Cowboy from the Future (10 page)

Her
mouth dropped open.  “Are you seriously flirting with me, before you go off to
a gunfight? 
Seriously?
”

Cade
shrugged.  “Your hair does look nice.”  He said in way of an answer and slipped
out of the house before she could come up with a halfway intelligible response.

Addy
stared after him.  Crap.  She was
definitely
engaging with that idiot.

***

“One
of us will die, if we do this.”  Cade called and wished the damn fight was over
with already.  “Are you sure you want to start the count?  We can still walk
away.”

Werd
Carriollo stood at the other end of the street, his hand poised above his honuel
band.  “Oh, one of us will die alright, Voltyn!  And it’ll be
you
.  My
family won’t rest until we have justice!”

Werd
was a rangy man with a graying beard and clothes he never bothered to wash.  There
wasn’t a doubt in Cade’s mind that he’d trade all six of his brothers for an
opportunity to shoot Cade in the head.  The Carriollos hated him nearly as much
as the sheriff.  Then again, in Shadow-of-the-Gods, being Cade’s enemy wasn’t
exactly an exclusive club.

Cade
sighed.  He had no idea why he’d even bothered to suggest they avoid bloodshed. 
He always tried to talk the other guy out of the honuel, but they never took
him up on the offer.  “Alright.”  He agreed mildly and hoped to the gods that
Addy wasn’t watching this.  “You want to count it down or should I?”

“One!” 
Werd bellowed.

Men
were lining the streets, waiting to see the carnage.  A good honuel always
brought out the crowds.  Shaking his head, Cade braced his feet apart and
prepared to take another life.

Sometimes
he hated Shadow-of-the-Gods.

Actually,
no.  He
always
hated Shadow-of-the-Gods.  He hated that he’d had to
raise his brothers in such a shithole, because there was nowhere else to go.  Hated
the selfish, cruel people who lived there.  Hated the bigotry and violence they
embraced with religion fervor.  Hated that he woke up every day and started the
same never-ending cycle of hopelessness all over again.

And
it was worse since Addy came.

Until
he met her, Cade hadn’t noticed the lack of color and the despair that coated
his world.  Miserable as he was, he’d become inured to his bleak surrounding. 
Then, this shining creature appeared in his life and everything changed.  It
was so much easier to see the dirt after he’d gazed at something clean.  So
much harder to return to the miserable grays, after he’d stood for a moment in
the brilliant gold of Adeline’s aura.  She was changing things that couldn’t be
changed back.

What
the hell was he going to do when she left?

“Two!” 
Werd shouted, his hand poised above his hips.

The
honuel
belt was a leather holster that fit around the waist, with laz-guns
on either side.  On the count of four, each man would both draw, and shoot both
weapons, and whoever was left standing was declared the winner.  It was so
fucking pointless.

“Three!” 
Werd paused for a beat, his grubby face creasing into a smirk.  “I’m going to
enjoy this, Voltyn.”

Cade
wasn’t.

He
never enjoyed killing.  As soon as Werd was shot, it would begin.  The man’s
dull aura was going to come alive with jarring, painful orange as the blast
impacted his chest.  As he fell and knew he was doomed, yellow splotches of
fear would bloom.  Then, as he bled out, his aura would fade from the outside
in, like it was being eaten away by devouring bugs.  Until finally, Werd would
go still and the halo that surrounded all living things would be no more.

Only
Cade would witness it happen, but that wouldn’t make it any less horrible.  Seeing
a person turn into a thing was one of the worst parts of being a Voltyn.

“Once
you’re in the ground, I’ll be visiting that fvreing hot redhead you got in your
saloon.”  Werd continued with a suggestive leer.  “See if she’s as ripe as she
looks.”

“Do
not
talk about Adeline.”  Cade warned quietly.

“Bitch
needs to be fucked by a
human
, so she knows what she’s missing in bed with
a freak like you.”

Cade’s
eyes narrowed.  “Just call it and let’s get this over with.”

“FOUR!” 
Werd screamed, grabbing for his laz-guns.

On
the other hand, one of the
best
parts of being a Voltyn was having
really good reflexes.  Both of Cade’s weapons were free of the honuel
belt
and firing before Werd even drew his from the holster.  The laser blasts
slammed into Werd just like Cade knew they would.  The man fell back, just like
Cade knew he would.  And his aura slowly disappeared… just like Cade knew it
would.

The
crowd grew silent as Werd died in muddy snow.  Everyone gathered to watch the honuel
had been voting for him to kill Cade, but no one was particularly sad to see
Werd die instead.  Folks in Shadow-of-the-Gods weren’t a sentimental bunch. 
Shrugging in dismissal and muttering about the lackluster fight, they went
meandering back into their business, leaving Werd’s dead body where it lay.

Cade
let out a weary sigh, turning back to the saloon.  He knew Addy was going to be
standing on the porch, even before he saw her.  The woman was incapable of
doing anything he asked.  He stared up at her, hating that she’d just watched
him kill someone.  Hating that she saw this place for what it really was. 
Hating that he was just bred to kill and defend, without the softness she
deserved.

“I
told you I was dangerous.”  He said quietly.

Green
eyes were damp with compassion.  “Come inside, Cade.”  She whispered.  “It’ll
be alright.  Just come inside.”

“Someone’s
gotta dig a grave for him.”  He gestured towards Werd, not meeting Addy’s
gaze.  “The ground’s frozen and he’s an ass. 
Was
an ass.  Nobody else
will bother.”

“Jacobi
and Deke will do it.”  Addy held out a palm to him.  “You come with me, now.”

She
had the most beautiful hands he’d ever seen.  Cade had been insane to ever
question the point of the frivolous purple paint on her nails.  No matter what
it cost, it was worth it.  Addy
should
have pretty things.  Soft
things.  She should be surrounded by nothing but peace and sunlight.  She
deserved that.

A
lady this pure shouldn’t be in Shadow-of-the-Gods, where men died in the street. 
The death and grime and gloom of this place would destroy her.  Fuck.  Had he
even for one second imagined that he might be able to keep her?  That he could somehow
be worthy of such a gentle creature?

He
was such a godsdamn fool.

Cade
stepped back, away from the comfort she offered.  “I’m fine.”  He told her,
even though he wasn’t.  “Just stay in the house.  Stay away from
me
.”

“Cade,
wait!”  She called, but he was already walking away.

And don’t
think the fun ends at sundown!

Every day
wraps up with a fun-filled sing along and rousing campfire.

(Caution: 
DO NOT light rousing campfires without glamping-ranger supervision.)

Brown’s
Glampling Tours Official Pocket Guide

Addy
had read somewhere that NASA had shot a recording of Brandenburg Concerto No. 3
into space.  It was one of the artifacts that they thought would show the
universe the heights of human achievement.

Apparently,
Bach worked for communicating with future cowboys, too.  Well, that and all the
piano lessons she’d taken, during her “musical phase.”  In her continuing
search for something that clicked with her, tenth-grade-Addy had decided to be
a pianist.  The phase didn’t last long, since she’d kept blowing off practice
to watch afternoon soaps, but she could still play better than your average
Shadow-of-the-Godsian.  Cade’s bar didn’t have a baby grand, but it did have
that harpsichordy-violinish instrument and Addy had been glued to its bench for
over a month.

She
drew an audience every night.

The
sounds it made were lighter and sweeter than a piano, but it worked the same
way and it reminded her of home.  At first, she’d only played it when she was
alone, trying to recall every song she knew.  After a while, though, she stopped
worrying people watching her.  She had more on her mind than some smelly
miners, so let them eavesdrop if they wanted.

Every
night, she played whatever music she could dredge from her memory banks and the
whole town seemed enthralled.  It was weird to be at the center of so much
attention.  In fact, it made her uncomfortable, so Addy tried to ignore the
men.  She was playing the not!piano for herself not for them.

Mostly,
the men ignored her, too.  Or at least they didn’t talk to her. 
About
her sure.  She could piece together bits of their fractured language (although
she usually preferred not to) and she knew they liked to discuss her hair and
body and eyes and pretty much everything else from the feet up.  But, they
didn’t come close to her.  Not with the Westins around.

And
they were
always
around.

When
she went into town, one of them was right beside her.  Not that she left the
tavern often, but, when she did, Jake, Deke, or Cade played bodyguard.  Addy
didn’t feel safe anywhere that they weren’t.  Shadow-of-the-Gods was just about
the worst place she could imagine.  Every day, she was poised for more weird
laws and bloodshed, and she wasn’t usually disappointed.  She was
very
grateful for the Westins.

…No
matter grouchy Cade became.

Her
huge, brooding, unwilling landlord continued to catalogue every move she made,
like he was her probation officer.  Ever since his Wild Bill shootout in the
street, Cade had been surlier than ever.  He was clearly trying to avoid her,
which wasn’t so easy since they lived in the same house.

When
he did speak to her, it was usually to complain about the “disruptions” she
caused.  But, he’d yet to change the locks on her, so Addy ignored his grousing
and focused on the fact that he always watched out for her.  Whenever one of
his customers got too close, he’d snarl the same one word warning to them and
they’d scurry back to the safety of their rickety chair.  Addy had no idea what
“
nynan
” meant, but she knew he said it to protect her and it made her
feel safe.

With
Cade Westin, actions were a lot more important than words.

Jacobi
wasn’t nearly so anti-social.  Unlike his grumpy sibling, Jake liked to chat. 
Aside from gambling, stories were his favorite way to pass the time.  Any kind
of story.  When he wasn’t demanding that she tell him about her life, he was
telling her about his.  Jake was the one who’d explained more of future history
to her, although he seemed baffled as to why she didn’t already know it.

That
“flash” thing had wiped out everything, knocking civilization back to the Stone
Age.  Addy assumed it was some sort of nuclear blast, but she had no idea who’d
started it or which side had won.  As far as she could piece together, it must
have happened about five or six hundred years after her time.  She’d tried
asking Jacobi more about it, but he squinted at her like she was deranged and
she dropped the topic.

Jacobi
was far more interested in where she’d come from.  The kid continued to pepper
her with all kinds of questions about the wondrous metropolis of Yellowstone. 
Since, Addy couldn’t very well tell him the truth about her life, she made it
all up.  Lying didn’t come easy to her and it was hard to keep her stories
straight, at first.  But then she’d hit on a fabulous idea:  Television!

Instead
of creating her own lies, Addy let professionals do it for her.  She’d seen
enough reruns of
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
to recount a few Western-y
plots.  Mostly Addy watched ‘80s TV shows, but
Dr. Quinn
was close
enough that she owned the DVDs.  So long as no one asked her to midwife any
babies or treat a rattlesnake bite, everything should be fine.  Jacobi was Jane
Seymour’s biggest inadvertent fan.

She
was less comfortable with Deke.  As far as Addy could tell, the middle brother spent
all day every day, staring out the window, waiting for someone to attack.  She
still wasn’t clear on who he’d been fighting in the Wilderness War, but it
really didn’t matter.  It was more than just his missing arm leaving him
wounded.  Clearly, no one in Shadow-of-the-Gods was giving him adequate mental
health counselling, because the man seemed to be struggling with his memories
of battle.  Why didn’t somebody help him?  It was so wrong that…

Crap. 
She was engaging, again.

Her
plan to treat the Westins like passing acquaintances at an airport lounge got
harder every day.  Even when she knew it was a mistake to like them, she
liked
these guys.  They were exactly how she’d always pictured a real family.  Well,
maybe not
exactly
, but damn close.  They fought and complained and loved
each other.  It was getting way too easy to feel like she was a part of their
dysfunctional bond.  Like she had a place with them.

It
was a really bad idea to get so attached.

Addy
closed her eyes, pretending no one else was in the room.  Her fingers flew
across the keys, one note pouring out on top of another.  Mrs. Baines, her old
piano teacher, would’ve been pleased that she remembered at least one classical
piece.

Plus,
Addy was playing with more confidence than she ever had, because who cared what
the music sounded like in this place?  For all intents and purposes, she now preformed
the greatest concertos in the world.  Her father might have sadly shaken his
head at her musical efforts, but no one in Shadow-of-the-Gods had ever
heard
of Bach.  She could’ve been cranking out a McDonalds’ jingle for all they knew.

Christ,
she missed McDonalds.

She
finished the piece in a flurry of sound, messing up countless times.  Hell, she
forgot the whole middle part.  Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 was hard enough when
the music was right in front of her.  She still thought it sounded passable,
though.  Dead silence filled the bar as the imperfect music faded away,
everyone staring at her.

“My
gods.”  Cade finally whispered from behind the bar.

Addy
pushed the sonically-cleaned hair back from her face and glowered over at him. 
“It wasn’t
that
bad.”  She snapped.  Everyone was a critic.

Lavender
eyes stared back at her, not saying anything.  It was impossible to read what
was going on behind the flawless lines of his face.  Cade finally shook his
head and glanced away with a frown.  He did that a lot.  Anytime he was forced
to spend time in the same room as her, he seemed uncomfortable and churlish.

Addy
shot him another scowl.  Every hour she was stuck there, the man got better
looking.  He was so much
wow!-
er than everyone else, that it didn’t even
surprise her that his DNA carried some special, sparkly enhancement.  Even in
this weather, he was tan, the golden color of his skin setting off the bright
purple of his eyes and the blue-black shine of his hair.  The lanterns
flickering overhead highlighted the planes of his incredible cheekbones.  Back
in reality, he’d be posed shirtless on a billboard, selling expensive sporting
goods to stockbrokers who wanted to pretend they could be half so masculine.

And
Deke seriously thought
this
guy was attracted a Jenny Craig dropout?

“That
one was the best song yet, Addy.”  Jacobi called, jolting her from her hourly
session of Cade staring.  “Was that by those great artists you were telling me
about?”

Jake
was sitting at a lopsided table, playing a Texas-hold’em-mixed-with-Go-Fish
card game with three scruffy miners.  The brim of his tri-corner cowboy hat was
tilted back at a jaunty angle.  If she wasn’t mistaken it was made of lizard-y green
sanbor skin.  And --geez-- she hoped she was mistaken, because
ick
.

“No,
Duran Duran didn’t write the Brandenburg Concerto.”  She told him.  “It was
composed by a man named Johann Sebastian Bach a very long time ago.”

“Stupid
name, but the guy had some talent on the vianorgan.  Not many folks do,
anymore.  That one there belonged to our grandmother.”  Jacobi gestured to the
not!piano, easily falling into conversation.

For
all his seeming good humor, he was still sending Cade wary looks every few
minutes, though.  Ever since that duel thing, Jacobi had been feeling guilty. 
Addy could read it on his face.  The kid knew that he’d disappointed Cade and
he idolized his big brother.  Cade hadn’t mentioned the fight since it
happened, but Jake still blamed himself.

Of
course, that didn’t stop him from playing cards.  Jacobi had informed her that
he was the family screw up, so maybe he had to keep up appearances.  Or maybe
he didn’t know he could be anything more.

Shadow-of-the-Gods
was a boring place for someone so young, so Jake was always looking for a
distraction.  She just wished he didn’t usually find it with disreputable
gamblers.  The confrontation with the Caroillos hadn’t slowed him down and his
idiot brothers weren’t stepping in to stop him.  They’d apparently never seen
Silverado
or they’d know it was the reckless kid who wound up dead.

…Or
had Kevin Costner’s character
lived
at the end of that movie?  She
couldn’t remember anything except the part with the dog.

Well,
either way, Jacobi needed to do something worthwhile with his time.  He needed
to know he
could
.  Since Shadow-of-the-God didn’t have a public school
system, Addy settled for teaching him to dance.  She’d gone through a full year
of dance classes, thanks to her middle school crush on Patrick Swayze.  Jake
was willing to relive them with her, even in the face of Cade and Deke’s eye
rolling.

She
was also teaching him to play the not!piano, although, he was absolutely
terrible at it.  Once she remembered anything about algebra or Shakespeare,
she’d teach him that, too.  Someone really did need to take the kid in hand
before he ruined his life and…

Crap. 
She was still engaging.

“Yeah,
Grandmother was a real lady.”  Jake continued without even a hitch.  Most of
the time, all three brothers spoke to each other in English around her and
their proficiency in it was improving
way
faster than she was picking up
their language.  “Just like you, Addy.”

Addy
made a face at that designation.  To her mind, ladies did needlepoint and drank
lemonade under lacy parasols.  Addy took Judo in college.  Granted, she’d only
signed up for it, because the instructor was incredibly hot and she’d needed
the course credit.  Still, Judo was a badass thing to do and ladies were rarely
badass.  She didn’t mind when Cade called her ‘lady,’ because he seemed to use
it like a nickname, but she needed to be clear on the facts.

“I’m
not a lady.”  No way.  The only way she would survive this experience was to be
as badass as possible.

Jacobi
grinned, like she’d said something funny.  “Yeah, okay.”  He agreed in a
humoring tone.  “I’m just saying that nobody’s touched that instrument for a
decade or more, until you came along.”  He gestured to the not!piano.  “Not
since the performers with the traveling show borrowed it that one summer.  They
put on a musical in the assembly hall, remember, Cade?”

“I’m
not allowed in the assembly hall.”  Cade reminded him without inflection.

Addy
frowned.

“Shit.” 
Jacobi looked ever more sheepish.  “I’m sorry, Cade.  Really.  I didn’t think
about…”  He cleared his throat and glanced back at Addy, determined to change
the subject.  “Hey, did this Bach fella live in Yellowstone, too?”

“I
don’t think so.  Unless they skipped that part in the tour book.”  She told him
vaguely, her eyes on Cade.  He was fascinated in the ancient, god-awful, painting
of Marilyn Monroe behind the bar, not meeting her gaze.  “Does this town have
segregation
against Voltrons, Cade?”  That would explain why he never went with her to
that awful, filthy, so-called “store.”