Nobody’s around and Evan looks like a morsel laid out for me. I slide into the water and take his cock into my mouth, at which he spurts into my throat. Fueled by this, I climb over him and shove my dick into his mouth. “Suck me off.”
As he sets to work, somebody says, “That’s enough.”
I turn to see Jack on the shore, fully dressed and pistol pointed at me.
“Pull out,” he adds, “or I’ll kill you.”
I do as told and Evan sits up. I tell him to stay put. “You plan to shoot me, Jack? You’ll have to answer for that.” As I speak, I take a step toward him because I don’t believe he’s got backbone enough to do what he wants to do. My being more sure than him gives me the advantage, and I take another step his way.
“Stay put,” he orders, but I don’t.
One more step and I tell him, “Best shoot me if you’re going to.”
He backs away, but keeps the gun on me.
I walk onto the shore and pick up my pants. In one quick move, I swing them around hard as I can, knocking away Jack’s gun. Then I’m on him, fists flying at his gut, jaw, you name it.
Everything I hate about him comes loose, and soon he’s on the ground, begging me to stop. Unfortunately for him, this angers me further, such a weakling, so I grab him at the neck and drag him into the river, where I hold him under until he’s drowned.
The river is clear and Jack looks up at me, dead man with eyes wide, mouth open. My hands stay on him until he’s quiet for some minutes. Only then do I stand.
I’m breathing like a horse run to lather and pass a few seconds in near swoon before I gain myself and look at Evan. He still sits in the water, though now his mouth is open.
“You’re witness,” I say. “He drew on me, an unarmed man.”
Evan nods and gets up.
As we dress, something occurs to me. “Never killed a man while naked.”
Evan snorts a laugh. That’s it for the funny part. Once dressed, he asks, “What now?”
“No idea.”
“Did you kill him because of me?”
“He drew on me and I defended myself.”
“Okay.”
Just because it was a fair fight doesn’t spare me stepping up. He’ll have to get buried, and Noble will need to okay that, so I have to tell everyone what happened. I drag Jack from the water, lay him on the shore. I close his eyes, then tell Evan we’ll leave him for now.
“You come with me. Noble first.”
I’ve never had to explain killing a man, but I had never made it personal before, had never lay hands on the man either. Bullets are quick, distant, and with a robbery, there’s no looking back. I’ve shot at many a man, seen some fall, but never knew if any had died.
“Hello, boys,” Hannah says at the door. “Noble’s in the back.”
We go through the parlor where children play, then head for a room Noble uses as an office. It’s a mess, but he seems to like that. He’s at his desk when we come in.
“Noble, something happened I need to tell you about,” I announce.
He sits back in his chair. “Boys?”
“Jack drew on me down by the river and I killed him. Evan saw it.”
“Christ, Roy, what’s going on?”
“No idea. Jack can go haywire sometimes. You know that.”
“Evan?” asks Noble.
“It’s true. I was in the water. Jack came along and pointed his pistol at Roy, said he meant to kill him.”
“Why?”
“He didn’t say, just made his intention clear.”
“Well, this is a hell of a fix.”
“I’m sorry, Noble,” I tell him. “I don’t mean to put you on the spot, but on the other hand, Jack isn’t known to be here and there’s nobody who’ll look for him. He’s got no family. I figure we can bury him out near the edge of your property and nobody will know.”
Noble leans forward, puts elbows on the desk, and rubs his chin. “Guess this is my due for having you here. Okay, you take care of it. Plant him out near the foothills and make it deep. I don’t want some critter coming around with an arm in its mouth.”
“Will do. Thanks, Noble. And again, I’m sorry. I’ll go tell the men about it now.”
“Best do that.”
When we hit the front porch, everything stops, like the air has dried up. I draw a breath and get nothing, try again, and still no air. I grab a post.
“Roy, you okay?”
I wave him off, bending over because my head is swimming. I choke and cough, which frees up whatever has me in its grip, and I suck in air until I’m righted. And as I stand, I feel my hands on Jack’s throat, feel myself pressing down, feel the water. It’s so real, I shake my hands to get the wet off.
“Roy?” Evan says.
“I’m okay,” I assure him. “It just hit me what I did.”
He puts a hand on my shoulder, then slides it onto my back and starts to rub. “Hell of a thing, It would shake any man.”
After drawing long breaths, I finally have enough air so I get to the next part. I see the men coming toward the house for supper and I meet them partway. “Fellows, hold up a minute. I need to speak on something. Just now, down at the river, Jack drew on me and I had to defend myself and I killed him.”
Looks pass among the men, then Wade speaks. “Didn’t hear no shot.”
“I had no gun, being
