SMOOCHES 4 PADMOO » ALWAYS ACCEPTING

@tvvolips​

                    ”   now you’re being   GREEDY,        darling.   “           she is teasing of course as smirk curves on her plump lips as she leans towards the other woman.           fingertips   TRAIL   the side of her face before she tugs tulip’s lower lip with her teeth,        softly   BITING   before pressing a chaste peck on the corner of her pretty mouth  ——   NOWHERE   NEAR   what she knew tulip wanted. 

whether it is confidence or the blazing sun rolling off of her skin is uncertain. what is certain, however, is that tulip o’hare is now something she reckons josh has never seen before; real mad. there’s none of her coy smiles or teasing remarks as she stands, her back to the prone bounty hunter. her jaw is crooked in a scowl, eyes devoid of mirth. at this point, there is no use for conversation. these men want randall dead. tulip, however, wants him alive and it’s a confusing revelation that she’ll chew on later. it’s a proper standoff, but o’hare isn’t worried; she’s better than these one-nut novices. the shots seem to ring out before any man can process her revolver is out of her holster, tulip slamming down on the hammer after each shot. the men go down, but one had almost gotten a shot on them, his gun shooting off once as he crumbles. his bullet takes a good hunk of her earlobe with him, but she doesn’t much feel it, adrenaline and all.

“—guess you owe me one now, randall.”

          Josh is a dead man. Shooting arm shot, gun on the ground, back to a wall, and morbidly outnumbered, he can’t fathom any other outcome. But then Tulip is there--he doesn’t so much see her come up as she appears, slipping from his side to guard him. His addled brain doesn’t register what she’s doing until she’s already done it.

          Four shots ring out. Three men hit the dust. One Tulip O’Hare is still standing with smoke trickling out the nose of her gun.

          His breath stills as he  gazes up at her back, a hard, dark shape in the low sun. Slowly, he straightens up, leans against the cut of rock for support. He’d whistle, except he isn’t sure he’s got enough air left in him.

          “...Y-yeah. Yeah, I s’pose I do.”

          When Josh can find his legs, he sidles up to her and sets his hand over hers. It’s consolation and a thank you all in one silent, fleeting gesture. He smiles. And that’s when he notices the blood.