"Chris! You better come quick!" Mary called into the saloon.He saw the terror in her eyes, heard it in her voice. He knew something was wrong. His hand reached for his gun immediately.
"What’s going on?" he asked her, following cautiously through the batwing doors.
"Ezra, Buck and JD just came back. They found Vin," she said.
"Where?" Chris growled.
"They’re bringing him up to Nathan’s now," the woman replied to his back.
+ + + + + + +
"What happened?" the gunslinger demanded as he burst into the small clinic.
"Don’t know," Buck replied sadly. "Ezra, JD and I found him at the bottom of Blue Eye Bluff. He’s a mess, Chris," he added quietly.
Chris moved closer to the bed and got his first glimpse of the tracker. He paled, and would have staggered back away, if not for Josiah’s comforting presence and firm hand on his shoulder.
"Nate?" Chris whispered.
"It’s bad, Chris," the healer replied, continuing to assess the tracker’s injuries. "Knife wound, busted ribs, concussion...," he began to list.
"What was he doing out there to begin with?" JD wondered aloud.
"Vin once told me he goes out there when he’s got problems to sort out," Buck replied.
"It appears Mr. Tanner acquired more problems by going there," Ezra remarked.
The man on the bed began to move about, moaning as he did.
"Easy, Vin," Nathan soothed. "Try not to move around so much." The gentle voice soothed Vin and he quieted.
"Who would do this to him, bounty hunters?" JD wondered aloud.
"Nah, bounty hunters would have taken him with him," Buck retorted, admonishing the younger man.
"Shit," Nathan cursed quietly.
"Nate?" Chris called again, anxious.
"He’s got more wounds..." the healer trailed. "Josiah, give me a hand," he called.
The men all gave Nathan whatever assistance they could, helping Nathan with his work, tending Vin’s various injuries. All the while, Chris sat vigilantly at Vin’s side, cooling the tracker’s fevered brow with damp cloths.
"I wish Vin would wake up so we could tell who did this to him," Buck muttered. "We didn’t find any tracks or signs of anybody else but him up there."
"Well, it isn’t as if Mr. Tanner would do this to himself," Ezra remarked.
Nathan just shook his head. "There must have been a whole gang up there that did this to him," he said.
"What do you mean?" Chris asked.
"Just the different kinds of wounds he’s got," Nathan began. "Knife wound, busted ribs, concussion...,"
"Gunshot wound, whip marks, brands...," Josiah continued.
"When we found him, he said he couldn’t see," JD put in. "And that he was real thirsty, like he hadn’t had anything to drink all day."
"And he was shiverin’ awful fierce when we got there, too," Buck added. "Wrapped him up in those blankets as soon as we could."
"I don’t think he heard a word we said," Ezra joined in. "No matter how much we soothed him or talked to him, it was as if he was deaf."
"Add a sunburn to that, too," Nathan said, reentering the conversation.
"Add a fever to all of those," Chris cut in angrily, looking up at the men in the room.
"A dozen ailments," Ezra said, having been counting.
"You don’t think... no...," Buck stuttered, his jaw opening and closing involuntarily.
Just then the silence of the room was shattered by the voice of the injured man in the bed.
"Fuck me hard!" Vin screamed.
The six men gathered around Vin’s bedside turned shocked faces toward the ill and injured sharpshooter, aghast at his outburst. Only one had ever heard Vin utter such words before, and he longed for Vin’s recovery so that he could hear them again, uttered for him and him alone... he felt his cock harden.
"It’s them," Chris spoke stonily, meeting the gazes of the other six men, seeing them nod in agreement.
"Well," Ezra sighed. "I guess I may as well go back to the saloon. My services are no longer needed."
"Guess that goes for me, too," Josiah said, standing. "The only time Vin’s gonna be calling for God now, three would definitely be a crowd."
"We never get any action," Ezra muttered as he joined Josiah and exited the clinic.
Chris looked to JD, who seemed undecided in his next move. "JD?"
"I don’t know what to do, Chris," he began. "Sometimes I stay and help out. Sometimes I just go off with Casey," he finished, shrugging his shoulders.
"JD, did you hear what Vin just said?" Buck asked. "I don’t think you’re needed here."
JD nodded sheepishly, picked up his bowler hat and left.
Nate and Buck looked at each other, each still unsure of their roles.
"He’s still busted up too much," Nathan started to say, but then his eyes widened. "Shit, look at that! Those wounds are already closin’ up!"
"Don’t be so surprised, Nathan," Buck smiled. "You know you can heal anything and everything. You ain’t lost one of us, yet!"
"Well, I guess my work is done here, then," the healer said, cleaning up his instruments and extra bandages before leaving the clinic.
Chris looked down at the still sleeping tracker, silently thanking those up above for the sudden turn of events. He noticed a presence still by the bed.
"Buck?" he asked.
"I still ain’t got nothin’ else to do," he said. "Looks like we’re in this one together."
"Get out, Buck," Vin whispered, blinking blue eyes. "They said there’s only one person allowed ‘fuck me hard’ today and they told me it wasn’t you."
"Can’t I even watch?" the mustached man asked. "Sometimes they let me, you know."
"Not today, Buck," Chris said, glaring at his old friend, now.
"Shit."
After the door was closed, and Chris and Vin were alone, the two men faced each other. Vin shakily removed the blankets to reveal his hard, lean and scarred body.
"I wish they didn’t have to hurt you so much," Chris whispered, removing his own clothing.
"I know," Vin replied. "Don’t they know that I’ll let you fuck me anytime, anywhere. That they don’t have to hurt me and get you to comfort me first. I mean, using gunshots and fevers as foreplay...," he trailed.
"As long as I get to fuck you in the end, that’s all that matters," Chris replied kissing the tracker soundly.
"Easy for you to say, Cowboy. They don’t hurt you near as much as me," Vin retorted.
"How’s that saying go?" Chris thought aloud. "You always hurt the ones you love?"
"Well then I guess you better fuck me good and hard, Chris. Make it hurt so good."
And he did.
END