Disorder in the House [How the West Was Done 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Karen Mercury Page B

holding an apple. Levi grinned at the shadow and looked to Garrett, but his partner held up his hands in protest.
    “I’m going back to sleep, after I drink some water.”
    “You do that,” Levi agreed, uncorking his whiskey bottle. “But don’t you think it’d be advisable to get in touch with Paddy first? We need to find out what he meant about the cold water harming Liberty. We can’t go search for Shady until we know she’s safe.”
    Garrett gulped his water and exhaled mightily. “Yes. And I doubt that fool Zeke will be of much help. But you know what? I think old Paddy can get ahold of me in other ways.”
    “What do you mean?”
    Already in the bedroom doorway, Garrett lifted a hand. “Good night.”
    Levi shrugged. “Good night.”
     
    * * * *
     
    Garrett soared above the ramshackle town of Laramie City.
    Although it was nighttime, he could make out every shack of log and canvas. He flew weightlessly past the Union Pacific depot, where at this time of night only a few straggling carousers stumbled about. Behind the Cactus Club, someone he assumed was Rusty Pipes tossed out a cauldron full of something steaming. And of course, though the sun was due to rise soon, at the Bucket of Blood the musicians still played. Garrett thought the banjo player sounded about to keel over in a dead faint.
    He’d been soaring nightly for about a week now, and he knew it had to lead somewhere. There must be a reason he’d been flying about, watching Mr. and Mrs. Fowler fall out of their buggy in their furs and top hat, back from a dinner party at the mayor’s house. One night he’d attended a meeting of the Order of Oddfellows, where all the members put on a play wearing dresses with flowers in their hair. Or, worst of all, once he’d witnessed Henry Zuckerkorn, journalist for the Frontier Index , indulge his passion for spanking prostitutes dressed as schoolgirls.
    But to what avail? What was all this flying about showing him? Other than indulging in a passion for gossip.
    Tonight was different. Tonight he soared with a purpose. He wasn’t just content to flit about from tent to tent or even to speed over the horse corrals or the river, where he breathed in the fresh rapids and grasses, the fish frisky and jumping in their early morning constitutional. No, tonight he maintained the question in his head. Where is Shady Barnhart? With this in mind, Garrett thought he could get some answers.
    He knew he had to get away from Laramie City to do so, but before he left, he saw an odd thing. His spirit swooped into the saloon of the Frontier Hotel. A fellow with a thick, elaborate moustache sat with Simon Hudson, drinking ale. Garrett was irritated he should have to look at this mundane business, especially as they seemed to only be discussing the old college days at Amherst.
    His irritation seemed to propel him onward, for his spirit soon rushed up and away from the town. The dimly lit prairie opened up below him as he flew up the windswept slopes of the Laramie Mountains, populated with gnarled, deformed pines. Heartened to know he was heading toward Sherman Summit and the Dale Creek Bridge, he gladly soared over ridge after barren ridge. He raced up the dizzying slope of the bridge following the train tracks, and when his spirit shot out over the summit, he hovered there for a few seconds, enjoying the scene.
    Up here, he could hover as though in a cottony cocoon, imbued with joy at everything. He still thought about daily human life back in Laramie. For instance, he was very pleased with the recent turn of events with Levi. He had never voluntarily allowed another man to touch him, but when Levi had grabbed his cock, it seemed right and natural. It was as though they were two old spirit friends coming together—as though he’d known Levi in a previous incarnation.
    Garrett knew that Spiritualists believed that life continued in some angelic form after death. So he supposed he was a Spiritualist and should ask Liberty