Thankfully after long minutes of fighting, hysterical tears and cries of pain from me, Blake remembered her phone was in her back pocket but low on battery. Another fifteen minutes of arguing which brother would receive the call, and five games of rock paper scissors later, it was decided Noxx would be the one we call.
“Could we not argue for a minute,” I yelled, massaging my temples, between the fright of the fall, the glare of the headlights, and the pain in my ankle, I was mighty close to my limit. I wanted out of the cold, dusty hole and instead be in Nixx’s arms, not listening to Blake and Mallory bicker back and forth and not sitting on the most uncomfortable, sharp rock in the history of rocks!
“My God, this rock is digging into my butt so hard, the impression is going to be there until the end of time,” I groused, lifting one cheek to get some relief.
Mallory scrambled carefully over my injured leg, a stupid looking headlamp strapped to her forehead. Why she thought she needed to put it on before winching down the shaft was not something for which I had an answer, but she did look silly, and I did laugh each time she pointed it my way.
“Let me take a look, maybe we can roll it out from under you as long as it isn’t dug into the—hang on, it’s not a rock,” she shouted, then lifting me more, she let out a shriek.
“It’s one of Mum’s biscuit tins!”
“Get stuffed!” Makena exclaimed, excitedly.
“I will not get stuffed, I am telling you it is one of Mum’s. Watch your leg Farron, don’t put any weight on it while I lift you some more and pull it out from under you. It is half under the earth, just give me a second.” Gritting my teeth, I took in deep breaths through my nose and tried desperately not to pass out as Mallory shifted me sideways, angling me up on my injured side. I could hear and feel her digging feverishly to unearth whatever it was, but my foot was feeling the pressure of being moved and hey diddle, diddle it hurt.
“Hurry Mal, I think she is either going to faint or throw up,” Blake warned, but it was too late. Vomit rocketed up my throat and out of my mouth, unfortunately for Blake, she was too close and received a rather disgusting covering of my stomach contents. Luckily it was mostly liquid but no less disgusting and humiliating.
“Oh god Blake, I am so sorry,” I sputtered, wiping my mouth and shirt.
“Oh, don’t be sweetie, it’s just vomit. Horses do worse to me every single day, cows piss and shit on me regularly, this is nothing darlin’,” she soothed, helping me mop myself up.
“I hope that biscuit tin has something in it worth throwing up on you,” I muttered, shooting Mallory a stink-eye glare.
Mallory, who now had the box open and was going through it, didn’t bite at my comment, surprisingly. The contents of the box was much more important than the smell of my spew.
“Mallory?” I asked, interested despite my pain.
“Holy shit.” Looking up, Mallory looked at all three of us, finishing with her sister.
“The money.”
“What money?” I asked again.
Watching her hand emerge from the box, a fistful of cash notes coming into sight.
“No way!” Makena hissed, and I got the feeling the biscuit tin was so much more important than I first thought.
“Way.” Mallory nodded, then burst into tears.
“So, your dad borrowed money off Will Hott,” I said, pointing at Mack, “and then buried it in this dry bore shaft in one of your mum’s biscuit tins?”
“Correct.”
Shaking my head, my pain momentarily forgotten about, I tried in vain to follow the logic of a man I never met.
“And he didn’t use the money because he hated Will and left the bore dry because he didn’t want to admit he needed help from your mum’s parents.”
“Yep.”
“And a dry bore sent that message?”
“Stupidly, he thought so,” Mallory huffed, “there is more in here, but I think we should wait for the guys to look at it.”
“Agreed,” Blake concurred. “This whole saga has been very hard on Drixx, and I know for Noxx and Fenixx too. It is only fair they be present when the truth is revealed.”
I nodded my agreeance, Nixx had filled me in on some of the story, but he didn’t give me the full details on the crazy shit between the two deceased patriarchs. And I thought my religious parents and Alec’s snobby family were weird.
They had nothing on this family feud.
The sound of an approaching car frantically tooting its horn changed the sombre and bewildered tone in the shaft to excited and relieved.
“Oh, thank god,” I breathed out, then giggled when we heard cursing from our men.
“That is a new one,” Blake cackled, hearing her husband’s colourful description of the scene from above.
Another engine came closer, this one sounding like one of the dirt bikes Nixx drove on the Triple H.
“Tim is here.” Mallory clapped her hands like an excited teenager.
“Did you think the guys wouldn’t call him? Honestly Mallory, sometimes I think—”
“Blake!” I shouted.
“What?”
“Shut up, you and Mallory have to get over this petty bullshit. From what I have heard from gossip and down here in our temporary jail, I get it and quite frankly, I am over it. You got Drixx, not Mallory. Mal, I understand you were great friends with Hendrixx, but you have your own guy, getting another man to rub your feet and watch shit shows with is in poor form. Neither of you have a reason to fight or prove yourself, now end this dumb grudge, and Mallory be happy that your friend got the one he always wanted. Please, for the love of God and the sanity of everyone in the family. Stop.” By the end of my rant, all the energy that was in me left my body, exhaustion from the pain and terror of dangling from a car suddenly hit me out of nowhere. Choked sobs tore out of my mouth, then turned into wails when I heard Nixx’s frantic voice calling out to me.
“Farron! Baby!”
Dropping my head back I looked up into the car’s headlights, the car blocked most of the shaft so I couldn’t see him, but I could see the beam of a strong torch flickering down the side.
“In here, guys!” Mack shouted, “We are in the shaft.”
“Sweetheart, are you okay?” Noxx yelled down.
“Kind of. The windscreen broke and fell out taking Farron with it, she fell out of the car and hit the bottom. I think her foot may be broken.”
“She fell out! Farron, Jesus baby, I’m coming down.” Fenixx sounded panicked and that was enough to pull me out of my crying jag.
“No honey, the car has to come out first. There is no room for you to climb down.”
“Are you all out of the car?” Hendrixx called out.
“Um … yeah about that,” Blake hedged, “I might have tried to get Farron back in the car by tying a snatch-strap to my waist then climbed out onto the bonnet, but she lost her grip and fell, so I sort of lowered myself down using the front winch. Then Mallory came down, and Mack didn’t want to stay in the car by herself, but she forgot about taking the control with her and—”
“And as usual, your hairbrained idea blew up in your face, cowgirl,” Hendrixx growled, an involuntary giggle escaping between my hiccupping sobs.
“It was a good plan! Mack stuffed it up when she forgot to bring the control with her.”
“Oh, it is my fault, is it? I am sleep deprived thank you, Miss I Don’t Want Kids Yet.”
“Jesus Christ, spare me,” three deep male voices said at the same time.
“We found the money if that makes this calamity somewhat less disastrous,” Mallory announced, “get us out of here so we can look and see what answers we have stumbled upon.”
“Mal?”
“Hey, Tim.”
“Can you please agree to set a wedding date?”
“Get me out of here darlin’, and we can elope to the city next week and get the deed done.” The smile on her face genuine and happy. Reaching out, she grabbed Blake’s hand and he
ld it.
“I am ready to move ahead together.” She was speaking to her fiancée, but I got the impression they were meant for Blake too.
Thank God for that! One miracle down, only a rescue and a trip to the hospital to go.
FENIXX
“Anyone having Déjà vu?” Hendrixx asked, sitting in the far corner of the hospital room, Blake on his knee, his arms securely around her, holding his wife close to him.
“I would rather not remember why we were in this room before,” Noxx grumbled, Mack in the same position on his lap.
My mood sombre, I looked down at Farron who was sleeping. Laying half on me and half on the bed, her leg under an igloo looking contraption to protect it from the weight of the blankets. Her hand was tucked firmly in mine, the ring I put on her finger digging reassuringly into my palm, the heat from her touch soothing me from the terror I experienced when my brothers and I got the call about there being an accident.
In a strange way, I was glad I didn’t know just how bad the situation really was from the brief call from Mack. The forty kilometre drive had been heartachingly painful enough, without knowing just how far down the car had wedged in the bore shaft or that Farron had tumbled out of the broken windscreen and plummeted down to the base.
Her foot had indeed broken from the impact of her fall, three metatarsals, the medial and lateral cuneiforms, and four toes. A bad break, but considering the circumstances of her fall, it could have easily been so much worse.
All in all, the rescue had not taken all that long. Between me, my brothers and Tim, Charlie and a few of the farmhands, as well as two tractors, we extricated the car quickly. Then we hooked up a winch, and I went down the shaft to secure Farron to my chest with a tree climbing harness Charlie had found in a shed, after that, it was a fast retrieval of the ladies by their men. By the grace of God, no one else had any injuries, just soreness from sitting on the hard ground and from the initial jarring impact of the car falling down the shaft.
“The first thing we do is deal with that bore shaft. We cover it up or tunnel down and see if there is water deeper underground. Either way, it gets a cover,” I demanded. I hated that Farron got hurt, that the girls had to go through such a scary experience, but my mind went to Daxx and Onyxx. Daxx was an adventurous little bugger, it could have easily happened to him. The outcome much worse.
Noxx growled, his eyes darkening with anger, and I knew he saw where my mind had gone.
“First thing in the morning it gets a cover no matter if we do decide to drill,” Noxx affirmed, pressing a kiss to Mack’s temple.
“Where the hell is Mallory?” Hendrixx grumbled, “I want to get Blake home, and Nixx needs to be alone with his fiancée.”
Soft gasps came from Blake and Makena, the two woman shifting in their men’s laps to face me.
“You are engaged?” They both gushed at the same time.
“Yeah, but we didn’t plan to tell anyone until Dillion heard it first, officially. So please don’t say anything till I give you the green light.”
“Of course,” Blake promised, “I am so happy for you, Nixx, Farron is perfect for you, for the family.”
“Congratulations Fenny, this is great news,” Makena exclaimed with unhidden delight, tears in her pretty eyes.
“Thanks, both of you. Best thing I ever did, even the year I spent stalking her, not acting on my feelings. I found my forever in Farron, and the best bonus being Dillion.”
A thought that I could have lost so much more if Farron was carrying my baby when she fell. What if my hell-bent mission to put my baby in her had worked, and she lost the baby from the fall. When we arrived at the hospital, the doctors asked Farron if there was a possibility she was pregnant, while she said no, I saw a flickering of doubt in her brown eyes. That was when I spoke up and asked for a pregnancy test to be done, Farron agreeing and requested a blood test rather than the usual pee test. The results weren’t in yet, but my fingers were crossed. She assured me she didn’t feel any kind of cramping, no blood on her knickers, so she was either not pregnant or the baby was still safe in his or her mother.
Before I could get myself worked up with hope that Farron was carrying my kid, Mallory walked in the room, Tim close behind her. Their relationship was different from mine and Farron’s, and indeed Hendrixx and Noxx with their wives. Where we were mushy and over the top, they were more reserved. No public displays of affection for those two, but something told me after tonight, Tim might just change that.
“Hey guys, sorry it took me so long. I wanted to go through all the papers and sort it out. Drawing out this day is not on my wish list.”
“So give us the condensed version and tomorrow we can have a more detailed meeting,” Noxx suggested calmly, but I knew better. This all began because of him and Makena and our father’s distrust of having her in our family. Noxx lost out on more than any of us, Hendrixx and I lost the faith we had in our dad, but Lenoxx lost four years of his marriage and three years of his son’s life.
“The tin held a substantial amount of money. Mostly in one hundred dollar notes that added up to ninety thousand. Wrapped around one bundle was a handwritten note from our dad, it said ‘stash one’ implying there is more hidden somewhere.” Mallory shook her head, her disgust in her father’s selfish behaviour just as strong as ours.
“I say we forget about looking for the rest,” Hendrixx piped up, glancing at the sisters, “we can look forever obsessing over this shit, or put it to rest once and for all.”
“That is probably a good idea because what I have to say next is not something anyone outside this room should know,” Mallory announced rather nervously.
“What is it, Mal?” Mack asked softly.
“In the tin was a fifteen page letter in Dad’s handwriting. It is addressed to a woman, and after reading it, I correctly surmised it was a love letter. To Lillian.”
“Our mum?” Noxx hissed, sitting up in the uncomfortable hospital seat. Mack tried to get up, but he held tight, pulling her back to him. He might be on edge, but Mack was his world, nothing in that letter could change that.
“Yeah, now the condensed version is this … when Dad was younger, before he met Mum, he fell in love with a pretty young barrel racer. Only thing was Dad was shy and took his time getting up the courage to tell her. He did, however, tell a mate, Will Hott. I don’t know how we didn’t know that our fathers used to be friends, but apparently, they had been.”
“Will, not to be left out or outdone, took advantage of his mate dragging his feet, and pursued and won the affection of the lovely Lillian. She had no idea of Dad’s feelings for her, or that two mates fell out over her. The feud, as we like to call it, was two men swinging their dicks. Your dad won the girl and made a success of his life, our Dad limped away with his tail between his legs and basically blamed everyone but himself for the direction his life took.”
“Are you saying, my father kept me from my son, and tried to ruin my marriage and nearly succeeded, all because of some macho I got the girl bullshit?” Noxx barked out, so loud I pushed my body further into Farron, covering one ear. I wanted her to sleep for as long as possible. The doctor said I could take her home anytime tonight, but instead, I wanted her to spend the night close to medical care. They assured me she was okay, but if the test came back positive and she was pregnant, I will be demanding an ultrasound to ease my mind the baby wasn’t harmed.
“There is a little more to it, but in a nutshell? Yes,” Mallory grimaced, “just a game of my dick is bigger than your dick from your dad, and from mine … what I can’t work out is why Dad borrowed the money and buried it. The bore I kind of understand, Mum’s parents gave him the money to buy the land as a dowery of sorts if he agreed to marry their daughter.”
“But she wasn’t the woman he wanted,” Mack sighed, “so to punish Mum for forcing him into a loveless marriage, he deliberately made her live a life of struggles and financial woes.”
“Simply put, yes.”
&
nbsp; “Fuck a duck,” Hendrixx growled, then he got to his feet, Blake still in his arms.
“This mind fuck is going to have to wait for another time. I have heard enough for now.” Looking at me, Drixx gave me a firm nod.
“Don’t worry about Dillion, I will check on him when we get back to the HHH. He can either stay at the main house or with Blake and me.”
“We have to go too,” Noxx added. “We are leaving the kids with Mum for the night, I need to have a night alone with the love of my life.” Noxx looked at his wife, his eyes shining with love for Mack and her only.
I felt so sorry for my brother, most of this shit hit him more than Hendrixx and me. The same for Makena, both of them and Daxx innocent pawns in a ridiculous and hateful game.
Ten minutes later, the room was quiet, the lights turned to dim. The only sounds came from the other side of the closed door. Our little hospital was not large, it was a typical country, twenty-bed community medical centre. My family donated money every year at the major fundraiser, ensuring it was better equipped than some others in the district. However, I was glad for the peace tonight, after what I just found out, I needed the quiet.
“That was some pretty heavy information, honey,” Farron whispered quietly, startling me.
Leaning down, I pressed a kiss to her forehead, then peppered light kisses all over her face, lastly reaching her lips. Covering her lips with mine, I breathed in deeply, the contact the balm I needed to soothe me.
Hott and Handled (The Hott Brothers Book 3) Page 18
