Lonesome | Arthur Morgan

Chapter 5

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Lilian lifted her hip a little to reveal the deep scar. Her muddy stocking had a large stain of crimson, luckily the cut has started to clot. "That's gotta sting." Lilian nodded to Arthur's remark as he dabbed the bottle of whisky onto the cloth. "Now, you may want to bite down on something or squeeze on my arm cause this is going to hurt a little. Here take this." Arthur put his arm out towards his trunk, grabbing a brown leather belt and passing it to Lilian. "Bite down."

"No, I'll be okay." Lilian shakes her head, watching Arthur intently. Arthur held the cloth gently to the scar and Lilian's teeth clenched. She hadn't gone through much pain before, maybe only from falling of her pony when she was six and the time she had typhoid when she was younger. "You're doing well." The other hand of Arthur was placed in her inner thigh as he had to hold her leg still. There was no awkwardness between the two of them, but the touch of a man was unknown to Lilian. Lilian's thighs clenched and her toes curled slightly as the rough hands were so gentle on her skin. Lilian assumed Arthur had done this a number of times so would be to engrossed in his work than to notice her wriggling. Arthur took a bandage from his supplies and wrapped it around the thigh. "There you go."

Lilian begun to shuffle her dress and straighten it out even if it was dirty and crinkled. Her cheeks were flushed so she was thankful for the early morning full sky. "You didn't have to do that. Thank you, Mr-?"

"Arthur- Arthur Morgan, Miss-?" Arthur awaited to hear her name even though it wasn't appropriate for the two of them to become so close.

"Jackleson." She remains sat on his bed, her eyes looking over his stuff in his stagecoach set up tent.

"Well no shit. What's your first name?" Arthur huffed with a smirk.

If Lilian could go anymore red, she would. "Oh! Lilian. Lilian Jackleson." She smiled, but avoided eye contact where possible.

"Well miss, you did pretty well. Probably ain't the same treatment you get back at home but it will do." Arthur eyed her thighs then noticed she was looking back over at the tree she was once tied up to.

"Do I have to go back over there?" Arthur didn't know how to reply. Of course the group wouldn't be too happy with her being out of her ropes and especially wouldn't be pleased with how she escaped the ropes.

"I-um. I don't know if you have any choice-." Arthur was soon interrupted by a stern voice as he looked over at Dutch who had woken up from the commotion. Luckily, the only one to wake.

"Arthur, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Dutch stepped forward, staring between Arthur and Lilian. Lilian on Arthur's bed and Arthur towering over Lilian was not a good look. Lilian cringed as she knows how much trouble she would be in, especially in Micah knew .

"Lilian.. er..cut herself on some glass so it was pretty deep wound...So I thought I'd help her instead of it getting infected and her dying on us." Lilian looked up at Arthur then back to Dutch, surprised he had lied for her.

"Hm... Lilian." Dutch snickered at the first name use. "Miss Jackleson, are you okay?" Lilian nodded to Dutch, feeling her stomach flip, wondering if he sensed they were lying.

"Dutch, does she have to go back to the tree? There's glass over there, that's where she cut herself." Arthur scratched the back of his neck, making Dutch smirk.

"Do what you wish with her, my boy. Just don't let her escape. I'm going back to bed, you noisey critters." When Dutch had returned back to his tent, there was an awkward silence between Arthur and Lilian until Arthur decided to grab a bed roll from his trunk.