Falling for Them Volume 3: Reverse Harem Collection

by Amy Sumida

  Dad threw me down onto the ground and stomped on my back. The pain was excruciating, each stomp like a sledgehammer hitting me in the back. The pain burned white hot at first, then it spread up and down my spine into my extremities. “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” He screamed at the top of his lungs as he kicked me in the gut. Still calling for help, I rolled into a ball, trying to protect my stomach. Dad hit the ground next to me and pulled my hair so hard it seemed like my whole head would pop off. He leaned down just enough to talk into my ear.

  “I told you to drop the charges.” His hot breath slid against my cheek as he slammed my head into the concrete. “You didn’t listen.” My head hit the ground again, black spots started to dance in my vision. “You never listen.” This time, when he slammed my head down, my nose broke. More than anything, the bone giving tingled compared to the rest of the pain in my body.

  “Stop,” I begged, crying. Blood and snot ran down my face into a puddle on the ground.

  “Drop the fucking charges!”

  Joshua’s voice called out to me from a million miles away. Dad leaned back to check the mouth of the alley. I managed to scramble out from under him. “Joshua!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Help!”

  I almost made it to my feet before Dad tackled me to the ground. My head slammed against the ground, and my vision went gray.

  “Hey, get off her!” Joshua yelled as he ran at my Dad. Dad’s weight left my chest. Thudding sounds broke the sudden silence. Joshua’s panicked face filled my vision right before I blacked out.

  I remember the next few hours in flashes.

  Joshua leaned over me while on his cell phone. “Yes, I need an ambulance.”

  Being lifted onto a stretcher by a couple of paramedics. “Stay with us.”

  Bright hospital lights flashed in my eyes. “Joey.” Matt’s voice.

  “Oh, my God.” Alex’s voice.

  Jaidon’s hands on mine.

  Stetson’s cologne.

  Bishop’s lips on my cheek.

  The sounds of beeping and sneakers on the tile floor.

  Light flashed in my eyes. “Can you tell me today’s date, Joey?” a doctor asks. “Who’s the current president?”

  I remember asking for my guys before everything went totally black.

  The steady beating of a heart monitor woke me up. I squinted against the fluorescent lights. I managed to lift my heavy head off the pillow to peer around. My guys surrounded me. My right arm was in a cast, but Jaidon held my left hand. Matt rested his head next to my right shoulder as he slept. Bishop, snoring softly, lay in an arm chair next to Matt. Alex and Stetson leaned against my legs, both sleeping. I brought my eyes to Jaidon’s, and he squeezed my hand gently.

  “Hey.” my voice was scratchy. I didn’t sound like me.

  “How are you feeling?” he whispered.

  I took a second to inventory myself. A vague throbbing ran throughout my body. Almost like when a dentist pulls a tooth, pressure and discomfort without the actual pain. I tried to smile up at him. “They must have given me some prime drugs, huh?”

  He tried to smile, but his eyes were still filled with sadness. “Well, they put you on morphine, and there’s this button thing.” Jaidon held it up, letting me see it. “When you hurt, you press it, and if it’s not too soon since your last dose, it gives you some more.” He nodded his head at Bishop who’s snoring had increased to that of a hibernating bear. “Bishop presses the button anytime you so much as twitch. We had to convince him your eyes moving was REM sleep, not a sign you were hurting.”

  I glanced over at Bishop, and my heart swelled. “Poor guy.”

  He leaned up and kissed my forehead. His lips brushing my skin brought more comfort than morphine ever could. Of course, I think this while I’m on the morphine, off it might be another story. “You had us pretty scared.” His tone speaks volumes, and tears welled up in my eyes at all I’d put my guys through.

  “Sorry.”

  “God, Joey.” His voice broke. “We could have lost you.”

  “I’m not going anywhere.” I raised my hand to his face. He leaned into my palm.

  Stetson lifted his head, blinking. He turned to me, and his eyes found mine. His whole body went still for a long moment before he jumped to his feet. “You’re awake.” Even in a whisper, I could hear the relief in his voice. He shook Alex. “She’s awake.”

  Alex jumped to his feet and ran to my side, pushing Matt out of the way. Matt unbalanced and hit the floor, jumping up ready to fight before he noticed why everyone was scrambling.

  “Hey, baby,” Stetson whispered. Why do people always whisper in hospital rooms? “We missed you.” He reached to run a finger down my face, but checked himself at the last moment and grabbed the edge of my blanket.

  I cleared my throat. “How long have I been out?”

  “About a day and a half.”

  I took a more careful inventory of myself. For the most part, my legs seemed okay. My face ached, and I had a headache to end all headaches. I glared at the white cast on my arm. “Bummer,” I said. “I didn’t get a pretty color.”

  Stetson managed to talk himself into touching me. He raised a hand slowly and tucked some hair behind my ear. “Don’t worry about that, baby. When you get out of here, I’ve got that covered.”

  “Can I get a dragon?”

  His eyes teared up. “You can get whatever you want.”

  Matt apparently decided he’d waited long enough and pushed Stetson out of the way. “Hey, Joey.”

  “Hey, Matt.”

  He tried to talk a couple of times, but nothing came out. “I love you,” he finally said as he leaned down and kissed me.

  “Love you, too.”

  Alex leaned over me from the other side of the bed. “You are never leaving my sight, ever again.”

  “That’ll make going to the bathroom awkward.”

  Bishop snapped. “How can you make a joke about this? You’re black and blue and lying in a hospital bed. Joey, he could have killed you!”

  I reached out and grabbed his hand. “I can make a joke because I’m here with you. I’m safe. You guys won’t let anything happen to me. Don’t you see? You’re the reason I can be brave. I love you, and I’m not going to let anything ruin this. Not my dad, not the jerks at school, and not a few broken bones.”

  I took a deep breath. “I need you all with me on this. I need to know you’ll help me move on from this. That I can move on from this.”

  Alex leaned in and kissed my forehead. “Oh, Joey, haven’t you figured it out yet? We’ll always have your back. You can do anything.”

  ~

  I took a deep breath and smoothed down my dress. It looked good on me, and the dragon Stetson drew on my cast picked up on all the colors of green and ivory in my dress. It was nice, but I still wished the formal was next week. The cast would be off by then. I’d pulled my hair up on top of my head with a few curls hanging down. I checked my ivory clutch. Cell phone. Lip gloss. Twenty dollars that Joshua required me to carry everywhere.

  A knock at the door grabbed my attention. I glided to it in my heels, I’d been practicing walking in them for weeks. Daniel and Joshua stood in the hallway. “May we escort you to your gentlemen?”

  “You may.” I looped a hand through each of their proffered arms. If one really good thing came from the past few months, it was that Joshua became the local hero. He saved me. That seemed to trump the fact he was gay. The devotion the guys showed me in the first days and weeks once I left the hospital went a long way toward getting people to accept our relationship. Well, most people, anyway.

  The past few weeks were a blur, but in comparison to the previous few, they seemed kind of boring. Dad was denied bail this time. He gets to rot in a cell until his trial. I get to go in and give depositions next week, which totally sucks.

  The guys came up with various ways to take my mind off it. Poker seems to be the current favorite, mostly because I don’t have a poker face to speak of,
so I can’t bluff worth a darn. We spent a lot of time at home, watching movies and playing the Wii. Things were pretty great. Yes, we still need to work some things out, jealousy still reared its ugly head every so often.

  If the guys weren’t around, David was still a jerk at school. The people who weren’t swayed by Joshua’s bravery were really ugly about him being gay and my relationship with the guys. Unfortunately, one of those people was an outspoken member of the school board, so we’d have to deal with that eventually. The goods things outweighed the bad, though. For now, that was good enough.

  The dads led me down the stairs to my guys, who turned to face me. I lost my breath. They all stood in their tuxes, bow ties, and vests each a different shade from my dress. Stetson wore the pure ivory tie and vest with a black shirt. Jaidon rocked a pale cream set with a dark gray shirt. Alex looked dashing in a mint green bow tie and vest with a crisp white shirt. Matt’s shade of blue-green made his green eyes really stand out, and Bishop chose the deep sea-foam green from the hem of my dress. I’ve never been so lucky, or so blessed.

  Daniel made us all huddle together for pictures, then made us each get a couple’s picture. We headed off for the formal laughing. This was our time, and life was good.

  About the Author

  J.L. Akins is a full time teacher, a part time dreamer, and an obsessive writer. She lives in small town Tennessee with her amazing husband and sweet little boy.

  Find her on Facebook and sign up for her newsletter!

  SAVOR LIFE

  Savor Life

  Entagled Hearts Book 1

  TB Mann

  After losing her newborn daughter and nearly losing her own life, Aria’s marriage disintegrated, and she became a virtual recluse, much to the concern of her friends. Talking her into a ten day vacation on the island of Antigua, they hope she will develop a new lease on life.

  Chad, Doug, and Jason have each suffered losses in their lives. Former best friends who grew apart after high school, life brought them back together to lick their wounds. A ten day boys vacation to Antigua is just what the doctor ordered.

  A chance encounter and a medical emergency bring Aria, Chad, Doug, and Jason together while on vacation. They say that island air is magic. That love is in the air. Can it work on the four of them, or are they bound to suffer even more?

  SAVOR LIFE: ENTAGLED HEARTS BOOK 1

  COVEY PUBLISHING, LLC

  Published by Covey Publishing, LLC

  PO Box 550219, Gastonia, NC 28055-0219

  Copyright © 2017 by TB Mann

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the writer, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover Design Copyright © 2017 Covey

  Book Design by Covey, www.coveypublishing.com

  Copy Editing by Covey Publishing, LLC

  Printed in the United States of America.

  First Printing, 2017

  Also by TB Mann

  Entangled Hearts

  Savor Life

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter One

  — Aria —

  Sliding her legs open to straddle the sun lounger, Aria dug the tips of her toes into the warm sand, not caring if others felt her position was unladylike. Nothing beat the feel of gritty sand sliding over her feet, relaxing, massaging as it went. It was a pedicure, reflexology, and a foot massage all rolled into one without the hassle of someone playing with her feet. As she wiggled her toes in deeper, the warm top layers gave way to the cooler moist layers below. Ahhh. Her body melted back into the lounger as she pushed more of her feet into the sand.

  Under her sunglasses, Aria closed her eyes against the glare coming off the Caribbean water stretched out in front of her. She took a few deep breaths as another sigh escaped her. She loved the smell of the salt water. Without realizing it, her tongue slid out of her mouth to taste the salt in the air. She missed salt. Food did taste better without it, but she still missed it in some of her dishes.

  Stretching back, she laid with her feet buried in the sand for a few more minutes until the scars on her chest and abdomen protested, reminding her to apply her sunscreen. Opening her eyes, she reached for her beach bag and pulled out the new bottle of SPF 50 sunscreen. After pouring a healthy dollop onto her palm she rubbed it all over the uncovered parts of her chest. For the first time in years, she was spending a significant amount of time in the sun and the ladies in her online support group explained the medications made her skin sensitive to the sun. Concerned, even though it hadn’t been an issue in the past, she decided to heed their advice. Spending her vacation nursing a sunburn was not on her agenda.

  Finishing with her chest, she reapplied the sunscreen to the rest of her body as a smile broke across her face, thankful her best friends dragged her on this trip. Her eyes dimmed as she doubted she would have survived the last few years without them. They were her rocks when everything else disappeared.

  Dropping the bottle back into her bag, she pulled out her e-reader at the same time she pulled her feet out of the sand and propped them up on the pile of towels at the end of the lounger. She leaned back and relaxed, hoping to be able to read a few chapters before her friends decided to show up.

  ~

  Sand flew, showering Aria and her e-reader, as the bag hit the sand with a bang. Jumping, clutching the e-reader to her heaving chest, she turned to glare at the culprit. “Crap, Shona. A little warning next time.”

  Shona stared down at Aria, her eyes missing nothing as she laughed. “Trish and Jennifer pulled up their loungers and dropped their gear without you even noticing. I would say that that was warning enough.” Continuing to laugh, she pulled off her beach cover-up, revealing her Victoria Secret worthy, bikini clad body.

  Aria’s eyes travelled the length of Shona’s body. Shoulders slumping, she breathed out a sigh at everything she lost. Pregnancy and heart issues ravished her body leaving behind nothing but silvery stretch marks, flabby skin, and pinkish scars. No beach worthy body for me. Her mouth turned into a frown.

  “None of that sighing, girl,” admonished Shona. “You still have an incredible body only enhanced by all your tiger stripes. They are your badges of honor showing the world a tough survivor.”

  Tears threatened to fall as her fingers wiped them away. “Thanks, Shona. I needed to hear that.”

  Leaning down, Shona embraced her. “Anytime, girl, anytime.” Eyes roving the rapidly filling beach. “Come on, girl. Let’s go swimming with Jennifer and Trish before you have to hide in the shade like a vampire.” She turned to wink at Aria.

  Laughing, she stood. Shona always knew what to say to get her out of a funk. A vampire indeed. Eyes drawn to the glow emanating off her skin, she realized her sunscreen added a touch of sparkle to her pasty winter white skin enhancing the whole vampire idea.

  Taking a step towards the gentle waves where her two other friends fr
olicked, her bladder decided to make its presence known. Grimacing, she tightened her Kegels. Stupid meds. “Shona,” she called, “Have to make a pit stop.” She motioned towards the bathrooms.

  Nodding her understanding, Shona continued her walk to the water.

  For the sixth time since waking, Aria headed off to the bathroom. It was frustrating to go the number of times she did, but her decreasingly swollen feet made it all worth while. Without her medications, she doubted she would still be alive, making her thankful for the accessible health care she was privy to. Hopefully another day of taking a double dose of her diuretic would remove the extra fluid her body retained from flying.

  ~

  Lingering as she washed her hands, she stared at herself in the mirror. Reaching up, she pulled the elastic from her hair allowing her chestnut-coloured hair to float down around her shoulders. Her hair, a stark contrast to her pale skin tone on her face, should have washed her out but didn’t. Anything was better than the bluish tinge skin she had before her medications started to work. What really stood out in the mirror was the warmth coming from her large honey-coloured eyes. They softened the contrast between her skin and hair giving her an inner glow.

  Nodding to herself, she realized Shona was right. She should not be ashamed of her body. Was that not why she was wearing a bikini? Twin badges of honor exhibited by the visible scars above her breasts and the testament to her strength showcased by the scars on her abdomen displayed for the world to see. Squaring her shoulders, she plastered a smile on her face. Fake it til you make it. She walked out the bathroom door running face first into a warm brick wall.