To Mend Fearful Hearts

by Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  Birdie watched Johnny. “What the hell did he do exactly for the government?”

  “Don’t ask any questions,” Rome said, and Birdie raised his hands and shook his head. They all took seats in the waiting room until it was okay to see Cherise.

  Days. It took days of Cherise coming in and out of consciousness before they could ask her what hurt worse and what she was having problems with. She was in so much pain she passed out again and again. It was frustrating. What Landon and his brothers hadn’t expected was the door to open and two nurses pushing Eagan and Ben in wheelchairs into the room.

  “No, they don’t belong here,” Rome stated firmly.

  The nurses paused.

  “They have been insistent on seeing Miss Potter for the last week. They shouldn’t even be out of bed right now,” one of the nurses said.

  “They should be six feet under. That’s where they belong for causing Cherise’s injuries,” Eric stated firmly.

  “Let us in. We know we screwed up. We had no idea we were being tracked,” Ben said and glanced up at the nurse as if he didn’t want to reveal too much in front of them. Landon looked at Rome, Kenny, and Eric.

  “Fine. Say your piece and then disappear,” Landon stated.

  The nurses moved them closer to Cherise’s bed. What Landon hadn’t expected was to hear their intakes of breath, and then the tears to fill the men’s eyes.

  “Oh God, baby,” Ben whispered, and it hit Landon hard, right to his gut. To see two men, two old lovers of his woman feeling love and care for his woman was crazy.

  They both reached out and touched her. Ben placed his hand on her arm, and Eagan placed his palm on her leg.

  “We’re so sorry, baby. We didn’t know this was going to happen. We didn’t have any idea that we were being watched. Jesus, Ben, look at her. We caused this, man. We did nothing but hurt her since that day at her place. Fuck,” Eagan said.

  Landon wondered what they meant. What day at her place? Now he felt like Cherise had kept a secret, and he didn’t like feeling this way.

  “We’ll make it up to you. We promise, baby,” Ben said.

  “That’s enough. She isn’t your woman. You caused her injuries and nearly caused her to get raped and killed. Get out,” Rome stated firmly, obviously feeling what Landon felt.

  Ben and Eagan didn’t look happy and gave them all dirty looks as they painstakingly fell back into the wheelchairs and the two nurses wheeled them from the room. They were silent when Ben and Eagan left.

  “What were they talking about? A day at her place?” Eric asked.

  “They’re still in love with her. Still want her,” Kenny said.

  “She’s our woman. We’ll figure shit out another time. She’s going to be in a lot a pain for a while and need us to take care of her. Fuck those two assholes. They don’t mean shit. They’re done being part of her life. Even she said so before the accident. Before she was abducted and taken. Let’s not so easily forget that, or what those two dicks caused,” Rome said and then walked toward the window in the room and stared out at the beautiful warm day.

  Landon took her hand, bent down, and kissed it. “We love you, sweetie. So damn much. We’re never gonna let you go. You’re ours forever,” he said to her.

  Epilogue

  “You’re never going to see them again. Never feel their touch or hear their voices, no, never. You belong to us right now, and when we get you out of the country, you’ll belong to them.”

  Cherise whimpered and cried as Seta and Coin forced themselves upon her body. She couldn’t fight them. Couldn’t stop them. They won, and as she felt their hands gripping her, she cried out, “No! No! No!”

  “Cherise, it’s okay. You’re safe, sweetie. I got you. We have you.” Rome raised his voice, and he and his brothers held down her arms so she wouldn’t hurt herself more.

  She was having a nightmare, and the doctor decided to lower the dosage of medication he was giving her. He felt that perhaps she was hallucinating because of them. Each time she awoke like this, she fought to get free from the men who were trying to rape her. Rage and sadness filled Rome’s eyes every time this happened. He feared for her safety, for her injuries that could get worse when she flailed around and tried throwing punches. They settled her down as tears spilled from her eyes. She moaned in pain, in agony, begging the men not to rape her. To not take her out of the country and away from her men. She cried out for them, for Eagan and Ben, which had hurt, yet Rome understood she was reliving what happened, and her mind was making the situation worse than it had actually been. She wasn’t raped. That brought them peace of mind. However, she was touched, sexually assaulted by hands, if the finger marks and damage were any indication. She would need a lot of counseling and care when she was fully healed and alert.

  She continued to sob.

  “Please, lover. Please stop crying. We’ve got you,” Kenny whispered against her cheek and kissed her there.

  When she started to blink her eyes open, Rome couldn’t feel the excitement he had been feeling, the hope that this time she would be awake and aware of them, when all the other times she wasn’t. She was still in the hospital, still being monitored.

  “Kenny?” She said his brother’s name, and her voice was so hoarse, so uneven, it broke and he could barely understand her.

  “Yes, baby, yes we’re right here with you. Me, Rome, Landon, and Eric. We love you so much. We need you,” Kenny said to her, and tears spilled from her swollen eyes.

  She scrunched her face. “I hurt,” she said, sounding so helpless and weak.

  Rome gulped, and they all gathered around her and touched her. “Feel us? We’re all touching you. You don’t need to see us right now. Your eyes need to heal. Just feel us,” Rome said, and she tilted her chin up.

  She sobbed. “It’s over?” she asked.

  “Jesus,” Eric whispered, and Rome saw him wipe his eyes.

  Kenny kissed her cheek and her neck. “It’s over. You’re safe with us. You’re in Central Valley at the general hospital under the care of great doctors including Johnny.”

  She went to move. “I ache down there,” she said and cried some more.

  “Shhh, it’s okay. They didn’t…they didn’t rape you, honey. We got to you in time,” Kenny said to her, but she sobbed even more.

  Yet she turned toward him. “Hold me. Come closer, all of you please,” she said, her voice cracking, and it tore at their hearts. They all pressed closer. “I love you all,” she said, and they told her they loved her too and then waited as she fell back to sleep.

  They held on to the fact that today she was conscious for the longest period of time, and that maybe, just maybe she was getting closer to being in the clear and was healing so they could take her home and love her.

  Cherise awoke and was feeling like her head was getting clearer and clearer. Her eyes were less swollen, but she still couldn’t keep them open. It hurt too much. Johnny and Ivy were there, and Johnny was looking into her eyes with a special small light.

  “Hmm, I think the drops are working, and icing them too. As long as that swelling goes down some more, I think you’ll be okay.” He turned off the light and caressed her jaw. “There’ll be tests to do when you’re up to them and that swelling is long gone.”

  “Thank you, Johnny,” she said, and he smiled.

  “I brought some clothes for you to wear home. Just light lounge pants, a tank top, and zip up. Hoping that your men can bring you home in a few days,” Ivy said to her and touched her hand.

  Cherise tried smiling, but even that hurt as she winced. “I hope I can, but right now, I feel like I got hit by a truck. Each day I feel worse, not better,” she said to them.

  “You have a lot of injuries, sweetie. Your ribs were pretty damaged, and you’re basically covered in bruises. Some of them from the accident,” Johnny told her.

  “Where are Kenny, Landon, Eric, and Rome?” she asked and tried looking around.

  “I’m here, honey,” Eric

said and stepped closer and moved her hair from her forehead.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  “Why are you apologizing?” Eric asked.

  “I don’t feel safe if one of you isn’t right here. I know it’s silly. I’ll need to get over that. I have to heal, to get home and back to work.”

  “Whoa, slow down, there’s no need to rush. First of all, we’re taking you to our place where we will take care of you and nurse you back to health. The job can wait,” Eric told her.

  She nodded and leaned back against the pillow. “I’ll get better. You’ll see. You won’t need to fuss,” she said and closed her eyes and rested. She needed to find her strength and get out of this hospital. With her men was where she would heal quickly.

  “They went in to see her and you let them?” Rome asked Eric.

  Eric exhaled. “They wanted to see her. She is being released and will be with us, in our home, in our bed. She asked that I let them see her so she could say good-bye,” Eric told Rome, Kenny, and Landon as they arrived at the hospital.

  “How fucking long have they been in there?” Kenny asked.

  “Fifteen minutes.”

  “Too long,” Rome said and headed to the door.

  Cherise wouldn’t accept hugs from Ben and Eagan. She raised her hand up and shook her head.

  “You lost the right to hug me and to be friends with me when you decided to say the things you did at lunch that day and to try to infuriate my men and tell them you could have gotten me into bed. That isn’t true at all. It showed me that I was nothing but an object to you for those years we had. I was stupid and actually loved and trusted you, but not anymore.”

  “That isn’t true at all. We were jealous—that was why we said those things to your men. We went to rescue you the moment we found out what was really happening. You have to forgive us, Cherise. We didn’t know we were being watched. We never would have even gotten together with you or come home to Central Valley. Never,” Ben said to her.

  “You didn’t rescue me. My men did, and I had to fight, to shoot those men who had all intentions of raping me and taking me out of the country. I’m sorry, but all you’ve shown to me and to my men is disrespect for what we have. I love them and they love me. Please, don’t contact me. Just be happy that I’m alive, because I can tell you right now, if I wasn’t, or if those terrorists had succeeded in taking me away, you both would be dead by my men’s hands. They still want to kill you, remember that,” she said to them.

  The door opened, and Rome and her men came in. Rome did not look pleased.

  “Good timing, they were just leaving,” she said, and Ben and Eagan stared up at her.

  “Take care of yourself. Maybe we’ll call you sometime and just talk,” Ben said to her.

  She shook her head. “Lose my number, Ben. Forget about me even existing. My life, my heart and soul belong to these four men right here. There’s no need to stay in touch.”

  “Not even to be friends?” Ben pushed as Eagan started heading out of the room, wheeling himself in the wheelchair as Eric held the door.

  “You lost that right, remember?” she said, and then she reached out to take Rome’s hand, and he stepped closer to her as she leaned against the bed. She laid her head against his chest, and he held her in his arms.

  Ben left the room, giving her men dirty looks, but she didn’t care. He would have to get over it. Over losing her forever.

  “What did they say?” Rome asked her as he held her against his chest.

  “It doesn’t matter. They don’t exist as far as I’m concerned,” she said and pulled back.

  “What about their comment and yours about a time at your place? You never mentioned anything to us,” Rome pushed.

  She exhaled. She had to remember that they were feeling jealous and vulnerable too. Ben and Eagan played them on purpose.

  “They came by that day I was on the phone with you and said I was heading out. Both men kissed me,” she said.

  “What?” Kenny asked, and Landon reached for the handle of the door.

  “No, Landon, don’t. It’s over. They know it. I reamed them out that day and told them that they had no right to do that. I told them I was in love with you guys and committed to you. They took it hard, but then they said they accepted that. They were jealous, and they knew they lost their chance. It seemed like things were okay. Like maybe because of Case, we could be friends. But that day we had lunch, the day I was taken, they tried to say stuff to me and cornered me by the jeep. I got so mad at them. I was hurt and angry, and I told them I never wanted to speak to them again. That our friendship was over. I called you guys immediately.”

  “We never should have agreed to let you go. Never,” Rome said and hugged her to him.

  “I never should have done that. I wouldn’t be in pain or have such fears, but it happened. It’s over now, and any relationship with Ben and Eagan is over too,” she said and hugged him.

  “Let’s get you out of here and home,” Landon said to her.

  “To bed with the four of you?” she asked.

  Rome squeezed her ass, and she moaned softly, needing him inside of her. “You still have some serious healing to do.”

  “Hmm, I think you and your brothers are just the right medicine I need,” she said, and he gave her ass a tap, before they grabbed her things and headed out of the room.

  Landon took his time kissing along Cherise’s skin. He raised her arms above her head and released them to hold her under her armpits. She was completely naked, all of them were, as they surrounded her and just cherished her being here with them, alive and well. He trailed his lips along her neck, down her throat, and to her left breast. He suckled her nipple, and she exhaled softly. He didn’t like seeing the bruises on her skin. He hoped they disappeared sooner rather than later. He let his lips linger along her chest to her other breast. He inhaled her scent. “I love your scent, the feel of your skin against my lips,” he told her.

  “I love how it feels when you’re all touching me, caressing me, and taking your time, but I feel so desperate, Landon,” she admitted.

  “I hate seeing these bruises,” Rome said and kissed along her ribs.

  She shook a little. “Ignore them, Rome, and love me,” she said, being so strong.

  Landon continued to kiss along her breasts and then to her belly button. He loved how firm and sexy she was. Loved how her skin tasted, how aroused she was getting from them all surrounding her. He got between her legs and saw the cream dripping already. She was pink, pretty, and wet as Eric suckled her breast on the left side and Rome suckled her breast on the right side.

  He looked up and watched them both tugging on her nipples, pulling them upward and making her squirm, lift her hips, and then lower down.

  Kenny played with her hair and entwined his fingers with hers. She held his gaze. “We love you so damn much.”

  “I love each of you so damn much. I need you inside of me, Kenny. All of you,” she said and then gasped as Landon slid his tongue into her cunt. She tilted her torso upward.

  He licked her slit and then her pussy lips. He plunged his tongue into her cunt and then swirled it as he tasted her cream, making his dick harden with need. He stroked along her asshole as he lifted her thighs higher and over his shoulders and back. He didn’t want her ribs to ache, so he lowered to his knees on the rug at the edge of the bed where her pussy and ass hung over. He pushed lubed fingers to her cunt, in and out, as her juices lubricated her holes. The feel of her luscious thighs over his muscular shoulders was a turn-on too. Everything about their woman was. He loved her so much it ached inside. He could have lost her forever, and that thought would take time to diminish, as would thoughts of her ex-lovers and how they nearly got Cherise raped and killed. He closed his eyes and relished in the taste of her, the sound of her soft purrs as his brothers joined in.

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