Sathow's Sinners Read Online Free Page B

Deaugrey grimaced as if he’d just been asked to eat it raw. When he looked over to Nate, all he got was a nod. “You expect me to ride this out of town?” Deaugrey asked. “This?!”
    â€œThat or walk,” Nate replied, “because you sure as hell ain’t riding in the saddle behind me. The only ones who get to do that are a whole lot prettier than you.”
    â€œDon’t look at me,” Frank said. “My charity only extends so far.”
    â€œThat’s fine talk from the two of you. Especially since you expect me to offer my assistance on whatever treacherous outing you’ve lined up.”
    â€œYou don’t have to offer your assistance,” Nate said while climbing into his saddle. “I’m taking it all the same.”
    â€œThere’s not even a saddle.”
    â€œWe’ll pick one up in the next town we find. This one’s about to get too hot for us. There’s a posse forming to hunt down the lunatic that escaped from McKeag’s earlier today.”
    â€œImagine that,” Deaugrey mused. “Almost as frightening as the prospect of a man needing to ride across this great sprawling land of ours on the back of a mule.”
    â€œWe’re not crossing the country,” Nate told him.
    â€œStill . . . no saddle?”
    â€œDo you have a blanket?”
    â€œNo.”
    Nate made a sound as if he were trying to suck something out from between his teeth. “Then I guess there’s no saddle. Come along with me like we agreed or stay behind to face the music. Your choice.” Without another word, Nate pointed his horse’s nose away from the hitching post and flicked his reins. The spotted gelding took even less interest in Deaugrey’s predicament than his rider had and ambled down the street with a casual swish of its tail.
    â€œHere,” Frank said, tossing a bundle to the man who stood watching Nate in disbelief.
    Deaugrey caught the bundle as it unfolded to reveal itself as the dressing gown that had been wrapped around his body when he’d started his very eventful day. Despite all the hard times that utilitarian piece of clothing had seen him through, Deaugrey was none too appreciative for its return. “What am I supposed to do with this?”
    â€œYou take what you’re given,” the preacher said, “and be thankful you weren’t forgotten altogether.”
    â€œAw, to hell with this.”
    Shifting in his saddle, Frank swept aside his coat to show one of the .38s holstered at his hip. “Watch that tongue of yours, boy. Some of the Lord’s servants are more forgiving than others.”
    Frank got his horse moving at a pace that would catch up to Nate’s in roughly two miles. The expression on Deaugrey’s face was a mix of aggravation and smugness. The latter threatened to overtake the former when it became clear that neither of the other men was going to turn around and force him to follow them. Elsewhere in town, a commotion was brewing that had the promise to become quite a storm. Among the shuffling of hooves against packed dirt, the words “capture” and “drag back” could be heard interspersed with “beat him to a pulp.”
    â€œGod da—” Wincing as he looked at Frank’s back, Deaugrey threw his old gown across the mule’s back and climbed onto the tired animal. “Damn it,” he grunted. “Just . . . damn it.”

4
    Kansas
Two days later
    T he clatter of shod hooves against dusty rock sang out behind Nate in an uneven staccato entwined with heavy, grunting breaths. By the time Deaugrey’s mule caught up to his horse, Nate swore the sorry thing was going to flop over and die on the spot. At first, it overshot him. Then, after several frantic tugs on a set of old reins that had been coiled at the bottom of Frank’s saddlebag for the better part of a year, Deaugrey fell behind once