Slocum and the Yellowback Trail

by Jake Logan

  Everyone but Slocum, that is.

  The instant Bo flexed a muscle to drive his blade down into the table through the young man’s hand, Slocum drew his pistol. The Colt Navy came up in a whisper of iron against leather. His arm moved in a practiced motion that put the gun in his hand and its barrel against Bo’s wrist.

  At first, Bo was annoyed to have his progress stopped by an immovable barrier. When he saw that barrier was the business end of a six-shooter, he let his eyes follow the gun back up to the man holding it. “What the hell’s this?” he grunted. “You a friend of this cheat?”

  “Never met him.”

  “Then why would you risk your life to protect him?”

  Since Slocum could feel any movement of Bo’s hand through the Colt’s grip, he allowed his eyes to shift just enough to get a look at the figures encroaching on him from the side. Before Bo could get any smart ideas, Slocum said, “Maybe it’s easier to believe his story than the words coming from the mouth of a skinny little rat like yourself.”

  “That’s a dangerous play, mister.”

  “It sure is. If either of your boys gets any closer to me, I’m liable to get nervous. If I get nervous, my finger may just twitch. And if that happens, this young fella won’t be the one missing a paw.”

  Bo’s arm started to tremble. Whether it was from nervousness or fatigue was tough to tell.

  “Fine,” Bo said as he eased his arm back and let go of the young man’s wrist.

  “Very fine indeed,” Slocum said. “Now pay the man what you owe him.”

  Bo’s eyes narrowed as he slowly moved back. “Pay him for cheating?”

  Nudging the young gambler with the side of his foot, Slocum asked, “Did you cheat?”

  “No sir,” the gambler replied.

  Slocum grinned. “Somehow, I believe him more than you, Bo. Why don’t you pay up like a proper dealer so you can get on with your game?”

  The expression on Bo’s sunken face made him look as if he’d just been forced to drink a bucket of sour milk. He grabbed a stack of money, peeled off a few bills, and threw them at the gambler. “Take it and get the hell out of my sight. Come near my table again and I’ll finish what I started here today.”

  “Don’t worry,” the gambler said while collecting his money. “There’s plenty more games to be played around here.” To Slocum, he said, “Much obliged, mister.”

  Bo’s men moved behind Slocum. He took a quick glance over one shoulder, spotted one of the big fellows coming at him, and snapped his arm around like a whip. The Colt Navy cracked against the side of that man’s head and dropped him to the floor.

  Slocum then took aim at the other fellow while stepping away from the table. “This is over as far as I’m concerned,” he warned. “If you want to press the matter, it’s your call.”

  “Ain’t nothing’s over, mister,” Bo replied. “Not unless you repay me here and now.”

  “That’s not gonna happen.”

  “Care to tell me your name?”

  “Nah,” Slocum said. “I’m through with you. If you boys keep your noses clean, it’ll stay that way.” With that, he holstered his Colt and tipped his hat to all three men. The one who’d been knocked in the head was shaky on his feet and bleeding, but not seriously damaged.

  Since nobody else was eager to test him, Slocum made his way back to where Terrance was standing. “That was fun,” he said to the theater’s owner. “How about another whiskey?”

  Terrance shook his head and wiped a few beads of sweat from his brow. “I can’t believe you did that.”

  “What were you expecting?”

  “I wanted you to get those men out of my theater for good, not stir them up like a damned hornet’s nest! You think this is through?”

  Watching Bo and his two partners collect themselves before quietly getting their table back in order, Slocum shrugged. “Seems to be doing pretty well at the moment.”

  As if to prove Slocum’s point, the rattle of the ball in the roulette wheel soon came from that side of the room. Within moments, it was followed by the voices of gamblers placing their bets and howling for their numbers. “You don’t know those men,” Terrance muttered. “They won’t let this go. If anything, it’ll just be worse next time.”

  “Well that’s next time. Right now, I’d like the rest of my money.”

  When Terrance fixed him with a set of wide eyes above a gaping mouth, Slocum had to fight to keep from laughing. He gave in before Terrance busted a seam in his shirt. “I’m just pulling your leg, Terrance. Take a breath, will you?”

  “Wish I could.”

  “Who’d you say those boys are again?”

  “Bo’s the one behind the wheel,” Terrance replied. “His partners are James and Cam. James is the one you knocked in the head. He runs girls through the rooms of my second floor, and he won’t be at all happy once he gets his wits about him.”

  “He doesn’t look happy now,” Slocum chuckled.

  “I’m glad you find this so funny!” Terrance said while moving closer to the bar. “You can just pick up and leave if things get bad enough. I’ve got a business to run. A business, I might add, that may get burned to the ground thanks to you. Bo threatened to do that, you know! Why the hell do you think I need your help with this?”

  Slocum lifted his drink to his mouth and tossed it back. The firewater burned all the way down his throat and left him willing to grin about the situation. “This,” he said while setting the glass onto the bar, “is some damn fine whiskey. As for the rest, I may not know those men personally but I’ve dealt with their kind more times than I can count. They’re full of wind and enjoy pushing folks that they think won’t push back.”

  The first ray of hope showed on Terrance’s face when he asked, “So you think they really won’t set my place on fire?”

  “Oh, they still might do that. That’d be just the sort of thing I’d expect from a bunch of cowards like that.”

  Terrance’s hopes fell right through the floor along with his chin.

  “But,” Slocum continued, “I don’t intend on letting it get that far. They’ll set their sights on me for now. After what I did to Bo, they’ll want to put me in my place before burning down their source of income.”

  “And what should I do when you’re not around?” Raising one eyebrow expectantly, he added, “Unless you don’t plan on leaving?”

  “I’ll come and go like anyone else,” Slocum said while patting the other man’s shoulder. “And when they strut up to try and talk tough to you, just do whatever you’d normally do to keep them quiet. Leave the rest to me.”

  “So you’ll clean them out? Permanently?”

  “I’ll do the job you’re paying me to do and don’t worry. When I leave town, you won’t have to concern yourself with those fellas again. There is still a payment coming, though, right?”

  “Sure. Once the job’s done. If there’s any damage to my place, I’ll have to deduct it from your fee.”

  Slocum studied Terrance with a harsh eye. Seeing the other man was going to stand his ground, he nodded and asked, “Do you provide free drinks to your employees?”

  “No, but I’ll make an exception for you.”

  “Then you’ve got a deal. So, where’s your daughter?”

  Whatever nervousness Terrance may have felt before was quickly replaced by a ferocious resolve that showed from the glint of his eye all the way down to the straightening of his spine. “Eve’s got her own matters to tend to and so do you. Your only concern with her is if Bo or those hired guns of his go anywhere near her. Understand?”

  “Yes, sir,” Slocum replied with a mock salute. Even though the older man’s hackles were still up, Slocum told him, “You’re a good fellow, Terrance. I’ll see about cleaning out this theater for you. I won’t accept a dime until then.”

  “And what about Eve?”

  “What about her?”

  Straightening up even more, Terrance placed one hand flat upon the bar and th
e other upon his hip. “You’ll give her a wide berth?”

  “I’m not here to hide. If she catches sight of me and waves, it’d be rude not to wave back.”

  “Waving isn’t what I meant.”

  “She’s a grown woman, Terrance. She’ll do what she pleases. If it’ll make you feel better, I won’t go out hunting for her.”

  “That does make me feel better, John. Thank you.” Slapping the bar, Terrance caught the tender’s eye and said, “Anything this man wants to drink is on the house!”

  “You’re a good man,” Slocum said.

  “You too,” Terrance replied with a relieved sigh. “Welcome to Chicago.”

  3

  “God,” Eve Pinder moaned, “it’s so good to have you in Chicago.”

  Slocum sat on a chair that creaked under his weight. Actually, it creaked under the combined weight of both him and Eve. She was a short, solidly built woman with curves in all the right places and a thick mane of black hair extending just past her shoulders. Her breasts were just big enough to sway as she straddled him and just small enough to keep her nipples at Slocum’s mouth level as she ground on his lap.

  “That,” he replied after taking a playful bite of her left breast, “is just what I was gonna say to you.”

  Eve smiled and leaned back while grabbing onto the back of the chair. Her face was just as pretty as Slocum remembered. What struck him the most was the little gap between her top front teeth that made her look even prettier and more genuine than a dancing girl who’d spent hours gussying herself up with the war paint they used before going on stage. In contrast to those women, Eve barely seemed to give a damn what anyone thought of her. She straddled Slocum and rode his cock as if she was breaking a bronco. Looking down at him, she reached around to grasp the back of his head and press his mouth against her nipple even harder. When his teeth closed around her flesh, she twitched and let out a happy little yelp.

  “When my daddy told me to stay away from the theater, I knew something good was going on,” she said.

  Slocum grabbed her hips and leaned back just enough to get some breathing room. “I was hoping as much. Your father runs a nice place, but I didn’t want to stand about all night long.”

  “How long were you waiting for me?”

  “Just over two hours. Can’t say I was bored, though.”

  Settling on him so Slocum’s erection was buried deep inside of her, Eve let out a slow breath and moved her hand to his chest. She ran the other flat along her belly until her fingertips drifted into the thatch of hair between her legs. “Don’t tell me you were letting one of those dancing girls entertain you.”

  “No. The roulette spinner kept me entertained well enough.”

  “You and Bo? Now, that is a surprise. I wouldn’t have pegged you as that sort of man.”

  Slocum gritted his teeth and made a snarling sound as he grabbed onto Eve’s rump and lifted her up along with him as he stood up from the chair. “You know damn well that isn’t what I mean.”

  “Maybe you’re getting bored with women,” she said teasingly. Although she started to needle him some more, her words were cut off when she was unceremoniously dropped onto the bed. She landed on her back and barely had a chance to scoot so her backside wasn’t dangling off the edge of the mattress before Slocum was easing her legs apart.

  “Does this look bored to you?” he asked while guiding his rigid pole into her pussy and thrusting his hips forward.

  Eve’s eyes widened and she pulled in a quick breath. Her imperfect smile returned. This time, it carried a devilish glimmer. Reaching down again, she touched herself and eased her fingers apart so Slocum’s cock was sliding between them while he entered her. “Doesn’t feel bored, that’s for certain. Oooh! Feels even less bored now.”

  Being inside of her felt good enough, but feeling her touch his erect penis as he slid in and out was even better. She knew full well what she was doing to him, because Eve kept her eyes focused on him as she moved her fingers up and down his length.

  “So you know Bo?” Slocum asked as a way to distract himself so he wouldn’t end his tussle with her ahead of schedule.

  “He’s just some tough-talking idiot who pushes gamblers around.”

  “Did he ever try his luck with you?”

  “Why? Do you think he’d know how to curl my toes?”

  Slocum chuckled and pulled out of her. “No, but I do.” With that, he gave her hip a little slap and rolled her over. Eve was more than happy to comply and crawled onto the bed so she was on all fours with her knees on the edge and her feet dangling off the side. Slocum ran the palms of his hands along the curve of her backside and up to the small of her back. Before she could get too anxious, he moved forward so his erection brushed the dampness between her thighs. Already impatient, Eve reached down to guide him the rest of the way.

  The instant he felt the warm wetness close in around him, Slocum buried his pole as far into her as it would go. He grabbed her hips and pulled her toward him just to add that little bit of impact when his stomach bumped against her. Eve clawed at the bed like a cat and arched her back as he continued to drive into her. Before long, a groan emerged from her throat and came out in a prolonged cry. Her entire body shook as a climax rippled through it, but she wasn’t done with him yet.

  “I heard my father hired you to lay down the law at the Stamper,” she said. “What would you do if I tried to start some trouble?”

  “I’d have to put you in your place.” Knowing she was smiling without having to see her face, Slocum pounded into her again and again. Her pussy was dripping and the pleasure she felt was so intense that she could hardly make a sound for the next couple of minutes. When he felt another set of shivers work through her, Slocum eased out and gave her rump another little slap.

  Eve rolled onto her side and stretched out on the bed. “Bo’s not the one you should be worried about,” she told him as he settled onto the bed next to her. “James is the killer of that bunch.”

  “What about the other one? Younger fella with light-colored hair.”

  “That’s Cam. He used to be a deputy. My guess is that he took a few bribes and got in over his head with the wrong sort of people. He’ll do what the other two tell him, but not if it means getting himself killed.”

  “How do you know so much?”

  “I see a lot of things,” she replied as she let her eyes wander along the front of Slocum’s naked body.

  Slocum’s eyes were doing some wandering of their own, and they settled upon the smooth skin between her breasts. Eve’s body had the texture of warm cream, and there wasn’t a single part of her that wasn’t pleasant to the touch. Although plenty of women had soft skin, Eve made no attempt to hide the fact that she enjoyed putting hers on display. Just seeing him look at her was enough for her to stretch her arms out and move her legs apart to give Slocum a better view.

  “Does my father know I’m here?” she asked.

  “I didn’t tell him I was renting a room in this particular establishment, but he must have seen you run up and plant that kiss on me when you stopped by the theater. If it’s all the same to you, I wouldn’t mind dropping the subject of your father for the moment.”

  “Why?” she asked while reaching down to wrap her fingers around his cock. “Does that make things hard for you?”

  “Not really.”

  “I beg to differ,” she said while stroking him back to a mostly rigid state. “The only reason I asked about him was because he tends to check up on me whenever I’m not at home or in his sight.”

  “He hired me to protect his interests,” Slocum said.

  “I don’t think that makes us entirely safe from him, especially after he caught us in the back room at his own theater the last time you were in town.”

  “Almost caught us,” he corrected. “As far as he knows we were just kissing like a couple of randy kids.”

  “That’s enough for him to get suspicious. If he knew about the rest of it,”
she added while draping one leg over him and shifting so his cock brushed against the slick lips of her pussy, “there’d be hell to pay.”

  “All right,” Slocum said. “Enough talk about your father or anything else.” He grabbed the leg that had been resting across his hip and held it so he could have an easier time getting inside of her. It took some shifting, but they were soon lying on their sides facing each other. Slocum held her leg in place and began thrusting his hips.

  It wasn’t long before that became more awkward than it was worth. When he rolled her onto her back, she spread her legs open wide as he knelt between them. From there, it was a simple matter of plunging his cock into her and pumping in and out with building momentum. Eve drove her head back against the bed and grabbed onto the blankets with both hands. As soon as she felt Slocum’s hands reaching to cup her buttocks, she pumped her hips in time with his.

  Her reckless abandon drove her over the edge almost immediately and would have done the same for Slocum if he hadn’t reined himself in with a few gulping breaths. She felt too damn good for him to be through just yet. Even if she’d wait to stoke his fire again later, he just couldn’t finish with her yet. Fortunately, the tide within him eased back and he was free to do as he pleased once more.

  Slocum ran his hands along her inner thighs, rubbed her calves, and finally grabbed her ankles. The devilish grin reappeared on her face as she hoisted her feet up and allowed him to move them apart. The moment Slocum let go, she wrapped her legs around him and ground herself against his stiff member.

  Judging by the sheen of sweat on her skin and the fatigue written on her face, Eve was spent. Trembling orgasms had shaken her several times, but now she could barely lift her head. That meant it was Slocum’s time to cut loose. He pumped into her however he pleased while Eve simply enjoyed the ride.

  “Yes,” she moaned as he pounded into her again and again. When Slocum grabbed her tits with both hands, she pressed her hands upon his and arched her back. “God yes! Right there!”

  Somehow, she was going to climax again. Slocum en-vied her for being able to take so much pleasure from a single tussle. Then again, he doubted he’d be able to survive more than one at a stretch of what was brewing inside of him. The sensations rolled through him and he did nothing to push them back. He simply allowed his hands to roam over her silky skin and his hips to pump between her legs like a piston. When the explosion came, he wrapped his arms around her and drove his cock in as far as it could go.