“But you’re dead,” Kinsey whispered through lips gone numb as she sags between the two men who now filled her heart and her world. “I got a letter and a flag and everything.”
“Let’s take this outside,” Drake said, his words and tone leaving no one a choice in the matter.
* * * *
Logan half-carried Kinsey outside, following the other two men. The stranger had finally released their girl’s arm after squeezing it tight enough to make her flinch.
“You okay, sweets?” he asked softly as they crossed the porch slowly.
Kinsey did not answer then tripped going down the steps. Without a second thought, Logan lifted her into his arms and carried her across the parking lot to their truck. Leaning back against the front of the truck, he watched and waited though he was already certain Kinsey would not be going off with this man, whoever he was.
“So, you claim Kinsey belongs to you?” Drake started once they were isolated from the Tavern and the parking lot by their pickup and trailer.
“She’s been my girl for the past two years. I kept her from getting crazy, and she kept me happy,” Nelson said, standing with feet planted and his arms crossed over his chest.
Logan frowned. Something wasn’t right. And since he had just punished his girl, he decided to step in. “So where the hell have you been for the past six months that she thought you were dead? Where have you been the past few weeks while she’s settled into our household?”
Nelson blinked. “In a remote village in Afghanistan recovering. It took me two months to recover and find my way to an American base. Then I had to finish out my contract. For the past month, I’ve been tracking her down. But I’m here now and I want my bitch back. Hand her over, and we’ll be on our way.”
Logan looked down to find Kinsey was white as a sheet and visibly trembling. He hugged her then looked at Drake who was studying the both of them. He stared hard into Drake’s eyes, hoping the man he got his silent message of “Hell no, I’m not letting her go.”
Instead of responding, Drake stepped over and touched Kinsey’s arm. “Sugar britches, look at me.”
Moving sluggishly, Kinsey raised her head and met his gaze. “Sir?”
“It’s your decision. Do you want to stay with us, or go back to Master Nelson.”
“What do you want, Master Drake? Master Logan?”
Logan’s heart clenched at the sound of her using the title Master in conjunction with their names. They had not gotten to the point in their relationship to demand she address them as such but she had. Looking over her head at Drake, he understood that their wants, their needs, could not be taken into account. She had to make this decision all by herself, for herself.
Forcing down his emotion, which took more effort that he thought it would, Logan tightened his hold just a little. “Our wants don’t count here, sweets. It has to be your decision. Do you want to go with Master Nelson, or do you want to stay here with us?”
He felt Kinsey swallow hard before taking a deep breath. She looked from him to Drake to Nelson. Looking back to him, she whispered, “Put me down please.”
His heart squeezing like it was trapped in a vice, Logan did as she asked. Then he straightened and focused on his breathing as Kinsey stepped away from him. She turned a full circle, once again looking from one man to the next.
Finally, she turned to face Nelson and then took a step back, placing her between, but just in front of, him and Drake. It felt as if the world retreated, leaving them in a still and silent vacuum as they waited the interminable few seconds it took her to make her decision.
Finally she took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders and half-turned so she could see both him and Drake. “I want to stay here, with you, Master Drake, with you and Master Logan. I want to be your woman, your slave, but…”
Chapter Twelve
Kinsey could not believe she was still talking. Why couldn’t she just shut up after seeing the relief in Drake and Logan’s eyes? No, she had to keep going, had to give Nelson a chance.
“But?” Drake asked when she stopped midsentence, suddenly not exactly sure what she should do.
Looking to her left, she saw that Nelson had not moved, except to clench his fists. The only outward sign he gave that he was not happy with her decision. Except it wasn’t. His frown had deepened, his eyebrows angled downward and his eyes hard. The blank expression, Dom-mask he normally wore so easily was nonexistent.
Turning back to her right, she saw Drake and Logan’s expressions showed, not anger, but concern. For her. Not how her presence or lack thereof would affect them but only how her choice would change her future.
“Ace, come with me. I know I handled our parting wrong, but I’ve changed. Please, give me a chance to show you.” Nelson’s words were gruff, more an order than an enticement.
But Kinsey knew he was right. She at least owed him a chance to talk. “Do you have a room?”
Nelson nodded. “Bar girl rented me a room upstairs. Paid double to get it, too.”
Kinsey looked at Drake and Logan one last time. “See you later?”
She asked softly, silently pleading with them to understand.
Their cowboy hats barely dipped with their nods, but it was enough to give Kinsey the strength to turn and face her former Master. “All right, Master Nelson, I’m ready.”
Nelson gave a nod and, without a word wrapped his arm around her upper arm. He dragged her along behind her across the parking lot as if she were a wayward child and not a beautiful woman.
Looking over her shoulder, Kinsey wished she was telepathic so she could tell Drake and Logan that she loved them. All at once going with Nelson, even just to talk, felt very, very wrong.
* * * *
“We’re not leaving, are we?” Drake heard Logan ask softly as he watched their woman stumble on the steps. Nelson did not seem to notice as he continued moving toward the Tavern’s front door.
“Take the truck and go home. Take care of the horses,” he ordered softly. “Then get your ass back here in my truck. I’ll stay here and maybe call in the troops.”
“No, Master. The horses will be fine for a couple hours, and I’m not leaving without her,” Logan said, knowing he had just defied a direct order.
“I love you,” Drake said, closing the distance and pulling his man a long, hard hug and even longer, wetter kiss. “I love her, too, and if she’ll have us, I plan to make her a part of our family.”
Logan grinned. “I love you, too, Master. And I love her. Sounds like you have an excellent plan to me, Master. We can put her herb gardens on the section of land just to the west of the house if she wants.”
Drake nodded and, after releasing his boy, pulled out his phone. Two calls later and he slipped his phone back into his pocket. “Come on, let’s go have a drink,” he said before ambling across the parking lot and back into the Tavern.
If his sugar britches wanted a night with her former Dom, he would allow it, but because of her stilted reactions to the other man, he had a feeling she saw something big had changed in the man. The deep connection she now had with him and Logan had replaced whatever she might have once had with Nelson.
Now all they had to do was wait for her to come to her senses and come back to them.
* * * *
As soon as Nelson released her to close and lock the door, Kinsey backed away from the man. She watched anger build in the depths of his eyes when he turned to her. He had never allowed anger to dictate his actions before. This was not the Master she had pledged her life and love to so many months ago. He didn’t even look the same.
His black hair, normally kept military short and perfectly styled, was long, shaggy, and obviously had not been cut in months. Looking closer, she saw pink and red scars around the base of his neck, wrists, and backs of his hands. When he turned and began to stalk her around the room, fear danced along her nerves as she moved to keep half the room between them.
“What happened to you in Afghani
stan?” she asked, stepping around the table and eased closer to the hall door, hoping to distract him enough to figure a way out of this mess she had gotten herself into.
He blinked and the anger seemed to edge back as he reminisced. It was odd to see him calm and grow wistful in that moment after being so filled with anger just seconds before.
“It was a typical rescue flight from the interior to the base. Or it should have been, except some asshole in the mountains decided to ignore the big white cross on the red background and take us out. We were far enough away from everything that no one could get to use quickly. Somehow, I managed to survive the crash, barely. I woke up in a hut in a tiny village too deep in the mountains to be noticed by either side.”
Taking a deep breath, he looked at her, but she knew he was not seeing her, but was lost in a past only he could see. He continued his vivid, heart-wrenching tale of a slow, painful recovery, complicated by infection, fever, and additional illness. Finally, he detailed the journey away from the village, and out of the mountains to the military base. As he talked, Kinsey was shocked and appalled at how much he had survived.
She could tell that the experience had changed him in much the same way the past weeks with Drake and Logan had changed her. They were not the same people who had said good-bye at the airport in Kabal.
She remained silent until he finished his tale. Her stomach knotted fearfully when he blinked and returned to the present and the anger filled his eyes once more. “So, bitch, tell me what in hell were you thinking coming out to the middle of nowhere, and hooking up with those two yokels?”
He moved across the room in a flash, grabbing her arms. In the next second, the back of a heavy fist slammed into the side of her head, sending her senses spinning.
“I…I…I…” Kinsey tried to speak but had a hard time even thinking.
She gave up when Nelson began to rail at her about her actions and how much he was going to enjoy beating the memory of those other men out of her so he could forgive her and they start their new life together.
Problem was, Kinsey had never liked pain.
“Noooo,” Kinsey cried as he reached to the neckline of her T-shirt and, with surprising strength, ripped it down the front.
Nelson’s fist slammed then into her stomach, doubling her over in pain. As she fought to take a breath, Kinsey knew she had made the wrong choice. She should never have left Drake and Logan’s side. With a clarity she had never had before with anyone, she realized that what she and Nelson had would never have worked in the long term. She had needed the control he and the military had offered, but now that she was out on her own, she needed Drake and Logan.
By the time she was able to breathe again, he had dragged her into the bathroom. She began to fight again, earning several punches to her ribs, hearing at least one pop. Pain flowed through her entire body from her ribs. But he did not seem to care as he tied her wrists together too tight with strips of cloth from her shirt. Once he finished, he lifted her arms and hooked the knotted material over a hook screwed high in the wall over the bathtub. She screamed again as that pulling of her arms over her head pulled at the ribs that she was sure were broken.
She tried to talk to him, tried to reason with him, tried to explain she was not the person he had left at the airport, but he was not hearing her. He kept muttering to himself about beating the bad out of her so she would know her place and be a proper bitch. Then he picked up a leather belt and approached, his intentions clear.
When the belt struck and wrapped around her the first time, Kinsey began to scream, as long and as loud as she could. As she did, she prayed someone would hear her, and come investigate.
* * * *
When Finn walked in alone, followed by Brody, and Drew, Drake found he couldn’t relax. His friends had come when he called, but something was very wrong with their girl. He just knew it. But instead of racing upstairs and prove himself to be an overprotective son of a bitch, he looked at Finn. “Where’s Carter?”
“He stayed home with Kyra. Figured if your girl’s in trouble, she might need my skills as a paramedic versus Carter’s as a firefighter. We also don’t like leaving Kyra alone, especially a night,” Finn said. “Beer all around?”
“Water for us,” Drake said then nodded for Logan to help the other submissive man fetch the drinks.
“So what’s going on?” Brody, the cop, asked as he leaned forward so they could hear each other talk without hopefully letting the entire bar know their business.
“Kinsey’s former Dom showed up. Seems the military screwed up in reporting him dead. They’re upstairs, but something’s not right but I’m not sure exactly what.”
“So is she going back to him?” You three seemed like a perfect triad earlier,” Drew asked.
“God, I hope not. I’m hoping she’ll…what the hell was that?”
Brody stood and scanned the room. “Sounded like a scream to me,” he said, breaking off when it sounded again, the pitch even higher than before. “Yep, definitely a scream. And not from anyone down here.”
“Kinsey,” Logan said as he dropped two bottles of water on the table.
Without waiting for anyone else, he raced toward the stairs that led upstairs. The four other men followed just steps behind.
* * * *
The screams were louder once they reached the second floor. Logan followed them to the door at the far end of the hall from the room they rented for their poker and BDSM games.
Before he could kick the door in and rescue their girl, hands grabbed him and pulled him back. “Brody has to go first, boy,” Drake said, keeping hold of him, no matter how hard Logan struggled against him.
Once Logan was out of his way, Brody did not hesitate. By the time Logan calmed down enough to understand why the off-duty cop had to go first, Brody had kicked down the door and was entering the room, Drew a step behind him. Kinsey’s screams were louder, making Logan’s stomach knot in fear for her. Though he wanted to go in next, he knew Finn would be of more use.
Turning in Drake’s hold, he wrapped himself in his Master’s arms and laid his forehead on his shoulder. “Please, God, let her be all right,” he prayed softly as Drake ran a hand up and down his back to soothe him.
“Amen,” Drake finished the small prayer.
“Drake, Logan, I need you in here,” Finn called from inside the room just as Drew emerged and hurried away, looking pale. For the mystery-horror writer to react like that meant something inside was very, very bad.
Stepping into the bedroom, they found Brody kneeling in the middle of the Nelson’s back. Nelson’s hands were cuffed behind him and he was fighting the cuffs with all he had, making it look like Brody was riding a bull.
“Need help?” Drake asked even as Drew reentered the room with Finn’s large first aid kit. He carried it directly into the bathroom.
Hannah, the Tavern’s owner and bartender, arrived next. She stopped in the doorway. “Help is on its way. Ambulance and police.”
“Thanks Hannah,” Brody said between gritted teeth as he reached down and pressed against a spot on Nelson’s neck. A moment later, the man fully relaxed. “Sorry about the door. We’ll fix it for you, honey.”
Instead of watching the scene of independent bar owner and protective cop play out, Logan followed Drake to the bathroom door at the side of the room. He gasped and his stomach squeezed a little tighter as he looked into the room.
Kinsey’s wrists were tied together then hung from a hook like a side of beef. She hung from her wrists, but he couldn’t tell from where he stood whether she was conscious or not. But at least the screaming had stopped.
“Help me get her down,” Finn said, holding a large bandage to her back with both hands.
Logan moved on autopilot, shocked by the sight of his woman covered with bruises and cuts. How had this happened so quickly? She had not been up here with the man for more than ten minutes. Though he knew in his head that ten minutes could be a lifetime, he could not be
lieve that her previous Dom had done this much damage in so short a time.
Climbing into the tub, he moved to her left side. Finn stepped out, but kept his hands on her back as Drake moved to her right side. Logan saw she was awake but clearly freaked out of her mind.
“Okay, sweets, I need you to just relax and let us get you out of here, okay?” he crooned softly.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered as tears flowed down her cheeks.
Half of her face bruised and already swelling, her left eye was nearly swollen shut. A quick glance at the rest of her body, told him her left shoulder might be dislocated as well as well as bruises up and down her right chest area and whatever Finn was concealing under the bandage on her back.
With difficulty, Logan swallowed down the need to leave her and go into the bathroom and do some damage to the asshole who had hurt their woman.
“I am, too, sweets, and I bet Drake is, too. We should never have let you come up here alone with the guy. You belong to us. Now and forever,” Logan said. “Now I’m going to pick you up and take you out of here, but I’m afraid it may hurt.”
Kinsey looked at him through her undamaged eye. “I love you both. So much.”
Drake answered when Logan found his heart had moved to his throat, preventing him from doing more than nodding. “We love you, too, sugar britches. But from here on out we call the shots, and you will never, ever be allowed to be alone with some other man like this. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Master. I understand.”
Wrapping an arm around her below her waist, where she didn’t seem to be hurt, Logan nodded to Drake who used his pocketknife to cut away her bonds.
Ace Gone Wild Page 9
