Cowboy saves you from bandits x stubborn f!reader
-> -> -> Contains mentions of SA <- <- <-
âThose thugs ain't gonna bother ya no more missyâ the man fixed his hat as he wiggled his mustache, putting his gun back in place he turned to you, his hand extending to help you stand up.
With a scoff, you pushed his hand away, dusting your clothes off and turning your heel to walk to your now broken carriage. The hinge that connected the carriage to your horses was snapped due to the big commotion with the Cowboy and the Bandits, the horses were now long gone into the horizon.
âA thank you would be appreciated ya knowâ The Cowboy scoffed a little annoyed, his hands resting on his hips - You were on your way to the town of Devil Tusk, one of the capital towns that made up the little country you were in. You were supposed to arrive there by 10pm latest when a group of Bandits decided to ambush you when crossing a deserted railway. This slowed down your arrival by 3. Whole. Hours.
When trying to dispatch the situation with the bandits, a very broad, tall Cowboy (with a big gunslinger mustache covering his top lip entirely) decided to intervene and started a shoot down with the criminals, scaring the horses and causing some of your belongings to be punctured by the bullets. Eventually, the Cowboy did manage to wound one of the Bandits, so they ended up retreating out of fear, however, you were not happy with the result of events.
âA thank you?â Letting out a forced laugh âI had everything under control, before you showed up and ruined my precious belongings with some stupid gun fight!â Holding up one of your torn up clothes, you huffed when he just stared with wide eyes, you turned, looking for anything that wasnât covered in dirt or had holes in them.
The Cowboy sighed, his hand wiping the sweat from underneath his big hat âLook, Miss? I am sorry for the state of your dressesâ he slowly approached you âbut if it wasnât for me ya would have been as dead as a doornail-â he extended his arm to touch your shoulder, you quickly pushed him away, swinging an expensive, badly scratched leather boot as a weapon. His hands were raised defensively.
âI had it covered.â Your eyes glaring right into his skull âwe were just about to negotiate a way for me to be on my way and remain aliveâ firmly bumping the sole of the boot against his wide chest. âBut no, you had to sweep in and try to be a hero, almost costing both of our livesâ.
The man stared again, this time it seemed that he was thinking rather than judging, his gaze wasnât shocked but more stern and serious. He kept his hands up âAnd what exactly would the condition have been?â Your eyes widened for a moment, for a moment looking at the floor, you didnât know exactly what they wanted from you. Money and the expensive clothes were two of the things you offered to the Bandits, they did look interested at the time, however, there was a sinister glint between the four. Your boot holding hand slightly backed âIâm not..sureâŚâ
He raised his eyebrow, he knew something you didnât and he wasnât bothered to hide it. âYou knowâŚâ you lowered the boot âmoneyâŚclothes-â
Your eyes widened, you looked at the man, his eyes staring right into yours.
Oh god he looked seriousâŚ
You backed away, holding the boot tightly between both hands.
That was a possibility⌠A very,very obvious possibilityâŚ.
You felt nauseous at the mere thought of it; you werenât married, nor did you have a significant other, who wouldnât take advantage of a young, single lady traveling all by herself in the blankness of the plains?
Your eyes fell onto the man inspecting your carriage. A complete stranger in the middle of nowhere. Looking closely you could see the eye bags that sat nicely on his face, as well as some wrinkles here and there.
His gun glistened from the sunlight. Did he want a reward? Did he also want your body after saving your life? Your brow dropped a sweat, eyes landing at a piece of wood that fell at the side of the carriage.
âThere isnât that much of a damageâ he flicked his hat up after dusting his hands âmy place ainât that far from here, I could give ya a fix if you wa-â He quickly dodged the piece of wood that went to aim at the back of his head, his face staring in confusion, you swung your weapon again.
The Cowboy dodged it once more âMISS! WhAT ARE YA DOIN-???â He grabbed the piece of wood with both hands and you struggled to pull it back from his strong grip.
âAre you like them??â You shouted, pulling harder âYou wonât have my body! I will die rather than satisfy that gross mind of yours!â With a harsher yank you managed to own the piece of wood again, swinging once more with more adrenaline.
The Cowboy dodged the attack and quickly pinned you against the carriage, huffing from the impact, one of your arms locked behind your back whilst he held the other one holding the wood high above both your heads.
âNow miss that is some bold accusationsâ he replied rather irritated, was heâŚoffended? You held your stance, harshly trying to get off his grip. âLet me go!â You snapped at him
His grip was strong but not to the point that he hurt you, it was unlikely that there would be marks, let alone pain. He glanced at the piece of wood you desperately tried to swing at him with âfirst drop your weapon missy, then Iâll let goâ he replied firmly
Your eyes widened before looking back at him, did he seriously think he could trick you like this? You used your back to push back at him, trying to knock some air out of his lungs so that he could lose his grip, however, he didnât seem to budge that easily.
âMiss you need to calm downâ
Thatâs when you snapped, the panic and terror from the previous incident all hitting at once, it seems like before you were in shock, therefore you remained relatevily calmer than now, with tears forming in the corner of your eyes you shouted back âHOW should I believe you? You have me pinned on the CARRIAGEâ
âIf I wanted you to be hurt, I would have walked away the moment those thugs showed up.â
With that you fell silent. Your mind replaying that scenario, and you started to think more clearly with the realization. Hesitantly, you dropped the piece of wood, the Cowboy followed by letting you go and walked a few steps away from you, to give you some air.
You didnât move, one due to embarrassment but the other due to fear. You clenched at the hems of your clothing, tears falling, he could have left you alone, you could have been dead by now, you could have been-
âMiss'' he started softly, trying to ease you down âI donât blame ya for what you tried to doâ you tilted your head to one side, still listening to him but not showing your face yet. âI admire you for putting up a fight, it shows that ya know how to take care of yourself in the real worldâ he fixed his head one more time, tilting it for curtsy even though you couldnât see it.
With a sniffle you wiped your tears away. âIâm going to offer ya something and you donât need to accept it, this is all up to you missâ
With another sniffle you quietly croaked âIâm listeningâ
âI can show ya the road and you can be on your merry way, although with this broken down carriage I doubt you will go farâ he didnât sound sure ending that sentence, the Cowboy didnât want to make it sound like it was a dead end way but it was true, your carriage was too broken down to operate, and with no horses you were bound to be dead on the desert.
You sighed, wiping your face you turned to him, his eyebrows slightly scrunched together ââŚor?â
âOr-â he spoke slowly âI can help ya drag the carriage back to my place, give it a fix and then show ya the way to your destinationâ he payed the options openly, although he didnât want to force you into the second one, there wasnât much you could do at this point. The sun was starting to set which meant even more dangers with your situation, but again, you couldnât just trust a stranger like that, let alone have them bring you back to their place.
You were staring at the ground, thinking as he stood there waiting patiently, he gave you space which is something you appreciated but you still felt unease with the way his eyes tried to read an answer from your face.
To be honest, it felt like hours. In your head, by now the Cowboy sat on the ground, not looking at you but at the horizon, giving you time to think without interrupting. And the more the sun set, the more you felt like time was running out.
You took a deep breath in. âOkâ the Cowboy quickly glanced at you, processing your words for a second, âi will go with youâ you replied to his questioning look. He quickly stood up and dusted himself off, he told you to wait as he ran over the far side to grab his horse, you could feel your heart race, you were scared but there was nothing you could do, the sun was just about to leave, there was no way that you were gonna stay with wild animals around, even though at this point, a small part of you would have preferred the dangerous beasts over the strange man.
He walked back this time, on his side his horse and his own small carriage where he held supplies and food. He instructed you to help move your belongings (the intact ones) on the back of his wheels. And when you both were done he fixed one of the wheels of the carriage and tied it to his own. He gave you the ropes and told you to march forward, pushing the carriage to move, quickly running to get on his own, sitting next to you.
As the stars were coming out, he reassured âit wonât take long, maximum an hours or so Miss-â
He looked at you puzzled for a moment âmy nameâ you replied.
He stared a little longer before smiling warmly, tilting his head
âPleased to meet ya Name, Iâm Randyâ.
