by Jana Leigh
***
Phoebe stood up and sucked in a deep breath, this was the worst part, standing. If she could get upright, then she could make it to where she needed to go. Jazz and Lily stood on either side of her , ready to help if needed.
“Woo hoo,” Jazz said and smiled at her. “Awesome, now you just have to make it to the bathroom and back.”
“Whoever thought that at twenty-five I would be excited to be getting applauded for peeing.”
Lily giggled. “Just wait. When you get to walk down the stairs , maybe we will have a party. You ‘re doing good , ” w atching Phoebe walk slowly across the room.
Blake and Shane opened the door, and when they saw she was out of bed , they grinned. “Sweetheart, that is so awesome , ” Shane said and walked forward to kiss her on the cheek.
This is the way it was for the last few days. The guys had been encouraging and rarely left her side, other than to have a meeting with the guys or to bring her lunch and dinner up.
In the last few days, she felt closer to this group of people than she had to anyone in a long time. They had become like family, well two of them were family, but she felt close to the rest too.
The men had also taken the opportunity at every turn to tell her about themselves, so she understood where they were coming from when they talked about sharing her.
Neither man had a wonderful childhood. Shane was raised in foster homes until he ran away at seventeen to jo in the military. Most of his fo ster parents didn ‘t know what to do with him, especially because his IQ was off the charts. The foster parents tended to either be intimidated by him or want to use his skills, e ither way no one was ever able to get close to him. Until he found the guys , he led a solitary life. After a few missions with Blake , he felt the friendship beginning to build, and as time grew on, Blake became the only one who understood his weird quirks, like sitting at a computer for hours and not talking or eating, just working or cracking a code or something. But when he wasn ‘t sitting at a computer, Shane was humorous and funny.
Blake was raised by his natural parents for all the good it did him. They were drunks and drug addicts more often than not; they would leave him on his own to fend for himself. His first computer was stolen from a pawn shop across town. His father thought it would be something to occupy his kid while they were out. It was the only thing they had ever done for him that made a difference in his life.
While Phoebe shared her life story, it didn’t seem as bad when she said it out loud that she lived in a huge mansion with maids and nannies. But the only thing she had wanted was love, and that had never been a priority to either of her adoptive parents. The guys understood and sympathized with her. That ‘s when she really started thinking that a relationship with two men was possible.
Phoebe had watched Jazz and her men over the last few days, expecting to see jealousy and fighting, but she had been surprised to see that neither man seemed to care who she sat with or kissed first. Lily ignored the two men who were vying for her attention.
When they were alone in the room, her hesitance had nothing to do with the men or the situation. It had more to do with her own issues. Especially being a virgin.
It was nice to have women to talk to about those things. Jazz promised when she was feeling better, they would have a girls ‘ night out, where they could really let loose and talk. While they were at the house, the men always found a way to come into where they were and interrupt their conversations. It didn’t bother them, but Jazz kept pointing out that she thought they were beginning to be over vigilant.
They explained the situation to her. She never knew half of what they told her. Phoebe was shocked to hear about Andre finding a finger on his honeymoon. Also, hearing that Bailey, a woman she couldn ‘t wait to meet, was the one who had taken down Senior.
When the men came into the room and told them that Senior was dead, she had felt nothing. It scared her. She should at least have felt something for the man who helped give her life; instead she almost felt grim satisfaction knowing that he was gone.
Blake came to her other side and kissed her on the check as well, and after that , put a hand under her elbow to help guide her to where she wanted to go. She walked to the bathroom , and afterwards , closed the door when Blake asked if she needed help.
What she needed was a shower. Calling out to the room she yelled, “Jazz, can you get me some fresh clothes and stuff? I really need to get this grime off me.”
Both women responded; she heard them tell the men they needed to leave and they would call them when Phoebe was done. There was grumbling and arguments, but Jazz held firm, and she heard the bedroom door shut.
Jazz opened the bathroom door and grinned. “You ‘re gonna have to talk to them about this sooner rather than later; those poor boys are twisted in thinking that you ‘re gonna run the first chance you get.”
Lily squeezed in and said, “They’re just too damn cute for their own good. I mean , who can resist the dimples?”
Phoebe frowned and said, “Blake and Shane don’t have dimples.”
Lily blushed and looked at the women and then rolled her eyes, “Damn, they are making me crazy. I may be right next to you if you decide to make a run for it , Phoebe.”
“Hey, I still haven’t ruled that out, but not from them,” Phoebe said and grimaced when they helped her pull the gown over her head. “Hell no, I would run only if I was putting you all in danger.”
Jazz laughed and smiled. “Honey, we are all on the mob’s ten most-wanted list, do you really think that adding one more is ser iously gonna make a difference? I mean seriously, if they want to find us, they will eventually; it’s better if we all stick together.”
They helped her remove the bandages, and she saw for the first time what a mess she was. How the men would even think about wanting her was beyond her. She looked like she had been in an accident. The bruises were still a fresh shade of purple, but they were at least beginning to fade, she sa w some of the larger ones were beginning to turn that love shade of yellow. She w as gonna look like a freakin ‘ rainbow.
Phoebe raised her head and looked in the mirror one last time before turning to the shower. She wasn ‘t embarrassed to have the women in the room with her now, after the last few days of them helping her bath e in the bed —she was beyond caring about that.
The hot water hit her aching skin, and she sighed. Yes , she thought , and rubbed soap all over herself; she was finally able to wash the grime off of her body herself.
The past few nights, Blake and Shane had been there for her when the nightmares came. And oh , did they come. Several times she slipped right back into that room with Rocco and the stranger who tortured her. The stranger had shown no emotion at all when he had hit her and cut her.
Rocco had stood in the corner, watching with a disinterested look on his face. She knew that toward the end , her cries were beginning to bother him b ecause he began shifting from one foot to the other, as if he was trying to stop himself from moving to help her.
The stranger, who she had named in her mind C.A.M (or crazy ass muther-fucker), never said a word. He didn ‘t even try to give her a chance to talk or to give up her secrets. No , he just inflicted the pain. The only time she even thought he was human was when the alarms in the building went off and Junior came into the room. He told CAM that he would have to wait to finish the job when they got to the safe house. CAM had been disappointed but shrugged and quickly put all of his t ools in a bag and left the room without even looking at her.
In her nightmares, they had actually succeeded in getting her out of the building and took her to some huge house out in the country. She was terrified that no one seemed to be around to help her. When they got her into the small room they used for torture , she was terrified. It seemed so real.
The chains anchored to the wall and the wicked looking things they had scared the shit out of her. Each night she had the dream at least twice, the first time was never enough, and even the st
rong arms of the men couldn’t seem to stop it from repeating itself again . It was as if her sub conscious was telling her what a dumbass she had been for going into the building undercover in the first place without backup. She knew that now.
But at the time it seemed like a good idea. She knew there was a chance she would get caught, and honestly, she had been naive enough to actually think they would turn her over to the police. Getting the ‘dumbass of the year’ award would not be too harsh, she decided.
Washing her hair felt heavenly, she wanted to stand in there all day and let the water wash away the dirty feeling she still had from CAM. Phoebe had not told them everything that happened in the room yet, she just couldn ‘t explain the terror and rage she felt. But they had been patient; Jazz wa s the one who was pushing her to open up about it. She really wanted her to talk to someone about what happened.
She could feel the temperature in the water change and then chuckled, “I used the hot water,” she called to Jazz.
“No worries.”
When a male voice responded, Phoebe let out a screech and grabbed the shower curtain as a covering before poking her head around. Shane and Blake were both in the bathroom leaning against the long counter with towels in their hands.
“Where are the girls?” she whispered and felt a little under dressed while they stood fully dressed.
“We have to have a talk. And the guys wanted to talk to them about what’s going on , ” Blake said and held out the first towel.
She pulled the towel and then wrapped her hair in it and held out another hand. Shane put his towel in her hand and she wrapped it around herself snuggly before pulling the curtain to the shower back and glaring at them.
“I really think it could have waited until I finished my shower, don’t you?” s he grumbled.
“Probably, but then what fun would that have been?” Shane said and wiggled his eyebrows.
“Ha, down boy,” s he said and then held out her arm that was covered with the plastic bread bag Lily had gotten for her to keep the cast dry.
Shane grinned and pulled her closer to him so he could reach easier. Phoebe rolled her eyes ; she knew what he was doing, b ut for some reason she just couldn’t seem to care.
Blake pulled the towel from her head and began to brush her long , red strands. While Shane finished the job of releasing her hand , he then grabbed a bottle of lotion and began to rub her shoulders and arms. They turned her so they could both make sure they took care of every inch of her while she stood in front of them ready to melt into a puddle of goo.
She was relaxed. Blake leaned forward when he was done with her hair and kissed her softly. Her eyes popped open in surprise and she saw the questioning look he was giving her.
Shane kissed her neck and whispered into her ear, “Sweetheart, can you at least tell us if you are going to give thi s a shot? I know that we promised not to bug you until you were ready , but we ‘re dying here. Every moment we ‘re together, I fall a little bit more in love with you. You are the perfect woman for us. I promise if you give us a chance , we will prove it to you.”
Blake then kissed the other side of her neck and whispered in the opposite ear, “Darlin’, you are driving me wild. I want you so bad, but I want you to know this is for the whole package. If you say yes, we ‘re going to prove to you that this relationship will work. You will b e the center of our world, right where we want you. Right now you hold a piece of our hearts, but we want to give you the whole thing. Please say you ‘re willing to try this.”
Phoebe felt vulnerable standing in between the two men who wanted so much f r o m her , covered only in a towel. But she felt the same way they did. Each moment they were with her , she would learn something new about them that made her f all a little more in love with them. It was happening so fast. Like she was starved for affection that she had never received before. Now she was getting it in full Technicolor and she was worried that it would pass. What if they grew tired of her when she put herself out there? What if they made a mistake? She would be lost and back on her own. Finding the small group of people had become imp ortant to her. Even Rex’s over protective brother role was beginning to grow on her.
She took a deep breath and turned so they were on either side of her and she could look them both in the eyes. “I don’t know if this is gonna work, and I ‘m scared. But yes, I will give this a try.”
Shane gave a loud whoop and then leaned over and kissed her. This kiss was different. It didn ‘t have the soft and comforting quality that the others he had given her before had. No , this was demanding and hot. He swept his tongue over her lips and plunged into her mouth as soon as she allowed him to. Wow, he could seriously kiss.
She was panting when he finally let her go. He smiled down at her and then turned her to face Blake. He swopped down and kissed her in the same heart -stopping , demanding way. She never felt like this before just from a kiss. She could feel her reaction between her legs and rubbed them together unconsciously. Blake explored her mouth and demanded that she respond to him.
When he finally released her, she took a deep breath. Mistake . Her rib s protested and she winced. “Sorry , sweetheart , ” Shane said. “Got a little carried away. Let ‘s wrap you back up and get you settled in bed. We have plenty of time for more when you ‘re not so sore.”
Phoebe sighed and allowed them to lead her into the bedroom. Her towel still intact, they helped her sit on the edge of the bed before looking at her cuts and bruises without having to take of f the towel.
“You are healing up nicely,” Blake said. “The stitches will dissolve on their own , so we don’t have to worry about that. Let me check your ribs , baby.”
Phoebe nodded and held up her arms. Shane held the towel as Blake pressed in on her sore ribs. “Still don’t think you broke them, just bruised, but sometimes that hurts worse. Let’s get you in some comfortable clothes and settled so we can talk.”
She hesitantly let the towel go and wanted to jump for joy when both of them stopped and looked at her with a longing she couldn ‘t misunderstand. They helped her dress almost reverently , and when she was finally lying back on the bed , they kissed her again. This time slowly , and very thoroughly.
She sighed when they pulled back and each took her hand. Oh how she wished that she wasn’t hurt, she would jum p them and demand they ease the ache between her legs.
“I know, honey, soon, ” Shane said as if he was reading her mind.
“Business. We’re going to be going back to New York. Senior ‘s funeral is set for the day after tomorrow and we want to be there. We also think maybe you can help us identify the man who hurt you. I know, I know,” h e said holding up his hand when she opened her mouth to protest. “We don’t want to go either, but Junior needs to know we ‘re not giving up like the Feds seem to have done. According to a few sources , the Feds have decided that until Junior proves he’s an asshole, he is just another law abiding citizen who had a mobster for a father. Stupid, we all know. But that just proves to us there is someone pulling the strings.”
Blake continued, “Plus, Andre and the others are coming, we have it set up so we’re staying in a highly secure building. We ‘re gonna have the first annual family get together/business meeting. Noah, Dallas, Steve, Jolly, and Andre all want to buy into the business. So we ‘re going to hash out the arrangements. Rex thinks with all of us, we are gonna have a competitive company.”
“How will we be able to just waltz in to the funeral?” s he said feeling a little unsure of herself. She was afraid to see that man again, the one from her nightmares.
“There’s no way we would put you in danger , darlin, Rex and Andre are the only ones going to the funeral w h ere they can be seen. We are leaving today so we can get surveillance on the gravesite. Rex and Andre don ‘t want to be stopped by anyone, including the Feds, so they are creating a plan of escape. We are all going to be at the apartment watching on monitors. No, we would never put you in that kind of danger , ”
Shane said seriously.
“But, what if Rex and Andre get caught?” she said worriedly and looked at the men. She had just found her brothers and she didn ‘t want to lose them.
“We have a plan for everything. Don’t worry, darlin’, we ‘re not going to let anything happen to them. We just have to make our intentions known and draw Junior out. Right now, no one is looking at him to closely and we need for him t o be stopped before he gains too many connections.”
Phoebe seemed to mull it over in her head and then she nodded. “When do we leave?”
Chapter 6
The group left the safety of their compound after a few hours of furious packing and yelling between the women and men who thought they only needed an overnight case. All of the women protested, saying they were going to be meeting people for the first time and needed to make a good impression. The men rolled their eyes and stood by the door fuming.
Jazz stuck out her tongue as she walked by her men, and Lily, who was helping Phoebe, giggled as she walked by. Bear and Trent narrowed their eyes and Phoebe looked at her half -sister and gri nned. She had a feeling that Lily would not be able to hold out for much longer.
Blake and Shane took over helping her when they reached the large truck they would be taking. She noticed that there were three black trucks ready for each of the groups. Blake lifted her effortlessly into the front seat and she moved until she was in the middle.
When the men climbed in next to her, she sighed and smiled when they each put a hand on her thigh. It was comforting.
“Ready?” Shane said and started the truck.
“As I will ever be,” Phoebe said.
As they drove to New York, they talked about what was going to happen in the next few days.
Shane was teasing her about needing to go shopping while they were in town.
“I know those clothes from your apartment are not your style , ” h e said.
She laughed and responded, “You’re right, but it was all part of the persona.”
