Their Border Lands Destiny [Men of the Border Lands 11] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Marla Monroe

  “Marty, she’s crashing, man.”

  “I’ve got her,” the other man said as he reached her as she passed out. “Hell, her shoulder’s bleeding.”

  Granger stood up and swept the sheets to the foot of the bed so Marty could lay her on the bed.

  “Grab the first aid kit, Granger.” Marty quickly removed the sling.

  When Granger returned with the first aid kit and some towels, Marty had removed her shirt and was dabbing at her shoulder with it. Granger moved the lantern closer so he could see better.

  “Is it okay?” he asked.

  “She opened it back up some, but not too bad. It’s not infected so far. I’m going to clean it up again while she’s out. It will probably wake her up because it’s going to hurt like crap. Get ready to hold her down if she comes up swinging.” Marty took some gauze and poured alcohol over it. Then he laid it over the wound.

  Sure enough, she came up swinging, trying to dislodge Marty then Granger. She screamed loud enough to wake the dead. Granger covered her mouth with one hand and tried to calm her down at the same time.

  “Easy, Destiny. Marty’s trying to stop the bleeding again. You reopened your wound. Settle down, woman.” His voice got gruff with emotion. He hated seeing her this way.

  Her eyes seemed focused now, though wide with fear. He slowly released his hold on her mouth and then her other shoulder. Her chest rose and fell at a rapid rate as she fought to catch her breath. When she looked down to see what Marty was doing, she evidently realized she was exposed from the waist up and threw her good arm over her breasts.

  “Here, honey. Let’s cover you up now.” Granger eased a towel over her breasts, leaving her left shoulder uncovered. “Is that better?”

  She nodded but didn’t say anything. He could see that she was still unsure as to whether she should trust them or not. He didn’t want to give her any reason to decide she couldn’t. Granger backed away while Marty finished dressing her shoulder. As soon as he had, he, too, moved back from her.

  “I’m going to get something for you to wear to sleep in, Destiny. I’ll be right back,” Marty told her before he left the room.

  She continued to stare at him with suspicious, wide eyes while they waited on Marty to return. When he walked back in the room carrying an overly large T-shirt, she visibly relaxed. Some of the tension between his eyes loosened enough that he thought he could breathe again.

  “Okay, I’m going to thread your arm through the armhole first. Then you can put your other arm in, and we’ll pull it down over your head. Try to keep your left shoulder still if you can,” Marty told her. “Granger, help me here.”

  Granger moved in slow motion to the bed, afraid he’d startle her again. This time she didn’t move, but she did watch his every move as he helped the other man dress her in the giant shirt. After they had pulled it down her body, Marty pulled the towel out from under the shirt.

  “There, now. I bet you feel better, don’t you?” he asked.

  She nodded her head, her eyes drooping with fatigue. He and Marty covered her up, and they walked over to the bedroom door. At Marty’s nod, they stepped outside into the hall to talk.

  “What the fuck? You scared her to death, man.” Marty’s voice was tight with anger.

  “I know. I guess I thought that since she was handling everything so well that she would be okay with talking straight about everything. I mean, she’s been taking care of herself, has taken a beating, and got shot. I didn’t expect this to be too much for her.” Granger felt like a heel.

  “Apparently it was. I don’t think she’s all that worldly, Granger. I mean she’s, what? Twenty-three or so?”

  “Yeah. I was just trying to be honest and up front with her.” He was the older man, and he had totally screwed this up.

  “You didn’t even talk about this with me. Why did you think you could just speak for both of us, anyway?” Marty asked.

  “We’d sort of discussed it. I thought you were okay with it. I’m sorry, man. I really thought talking about it with her was the right thing to do.”

  He couldn’t see the other man’s expression in the darkness of the hall. Without the lantern, he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. Somehow it seemed dirty and sinister to be discussing sharing her in the dark like this. They couldn’t leave her alone unprotected, so this was the best they could do.

  “Look. I’m all over protecting her. Hell, I’d love to be her man, but I’m not so sure about the sharing part. I mean, that’s an awful lot to ask of a woman who’s been through what she’s been through. Hell, any woman.”

  “Marty, that’s the way things are out here. The dangers are real that someone will try to take her. It takes more than one man to keep a woman safe. I’m not being kinky about this or anything. It’s just the way things are now.” Granger realized that the other man thought he was just looking for a threesome.

  “You’re saying there really are other families out here living like that?” Marty’s voice sounded doubtful.

  “Yeah. Pretty much every one I came across when I was moving around was set up that way. Some were made up of three or four men and one woman. It was all consensual, too. Not like that farm where Destiny and I were working.” Granger waited as Marty seemed to digest what he’d told him.

  “What sort of dangers are we talking about out here? I was thinking that if I moved out here, the only things I had to worry about were wild animals and nature.”

  “Besides the wolves, bears, and such, there are black market agents looking to steal women to sell on the black market and to Barter Town. Women are treated like slaves there, chained up and sold to the highest bidder, or turned into brothel whores. It’s safer than back in the cities, but it’s still not safe.” Granger wanted to return to the bedroom to watch over Destiny. He didn’t like there being a door between them with so much danger out there.

  “How is this supposed to work? Do we take turns or something? That just seems weird.” Marty still didn’t sound totally convinced.

  “I guess it depends on how we want it to work. Actually, it all comes down to what Destiny wants. Keeping her happy and safe is the most important thing. Without her on board, it’s a moot point anyway.” Granger sighed. “Look. Let’s just agree that we both want to keep her safe and go from there until she’s had time to think everything through.”

  “I agree. Until she’s okay with it, we’re just beating ourselves over the thinking about it. We need to get some rest.” Marty opened the door to the bedroom and slipped inside.

  Granger drew in a deep breath to calm down the inner turmoil coiling inside of him. He wanted Destiny safe, and he wanted to see her happy. It confused him that he cared so much about her after so little time. It had to be that the intense situation they had found themselves in was the cause of it. Stress did strange things to people. Right now, they were all safe. That was what was important. Marty was right. They needed to rest while they could. Then they needed to decide on a direction and a course of action.

  He couldn’t help but wonder how Destiny would act in the morning. Her perception of everything would set the tone for the rest of their trip.

  Chapter Eight

  Destiny came awake with a start. Not only did her shoulder hurt, but her head ached as if she’d hit it at some point. She didn’t remember bumping it on anything. Light sifted in around the chest of drawers sitting in front of the window, dust motes dancing in the beams. As she watched them, she became aware of the fact that she wasn’t alone in the bed. When she turned her head slightly, she could see the outline of one of the men lying on his side, his back facing her. She could tell by the length and darker color of his hair that it was Granger. When she turned her head to the other side, it was to stare into the warm brown eyes of Marty.

  “Morning. How are you feeling?” he asked quietly.

  “Um, okay, I guess.” She wasn’t sure what to say next. Thankfully, Marty took pity on her and spoke again.

  “What
about your shoulder? Is it hurting much?”

  “Not too bad. It’s going to hurt some until it’s fully healed. The sling helps.” She broke eye contact and looked around the room.

  “It’s early yet, Destiny. Try and sleep a little longer,” he said.

  She closed her eyes, but sleep was far away now. Instead, she started talking, her eyes still closed.

  “Was Granger serious last night? Do you two really want to s–share me?” she asked.

  He sighed. “Destiny. We can talk about this later. We don’t have to do anything about it at all. We both just want to make sure you’re safe. Let it go for now.”

  She knew she should, but something inside of her was too curious now. She needed to know.

  “But do you want to share me, Marty?”

  “I don’t know, Destiny. I like you. A lot, but sharing someone seems so wrong. I mean, I wasn’t raised that way. I’m not sure how I would handle seeing another man touching what I considered to be mine. Does that make sense?”he asked.

  “Yeah. I don’t get it either. How can a relationship work with two possessive men and one woman? I can’t even imagine there being more than two. It has to be really hard to negotiate something like that and everyone be happy with it.” Destiny opened her eyes and realized that Granger was awake. He’d turned over at some point, and she hadn’t even felt the bed shift.

  “Hey,” was all he said, but she could see the guilty expression marring his face.

  “Morning,” she replied.

  “How did you sleep? Did your shoulder bother you any?” he asked.

  “Not enough to wake me up. I slept all night, I guess.” She gave a small smile, then turned her head to look above her at the ceiling. “Where do we go from here?”

  “We get up and eat something. Then we plan out which direction we head. That’s it, Destiny. Nothing else.”

  “Are you hungry?” Marty asked her.

  She started to shake her head no, but her tummy growled and everyone laughed, breaking the tension that had built until she hadn’t been able to take a deep breath.

  “Stay in bed until we get something ready. I don’t want you moving that shoulder around for now,” Marty said as he got up.

  She quickly averted her eyes when she realized he wasn’t wearing anything but a T-shirt and boxers. She didn’t look in Granger’s direction at all when she felt that side of the bed move as he got up as well. Some things she was better off not seeing right now. Her head was in too much turmoil to add thoughts of them wearing next to nothing to the mix.

  While they dressed and moved the dresser away from the door, Destiny contemplated what Granger had said the night before. At the time, she’d been so keyed up from the last few days that she hadn’t been able to deal with it. Now, after a good night’s rest, she realized that she needed to give it serious thought. Since she’d never really had a normal relationship with a man before, she had nothing to compare what he’d been suggesting to. Outside of her aunt and uncle, she only had memories of her life before the disasters to fall back on.

  She wasn’t going to deny that she was attracted to both men. Even though she knew that normal was only one man and one woman, that had been before and this was now. Life was different now. There were very few women, and there were men out there who thought nothing of taking her for their own reasons without thought to what she wanted. Despite the fact that she’d only known them for a short time, Destiny knew in her gut that she could trust them. She accepted that they wanted to keep her safe.

  So where did that leave her with Granger’s proposition? She sighed, still confused.

  “Here you go, darling. Breakfast in bed.” Marty grinned, setting a tray on the bedside table.

  “Let me help you sit up, little one. I don’t want you to hurt your shoulder.” Granger knelt on the edge of the bed and gently pulled her up while Marty arranged two pillows behind her back.

  “How’s that?” Marty asked.

  “Good, thanks.” She watched as he arranged the tray on her lap and opened a bottle of water for her.

  “Don’t expect this type of service all the time, young lady,” he said with mock severity.

  She pouted, playing along with the light teasing. “But I’m worth it.”

  Granger and Marty exchanged glances, and Granger smiled, a warm seductive heaviness to his eyelids. “That you are, little one. That you are.”

  Destiny shivered and turned her attention to the food in front of her. It wasn’t fancy, but there was plenty of it. She glanced over to be sure the men were eating as much as they’d given her. Satisfied that they weren’t skimping to be sure she had enough, she quickly devoured the meal. Last night had been her first full meal in a long time. This one she enjoyed with just as much enthusiasm. Going without had taught her a valuable lesson. Eat when you can, because you never knew where or when your next meal might come.

  “That was good. Thanks, guys.” She wiped her mouth with the cloth they’d given her.

  “You’re welcome, ladybug,” Marty said with a smile.

  “Sit tight while we clean up, then we’ll spread out the map and start making plans.” Granger grabbed the tray and eased off the bed.

  Ten minutes later, they sat around the little kitchen table with the map spread out between them. Marty had pulled back all the curtains, so they had plenty of sunlight to see by. Granger had produced a pen and circled their present location to the best of their knowledge.

  “This is two twelve. It will take us all the way into Montana,” he said. “This is where I met the first lot of settlers that I worked for. They were nice enough but very nervous of strangers. Besides, I really think we’re better off going a little deeper into the state.”

  “I agree,” Marty said. “When I talked to people on the road, they all said the farther west you went, the safer you were.”

  “Let’s steer clear of the main interstates as much as we can. Too great a chance that we’ll run into trouble on one of them. I think we should keep to these county roads until we reach Broadus, where we can pick up two twelve.” Granger traced his finger along a line that connected with the road he wanted to get on.

  Destiny looked over the map and the route he planned to take. It looked like it had been well planned out in advance.

  “I think we can find a place to rest at Broadus, then move on toward the Cheyenne Indian Reservation. There were some families living there as well. Most were Native Americans, and they were prepared for anything. Many of them still believed that the government was going to try and kick them off their land again and had made sure they had plenty of supplies.” Granger leaned back in his chair.

  “So we stop in Broadus next. Why don’t we head farther north?” Marty asked.

  “Couple of reasons. One is that we want to stay away from the larger cities where the most dangers are, like Miles City. Billings is out of the question. I think we’ll be okay in the little towns. The other reason is the farther north we go, the harder the living conditions. They get snow year-round farther north. It would be harder to grow a garden and keep food on the table.”

  “So where exactly do you see us ending up?” Marty asked.

  Destiny was wondering the same thing. The more Granger talked about the dangers, the less certain she became that she’d made the right decision.

  Granger pointed at a spot on the map over half way across the bottom of Montana. It looked like it was right above Yellowstone to her. Why would he want to take them into an area that was rife with wildlife?

  “This is where I think we have the best chance. There aren’t nearly as many people in this area, but it has enough of a summer season we should be able to have a decent vegetable garden,” he said.

  “That’s near Yellowstone,” she pointed out.

  “Some of the best deer and elk hunting around will be there. We’ll need the meat and skins in the winter. I’m not sure how many communities are set up in that direction, but I know there are some on the way. I
f we feel comfortable around any of them and they’ll accept us, we can always settle down there.” Granger looked from her to Marty. “Do we have a plan?”

  “It sounds good to me,” Marty told him. “What do you think, Destiny?”

  “I–I guess. Yellowstone scares me. You know that with it being a national park that there are a lot more wild animals there than anywhere else in Montana.”

  “We still have a ways to go before we reach there. Let’s take it one step at a time.” Granger gently touched a finger to her chin.

  “Okay. So what’s next? Do we pack up and go?” she asked.

  “Not today. We’ll head out early in the morning. Today we rest,” Granger told her.

  “You’re only waiting because of me. I’m fine. I can travel.” It irked her that ever since they’d found out she was female, they had been treating her differently.

  “It’s as much for us as it is for you, ladybug,” Marty told her. “We’ve been going nonstop for a long time. We need some rest so we’ll be at our best to deal with anything that comes up on the road.”

  “If you say so,” she muttered as she stood up and headed back to the bedroom.

  “Hey, where are you off to?” Granger asked.

  She stopped and looked over at him. “I was going back to the bedroom. I thought you wanted me to rest.”

  He chuckled. “Don’t get sassy with me, little girl. We’re going outside to get some fresh air and explore a little bit to see if there’s anything else here we might be able to use.”

  “Keep close to us and do what we say without arguing, Destiny, okay?” Marty said.

  She was so happy to be doing something other than sitting in the bed, she nodded immediately. Both men laughed at her instant agreement. It wasn’t like she was agreeing to obey their every command or anything. She shivered, and her nipples hardened beneath her shirt. Why did that make her hot? It was ridiculous what seemed to turn her on.