"Ain't no use in tryin' to slow me down cuz you're running with the fastest girl in town. Ain't ya baby! Well I told you I was crazy. No I ain't nobodies baby! He's got the bullets, he's got a gun and I got a hankerin' for gettin' into somethin'"  Miranda Lambert 'Fastest Girl In Town.'

“These are some nice furs you’ve got here.” the trader stated appreciatively as he ran his hands over the pallet of furs that Joe had tossed up on his counter.

“Yeah, I know.” Joe replied as she chewed off a fingernail and spit it onto the wooden floorboards. “So how much you reckon yer willing to give me. I got these here and then these ones on the floor.”

The trader rubbed his smooth jaw and Joe felt her irritation grow as he clicked his tongue. She had already been to two traders that morning and neither of them had offered her a fair price, she had hoped this man would be halfway decent.

“And before ya give me some low balled offer I think that ya should know that I’ve been a trappin and sellin’ since I was knee high to a grasshopper and I know damned well when a slick business man such as yerself is tryin’ to slight me.”

The trader laughed and tapped his hand on the counter.

“Well at least you’re an honest one.” he stated, still chuckling. “So tell me, honey, what would a fair price be to you?”

Joe let out a breath and tapped her fingers several times on the scarred up wooden counter, before running her fingers through the top fur on the pallet.

“Two hundred dollars.”

“You’re out of your pretty little mind.” the trader replied with a shake of his head and Joe glared at him. Pretty? She’d rather be called anything other than that! Nothing would be a bigger insult than being called pretty! Pretty wasn’t tough! Pretty wasn’t capable. Pretty wasn’t smart. Pretty was just, well, pretty.

“Don’t call me pretty.” she snapped, wishing she hadn’t bathed that morning. Her hair hung down her back in long waves, though not tangle free seeing as how Joe didn’t own a comb and her face was free of dirt and shining. The minute she got clean men started calling her things like pretty. She made a mental note to smear dirt on her face just as soon as she stepped back outside.

“How about I offer you one hundred dollars?” the trader asked after staring at her for several long moments as if she were a crazy person.

“Nope.” Joe replied as she grabbed the pallet of furs off the counter. “Guess I’ll just have to go someplace else.”

Joe turned and then fought back a smile with the trader grabbed her arm.

“Wait.”

Joe turned to look at the man, keeping her face an unreadable mask. He rubbed his face and released his hold on her arm.

“I guess you realize I wasn’t offering you a good price.” he admitted and Joe nodded. “How about one hundred and seventy five? That’s gonna be the best I can do.”

Joe felt triumph fill her. That was almost as much as her pa had gotten and it was well over one hundred dollars more than any other trader had offered her so far.

“I believe ya got yerself a deal,” she replied holding out her hand. The two of them sealed the deal with a handshake and when Joe walked out of the small wooden building several minutes later it was with a whole pocketful of money.

She walked over to her cart and put her hands in her hair, rubbing roughly and giving the red tresses back their messy, wild quality that she preferred. Then Joe squatted down, rubbing her hands on the cold dusty ground. Once happy with the amount of dirt on them she smeared them all over her face.

“What in the hell are you doin’?” Joe stood straight and turned quickly when she heard Jonah’s voice behind her. The smile that had been forming on her lips quickly turned to a scowl when she saw Scarlett in all of her satin and lace glory hanging off his arm.

“Do I really gotta explain it to ya?” Joe grumbled, wiping her dirty hands off on her buckskin pants.

“Perhaps the why of it.” Scarlett replied as she looked down her nose at Joe. “It truly looked as if you were rubbing dirt on your face.”

Joe let out a bark of laughter and slapped her thigh before rocking back on her heels.

“Well hell, Jonah, she ain’t as dumb as she looks!”

Joe felt her heart beat quicken just a little when Jonah laughed and his smile was directed at her. Damn but why did a man need a smile that nice? And why did it make her so damned happy to have him smile at her?

“You are laughing at what she just said about me?” Scarlett demanded with a stomp and Jonah instantly sobered, though Joe was certain she could still see laughter in his eyes.

“Sorry, Scarlett.” he said earnestly. Then he turned his gaze back to Joe. “Scarlett and I are heading to the bank. I just wanted to thank you for helping get us here.” Joe crossed her arms over her chest and shrugged.

“Don’t thank me. I didn’t do it fer charity. Pay up.” she held out her hand expectantly.

“Pay up?” Jonah asked with a frown.

“What is it? All that lovin she been givin’ to ya affecting yer memory or sumthin’?” Joe asked with a harsh laugh. “I was told I’d be paid fer my services.”

“Ten dollars…” Jonah replied with a sigh as he dug around in his pocket.

“Actually it was twenty.” Joe countered. “Ya offered ten at first but I said no and so then ya offered twenty.”

“You were coming here anyway! You would honestly take this mans money when he saved your life and kept you from getting a bullet in your back out by that mesa?” Scarlet demanded with a disbelieving shake of her head.

Joe felt her temper flare. Not that it ever took much to cause her temper to flare. It seemed Joe Redding’s temper was always just a match head away from a raging inferno most of the time.

“First off ain’t nobody ever saved my life. I save my own damn life.” she spat, poking herself in the chest with her finger. “And second I gave you my damn cart and ya slept on my furs. If anything you should be a payin’ me the twenty dollars but seein’ as how ya got this big strong man to do it fer ya I guess ya probably won’t.”

“Joe…” Jonah began angrily but Scarlett laid a dainty gloved hand on his arm and he quieted.

“That’s okay, Jonah. The woman has a point and I will be more than happy to cover the twenty dollar fee but first I must get to the bank. Come along, Jonah.” The fancy woman began walking once again and Jonah glared down at Joe.

“You know it wouldn’t hurt you to lighten up just a bit. A woman ain’t supposed to be so hard all the time. Softening up won’t hurt ya none.”

Joe thought of her mother and her beaten, raped and murdered body that Joe had laid beside in that bed for three days before her father had found her. She felt a shiver run down her back as she looked up into Jonah’s gray eyes.

“Yeah it will.” she countered and then she broke eye contact and went to her cart. “You go on with yer little lady friend there and I’ll head down to the mercantile. Y’all can bring my money there.”

She heard Jonah sigh and then his footsteps carried him away from her and for that Joe was grateful. Jonah made her feel exposed and vulnerable and Joe hated both of those feelings.

Joe cursed when she realized that the mercantile was directly across from the bank and she was awarded with a view of the lovebirds walking arm in arm through the heavy dark wood doors.

Joe was just going to take her twenty dollars and then leave town and forget that she had ever met Jonah Winchester.

***

It took Jonah’s eyes a moment to adjust to the sudden change in light as he and Scarlett entered the bank and the doors closed with a thud behind them.

Not very many folks were here this early. Two sleepy looking tellers stood behind the wooden counters with bars protecting them from anyone who might want to jump over the counter and get to them.

An old man was busy speaking to one teller and it was clear the man didn’t hear well anymore as he all but yelled at the teller and she was forced to yell in response as he cupped his ear to better hear her words.

Then there was a tired looking woman, middle aged it seemed, with three young children running around her skirts. They were darting in and out of the folds of fabric and laughing happily as they did so.

Jonah frowned when Scarlett moved behind him and he heard the clicking of a lock sliding into place.

He turned and she was smiling up at him with her hand on the brass door lock.

“What are you doing?” he whispered and she simply shrugged one dainty shoulder. Jonah saw it then. A predatory gleam in her dark brown eyes that had probably been there all along and he’d just been too blind, too desperate, to see it.

“Here you go, darling. You might want to hold this.” Scarlett reached out and grabbed his revolver from the holster before placing it in Jonah’s hand.

Jonah was too shocked to do anything other than take it. Surely this couldn’t be happening. He wouldn’t have been that stupid… He wouldn’t have been fooled a second time by just a pretty smile and some attention… would he?

“Ladies and gentleman, can I have your attention?” Scarlett asked politely as she pulled her derringer from her pocket. “We are robbing this back and would appreciate your cooperation.”

The woman with the children gasped and ushered her children away from the teller window with fear shining in her eyes as Scarlett walked over and tapped her gun several times against the gleaming oak counter.

“Money. Now.” she ordered and the tellers quickly began to gather up paper bills and coins, as if this was a common occurrence and nothing to be overly alarmed about.

“What are you doing?” Jonah asked again, finding that his brain was refusing to allow him to believe this situation could really be happening. Scarlett was robbing a bank? Why? And what was he doing here with her? Why wasn’t he stopping her?

“I should think that was obvious, my dear. Now aim that gun at that woman before she goes out the door.”

Jonah was shocked to find his hands pointing the gun at the mother. He was certain he hadn’t actually meant to move and do as Scarlett had asked. The woman let out a cry of shock and then dropped to her knees, pulling her children all toward her lap.

“Now see here!” the old man bellowed and then Scarlett did the unthinkable. She aimed her gun at the mans stomach and pulled the trigger. The man let out a cry of pain and fell to the floor as the children screamed and began to cry and the tellers hastened their pace.

Jonah was frozen to the spot. Surely there had to be some other explanation for what was going on here. He was dreaming! That was it, he had to be dreaming. This couldn’t really be happening to him.

He watched Scarlett load her pockets down with money and then she quickly tied the bags to a rope that she hid inside her skirt. This took her less than a minute and Jonah was faintly aware of thinking that this must not be her first time.

“Let’s go now, dear. We’d hate to overstay our welcome.” Scarlet urged as she led him toward the door.

Jonah’s feet moved but his mind wasn’t on the steps he was taking. He kept looking over his shoulder at the old man who was still moaning as the pool of blood beneath him grew.

He felt the sun on his face and knew they must have walked outside. Yells and cries were filling the air from folks that had heard the gunshot inside the bank.

Then one cry rang out louder than the rest.

“HELP!” Scarlett screamed as she shoved the only sack of money she had kept in her hands into Jonah’s chest and he absently clutched it with the hand that wasn’t holding the gun.

“What…?’ he managed to ask and she just smiled at him.

“You made it too easy.” she whispered and then fear lit up her features. “HELP! He robbed the bank! He shot a man!” she gasped.

Jonah saw lawmen running his way from about one hundred yards down the road. Still he stood there still as stone with the gun in one hand, a sack of money in the other and Scarlett running away from him.

A rifle shot echoed in the cold morning hair and Jonah felt a bullet slam into his side.

His breath came out in a whoosh of steam around his face. Jonah’s eyes stayed glued to Scarlett as he raised his gun, fully prepared to shoot the lying bitch in the back as she ran but another rifle shot rang out and the bullet ripped through his shoulder, snapping the bone and causing his revolver to fall uselessly to the ground with a clatter.

More gun shots and yells rang out, though Jonah wasn’t paying attention to where they were coming from.

A man on a horse came around the bank and held out his hand for Scarlett who jumped on behind him and then kissed the man thoroughly.

She turned and winked at Jonah before blowing him a kiss and then wrapping her arms tight around the mans waist. Jonah watched them ride off into the distance before yet another bullet slammed into him, ripping through his arm.

Jonah felt the pain then and suddenly everything came into brilliant focus for a few vibrant seconds.

He saw Reb and Bart firing shots at the lawmen who had taken cover still fifty yards away.

A horse came thundering toward him, the hooves kicking up clouds of dust as Jonah’s breath continued to form a cloud around his head and he sat there on his knees.

He looked up as he heard Joe’s voice calling out for him to take her hand. Her red hair was wild around her head and her green gray eyes were shining in the morning sunlight and wide with worry.

He saw her pull her gun and fire shots of her own down the road toward the lawmen and that was all he saw before his world went black.

***

“Dammit Jonah!” Joe cried out with rage as the man toppled sideways onto the dirt and his eyes closed. What was wrong with him? Why hadn’t he fought back against Scarlett. Why had he been holding a gun and a sack of money? And why the hell hadn’t’ he taken cover the second the lawmen started shooting at him!?

Joe shook her head. There wasn’t time for worrying about all of that just now.

“Bart!” she called out and the skinny man ran over. He was panting and bleeding on his arm from the graze of a bullet. “Throw him over the back!” Joe urged as a bullet whipped close enough to her head that she felt the breeze of it tug at her messy hair.

Bart grunted with the effort of lifting up Jonah’s dead weight and Joe tugged his arms from where she sat on her horse. Once the man was on his stomach over the back of the saddle Joe looked back down at Bart.

“Reb and I will keep the lawmen off of you two. We’ll lead ‘em in the opposite direction. Get him somewhere safe, Joe. Jonah don’t deserve to go out like that. There’s gotta be some reason he was doing what he did.”

“I’ll take care of him, Reb, don’t you worry ‘bout that none. When y’all lose the lawmen get yer asses to my cabin. That’s where we’ll be.” Bart nodded and then turned back around to join Reb in the gunfight.

Joe nudged her mares sides and galloped out of town with an unconscious, bloody Jonah bouncing behind her.