An Angel for Them [Riverbend, Texas Heat 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Marla Monroe

  “What the fuck does that mean?” Travis asked.

  “It means we haven’t convinced her that we love her because of who she is. She’s still scared that she isn’t good enough for us.” Randy’s words made some sense.

  “She told me that she’d decided to trust the two of you to know what you wanted and what sort of person she was until your mom called and then she started worrying that she was making a mistake again. Guys, she needs your unconditional love, not this mistrust you’re showing her.” Jace’s words made sense, which pissed Travis off.

  Jerking back from the other man, he watched as his brother released Jace and stepped back as well. The deputy straightened his shirt and nodded at them.

  “You better go see about her before she ends up hurt.”

  Randy was already walking out of the room as Travis nodded at the deputy. Then his brother’s curse had him hurrying to the entrance hall.

  “What?” he asked.

  “She’s not wearing shoes. Her boots and tennis shoes are right here in the hall,” Randy said, pointing to them.

  “Damn. She’s going to cut her foot or break an ankle.” Travis threw open the door.

  “I’ll help you look,” Jace said. “We can cover more ground with three of us looking.”

  Travis nodded at the other man as he and his brother surged through the front door one after the other. He had a bad feeling again.

  * * * *

  Angela stumbled down the rise as she stepped on rocks and fallen limbs. Tears blurred her eyes to the point she could barely see. Having run out without bothering to stop and pull on her boots or even her tennis shoes, she was paying the price with stone bruises and sore ankles. At least she still had on her socks.

  Despair poured over her once more as she thought about how Randy and Travis had looked when they’d opened the door into the office earlier. Travis’s eyes had been furious even as his mouth curled into a snarl. Randy’s expression of disappointment and maybe even regret had nearly brought her to her knees. That they hadn’t even bothered to give her the benefit of a doubt hurt her beyond measure.

  I knew it wouldn’t last. They already think the worst of me and we aren’t even married yet. How could I have been so stupid?

  Angela stumbled once more as anguish over losing the two men she loved more than anything else squeezed her heart in a vise grip. She’d been right in the first place. Falling in love with them had been foolish. Now she’d gone and done what she’d been afraid of to begin with. She’d lost her heart and her job.

  Her foot slid off a rock twisting her ankle so that she stumbled again. This time she didn’t find anything to hold on to and fell hard on her knees. Pain splintered along her knees and down her shins. Grabbing a low branch of one of the scrub bushes, she managed to remain upright on her knees. Short nubs on the branches dug into her hands like sharp needles. How much more would she have to endure before she made it to the cabin? She looked up from her position on the ground. Nothing looked familiar. Had she wandered off the path? Panic flared through her as she scrambled to her feet, desperate to locate a familiar landmark.

  Just as she stepped forward, the sound of rattles froze her in mid-motion. Afraid to even move her head to try and locate the snake’s position, Angela fought to stay focused. She couldn’t afford to freak out now. Her very life might be at stake depending on where the rattler was in relation to her unprotected feet and legs.

  Because she had just come from that direction, Angela had to trust that behind her was safe. Instead, she slowly forced herself to look around in front of her, turning her head very slowly so as not to startle the snake. To her left, she finally spotted the menace not three feet from her left foot. It looked to be a good three feet long as well even though it was curled with its triangular head lifted in threat. Hadn’t she read somewhere that they could strike as far as the length of their body?

  What was she going to do now? Her legs and hands already ached and stung from falling so many times. Could she throw herself to the opposite side fast enough to keep the deadly fangs from making contact with her skin? Fear began to eat away at her until panic threatened to take over her thought processes. If she panicked for real, she might do something exceedingly stupid.

  A noise behind her had her jerking, and the snake’s rattles grew louder as its irritation grew. Angela couldn’t stop a new wave of tears rolling down her face. They blurred the image of the snake, which only frightened her more.

  “Easy, honey. Don’t move. Everything is going to be okay.” Randy’s deep voice washed over her taking away some of her fear.

  “What do I do? He’s going to bite me, isn’t he?”

  “No. He’s not. We’re going to get you out of this. Trust me, Angela.”

  She could hear the pleading in his voice as if he knew she was still contemplating lunging to one side.

  “Travis. Grab a rifle and hurry over to where the path to the cabin veers off to the right if you’re not careful. Be quiet though. A snake has Angela pinned down.” Randy’s voice was low as he talked to his brother.

  Angela couldn’t hear Travis’s reply, but she knew he would even now be coming to help. Even if they no longer wanted her, they were good men and wouldn’t want to see her die no matter how badly she’d screwed up.

  The sound of someone approaching ratcheted up her anxiety as the snake once again began shaking his rattles. Just as suddenly, the slight noise stopped as whoever it was stopped moving.

  “Hell. That doesn’t look good. I’ll move to the other side so I can get a shot.”

  That was Jace’s voice she heard. At least they hadn’t all killed each other over her stupidity.

  “Travis is on his way with a rifle. He should come out at the right angle to pop it. I don’t want you to spook the damn thing by moving. Hold off a second and let’s see if my brother can take care of it. The rifle will be a more accurate shot than your pistol.” Randy’s voice sounded so calm to her.

  Angela could feel the tremors start in her legs as she grew tired of holding the slightly uncomfortable position for so long. How much longer until Travis got there? She wasn’t going to be able to stay still for much longer. The tremors turned into fine shakes. Even her teeth were chattering now.

  “Easy, Angel. I’m here. Don’t move, baby.” Travis’s voice was a welcome sound because it meant he would have the rifle and her ordeal would soon be over.

  “Just stay real still, honey. Travis will kill it and everything will be fine.” Randy sounded so far away now. She wondered if he was leaving already.

  A strange ringing in her ears seemed to be drowning out everything around her. She couldn’t even hear the snake’s rattles anymore. She thought she heard Randy’s voice but couldn’t be sure. It sounded like he was telling Travis to shoot the damn thing already. The next thing she knew, the world around her tilted and she was falling even as a burning sting flared along her calf.

  Chapter Twenty

  “Travis! Take the damn shot! She’s going to pass out.”

  Travis heard the desperation in his brother’s voice. He didn’t have a clear shot from his present position, but if he didn’t take it now, the snake would strike when she fell. Hell, more than likely she would end up falling on the damn thing. That would be a death sentence. The fucking snake would strike over and over again if she did.

  All of this went through his mind in the blink of an eye as he lined up the sight on the rifle with the snake and took the shot as she pitched forward, directly toward the snake. He cursed and hurried over to pull her off the fucking reptile even as his brother and Jace reached her first. He covered them with the rifle so that when they jerked her off the snake, if it were still alive, he would kill it.

  To his relief, the snake’s head had been severed from its body, and though the body still twitched on the ground, the head was nowhere near his angel now. He still kicked the head out of their way and focused on Angela. Her bloody legs and hands reminded him that they had screw
ed up by jumping to conclusions. Well, he’d been the one to jump. Randy had only reluctantly followed him. Not only had he put her in this situation, he’d fucking grazed her with the bullet as well. She would never forgive him at this point.

  Dropping the rifle to the ground, he knelt beside his brother as he and Race dabbed at her cuts and abrasions and tied a cloth around her lower leg where he’d shot her.

  “Angela, baby? Can you hear me? I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he whispered as he ran a hand through her hair.

  “Let’s get her to the truck, Travis. She needs the doctor. I want to be damn sure she doesn’t have a snake bite somewhere we might have missed.” Randy’s voice was thick with emotion.

  “I’ll go start the truck while you bring her.” He grabbed the rifle once more and ran toward the house where the trucks were parked.

  Dear God. Please let her be okay. I can’t stand the thought of her being hurt. Especially when it’s all my fault.

  He had the truck turned around and the passenger door open when Jace and Randy appeared carrying Angela. As soon as Randy had her secured in his lap with the seat belt around them both, Travis took off down the drive behind Jace, who had the lights, flashers, and siren going on his vehicle to clear a path for them.

  “She’s going to be okay, Travis. I can’t find that the snake got her anywhere.” Randy’s words did little to reassure him.

  “I fucking shot her, Randy. Hell. I’m the reason she ran out there without boots on in the first place.” His knuckles whitened as his grip on the steering wheel grew tighter.

  “You didn’t do any such thing. We both screwed up how we handled this. And if you hadn’t taken the shot when you did, she would probably be dead by now. That rattler would have filled her full of venom before we could have gotten her away from it.”

  Travis didn’t say anything more. Instead he struggled to remain calm so he didn’t wreck them on the way to the hospital. There would be plenty of time for self-flagellation later. Right now, he needed to make sure Angela didn’t hurt anymore. Something he should have been thinking about instead of believing the worse, that she was hiding something bad from them instead of her fear that she wasn’t good enough for them.

  How would they ever be able to get her to trust them again? Forget them, him? He was the one to blame for all of it. Why when he had been the one to bring her into their lives had he been the one to doubt her the first time they faced trouble? Hell, he was the one who had warned his brother not to screw things up by believing the worst.

  “Why isn’t she waking up?” Randy questioned as he stroked his hand down her arm.

  “I don’t know. Did she hit her head on anything when she fell?”

  “I couldn’t find any swollen areas or blood in her hair or around her face.”

  Travis risked a quick glance at her and frowned. She was pale, and her eyes were sunken as if she’d been sick. Was she sick and they hadn’t noticed it? That was unacceptable. They should have been focused on her, making sure she was happy and healthy. How had they screwed this up so badly? Their parents would be ashamed of them. They’d been raised to always watch out for a woman, be it their sisters, their mother, or a friend’s wife.

  “We’re almost there, Randy.” He wanted to reassure his brother, but words failed him.

  The presence of Jace’s SUV with flashing lights ahead of them was making all the difference in how fast they could drive and the lack of traffic slowing them down. He owed the man an apology and a big thanks. He wouldn’t forget it. Glancing toward Angela one more time, he promised her and himself that if she would give him another chance, he would prove to her that he loved her and would never doubt her again.

  * * * *

  Angela woke up to a burning pain in her left leg as well as stings and aches all over her palms and knees. What had happened to her? She struggled to open her eyes even as she grasped at vague memories. Suddenly it all came back to her, and she gasped for breath even as she tried to move. Her eyes flew open.

  “Whoa, Angela. Be still, honey. We’re on our way to the hospital. You’re just fine.” Randy’s voice did little to soothe her fears of having been bit by the snake.

  “It bit me! I’m going to lose my foot!” She tried to look down her body to see her leg and almost screamed at the sight of a section of someone’s shirt wrapped around her bloody leg. What had they done, cut it and tried to remove the venom?

  “Calm down, Angel. You’re not going to lose your foot. It didn’t bite you,” Travis said.

  She jerked her head up to look at where he sat stiff as a board driving the truck. He looked too upset and nervous. They weren’t telling her something. They were lying to her. She was sure of it. She remembered feeling the sting as it buried its fangs in the side of her leg.

  “Don’t lie to me!” She knew she was yelling, but she couldn’t help it.

  “Calm down, Angela. We’re not lying. The snake didn’t bite you. Travis accidently winged you when he shot the snake. He killed the snake, but you were so close that the bullet grazed your leg. You’re going to be just fine.” Randy sounded so calm despite the worry on his face she saw when she gazed up at him.

  Slowly she started to calm down. Her breathing eased back to normal as her heart rate decreased one beat at a time. She felt as if she’d been run over and dragged across rocky ground. It seemed as if every inch of her body hurt somewhere. As the overwhelming fear receded, the pain picked up and the adrenaline rush gave way to weariness. She closed her eyes once again.

  The next time she opened them, they were pulling up at the entrance to the emergency room of a hospital. The passenger door was thrown open, and a young man dressed in green scrubs reached for her as Randy unbuckled the seat belt. He took her from Randy’s arms and laid her on a stretcher where she was immediately covered by a blanket and wheeled toward the sliding doors to the building.

  She could hear voices all around her talking at once. Occasionally she could pick out either Randy or Jace’s voice, but she didn’t hear Travis’s anywhere around. For the next twenty or so minutes, the people in the room with her asked her all sorts of questions from where did she hurt, to when had she last eaten. Someone drew blood and someone else stuck an IV in her hand as they stripped her and examined every inch of her body. It all happened so fast that she didn’t have time to feel embarrassed until a smiling blonde-haired nurse was dressing her in a hospital gown.

  “You are one lucky woman. Snake bites can be deadly, and at best, painful. You’ll be right as rain in no time with a little rest.” The nurse turned to leave.

  “Wait. Where are Randy and Travis?”

  “They’re right outside the door. As soon as they finish filling the doctor in on what happened, I’m sure they will be right in. Rest, Angela. You’ve had a pretty bad shock.”

  Angela watched the nurse push through the swinging door, leaving her alone in the small exam room. Though the head of the stretcher had been elevated slightly, she still couldn’t see her legs or feet. She felt something tight wrapped around her left lower leg and wanted to know what it was. She still harbored the fear that she really had been bitten by the snake and they weren’t telling her yet.

  Slowly she took inventory of her many aches and pains to find that she had an IV in her left hand, the mystery bandage around her left lower leg, another bandage on her right knee and a plethora of cuts and sore places all over her body. She felt tears forming in her eyes once more and struggled to prevent them from falling. They wouldn’t help a damn thing, and she’d cried enough today already.

  A whoosh of sound had her jerking her head toward the door. Randy and Travis walked in and stopped next to the stretcher wearing worried expressions. Angela didn’t know what to do or say. She was sure they were angry with her for what they would have seen as cheating on them. She didn’t know what to say to explain to them that she hadn’t been cheating. Would they even believe her if she tried.

  “Th–thank you for saving my life.” She
included them both in her glance.

  “Honey, there’s nothing we wouldn’t do to protect and keep you safe. I’m so sorry for how we reacted when we walked into the office this afternoon. It was unforgivable that we jumped to conclusions like we did.” Randy’s deep voice sounded so good to her ears.

  She wanted to believe him, to believe that they believed that she hadn’t been cheating on them. She looked over at Travis and felt her heart break at the pain in his eyes. It didn’t look like he shared his brother’s thoughts on the situation. That hurt. She wanted him to trust her and care about her as much as she loved them.

  “Travis?” Her voice broke on his name.

  He seemed to fall in on himself as he stepped closer to the stretcher and reached out to run a single finger down her cheek.

  “I’m so sorry, baby. I was a fool. I should have trusted you instead of believing you were keeping something from us. We should have all talked about whatever was bothering you instead of letting it simmer and bring us to this, with you getting hurt. I’m sorry I shot you. I couldn’t get a clear shot, but if I waited, you would have been bitten for sure.” Tears seemed to shimmer in his chocolate eyes.

  “It’s all my fault for not talking to you both. I was afraid you would be disappointed in me if I told you how I felt.” She reached up with her free hand and clutched at his, trapping it against the side of her face.

  “Nothing is your fault, honey. We were supposed to be taking care of you and we failed. I swear if you give us another chance it will never happen again. Let us prove to you how much we love you, Angel.” Randy dropped his hand to the top of her head and rested it there.

  “Y–you still want me?” she asked in shock.

  “Of course we do, baby. You’re our angel. You mean everything to us.” Travis smiled a shaky smile as he bent and kissed her lightly on the lips.

  She wanted to pull his head closer and devour his mouth, but he held one hand in his and her other hand was anchored down by the IV. He pulled back far too soon for her taste. She whimpered at the loss of his taste.