Chapter 29: Confrontation
The silence hung between them, thick and unbroken. Hosea allowed it a moment, before pressing. “Talk to me Arthur. Tell me what’s going on in your head.”
He’d always been able to get him to open up. Always been able to find a way in. Figured it would be the same here. That all he had to do was extend the invitation, and he’d all but confess those hurts that weighed on him so heavily. Weren’t no secret that Arthur’s thoughts could be just as dangerous as they could be volatile, a long history of self-depreciation and doubt etched into his very being, fueling each and every dark thought he kept well and truly buried.
Yet there was another beat of silence, and then his words came. They were thick and rough in the manner Hosea had grown accustomed to whenever he were trying to hide himself. “Forgive me if I ain’t exactly come to terms with where I stand.”
“Arthur,” he chided, letting a sigh. “Now you ain’t thinking right. You ain’t feeling well and it’s messing with your head. Just...come on back to camp. We’ll get you fixed up right and we can discuss things then.”
There was something pitiful in his laugh, almost broken as he responded. “You ain’t get it, do you? There ain’t no going back; least not for me. Dutch made that quite clear.”
He let out a measured sigh, trying his best to keep his frustration out of his voice. “You and I both know he was heated. He ain’t mean what he said.”
“Man says a lot of things,” Arthur agreed quietly, “but you were there. You saw what he tried to do.”
“And he were wrong,” Hosea acknowledged, “I ain’t going to argue that. He’s a stupid as he is stubborn, but even he can see where he messed up. You come on back, talk it out like men, and you’ll see—he’ll welcome you back.”
“He will, will he?” Arthur broke into a series of coughs, “You think he’s gonna let me just come riding with him after running with the O’Driscolls?”
“And you think you’re going to last long riding with them?” Hosea wondered, staring him down
https://archiveofourown.org/works/82859916/chapters/235423931
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