9 Sold

“THERESA, run to the hotel!” Miranda commanded. I felt rather than saw her stepsister as her footsteps retreated rapidly. “Leave her,” Miranda continued. “She’s too young.” I looked through her eyes at the three young soldiers who had her trapped against the wall. Blue trousers with a gold stripe. Dark blue double buttoned shirts. Tan hats. These looked like the same soldiers we saw in Baltimore. Where was Kyle?

“We only want you anyway,” one said. Six feet tall. Pocky complexion. I corrected myself. Five-eight tops. Miranda was a lot shorter than me. A boy who didn’t look more than 15 looked after Theresa but didn’t move.

“And what do you want with me?” Miranda asked. One of the things Pa warned us about was to look first and not try to just jump in and take over our host. He’d got his killed that way. I wasn’t sure Miranda knew I was there yet and I didn’t want to distract her. I did make a subtle suggestion, though and her right foot crept up the wall as she leaned back against it. Before long, I could reach the knife she still carried in her boot.

“Just a little tupping,” scar-face said. “Probably won’t have a clean white girl again for months.”

“Probably never had a clean white girl, have you?” Miranda prodded back. I could feel her awareness seep into mine as she surrendered control of her body while she kept them talking. I got hold of the haft of the knife.

“Soldiers, attention!” a voice shouted from the walk behind them. The pock-marked private looked up and sneered.

“We’re off duty until we board tomorrow morning, Corporal,” he snapped.

“You are never off duty when you are wearing that uniform,” the voice snapped. He stepped around the privates to position himself next to Miranda. “I said, attention!” The soldiers pulled themselves upright into a pretty sloppy attention. “Private Randolph, you took an oath to protect the citizens of the United States from the savages of the plains and mountains. This is a citizen of the United States. Do not become the savages you are supposed to protect her from. Dismissed.” The three soldiers growled a little but turned and shambled away. Miranda breathed a sigh of relief.

“Thank you, uh...” she started.

“Corporal Jason Wardlaw at your service, miss,” our rescuer came to attention beside us and bowed. Kyle! No. There was no Kyle there. But I was sure this was the same soldier. What’s going on? Where’s Kyle?

“Thank you, Corporal,” Miranda continued. Then she gasped. Just over Corporal Wardlaw’s shoulder there was an Indian dressed in buckskins. “There is a...”

“My companion,” the Corporal said. “John Hamm is my translator and friend.”

“I am pleased to meet you, Corporal. Mr. Hamm. I am Miss Miranda Lewis. Again, thank you for your intervention. It would be a shame to have bloodied his uniform before he had blooded his weapon.” I know the Indian saw me slip the knife back into her boot sheath and the hint of a smile crossed his face. Miranda firmly took control of her body from me and I rode quietly in her mind as we turned toward the station. The Indian walked silently behind us.

“He may wear the uniform but he has no respect for it,” the Corporal said. “May I escort you back to the hotel and your chaperones?”

Way to go, Miranda!

She blushed. A raven looked up at us from the street where he was tearing at a bit of garbage.

Awkawkawkawk!

I was gone again.

What the fuck?

I was sitting in my bed and still rubbing myself. I was building up to a good one and could hear Kyle and Aubrey still going at it next door. I heard them yelp and moan and I tipped over the edge. I went time traveling without having come?

I lay there in bed with the light off for another twenty minutes before I heard Aubrey come into the room. She went to her accustomed side of the bed and slipped in next to me. I rolled toward her and spooned behind her. She was naked. I smashed my bare boobs into her back. It surprised me, but I didn’t want to just jump away. I acted like it was just natural.

“Not good enough to pass out tonight?” she whispered as she caught my hand and pulled it around her.

“Girlfriend, I have no idea what you are talking about,” I giggled. “Did you knock him out?”

“Yeah, but that’s not so difficult.”

Now that our little hug and joke were through, I felt I could roll back away from her and my embarrassment. She held my hand against her stomach.

“I do like cuddling at night. Thank you for being here like a sister for me,” she whispered. I gave up and just lay there next to her. She hugged my arm around her and before long we were asleep.

When I woke up in the morning, Aubrey still held my hand around her but she’d moved it—or we’d moved it—so it was held against her breast. I thought I’d better gently extract it, remembering our joint embarrassment when she’d woken up holding my breast. At the same time, it was incredibly pleasant to cuddle and hold her like this. My fingers reflexively squeezed against the supple flesh and I felt the nub of her nipple harden against the palm of my hand.

It was nice.

I was raised with women who were lovers and who loved my father. But somehow, I’d never thought about whether I could ever feel that way about a woman—not only loving her as my friend, but loving her sexually. I still wasn’t sure but there was no question that holding Aubrey like this was pleasurable, apparently for both of us. She moaned softly in her sleep.

“Kyle,” she whispered. That was my cue. I pulled my hand gently away from her and rolled the other direction. This was my brother’s girlfriend. I wasn’t going to get between them.

Our junior year in high school seemed to be when we actually started to learn things. Freshman and sophomore years still seemed like elementary school. Classes our junior year were way more intense and we were working our tails off to keep up. Pa had made it clear to us that if we didn’t go to college, we weren’t going to have a horse ranch. That was motivation enough to keep us on top of our studies.

Having ten horses to care for in ‘our herd’ plus the rest of the ranch horses, kept us working. We had six rescues, Pooky, Dado, and the kids’ horses. I’m not sure they’d ever even named their horses. They did saddle them and ride with the rest of us, but these days they spent every available moment with Bells, Bows, and the other rescues.

In addition, there were a dozen working ranch horses and mules. When we finished our servitude with the cattle before school, Pa assigned all horse care to the four of us. He was still waiting for our business plan. When does he think we’ll have time to do that?

By the end of September, I’d pretty much put it out of my mind as I struggled to keep up with school and the horses. After dinner Saturday night, I planned to study my Algebra. Kyle would want to see my worksheets the next day. Saturday night, of course, he was headed into town to take Aubrey out. They hadn’t come back out to the ranch since Labor Day.

I studied until my eyes started to droop. It was about ten o’clock when I went outside and just looked up into the clear night sky. I leaned against the porch post and let my mind wander. My eye was caught by a flicker and I turned to see the old raven sitting on the rail nearby. It was almost like he was becoming a pet.