RUNNING WILD [JOHN MARSTON]

10: in secret

The men of the Van der Linde gang were ecstatically drunk, sitting around the fire slurring campfire songs, gulping bottles of whiskey and bourbon and wasting their money on endless games of poker. There was no real reason for them to be so joyfully drinking - most of the men had spent the day drinking in the saloon, sleeping with working girls and getting themselves into fist fights.

Rosalie Bell awoke from her sleep to the sounds of male voices singing Ring Dang Doo along to Javier Escuella's guitar strums. It was the third time she'd been awoken that night, therefore she didn't bother much to try and close her eyes again. She removed the hat that was covering her face and sat up, rubbing her eyes. Before she could stand herself up, Rosalie stopped as she heard footsteps making their way around the side of the tents. She looked up to see a drunken John emerge from behind a wagon.
"Hey darlin'." He stammered as he walked himself towards her and planted a long kiss on Rosalie's lips. She knew he was drunk, so she laughed, but rolled her eyes at him nonetheless, quickly looking behind him in order to check that nobody else could see them.
"Hey. Come on John, you know we have to keep this hidden." She had stood up with him now, and she put her hand on his shoulder as she spoke.
John scoffed, brushing her off and taking another swig from the bottle in his hands.
"Seriously, John." Rosalie sighed. She didn't want to ruin his fun, but she knew that if he started to become careless with what they were doing, the whole camp would erupt into madness. John stopped drinking and looked at Rosalie whilst she spoke.
"You know Micah would kill you if he found out we'd been sneaking around."
A slight smirk crept onto John's face.
"Not if I killed him first." He chuckled to himself before walking away to join the men at the campfire again.

Rosalie already knew it was inevitable that she wouldn't get any sleep that night, so she took herself over into the middle of the camp where she saw Arthur, Sean and Javier playing poker.
"Come on then, Miss Bell." Sean Macguire's Irish accent called to her as she approached the table. "Let's see if you can beat me." He boasted. Sean was like a little brother to every member of the gang, and he loved to big himself up and act cocky, with the full purpose of winding his fellow members up.

Rosalie looked at the three men's eyes, all of them red and bloodshot. She smiled to herself, knowing how drunk they all were and how it would make it easier for her to beat them.
"Let's go then, little bro." She winked at Sean and patted his back as she walked behind him and took a seat next to him.

Rosalie Bell played a few hands of poker with the men, Sean acting cheeky after winning the first hand. Rosalie won the next few hands, before losing her focus as her mind zoned in on the conversation of the men around the campfire. She heard the drunken laughs of Uncle, Dutch, Charles, Lenny and John.
"What about you, Marston!" Uncle roared with slurred words. "You haven't had any action in months!"
Rosalie rolled her eyes at the men's conversation. She was beginning to think that the only thing they were capable of talking about was women, and how often they slept with them.
"Be quiet." Rosalie listened to John joke with the men.
"It's the scars. They scare the women away." Charles said seriously, before his mouth morphed into a smile and all of the men erupted into laughter.
"That actually just makes them more curious." John spoke through their laughter. Usually, John Marston was a quiet and reserved soul, but the whiskey always seemed to bring him out of his private state.
"Well, you gotta join us at the saloon some time. Even Lenny got some action the other day! We'll find you a woman."
"I don't want a whore, Uncle."
"Shut up, Marston. Who wouldn't?"

"Rosalie! Querida, come on, you checking or betting?" Javier's voice pulled Rosalie's mind from the campfire conversation.
"Or folding?" Sean mocked Rosalie.

——
Rosalie Bell excused herself from the poker table after beating Arthur, Javier and Sean at multiple hands and making herself some extra cash. The men were starting to get tired now; their bottles empty and their campfire burning out. It was 4am, and the sun would be coming up soon.
"Miss Bell." John whispered from his tent as Rosalie made her away past it.
"Marston. You ain't passed out from all that whiskey yet?"
"Not yet." He grumbled as he stood up from his bed and pulled Rosalie into his tent. She knew what he wanted - it was clear as day as he ran his hands all over her body, kissing her face and then moving his lips down to her neck and kissing her tanned skin there. He pushed her braided hair back as he attempted to remove her snake printed shirt.
"John," she giggled slightly as she pulled away, "in your tent, in the middle of camp? We can't." She sighed. It wasn't even like they could use her tent, considering her brother slept next to her.
"So, what?" John sighed too as he stood back from her. "We just never will?" He remarked.
"No..." Rosalie thought for a moment as her hand traced John's skin, kissing him slightly. "Of course we are." She glanced at him before taking his hand and leading him into the woods.

——
The light whistling of a songbird crept into Rosalie Bell's ears, disturbing her sleep and forcing her eyes open. Even though it was only just approaching 7am, the sun was hot already, piercing through the trees of the woods, deep in The Heartlands.

Rosalie groaned slightly as she stirred, her head still resting on John's chest, which was rising and falling ever so slightly as he breathed. Rosalie turned her head to look up at him, seeing that he was still sleeping peacefully, the heat clearly not affecting him.
"John." Rosalie whispered, trying to wake him up. The man stirred, grumbling in his sleep and moving his head but still not waking up. "John!" Rosalie persisted, finally seeing John open his eyes. Picking up her shirt, Rosalie began to get herself dressed before she felt John's lips on her neck.
"Don't." He whispered into her neck, attempting to stop her putting her shirt on.
Rosalie smiled. "We have to get back before someone notices we're gone."
"Who cares?" John mumbled, nibbling at her skin.
Rosalie smiled, turning around and kissing John before standing up to finish buttoning up her shirt.
"God!" John moaned as he stood up too, holding his head and sorting himself out.
"Too much whiskey?" Rosalie raised her eyebrows at John and chuckled. "Come on, let's head back."

The pair picked up their gun belts and hats before walking through the bushes in silence, enjoying the sound of the breeze in the leaves and the birds singing joyfully. Rosalie heard a rustle in the bushes and she pulled out her pistol as she saw a large rabbit scarper out in front of her.
"You hungry or somethin'?" John looked at her as she holstered her revolver and picked up the dead animal.
"Might not be the cleanest kill, but that there's our cover story." Rosalie looked back at John as she propped the animal on her shoulder and continued walking.

There was a loud bustling around Horseshoe Overlook as John Marston and Rosalie Bell arrived back to the camp. Rosalie's eyebrows furrowed as she heard the familiar shouts of Miss Grimshaw, ordering around the girls as everybody packed things up.
"What the fuck?" John spoke to nobody in particular as he took in his surroundings. He headed in the direction of Dutch, Arthur and Micah as Miss Grimshaw made her way over to Rosalie. Rosalie sighed - there was no way out of helping now.
"Miss Bell, there you are. Where have you been?" She complained straight away, taking Rosalie by the arm and leading her into the midst of the madness.
"John and I went... hunting...." she stammered, confused and pointing to the rabbit that was still on her shoulder.
"Give me that," Grimshaw muttered, "go and help Karen and the girls packing up. You'll have to do your tent too. Mr Bell ain't the most helpful man." Grimshaw raised her eyebrows and Rosalie scoffed, before heading over to the other girls on the edge of camp.

"What's goin' on?" She asked them, the confused expression still plastered above her face.
"We're movin' on." Karen stated. "Dutch's orders."
"Apparently the Pinkertons found Arthur, down by the river." Tilly sighed.
"Shit." Rosalie muttered to herself. The law were getting closer to them by the day, hot on their tails after the Blackwater incident. Their incident with Me Cornwall might have been the final straw.
"And that guy that shot Strauss? You guys robbed his train in the mountains?"
"Yeah, we did." Rosalie sighed. "We better get outta here fast then."
"Apparently we're going to Lemoyne. Camping near some place called Rhodes. Arthur and Charles found it." Mary-Beth spoke as if she was excited to be leaving Valentine.

Rosalie looked over at the men, who were discussing their plans for when the gang reached Lemoyne - their next moves and their thoughts for robbing people. Rosalie sighed, wondering to herself what their next move would be, and what they were doing from here.