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Hayden knew that she didn't have anything to do with what happened, yet he wanted her to come along and even he didn't know why exactly he wanted her to be there. Perhaps he was looking for someone to punish and since Austin wasn't here, she would be a good substitute. He shook his head, not wanting to think about it like that. He still felt terrible about hitting her and he kept monitoring her to see if she was okay.
"We've picked up his trail," one of the men riding before him said and Hayden felt a sense of relief yet there was a sense of foreboding. He knew they would eventually catch up to Austin but the inky thing he wasn't sure of what the man's reaction would be when he was caught. If there was one thing he knew about Austin, it was that he was the best rider and shooter he had ever seen with enough power in him to rival that of a stallion and that made him extremely dangerous in both far and close quarters.
Ike rode off to the front and seemed determined to keep silent and normally Hayden would be fine with it, but he felt like he needed to talk and when he looked at Lee, he decided that maybe the best thing was to keep silent and to himself.
"It's creepy to stare," she said suddenly.
"I wasn't staring at you, ma'am. There are many other things out here to stare at that would be more visually entertaining," he said.
"You know you're an asshole, right?" She asked him and he sniffed. No one spoke to him in that manner except for Austin but then again, Austin could lift him bodily and slam him in the ground. This case was different. Was it because she was a woman?
"I didn't mean to hit you. It was in the heat of the moment and there was a lot happening at the same time. I needed to immobilize you while stuff was figured out," he said. He wasn't even sure why he was defending himself to her, but the truth remained that he had to tell her something and it wasn't even entirely for her own benefit. Why did he even care how she saw him?
"Why didn't you go after him then?" She asked. He started to speak then clenched his teeth and shook his head.
"Because you're scared that you might actually catch up to him and get yourself hurt?" Lee asked, malice in her voice.
"There is more to this than you know, and I'd advise you to keep your mouth shut. You don't understand anything about what had to happen there yesterday, he scoffed.
"I just find it strange that you let your father chase after the big bad guy and you run after the girl who can't even properly defend herself," Lee said.
"You were with him, and he is usually with women a lot tougher than you. You seem to be made of marshmallows and clouds. The kind of women that Austin normally hangs with would be much more difficult to unhorse and I treated you like one of those women. Don't blame me for the kind of company that you choose to keep, and I know that you may not be involved in this but that doesn't mean you are an angel or something like that. I can see that you don't even want us to catch him, do you?" He asked.
He watched her face crumple then harden as she looked away from him and back at the endless plain.
"He was a lot nicer than you are, respectful. I can't imagine a world where a man like that is the villain and you're the one who has been wronged. That's what I think," she said.
"So, what you're saying is that if you saw him before the rest of us and he needed you to lend him a hand to escape, you would do it?" He asked and Lee shook her head.
"He may have been nice and had his reasons to steal your horse but he knew that he was in this shit and had me roped into it, so I don't owe him any favors. I'd probably ignore him because I don't owe you any favors as well. Y'all just figure it out on your own," she said.
Hayden started to regret his decision to even talk to her in the first place and he rode up to his father.
"Finding him will be no easy task. You know how these Butler boys were. They know every rock and every tree, and he probably had charted the best route that would lead to his escape," Ike said thoughtfully.
"We have blocked off every known route," Hayden said and Ike shrugged.
"Well, there's always one…. sometimes more than one that's unknown and somehow, he always knows that one. Do you follow?" He asked. Hayden was silent for a while hesitant to ask the question that was on his mind, but he knew that it needed to be asked.
"You sound like you admire him," he said. Ike nodded.
"He's a capable man," Ike replied.
"What are you going to do when we catch him?" He asked and Ike shrugged.
"Have a talk with him then turn him over to the police. They can sort it out," he said.
"That's all?" He asked, Ike looked at Hayden.
"I know that you have had a rather rough relationship with him, and you are quite angry, but I have known Austin since the day he was born. I will not harm him, and he'll be given to the police who will decide what to do with him. That but that’s it, it’s out of our jurisdiction," he said.
Hayden thought about the matter and went silent. They kept riding until it was evening and Hayden heard hooves coming up by him and he looked to the side to see Lee riding close to him, her eyes forward like she was prepared to ride right into the horizon. He looked down at her mare, noting the good quality.
"Does she have a name?" He asked. His question seemed to Jolt her out of some kind of reverie because she flinched then looked at him and the scorn returned.
"What?" She asked.
"Your horse. Does she have a name?" He asked. He watched her clench her jaw like she was trying to decide if it was okay to give him the name of her mare then she finally exhaled slowly.
