.”
Gill shoved himself to his feet and grabbed his black hat off the floor. “It won’t do any good to dwell on it, Pete. Now, dammit, we have a job to do and we’re goddamn Texas Rangers and gonna do it right. No attachments, no friendships. We gain trust, figure out where they’ll be bunkered down awhile and bring the Calvary in on their asses. These are thieves, bandits and wanted outlaws and it’s our duty to see justice done.”
Pete was chuckling as he stood up. “Are you trying to convince me or yourself?”
Gill glared at the gap-toothed know-it-all. “You, Casanova. Leave Jane to Willie and back off.”
Pete sighed and held up his hands. “Fine.” Then his brown eyes narrowed. “What did Jeb want with you in the woods? Was anything wrong?”
Gill felt his heart beat quicken as those memories once again replayed themselves. His palms grew slick with sweat, which he wiped on his pants. “He wasn’t too happy that we brawled and warned me not to do so again or we’d be gone,” he lied.
“Well hell, you’d think the bastard would be happy since we brawled to defend his friend.”
“You didn’t even know what you were brawling for until the brawl was over,” Gill reminded him. “You enjoy hitting people.”
Pete tossed him a lopsided grin. “You told me to hit him and I live to serve, brother.”
Gill smiled at his brain addled friend, more to soothe the concern he could still see in Pete’s eyes than for any other reason. “You really are a few bricks shy of a load, Pete.”
Pete nodded. “Been told that a time or two.”
“So, we’re gonna do our job and stop with all this sentimental bullshit, right?” Gill questioned.
Pete stood up scratched at his cheek. “We don’t get paid for making friends, do we? Let’s do our job, Gill.”
Gill wasn’t real happy with the knowledge that he had to do what he knew he had to do and he could tell that Pete wasn’t either. Gill made a mental note to tell Captain J.T. Morgan that he could take any other undercover assignments he might have up his sleeve and redirect them to his ass. Gill wasn’t this man. He wasn’t a liar or a man who mislead others into trusting him only to turn his back on them later. It simply wasn’t his way.
Gill stepped across the tent and put his arm around Pete’s shoulders. “We are brothers, aren’t we? No matter what?”
Pete frowned. “Of course we are, Gill. Now as much as I appreciate the love I’m feeling, it’s not like you to be so sentimental. You sure everything’s okay?”
Gill pulled away and slid his hat back over his head. “Yeah, everything’s fine. I just… This whole business has me feeling a bit off.”
Pete batted his lashes and blew a kiss toward him which had Gill smiling despite his knotted stomach and tangled thoughts. “You don’t have to make excuses to love me, Gill. You know my heart is yours.”
Gill just shook his head and chuckled as he left the tent. A walk by the river was what he needed and all he could hope for was that his secret would remain his. He didn’t want to lose Pete….From now on, he would make sure there was no alone time spent with Jeb Crane. Gill had a job to do and he hadn’t worked so hard for the last eight years building up his career with the rangers to let it all go down the drain now just because some outlaws seemed like decent people and their leader had a way of getting under Gill’s skin and making him lose all control…..
***
Jeb and Craig stood together beside the river at sunset that night. The brother’s looked out over the water and contemplated what they were going to do.
“I think we can trust them, Jeb,” Craig announced.
“I already know where you stand on the subject,” Jeb assured him. “I’m just trying to think about where I want my feet.”
Craig grinned and poked his older brother in the ribs with his elbow. “Come on, you know you’re fond of Gill…”
Jeb shook his head. “There’s a different between fondness and lust, little brother. You oughta know that since you bed down anything in a skirt that has a heartbeat.”
“What’s got you so worried, Jeb?” Craig asked. “I don’t think it would hurt a damn thing to let then come along on our next job. They might not even want to but it couldn’t hurt to ask. Gill’s real good with a gun, you saw that yourself.”
Jeb nodded because it was true. He’d seen Gill shoot those cans out of the air and knew the man was damn good with a revolver. And Pete carried that sharps around on his back and had told Jane all about his talent with the rifle at long range. Having two extra men along could help but it could also hurt. Two extra men meant two extra chances for things to go wrong on their next set of jobs.
As much as Jeb wanted to keep Gill around, especially after their time in the woods, he had to put his family first--they counted on him.
“We have to put the safety of the gang ahead of everything else,” Jeb stated.
“And I don’t think they’ll be a problem,” Craig insisted. “Hell, Jeb, Gill and Pete kicked ass today to defend Wyatt and they didn’t have to do that! Wyatt ain’t quit carrying on about it all day. That’s Rafe’s boy, Jeb, and we aint’ got any reason to think we can’t trust him.”
Jeb stared out over the water and thought about what his brother said. Truthfully, Jeb wanted to keep Gill around. He wasn’t done sampling everything the man had to offer and didn’t want to let him go so soon. And Gill had defended Wyatt today which earned him quite a bit of respect in Jeb’s book.
Jeb let out a slow breath and nodded. “Okay. We’re leaving out the day after tomorrow so we’ll talk to Gill and Pete and see if they’d be interested in joining up with us for a while.”
Craig was practically bouncing with excitement. “I bet you could talk Gill right into it!” he winked.
Jeb felt his cheeks heat and he quickly turned away from his brother and busied himself gathering up stones. Craig walked to the water’s edge and crouched down to drink several large mouthfuls of the cool, clear liquid.
“Jane will be happy too,” Craig admitted, setting back on his heels. “She’s really getting fond of Pete.”
Jeb shook his head. “That’s got me worried. Willie ain’t the type to simply back down from something and let it go. He fancies Jane as being his.”
“She’s told him a hundred and one times she don’t want him!” Craig exclaimed. “He’s just too stubborn to listen to her.”
“It could cause tension that we don’t need….”
Craig sighed. “Willie’s just gonna have to understand. Jane deserves a bit of happiness after what she’s been through and if Pete’s the man that can give it to her then I’ll support that.”
Jeb nodded thoughtfully, his mind drifting back to the day that Jane had lost her husband. Greg had thought the sun rose and set in Jane and she’d felt the same way about him… The man would have taken that rich bastard easy if he hadn’t been worried about the two hired guns the man had with him. Jane did deserve happiness and she did seem to have a certain fondness for Pete.
Jeb tossed his handful of stones into the water and turned to face his brother. “Let’s go then. Hell, they may not even want to come along.”
***
“Really? Hell’s bells, Gill! The Crane Gang wants us to join up with them… did you ever think we’d get a chance like this?” Pete asked, nudging Gill with his elbow.
Jeb watched Gill thoughtfully. The other man didn’t seem as excited as his friend. His rich brown eyes were frowning even as his lips smiled. “Sounds good to me.”
“You sure you got what it takes?” Jeb asked, frowning at both men as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t know a thing about Pete and I haven’t heard anything too promising about what you’ve been doing in the last few years.”
Gill shrugged. “If a man’s good what he does then there won’t be anyone using his name when they talk about it.”
Craig chuckled. “He’s got you there, big brother.”
“Alright then. Tomorrow will be our last day here at camp and I’ll be sending a few of you into town to get the supplies we need,” Jeb addressed everyone. “Then it’ll be time to go get to work.”