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“People would have been hurt…”
“Not likely. Imperium soldiers might have been, but citizens aren’t allowed within five miles of transformers. They don’t want them leeching power, or getting the technology. Now git up. We’re going to skirt around the edge of this salt plain. Might take us a little longer, but I think we are going to find more shade over there.”
We get on the horses and we ride. This is simple now. We go as hard and as fast as we can toward the place I used to call home. I never thought I’d go back. I never wanted to go back. Even now, with every stride my horse takes, I feel reluctance building in my stomach. For Orion, this is just about land. For me, it’s about home, betrayal, escape. I have more riding on this than anyone seems to understand. It’s alright for Orion. He’s a man. A powerful outlaw with a metal arm and a posse to back him up. But I’m a woman, and my options have always been limited. The promise of getting a ticket off this dump and being able to go somewhere I might have a life is all I have.
I have my reservations still. Every hour, this plan seems to get more tenuous. I’m not even sure how the legalities, such as they are, can work. Orion is wanted. He seems to think getting the papers to the ranch will make up for that, and maybe he’s right.
There are two laws in this land. One for the land holders, one for those who are beholden to them. He thinks that becoming landed is going to wipe away the sins of the outlaw, but I doubt the Imperium will see it that way. I’d argue with him that they’ll just confiscate it and execute him, but I still want to get off Cabbage Patch. I want my travel documents. I want a future that isn’t covered in dust, or lived in fear, and Orion is my best chance of either of those things happening.
We are using each other, both knowing that the odds of success aren’t good, but trying anyway, because what else can we do? Give up?
We ride all day. It is hot and sticky and I make sure I keep drinking because I don’t want Orion thinking I need any water up my butt. He has a twisted mind, and I get the feeling he might be just as wicked in the bedroom as he is on the streets.
As the long hours under saddle pass by, I find my mind filling with all kinds of thoughts which could not remotely be considered appropriate. I think back to that night in the saloon when I thought he was going to ravage me, and I feel my body fill with heat. Part of me wishes he had done so much more than use his belt. I wish I’d known the touch of his hand between my thighs. His body rising over mine. But that’s never going to happen. I’m not the sort of girl that men like Orion want. I saw the way the painted women smiled at him. I know the circles he’s been moving in. He’s used to arch women in full command of their sensual faculties, like the one in the saloon who offered herself for free. Orion is the sort of man women want, and that’s why I can’t keep myself from wanting him. It’s an animal thing. He’s a big strong male protecting me, the only thing standing between me and certain death.
“You alright back there?” He calls over his shoulder. My horse still can’t keep pace with him, but he’s reining his in, making sure there’s no more than a few lengths between us. Every time he looks back and I catch a glimpse of his eyes flashing at me, I feel another bolt of energy rushing to the very core of me.
I should be more careful, more chaste in my thoughts. Men are the kinds of animals who like to inflict themselves where they’re not wanted. In the days before he tried to kill me, the sheriff told me I would be dead soon, so my meat was his. That’s what he called my body. His meat. He was disgusting in every way, and I cannot wait to see his dead body gathering flies. There will be no grave dug for him.
As the heat of the day builds, Orion draws his horse up to a walk and I do the same.
The last couple days, we’ve had the prospect of his posse joining us at any moment, but it’s just him and me now. I feel the intensity between us crackling away, like a fire. I can hear the exhaust of the horses cooling them down after their charge across the desert, a hissing sound which punctuates the danger.
