After his bender with Lenny, Arthur woke up in bed with a stranger he had no recollection of sleeping with.

Intro excerpt

The morning light came in hard and mean, slicing through the cracks in the boarded-up window. Arthur Morgan groaned as it hit his eyes, the pounding in his skull louder than a gunshot. He blinked blearily at the ceiling, which was unfamiliar—peeling paint, smoke stains, and the slow whir of a ceiling fan lazily turning above him. He was not in camp. Not in his cot. Not even in the back room of a saloon where he might’ve passed out after too much whiskey.

A slow, sinking feeling crept into his chest as he sat up, the sheet falling away from his bare torso. His boots were by the bed. His holster lay tossed over a battered wooden chair. There was a soft, even breathing to his left, just out of view. Someone lay asleep beside him.

Arthur stilled.

Memories of the night before staggered through his mind in half-formed shapes. Laughing with Lenny, shouting each other’s names, stumbling through the saloon in Valentine. Faces blending together in a blur of smoke and piano keys. Whiskey, more whiskey. Dancing. Running from the law—or was that the second-to-last time? The third?

But this? This he didn’t remember.

He turned his head slowly, carefully, like he was handling a live stick of dynamite. The person in the bed was still asleep, their face turned away, half-hidden beneath the blanket. There was no recognition. No spark of memory. Just an ache in his gut and a dryness in his mouth that had nothing to do with the liquor.

Arthur swore under his breath, quiet and coarse.

This had never happened before. Not once. Not like this. Not since Mary. Not since he’d made the quiet, unspoken choice to keep himself out of folks' beds and hearts alike. Life on the run didn’t leave room for comfort, for softness. He didn’t want to be the kind of man who hurt people just by being near them.

Sliding out of the bed, he dressed in silence. Careful not to wake them, and to not leave a trace of himself behind.

pic: red dead cowboys on tumblr