Black Conley (23 page)

When she felt like she could endure the torture no longer, Rance pushed Charlie out of the way. “You ain't no better than a stag in rut. All they do is poke at the females and fight with the males for territory. There's only one way to break a bitch, and that's with a whip. I asked the boss and he said it was time this bitch knew her place. As long as we don't fuck her the way he intends to, we can do whatever we want to her."

Belle gasped as Rance produced a cat o’ nine tails whip, much like the one Lacy kept in her bedroom for special customers. She watched in horror as Rance ran the strands through his hands before letting them loose on her bare breasts. The pain was horrible, but she refused to cry out.

"Now,” Rance said, as though he was a schoolteacher giving a lesson, “you give her pleasure, so that she equates the pain with the reward of pleasure."

He thrust his hands between her legs and played with her clit until she thought she would come at any moment. Just before she came in his hand, he pinched her clit and picked up the whip again. This time he flicked it over the tender area of her inner thighs. Then he instructed one of the men to start sucking on her injured breasts.

In order to keep her mind from the man who flicked his tongue over her sensitive nipple, she tried to concentrate on the conversation that was going on between Charlie and Rance.

"Where did ya learn to do that, Rance?” Charlie asked.

"Spent a winter stuck in Deadwood. The only work I could get was at a whorehouse keepin’ the girls in line. The old gal who ran the place gave me this whip and showed me how to use it."

"Why would you have to do a thing like that?'

"Them whores were a thievin’ bunch. Sadie caught them stealing more than once. One time one of the girls rolled a prospector for his poke and killed him in the process. Now, Sadie didn't want the law comin’ to her place, so we chucked the old man into the river. When we come back, Sadie made all the girls watch while I beat that whore to death with this whip. All the while I was doin’ the pain and pleasure thing that Sadie showed me. It was almost as good as fuckin’ one of them whores all night. When I finished, we chucked her in the river right alongside the old man."

Belle thought she was going to be sick. The look on Rance's face when he described the terrible thing he'd done was enough to turn anyone's stomach. He was enjoying it. She didn't have to look down at his crotch to know that he was hard. Since Clayte had given instructions not to take her the way a man takes a woman, sooner or later he'd have to go outside and relieve himself.

Her inner thoughts were interrupted when Rance pulled the man away from her and again raised the whip. To her horror, she could feel a wetness pooling between her legs. Rance was right; she was beginning to equate pain with pleasure.

"That's enough for now,” Rance said. “We have to let the boss know we have her. Frank, you ride back to the house and tell him. I'd go, but I don't trust any either of you to keep your hands to yourself while I'm gone. If the boss took her and found out that you'd taken her virginity before he got her, there'd be hell to pay and you can bet I'd be diggin’ more than one grave."

The man who had sucked her breast came toward her to loosen the bindings on her hands and take her to the bed that was probably full of bugs. The way the cabin smelled, it had housed many unwashed bodies in the past and it was unlikely the men had not gone outside to relieve themselves in the winter.

"Can I at least have my clothes back?” she asked, speaking for the first time since the ordeal of pain and pleasure had begun.

"Much as I enjoy the sight of your naked body, Belle, I suppose we should give you a blanket to cover yourself. Wouldn't do for you to get sick and die on the boss before he gets a child from you. We'd all be lookin’ at an early grave if that was the case."

"It ain't fair,” Charlie complained. “I didn't get a chance at her."

"Take your chance now, but with all your clothes on. I don't want you getting’ any wild ideas about fuckin’ her right and proper."

Once Belle was on the bed, her hands were tied over her head, exposing her breasts to the prying eyes of these men. It didn't come as a surprise that once Frank left, Charlie climbed on top of her.

First he tried to kiss her, but she turned her head so that his mouth came in contact with her ear rather than her lips. The only thing that got her was a slap that stung as badly as the whip had earlier.

"What the hell do you think you're doin'?” Rance demanded.

"It's my version of your game of pain and pleasure."

"You'll bruise her."

"Isn't that what you did with that whip of yours? She's got welts on her backside as well as her legs and tits. They'll pain her for a good while longer than the little love tap I just gave her."

He shifted his weight and shoved his knee between her legs so that he could reach her clit with one hand while sucking her breast. Alternately he'd bite her nipple and pinch her clit until she thought she was going to pass out from the agony.

Abruptly, Rance pulled Charlie away from her. “That's enough,” Rance declared. “You don't want her all wore out before the boss gets here. He said we could watch how he takes a virgin, considering it ain't likely any of us will ever get the chance. That's one show I want to see. I hear tell they squeal like a stuck pig the first time a real cock slides in and breaks that barrier."

"I know they do,” Charlie said as he rubbed the bulge in his pants. “The first gal I fucked was a virgin. She cried the whole time, but I ain't ever had a cunt that tight again. I can almost feel it constricting around my cock just thinkin’ about it."

Belle tried to close out the vulgar conversation that Charlie and Rance were engaging in, but to do so brought on the pain of her injuries. Her breasts ached, not only from the whip, but also from the way Charlie had raked his teeth over her nipples. Her legs and backside stung from the welts left by the whip and her clit felt like it as well as the rest of her woman's parts were on fire.

With no one knowing where she was, she would have to endure the humiliation of being raped by Clayte while his men watched. Just the thought of it brought tears to her eyes, but she refused to shed them. She vowed to not give these pigs the pleasure to see her woman's weakness. At least she hadn't cried out when they beat her so viciously.

She was hardly aware of the end to the conversation. The only thing she did feel was the scratchiness of the wool blanket they threw over her naked body.

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"I'm going after her,” Black declared. “I know where that shack is. Kate, you come with me. The rest of you stay here."

"Let me come, too,” Lacy pleaded.

"I can't chance it. You're not as good with a gun as Kate is. There's too much of a chance of you getting hurt."

"And you and Kate won't? I may not be a crack shot, but I know my way around whips. I've been practicing with that one of yours all winter and I can be as deadly as you are with your guns. At least let me come along to watch your back."

"The girl's got a point, Black,” Roy said. “Anna and the girls have their hands full here, and I think I should hang back to protect them and Zeek. It wouldn't hurt to have someone else watching your back. I've seen Lacy with that whip of yours and she ain't half bad. I'd hate to be on the receiving end of it."

Black shook his head in defeat. “All right, Lacy can come, but no one else. This is something best handled with fewer people. Too many and we risk the chance of detection."

After saddling their horses, they headed southeast toward the line shack where they were certain they would find Belle. “They probably have the buckboard,” Lacy commented. “Do you think we should bring it back with us?"

"There won't be time. We need to get in and get out before they can react and stop us. The wagon would only slow us down. We'll take care of the men who are in the shack with Belle and get her out of there as quickly as possible. I don't want to take a chance of losing any of you girls."

He glanced at his companions. “I thought you'd be armed, Kate."

"I am.” She glanced down at her rifle.

"A rifle ain't no good in a close fight. Once we get there, you take one of my guns and be ready to use it."

By the time they arrived at the line shack, they saw the buckboard and team sitting off to one side. Either they were ignorant bastards or they had set a trap for him. Either way he had to go in and get her out of there. His prayer was that he hoped they hadn't hurt her.

From a safe distance, they walked their horses close enough so that Kate could peek into one of the windows and see what they were up against.

"They've got Belle tied to a bed. I'm pretty sure she's naked. They have her covered with a blanket."

Black closed his eyes and tried to envision the layout of the shack. It was, more than likely, identical to every other such building used by the ranch hands when they worked long stretches away from the bunkhouse. There would be a rickety table, a couple of chairs and a bed along with a stove where cans of beans could be heated for less than satisfying meals.

Black took a moment to think about his strategy. Having no idea how many men were in the shack made him stop to reconsider his position. It hadn't occurred to him to ask Kate if she saw how many men were guarding Belle.
I must be slipping; either that, or I'm just too damn close to this one to think straight.

"Did you see any men in there with her?” he finally asked.

"Only two. One of them is Clayte's foreman, Rance, the other is that no-good drifter, Charlie McCasslin. He worked for us about a year ago and when he couldn't get Belle to spread her legs for him, he quit. She kept telling him he could have a go at any of the rest of us, but he wasn't buying and we were just as happy not to have him in our beds. You could smell him coming a mile away."

If the situation hadn't been so serious, Black would have laughed at Kate's description of Charlie McCasslin. Unfortunately, Black knew exactly who she was describing.

Charlie McCasslin had to be the man who directed him out to the Double Bar B on his first night in town. If that was the case, getting Belle out of these just got ten times more important. The man had a powerful hate for Belle and was exactly the kind of man who would follow any directions Clayte and Rance gave him without question.

After a moment, Black motioned for the girls to come back to where they'd left the horses.

"What we have to do is get their attention,” he began, his voice hardly louder than a whisper. “Kate, you take my gun and go around the back side of the cabin. When one of them comes out, you can take care of him, but for God's sake, don't kill anyone. When the second one comes out, Lacy can take care of him with either a gun or a bullwhip. I don't care which. Once they're out in the open, I'll go in and get Belle. By that time one of you can have the horses up here."

"How are you going to get them out of there?” Lacy asked.

"I'll get their attention once the two of you are in place. Take my rope. Once you have them under control, tie them up. Don't want anyone accusing us of murder, even though that's what I'm certain they planned when they shot Zeek."

Both girls nodded and hurried off to take up positions on either side of the front door to the shack. Once they were in place, Black crept up to the shack and threw a stone against the wall.

As he'd anticipated, the door opened and Charlie McCasslin came out, only to be cracked on the back of the head by Kate using Black's gun. As quickly as possible she dragged him away from the entrance before Rance came out to investigate what was going on.

When the door opened, Lacy wrapped the whip around Rance's upper body while Kate cracked him on the head as well with Black's gun.

While the girls tied up both men, Black rushed in and untied Belle. The bruises on her face along with the welts on her breasts and arms made him sick to his stomach. He knew he had to get her home and to hell with the wagon that was loaded with lumber to repair the barn.

"Black,” she said when he scooped her into his arms. “How did you find me?"

"That's not important. What we have to do is get you out of here and back to the Double Bar B."

"My clothes,” she pleaded.

"Leave them,” he replied as he helped her to put on his coat and then pulled the filthy blanket closer around her before hurrying out of the shack. Kate and Lacy waited for him with the horses. Once he hoisted Belle onto the back of his horse, the three of them headed toward the Double Bar B and the safety their own place afforded them. When there they got there, they would barricade themselves into the house in preparation for the retaliation that was certain to come from the Diamond A.

Black didn't realize they were being followed until he heard the report of gunfire from behind him. Ahead of him, the girls were riding toward the ranch house. Rather than look back, he spurred his horse, praying that Belle had a good grip on the saddle horn.

The pain of a bullet slamming into his back made him realize just how close their pursuers actually were. Rather than slowing because of his wound, he dug his heels deeper into the sides of his horse.

His strength was depleting as the ranch house came into view. If he could make it a few more yards, Belle would be safe. If the bullet took his life, it would make no difference. Roy would see to Belle's safety, and the girls would be able to defend the ranch once they barricaded themselves behind the locked doors.

Through his blurred vision, Black could see several horses in the dooryard. How had Clayte and his men gotten here ahead of him? How could he hope to protect Belle and the girls when the blackness of unconsciousness threatened to overcome him? How...

Belle clung to the saddle horn, the sound of shots from behind them made her more frightened than anything. What if Clayte and his men caught up with them? What if they were caught? Would they kill Black so that Clayte could rape her and force her into a marriage she neither wanted nor would approve of? Would they make Black watch what Clayte was doing to her before they killed him?