Cherry Hill 1-A Place to Call Home

by Dixie Lynn Dwyer Dixie Lynn Dwyer Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  “Fuck!” he roared and drew his gun. He heard Ferion give orders to Chase, Snipe, and Lextin. His heart pounded inside of his chest. Athena!

  * * * *

  It was stupid to be here, and the whole situation made her feel uneasy, but the meeting was finished fifteen minutes into it, with the federal agents thanking her for her help in getting the evidence they needed to lock up all those involved. Then Agent Winsfield got a call and he looked pretty upset. He looked at her, and then turned away. He was cursing into the phone and she got that uneasy feeling and stood up. She wanted her men, her brothers. The other door opened, and two other men came into the room.

  “You got the call, we should have her moved to a safe location, under protection,” one of the men said to Agent Winsfield.

  “She has good men and her brothers right outside. Best thing to do is to get her to them. We can assign others, as well.”

  “I want my brothers,” she said and stood up. She headed toward the door.

  “Just one minute, Miss Monroe. Let us make sure that we have things under control and have your brothers meet us here, wait for security. I’ll be right back.”

  He walked out of the room, his phone to his ear.

  “Come this way,” the other guy said to her.

  She shook her head and then the door opened. She stepped back, shocked to see Esmerelda there, the woman who had been flirting with Matias that night at the party a few days before she made her escape.

  “Don’t panic, Athena. I was working undercover,” she said.

  “What do you mean?” one of the guys asked, and in a flash she pulled a gun and shot the one agent, but not the other one. Athena was shocked as that agent grabbed her.

  “You can’t trust Agent Winsfield. He’s working for Mussadan. Come with me and I’ll explain, and then we’ll get your brothers and make a plan of attack. Matias just escaped on his way to a secure location. Agents are dead. Come on.”

  They ushered her out, but she didn’t want to go. “No, not without my brothers, my men,” she said to her.

  Esmeralda shook her head. “We need to move. Right down this hallway, the other agents will inform your men and take out Winsfield and the two agents he has working for him.”

  They pulled her along and then out the back door. They were getting into the SUV, and as she pulled away, thinking something was wrong and she just wanted Fox and her men and her brothers, the guy slammed her in the back of the head with the gun. She cried out and fell to her knees. He grabbed her up and threw her into the backseat just as shots were fired. The other agent, the one that was shot and bleeding from his chest was shooting at the tires.

  “Move it!” Esmeralda yelled, and Athena felt instantly sick, her head throbbed and her vision blurred. “You hit her so fucking hard. She better not die. At least not until Matias and Mussadan get their hands on her.” Esmeralda pulled out her phone as the guy clicked handcuffs onto Athena’s wrists. She shoved at him and reached for the handle of the door as tires squealed and the SUV took off.

  “Oh God, please don’t take me back to him. Please,” she begged, and fear filled her heart. She never should have come here. She should have followed her gut. I need my men. Please let them find me.

  * * * *

  “This is a fucking shit show. You’re telling me you couldn’t figure out that the rats were in your own department and unit? They had access to everything. Esmeralda was the one who Athena saw flirting with Matias. These fucks lay one hand on her and you’re dead. I’m going to slit your fucking throat!” Fox yelled at Agent Winsfield then shoved him against the wall. Ferion was on the phone, so were Snipe and Lextin.

  Fox’s cell phone rang, he looked at it and saw the number. He waved at Chase, Culter, and Kane, who got Louis and Voight’s attention.

  “Tell me you’re calling me because you know the shit hit the fan and you got answers?”

  “I got better than answers. I got where they’re headed and where this scumbag is under protection. From who, you aren’t going to believe,” The Greek told him.

  “I’m listening.”

  “You need to do better than that. Meet me at the address I text you. Get there with only those you trust your life with and hers.”

  “Got it.” He ended the call.

  He made the hand signals and the men dispersed. Ferion saw what was happening. “You keep in contact with me Winsfield. We’ll work on our ends. We’re in, so get the authorization. There’s going to be bodies and messes to clean up and you’ll handle it for this fuck up!” Ferion yelled at him.

  Fifteen minutes later, they arrived at a three story building. When the door opened by the front, Fox saw The Greek.

  “In the flesh, this is bad,” Lextin said as they all greeted the man and Fox and Culter introduced Louis, Voight, and Fox’s brothers to him.

  “We will have a small window of opportunity. Just so happens that the feds little operation and bust was a minor setback to even bigger fish. That Matias Garcia has plans to share your woman with Mussadan. They leave tonight for Saudi Arabia.”

  “Get the fuck out of here,” Louis said.

  “I got five men on the inside. This is a two year operation here. They are close, and they will keep eyes on Athena when she arrives. Bad part is, they are in a secure neighborhood, no other houses around, major surveillance which means they will know the second we all arrive on the property. Esmeralda has been working for Mussadan for five years. This was the main event, the operation that would send her into hiding under a new name and out of the country. Not happening. We’ve been hunting her and gathering evidence. The thing is, there’s chatter that Postatan is there, as well.”

  “Holy fuck,” Chase whispered, and him and Fox looked at Ferion. Instantly their leader’s face went harder, anger covered it now. “Are you sure?”

  “Would I be here dragging you away from the same scent the stupid feds are on? I have a plan, and this must be done silencer style. No evidence, destruction upon completion,” The Greek said to them.

  “No argument there. We get Athena and we get out. No one else leaves alive,” Fox said.

  “There ya go. Let’s go over the plan and the location,” The Greek said.

  Fox looked at his brothers. “We focus on the plan and saving her, ending this bullshit for her forever.”

  “Agreed,” Kane said, and then they made the plans of action.

  * * * *

  Athena felt a stroke to her nipple as she began to regain consciousness.

  “She is incredible.”

  “You have no idea how sweet she is, and capable, too. Hiding for so long.”

  She recognized the voice and knew it was Matias. She didn’t recognize the other voice or the thick accent of some kind. Her body immediately began to shake. She feared Matias so much.

  “Ahh, and good at playing possum, too.”

  She gasped as hands gripped her ankles and pulled her lower. She opened her eyes as Matias began to undo her jeans and pull them down. She raised her handcuffed hands up and shoved at his face, hitting his nose. He retaliated with a smack to her face and she cried out and thrust her knee up into his balls, shocking him. The other man, some Arab looking guy with a sheet around his head and weird clothing chuckled. Mussadan? This is Mussadan. Her head continued to throb from the strike to it earlier, and as she got her bearings she countered every hit from Matias until he got the upper hand. His face and nose bloodied by her, he raged as he struck her. He ripped her top.

  “Let’s take her together since that seems to be her thing. She needs to start learning her place, Matias.”

  “Oh she will. On her knees.” He yanked her from the bed and she fell to the floor.

  She was screaming at them. “I hate you,” she roared, and kicked as he yanked down her pants. As she tried to scramble away, he slammed his fists down on her thighs and the other man kicked her in the side. She screamed out in pain, and as he reached for her hair, she struck her cuffed hands at the guy’s face a
nd cut him across his cheek. Then he raged and the two of them were kicking her, beating her, and she knew they won. That she lost. She screamed out. “Kill me. Just kill me because I will not be your whore!” She raged as Matias lifted her up and shoved her body over the edge of the bed. The sound of the switch blade had her freezing in place.

  His face was against her ear and neck. He was breathing heavily from beating her as the other man kicked her. “Cut her, Matias. Show her she is ours forever,” the guy said.

  “You will suffer for running away from me after all I did for you. I said no other men but me ever. That I decide who to share you with. You’ll never see those men again. Never see your brothers either. Meet Mussadan,” he said, and shoved his forearm against the back of her neck. He moved from behind her, but kept her face down against the bed. The other guy moved in behind her, his hands grabbing at her body, touching her, and she raged as she tried to shove her head up to headbutt one of them, and it didn’t work. She was suffocating against the bed, unable to move her head for air to breathe.

  “Her body is perfection,” Mussadan said, and stroked her.

  She screamed into the bed, begging for death when she heard the door bust open, and glass break from the windows. She couldn’t move and then felt the cut to her side, and heard Matias’ grunt as he fell to the side. Mussadan roared and grabbed for her hair, but then jerked as men in black with weapons and guns pointed shot at him, taking him out. She fell to the rug.

  “What did they do to her? Fuck!” Chase roared, and she realized these were her men, her brothers.

  “Get her out of here. Wrap the knife wound,” someone she didn’t know said.

  “Take the sheet,” Fox told them, and she couldn’t breathe without pain. Tears streamed down her cheeks, weakness overtook her body and she passed out.

  Epilogue

  “This is too much too soon. You just got out of the hospital two days ago,” Culter said to her as they got into the pickup truck. She needed his help to lift her up, the stitches in her side still raw. Never mind that her ribs were wrapped, her face a mess, but they all needed this. To be with their friends, to be with all the town people who visited her in the hospital, who established a cooking schedule for all the meals while she was recovering at the McCabe men’s home, and offering any help that was needed.

  Her brothers were hooked up with a house to rent in town as she recovered, and they made changes, too.

  She exhaled out of breath and leaned back.

  “We shouldn’t be going,” Fox said, and cursed.

  “We need this. We don’t have to stay too long, but we need to show them that we’re okay,” she said, and leaned into Culter’s shoulder.

  By the time they got to Harper’s, it seemed more crowded than usual, and her men weren’t happy about it at all. Then when they entered she knew why it was so crowded. The place was jammed packed and erupted in cheers as she walked in with her men, surprise balloons everywhere, get well ones too, and all their friends were there, including her friends from Central Valley. Corey from the dojo along with Nash and the other deputies, plus Sheriff Mullen from Central Valley, and the women she waitressed with along with the owners of Spark’s. Tears filled her eyes and she hugged Culter and Fox’s arms. “And this is why we came,” she said as everyone came over to greet her, to hug her and wish her well. By the time she said hello to everyone, she was exhausted and Kane knew it. He lifted her up and carried her to one of the chairs to sit, Harper setting it up with a cushion and greeting her hello, too.

  “Aren’t you glad you started working at Harper’s and found Cherry Hill?” she asked, and then smiled wide as she looked around them. Athena did the same thing, and held Kane’s hand, Smiled at Chase who sat next to her, and then at Culter and Fox. To think about the year long on the run seemed like so long ago. That empty feeling had slowly begun to fill with the love of this town, its people, and mostly her men. Men she tried to deny falling in love with, but who wouldn’t let her. A different turn, a wrong exit, or lack of determination could have brought her more pain, and a life sentence of agony, but she followed her gut, and she fought for her life, for a new life, and to top it off, she fell in love. The drinks were poured and she lifted hers in the air. “To Cherry Hill,” she said, and they all replied, “To Cherry Hill.”

  She leaned into her men and they watched her, remaining close. “And to falling in love with each of you.”

  They kissed her cheeks and she took a sip of her cranberry and vodka and watched the people smiling, laughing, and having a good time. This was her new family, her new life, and her future. There was no other place she would rather be. She was finally home.

  THE END

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