"Get that fucking thing out my face!" Decker snarled as he brazingly snatched the end of the Winchester and slammed his shoulder into the door, subsequently stubbing Lila's toe though her boot as he and he men strode in like they owned the place. Decker yanked the rifle away from Lila and pulled open the lever, seeing that she had had a round chambered as the live shell flew across the room.<br/><br/>"Jeezus Lila, Mr. Amsterdam would have had you burned at the stake like a pointy hatted witch if'n this thing would've gone off and shot me....You've got all these young girls to think about, you should really be more careful! Can-ya mangine what would happen to these poor souls, if'n you were to meet yer end? I perish the thought!" Decker said, he did so in both a cruel manner and one of mercy, as any other woman would be dead for the infraction of being stupid enough to level a gun at one of the deadliest men in these territories. She was lucky Decker still harbored feelings for her.<br/><br/>"Boys....search the house!.....Lila for your sake, I surely hope they don't find him here, cause I don't know if I could bare the weight of thinking that you'd lie to me....specially with how much I think of ya. " Decker Malloy said as he ejected all the shells out of the rifle and handed it back to Lila. The young group of six, armed Damned men set about the house, guns out and making the girls squeal in fear as they set to searching.<br/><br/>Decker pulled his hat off, checking his devilishly handsome good looks in the mirror and adjusting a single errant lock of blonde hair, before turning back to Lila and shooting her a smile. "You know my offer still stands....You give all this up....come live with me as my wife, a respectable life?....up in the big Amsterdam Manor....no more scuttling around with the likes of whores....Lila...have ya given it anymore consideration?" He asked, as the corners of his pleasing lips curled up into a wolf's grin.<br/><br/><br/>**************<br/><br/><br/>"Mister Malloy...wasn't it...You are Mr. Amsterdam's right hand?" Lila said, knowning full well exactly who he was and what he was asking about, but after he'd stolen the rifle from her she struggled to regain some control over the situation, and making Decker feel insignificant enough not to have even registered in her memory was a start.<br/><br/>"Knock it off Lila...you know who the fuck I am...You wanna play dumb, suit yerself, but one day yer gonna wish you took me up on that offer!" Decker barked back, but the hurt in his eyes was evident.<br/><br/>'AAAAHH' a young girl's scream echoed from upstairs and the sound of breaking glass followed shortly after, Lila acted on instict, running for the stares to go and see what was happening. Decker's hand shot out and backhanded Lila as she tried to pass by and the unexpected strike caught her off guard, bring a bright white flash in front of her eyes. She shook her head and realized she was now sitting on her tuffet on the floor, her lips, both top and bottom now swelled and leaked blood.<br/><br/>Decker bent over and looked into her dazed eyes, he practically dared her to shoot off her smart mouth again, so he could vent some of the frustration he was feeling. It was bad enough he had to deal with Marion Amsterdam talking down to him, he certainly wasn't going to let a common whore do so.<br/><br/>Lila's rage boiled, she wanted nothing more than to get up and try fighting Decker, but she wasn't stupid, and this after all, was the real world, not some fantasy, he would kill her and if he didn't one of the other six armed men certainly would,  so she decided using her other talents might be the more prudent reaction.  "pl.....please, Mister Malloy....don't let them hurt my girls" She whimpered as she wiped the blood from her lips and real tears started to well in her eyes.<br/><br/>Decker's ravenous visage started to crack, he certainly wasn't happy about her reception of him, but the truth was, somewhere in the back of his demented mind, he still hoped that she might one day see the light, and agree to marry him. He turned his head away from her, yelling upstairs.<br/><br/>"Alright boys....Time to go....LET'S GO DAMMIT!" He called out, and the men came filing downstairs, empty handed and one of them limping like he broke his damn leg.<br/><br/>"Nothing Mr. Malloy...we didn't find shit!" One of the men answered before exiting through the door to rejoin his other peers outside. Finally Decker turned back to Lila, his brows now pursed with apology, he offered his hand to help her up. Lila refused and got up on her own accord.<br/><br/>"Lila....you have to understand....I got my orders...If you would have just let us in, without the  fuss, none of this would have had to happen....Next time I come calling, I expect to be greeted more warmly, or I might just finally lose my patience with you....Ya know, once and fer all!"  Decker said as he pulled his<span style="font-weight: bold">red bandanna</span>off and offered it to her for her bleeding lip. Normally Damned Cowboy's kerchiefs were nasty and full of snot and god knows what else, but his was made of fine silk and meticulously clean, She reached out and snagged the cloth before holding her hand out toward the door, letting him know he'd over stayed his welcome.<br/><br/>Decker shook his head and walked back out of the Boarding house without another word. He stood on the porch of the boarding house with his hands on his hips while Lila relocked the door behind him. He had to fight off the urge to go back through that door with a boot and waylay her, it would be easy to force her to come with him whether she liked it or not but soon the feeling subsided to his need for her to come to him willingly won out the battle.<br/><br/>"What'cha want us to do now Mr. Malloy?" Philip, or atleast that's what Decker thought his name was, asked. They were mounted on their horses, everyone leaning up on their saddle horns wondering what the deal was with Lila and Decker, they'd all heard rumors, but seeing his mercy with her proved the fact, of cause none of them had the balls to bring it up.<br/><br/>"Well he was out on the road, before yall found him....Who else did ya see in the immediate area?" Decker asked, as he placed his hat back on his head and mounted his white thoroughbred stallion.<br/><br/>"uuuh....Yessir....I think we might've seen Mr. Williams on our way out of town....It might know where that naked feller made it off to, sir. " Philip answered up, hoping he wasn't about to be scolded.<br/><br/>Mr. Williams? as in Jeb Williams? Got that spread with the old Spanish adobe place west of here?" Decker asked.<br/><br/>"Yessir...that'd be the one, he's got himself a perty wife too...Mr. Amsterdam might be interested in having her as a model, even if'n he don't know where that naked man runt off to!" Philip responded, a large smile on his dopey face at the fact that he'd provided good intel to the boss.<br/><br/>"Well what are we waiting for boys? Lets go have us a chat!" Decker said as he tore off toward the William's place.<br/><br/>Lila watched through the lace curtains as the riders tore off toward Jeb's place, she knew there was nothing she could do for them, other than pray. The young girl Bethany walked up behind Lila and latched a hold of Lila's apron like a child does a security blanket. Lila turned to see that it had been her scream they heard early, she now wore the telltale swelling of a black-eye to come.<br/><br/>"They was gonna find im, Miss Mclure....One of them Damned boys was gonna look under the bed and find im....I didn't reckon that poor burned up fella needed anymore trouble than he already had, so I wound up and kicked him square in the walnuts....He didn't like that so much though...." Bethany said, as she held the side of her head and wept.<br/><br/>"You did good baby....Go and fetch one of the slabs of beef from the ice box we were gonna have tonight...You put it on that shiner for it gets too much worse...Ok?" Lila said, in an almost motherly tone. "yes'sum" Bethany said and ran off.<br/><br/>"I just hope yer worth it, Mr. Mystery Man.....I'd hate to think we all went through all that and you end up being some scoundrel worse then them Damned Cowboys anyway...I think that might just be enough to break my heart..." Lila said to herself as she wiped the blood from her mouth with the red silk kerchief, before going back upstairs to check on the<span style="font-weight: bold">still unconscious</span>wanted man.