by Jana Leigh
44
“Now sweetie, I am saying this with all the love I have for you. We are beyond asking if you want to marry us, shit, and look how long it took you to admit you even loved us. I want to have kids before I am fifty.” Steve said and grinned at her.
Dallas snorted when he saw the mutiny that was going to happen. “How about a compromise? We take care of the logistics of the wedding and each of you can plan your honeymoon on my dime, when we get out of here.” He drawled.
The women were all silent and looked at each other grinning. “Fine.” Bailey replied. “Get the checkbook out mister.”
All the men groaned and Jolly said, “Four words a man fears, get the checkbook out.”
“Not funny mister, you had better watch it or you will be sleeping in your room tonight.” Calli grumbled but grinning.
The men all smiled and joked about being in the doghouse. The mood was very jovial while they planned the weddings. Ginny figured she had never had a conventional upbringing, why should it change now? She got to call her family and explain to her father why he was not going to meet the man who was going to marry his daughter. It was a very long conversation, but finally after Andres took the phone from her and talked to her father and smoothed over the hurt feelings, did she feel better about the situation.
Late into the day, they all retired to their rooms to get a little sleep before they were back to planning tomorrow. Even though they were going to get married at the cabin, the guys decided their women were not going to want for anything.
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Cuddled to Andres"s side after making love, Ginny was thinking about the turn of events that had taken place the last few weeks. Her friends found love and she had finally met the man of her dreams. With the exception of the fact, someone was trying to kill them, it was perfect. She drifted off to sleep thinking of the dress Calli was designing for her.
Chapter 4
The house was bustling, getting things prepared for the pending nuptials that were going to take place tomorrow. The women had taken over the guesthouse and were planning on staying there for the rest of the time until the ceremony.
They refused to allow the men to see them before the wedding. They also requested a bunch of stuff so they could actually have a bachelorette party tonight. The men refused to let them have a stripper but the women had found a way around it. They asked one of their friends to take a video camera to a club and have the men perform for them while it was recorded.
By the end of the night, the women were drunk and rowdy. Steve and Dallas stood by the window and listened to them singing in the garden. The men chuckled at their women and they all agreed it was good they were tying them down tomorrow because those women could get into trouble if they were single.
Andres was a little worried he had moved too fast for Ginny. Jolly was currently talking to him about what he was worried about. In the last few days, he felt like he finally belonged somewhere. He was content with his life out east but after being here with all of these people, he saw the true friendship he had been 46
missing all these years. They all looked after one another and genuinely loved each other. It was a nice feeling.
Dallas called for the guys to come to the window when they saw the women were planning on doing a little skinny-dipping. They grinned at the three girls who were struggling to get their clothes off. Dallas grinned from ear to ear when Bailey fell over onto a chair when she tried to take off her pants.
The men went to the bar, satisfied their women were happy and content with the night they had planned. Steve lined up a bunch of shots and they toasted each other"s good fortune. Andres had just finished the drink and closed his eyes, thinking of the next day when Ginny would be his wife.
BOOM! The sound shook the entire house and the men paused in shock before they realized the noise came from where the women were. Dallas, Noah, Steve, and Andres ran for the doors as Jolly wheeled himself to the phone and called for security to get to the house.
It looked like a war zone on the patio. Plants were on fire, and smoke billowed from the pool house. Dallas was the first to arrive and he searched for the women. None of them were there. The others called for Calli, Bailey and Ginny but there was no response. Andres became desperate when there was no trace of the women. All the clothes they saw them take off were now nowhere to be found.
Noah was calling their names and ran to the guesthouse hoping they had ran there, hiding from whatever had happened in the pool, but there was no answer.
Steve yelled from the house and said, “Guys get back in here!” 47
They all ran to the living area again and what they saw almost made them fall to their knees. If Andres had not already thought the explosion was weird, when they entered the living area the man who was standing before them would have completed the thought.
Standing before them was a man Andres had not seen in ten years. It was a man he never thought he would see again, Rex Alexander. The man had worked for his law firm as an investigator, until a few years ago when he disappeared off the face of the earth. No one had been able to figure out where the man had gone.
Andres had personally called the authorities and filled out all the right paperwork to report him missing. They searched for six months for him; Andres had been upset because he had been one of the only friends he had.
“Rex?” He said and all the eyes flew between the two men.
“Andres, sorry, we really don"t have time to explain. Your father has your women, he and Bruce hired a few men to come here and take them. I tried to follow, but lost them in the mountains. They are on foot so we still have a chance to get them. If they make it to their destination, the women will be killed. All of them.” He said grimly.
“Wait, hang on!” Dallas yelled. “Who the hell are you and why should we trust you at this point? You walk in here after an explosion and have this great story.
How do we know you aren"t working for them?”
“Because if I was, you would already be dead.” The man said grimly. “Grab your stuff and let"s get moving, we only have a little time to find their trail.” Jolly yelled he would have all the roads to town blocked in the next thirty minutes, so they could make sure they never got off the mountain. One of the 48
reasons Steve and Jolly bought this property was because there were only two roads to town, any other way was straight down the mountain.
Dallas, Noah, and Steve gathered all the weapons they could find and were ready in ten minutes. Andres, still in shock from seeing the missing man, waited with him.
“Wanna tell me what the hell is going on?” Andres growled. “Where have you been?”
“Andres, I would love to sit and tell you when we have more time, but right now we have got to go save your women. I promise I will explain everything when we are done.” Rex said to him quietly.
“I will hold you to that. If I think you are going to in any way get in our way or hurt us, I will kill you and bury your body where no one can find it.” Steve growled and gave Andres two guns to use.
Rex nodded and turned to lead the men through the back door. “I tracked the men your father hired for the last few days. I thought I was a step ahead of them.
Unfortunately I lost them the day before yesterday, I was trying to contact you, but the guys at the front gate refused to send a message in.”
“My orders.” Steve said grimly.
“Well, I finally got my credentials and they let me through when the explosion happened. The three men your father hired to get the girls are some of the biggest lowlifes. They have been known to hold and torture their victims for days before turning them over to the person who paid them.” Rex said softly. “They have a special way to make their victims talk.” 49
Dallas swore out loud. “If those mother fuckers touch a hair on Bailey"s head, I will have them for lunch.”
“Get your appetite ready then, because at this point it is a matter of how much they hurt them, not if.” Rex said an
d led the men through the maze of the gardens. He stopped when he reached the edge of the trees that surrounded the house. “The terrain is tough, but I think we can follow.” All the men nodded and followed the man as he set a furious pace into the wilderness. They hiked and ran through the mountainous paths, looking for signs the hired thugs had come this way. Rex explained how he was sure the men had taken the girls this way. He had tracked them to the town above the house.
Andres was getting a little tired after they had been tracking for the last few hours. It was getting darker in the forest but the moonlight was giving them enough light so they could see without getting out the flashlights yet. Soon the trees would be covering the sky and they were going to need extra light.
Rex held up his hand signaling them to stop. Dallas and Noah crouched, when Rex went down on one knee. Andres and Steve covered behind them in case someone was going to try and attack them from behind.
“They came this way.” Rex whispered. “Listen, I think we are catching up with them.”
In the distance, they could hear men yelling loudly. They could not make out what they were saying, but it sounded like they were pissed.
50
The men picked up their pace hoping they could get to them before they made it much farther into the mountains. Steve had experience in this area, but the rest of the men didn"t and waited until Rex and Steve took the lead. All of them knew they needed to use their experience to help the women. None of them wanted to make a mistake that could lead to one of their beloved women being hurt.
They crept up onto the light they pinpointed a few minutes ago. The hired thugs had needed to use a lantern to help them see in the clearing, they had stopped to rest.
Steve and Rex crept to the edge of the clearing while the rest slowly worked their way so they could see. Calli was the only one they could see. She was tied to a huge man who was trying to get her to follow him by pulling on the rope that was tied around her wrists. Calli was putting up a struggle, which caused the man to get more and more frustrated. The noise they had been hearing was him yelling at her to cooperate. Calli was gagged but even with the cloth in her mouth, they could hear her trying to tell the man off.
Steve winced when she kicked the man in the shin and backed off quickly when he raised his hand to her. Obviously, she had done this before because they could see the bruises and blood already on her face. Steve growled when he saw her injuries. At least she was still alive and that gave them all hope that they would find the others the same way. They waited for a few minutes to see if the man was with Calli alone. When it looked like they had caught a small break, Steve turned to his friends and spoke lowly.
“We are gonna take this guy out first. Andres if you could go for Calli, Dallas, and Noah go for the rope. This guy and I will go after the man, if it looks like we cannot take him, one of you need to help and use whatever force you think. I 51
want to try and take him alive if we can so we can question him. If we can"t then we can"t, none of us gets hurt, only them.” Steve ordered quietly.
The men nodded in agreement and then waited until the signal to set the plan into motion. It only took a few moments for Rex to give the signal but it seemed like an eternity. Ginny was probably terrified and scared, he wanted them to be out finding her, not sitting here. The only thing that stopped him was her friends; he knew she would be pissed if anything happened to any of them.
Rex and Steve jumped into the clearing running for the huge man. Andres ran for Calli, scooped her up, and shielded her from the fighting men as Dallas and Noah cut the rope that attached her to the man. It only took a few moments for them to get control of the situation, and Calli was sobbing in his arms.
Andres gently set her on a boulder and untied the ropes from her wrist that had rubbed them raw. She was bleeding on the ropes, which made it harder to get the ropes free. Andres concentrated on the task instead of his anger that was bubbling up in his chest. The thought that any of the women had been hurt was almost more than he could bear. It was his family, his blood that was causing all of this.
When she was finally free, Calli jumped up and ran to Steve who was standing over the big man they subdued asking him questions. Andres thought she was going to Steve but she went right past him and kicked the man on the ground yelling at him.
“Bastard, where the hell is Bailey and Ginny?” She cried kicking him repeatedly.
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Steve stepped forward to take her into his arms, but she shook him off and crouched to look at the man in his eyes. “I will cut your nuts off myself if anything happens to them.” She warned and spit in his face.
The man refused to speak or respond to her, just glaring at her like he wished he could kill her.
Rex took over, tied the man to a tree firmly, and then turned toward the others,
“We need to get moving. I believe they have separated so they could divide us in different directions.” Steve nodded and turned.
“Calli, we have to go and get the others. Can you take care of waiting for our men to get here? Here is a walkie-talkie; Jolly can talk with you until they get here. I gotta go and help.” Steve said desperately. Andres could tell he wanted to stay with her but felt the same way as he did, they had to save all of them.
“I love you.” She cried and hugged him. “Come back to me with everyone, I will be waiting.”
Steve kissed her and then nodded to Rex and they took off on a path to the north.
Andres hoped they could catch up with the next thug quickly. They reached the time when they needed light and Rex and Steve pulled out little mag lights and handed them out.
They quickly adjusted to the faint light and began moving again. Finally, they had to take a break and regroup. Rex pulled a map out and they looked for the most logical paths they could take. Taking a few drinks of water and then resting their legs, Steve stood and motioned for them to get ready to leave again. When they stood, they all heard a shot in the distance. It was in front of them and Andres closed his eyes briefly. Please do not let it be Ginny or Bailey.
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The sound came from in front of them and to the left. There was no path that way but Rex decided it didn"t really matter and they took off into the thick brush.
When they snuck up to the first man, they had been so quiet. This time Rex did not care one way or another what kind of noise they made.
It took a little longer because they were fighting the lower bushes too. Andres was fit, but this kind of activity was taking its toll quickly. He was panting and sweating profusely. Just when he thought he could not go any further, Steve held his hand up like he had before. Concentrating on something other than the burning in his thighs, he could hear loud sobs coming from a woman.
Dallas and Noah burst into action and ran for what they hoped was an empty clearing in front of them instead of an ambush. Andres broke through the trees and saw Bailey on the ground with a gun in her hand, crying and pointing it to a man that lay still in front of her. Dallas and Noah were trying to pry the gun from her hands but she was in shock and refused to let it go. As he got closer, he could hear what she was sobbing and his blood ran cold.
“He tried to make me take my clothes off. He grabbed me and kissed me and his breath smelled so bad I thought I was going to throw up. I kept telling him I was getting married, but he laughed and said he had a little present for my grooms.
He…. He said he was going to kill me and send me back to you gift wrapped.” She sobbed finally letting Noah take the gun.
Dallas took her into his arms gently and whispered into her ear. She sobbed louder and then collapsed into his lap. Steve and Rex went to the man who was bleeding on the ground. Steve turned him over and knew he was dead.
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Andres almost started crying too, thinking what kind of thug had Ginny. He looked back at Bailey who was bruised and obviously traumatized. Rex talked into the walkie-talkie and gave them the coordinates to where they were. Andres knew by just
looking at Bailey they did not have a lot of time to get to Ginny.
These men were ruthless.
Finally, after what seemed like a million minutes, they heard the thrashing in the bushes indicating the cavalry had arrived. Four men came through the woods with their weapons drawn and ready for battle. They put them down when they realized who they were dealing with.
Dallas and Noah were trying to comfort Bailey who was still in shock and sobbing. They stood and whispered into her ear for a few moments before turning back to the men and nodding. They asked them to get her back to the house as soon as possible to Calli. They knew the best thing for Bailey was to be with the other woman. They would deal with the rest later; they had to get to Ginny.
Chapter 5
There were only two other paths the thug who had Ginny could have taken. They studied the map and finally decided on the route to take. Rex and Steve took point again and they were off to find his heart.
Although they had only been together a short time, he had lost his heart to her when they first met. Never in a million years did he ever think his life would turn 55
