An Outlaw's Weakness*Fifth in Crane Gang series*

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

Preston smiled as he walked down the road with Xavier by his side. He laid his hand over his necklace which was hidden beneath his shirt. When he had left home, he hadn't been certain what he'd been looking for—now he knew. No one wanted to live out their lives without ever knowing how it felt to love someone and have that someone love you back.

Now Preston knew exactly how that felt and if he hadn't left home, if he hadn't taken that chance, he'd have missed it. Xavier would never have rescued him from that back alley and Preston would have never known how it felt to be so wrapped up in another person, you nearly became one heartbeat. Knowing that he'd at least gotten to have these last few weeks with Xavier—the moments they'd shared—it made knowing he was dying a bit easier to cope with.

He longed to reach over and take Xavier's hand. He longed to be able to let everyone know that the man beside him was his.... But that couldn't happen here. There was only place in the world that Preston knew it was safe to do that—home.

He wanted to go home. He wanted to go somewhere where he and Xavier could truly be in love and open and not afraid of others seeing it. He didn't want to waste what time they had together worried about someone seeing, worried someone would ride up on their camp, worried that they'd be attacked for simply loving each other.

After they saw the healer and Xavier had his hope dashed, Preston wanted to go home.

They had already eaten supper in the café, and now were heading toward one of the saloons. "You sure you want to take your chances in another saloon?" Xavier asked with a chuckle.

"Sure do. I want to play poker."

"Do you know how to play poker?"

"Of course I do," Preston scoffed. "I've just never played it in a saloon before."

Xavier nodded. "And are you good at poker?"

Preston shoved his glasses up his nose. "Nope. I'm a horrible liar and my poker face is no good." He laughed at Xavier's confused expression.

"Then why do you want to play?"

Preston shrugged as they stepped onto the boardwalk in front of the saloon. "Adventure, remember?"

Xavier was still shaking his head as they entered the saloon. Honestly, Preston did feel a bit nervous given the last two times he'd gone into a saloon hadn't ended all that well. But this time would be different. He was more confident, knew better how to defend himself, and had Xavier with him.

"Are you good at poker?" Preston asked, looking around the dusty, crowded interior of the saloon.

"Yeah, I'm good."

Preston trembled at the quiet confidence in Xavier's words. He loved that voice.

***

Two mornings later, Xavier insisted it was time to leave town and continue on their journey to the healer. Preston hadn't argued—the sooner they got to the healer and wasted their time there, the sooner that Preston could go home and see his family. Thanks to Xavier's gambling skills, they had plenty of money to last them a while.

After they'd made camp that night, Xavier and Preston sat wrapped up together, watching the sunset. Xavier sat behind Preston and Preston sat between his legs with his back to his chest. He always felt warm and protected when they sat this way. Xavier's body formed a safe cocoon around him and all worries faded from Preston's mind.