by Jan Springer
“They were so involved in cooking breakfast for you, they didn’t even hear me enter the house.” C.J. shook her head in apparent disgust. “You better get yourself some heavy-duty guard dogs, Eve, because these two aren’t going to cut it as protectors for you.”
On their chairs, both Mad and Riley growled and fought their bonds.
“Kayne’s giving you five minutes to leave, or he’s coming in with his guns blasting. I’ll meet you up by the windmill. We’ll talk then.”
C.J. shook her head and rolled her eyes as if she was being very inconvenienced. Well, join the club. Her nipples and ass were killing her, and all three men would now be on the warpath regarding C.J.’s impromptu and totally not nice visit. Her friend pulled the brim of her cowboy hat lower over her forehead. Her midback-length, straight black hair whipped into the air behind her like crow’s wings as she swiftly turned and headed for the back door.
* * * *
“Mad, I really need some of that ointment you make,” she said as she hurriedly undid Mad’s gag.
“What the fuck is her problem? She threatened to blow off our balls if we didn’t do as she said,” Maddox shouted, his face red with rage.
“Mad, I don’t have time for this. Please, the ointment?”
He frowned and shook his head, not saying anything for a moment as he looked out the window and watched C.J. sprinting across the meadow. Then he returned his attention to her. “In my saddlebag. Small pouch on the outside. Bag’s on the floor in the hallway closet.”
“Thanks, you’re a dear.”
She headed out of the kitchen and back into the hallway, wincing as Maddox cursed and ordered her to untie him. Urgency to get to C.J. before Kayne changed his mind and got himself killed had her moving even faster. Thankfully Kayne had kept his word about staying outside. In a second, she had the jar of ointment and was smoothing on some of the slippery salve. The smell was familiar, and once again flashes of memories of the men smearing salve on tender parts of her body flared through her mind. She forced it aside. She’d deal with these newest memories later.
Relief came almost immediately to her nipples, so she just opted to grab a pair of leggings from the line she’d hung last night. Quickly she slipped into them and kept the blanket as her top. A moment later she was rushing past a furious Mad and Riley, who glared daggers at her. Thankfully not as intense as the way they had looked at C.J., which came as some comfort.
“Come on, Eve. Don’t leave us like this,” Mad shouted before she could close the door.
“Kayne will be in shortly,” she called back, trying to reassure them they wouldn’t be tied up for too long. Then she was sprinting across the meadow behind the cabin, heading toward the windmill. Thankfully Kayne wasn’t around to stop her, which made her tighten her grip on her rifle and run even faster, thinking that maybe he’d gone after C.J. after all.
Casting quick glances over her shoulder to check for any signs of Kayne, she breathed a sigh of relief when a couple of moments later she spied the side door burst open and three men stomp outside. Thankfully they stayed on the porch. She was too far away to see the expressions on their faces, but in their vivid stances, she knew they were pissed off.
Too bad. She was a big girl, and she knew how to take care of herself. Unlike the way you used to be. Totally helpless and reliant on men for protection.
Whoa, where had that thought come from?
“About time you got here,” C.J. snapped as she suddenly melted out from behind a nearby tree halfway to the windmill.
Eve had the rifle up and ready to shoot before she even realized it was her friend standing in front of her.
“You know how much I hate when you do that!” Eve shouted as anger rushed away and relief quickly took hold.
Before she knew what was happening she was enveloped into a warm embrace.
“God, I’ve missed you, Eve,” C.J. whispered against her ear and squeezed her tighter to the point that her sore nipples were really getting an owie workout. Her friend’s face was drenched with emotion, and that instantly dragged out Eve’s emotions as well.
Tears pricked at her eyes. “I missed you, too, C.J. What in the world are you doing here? I was sure I might never see you again.”
C.J. drew away and sniffed the air. She frowned. “What’s that funny smell? Why in the world are you wearing a blanket? Have you caught a cold?”
“I’m fine. Long story. What about—”
“Everything is fine. Don’t worry. I came here because I wanted to brief you on Wolfe.”
Alarm snapped through Eve. “You didn’t go back to that place. Tell me you didn’t.”
There were bad memories there for both of them, but more for C.J.
She nodded and winced. “I did.”
“I told you I would make sure we knew the layout before we went in. They are professional robbers, C.J. They scout out every hit for weeks before they go in.”
“I know. I know. But you know how I get.” She shrugged her shoulders and threw Eve a frown which totally disintegrated her anger. She could never stay mad at C.J. for longer than a few seconds.
“Yeah, I know you. Worry, worry, worry. Plan ahead on everything.”
C.J. grinned. She was already back to her cheerful yet cautious self again. “Let’s get caught up on personal stuff, then I’ll give you the lowdown.”
Eve nodded and grabbed C.J.’s hand, and they quickly headed toward the windmill on the hill.
* * * *
“Why the fuck did you let her go, Kayne?” Riley growled as frustration unlike anything he’d ever experienced before sliced into him. Maddox, Kayne, and himself stood on the side veranda watching the two women holding hands like two school chums as they headed toward that windmill.
“Like I had a choice?” Kayne snapped back at him. He was obviously pissed off as much as Riley, and that fact didn’t sit well with him. If Kayne was pissed, then the situation with Eve had gone totally out of his control.
“She’s the woman, isn’t she? The one Eve went off with. She looks different. More healthy. Filled out,” he commented.
“As opposed to her being riddled with black-and-blue bruises, nine months pregnant, and just a tad less angry this time around than when she stuck a gun in our faces back then?” Maddox grumbled in a sarcastic tone. He continued, his voice turning lower, softer.
“That woman deserves to get her ass spanked. That sure as hell would snap her out of some of that anger that she carries around like a fucking badge.”
“Got the hots for her, do you, Mad?” Riley teased.
Mad glared at him. “Go fuck yourself, Riley.”
Riley chuckled inwardly. “Why should I fuck myself when there are two gorgeous women within fucking distance?” Riley replied, trying hard not to let himself get wrapped up in Mad’s anger or his own frustration, for that matter. They didn’t know this chick. The way she’d come busting into the cabin, it had felt like a SWAT team. He’d tried to grab his gun, and she’d chopped it right out of his hand. Fuck, the bitch was strong. Maddox hadn’t fared any better. Mad had tried to smack her with a couple of pots, but that had only pissed her off. She’d put him in a tight neck grip and had him tied to the chair before either of them could say boo.
Mad rolled his eyes, and Riley relaxed a bit as he saw the tips of Mad’s mouth tilt upward a bit. Kayne, on the other hand, still looked pissed.
He focused his thoughts back to this chick again. She was fast with a gun, just the same as Eve. She was pretty good with defensive and offensive moves, too. If he were to guess, he’d say she was the one who taught Eve how to shoot.
“Maybe I should have invited her for breakfast? Maybe she wouldn’t have been such a bitch?” Riley said softly, trying to break the tension between the three of them.
“Speaking of which, I’m starved. Maybe we should go in and eat and wait for her to come back?” Mad replied, picking up the thread that Riley had tossed.
But none of them moved. Their ga
zes were fixed to the two women who were starting to climb the faraway hill.
Okay, so maybe they weren’t hungry after all? If these two wanted to play sentry over Eve, then by all means, he would do the same. Besides, he felt a whole lot better knowing that the two women had three sets of eyes watching them, instead of two.
* * * *
“Oh my goodness! Do they hurt as bad as they look?” C.J. whispered as she gazed upon Eve’s breasts. The nipples were so engorged and red that she couldn’t help but feel sorry for the poor girl. If Eve didn’t have the biggest satisfied smile on her face right now, C.J. would have been halfway down to that cabin, her gun ready to shoot those three bastards the moment she saw them. Obviously, Eve was enjoying her time with the Durango Gang.
“I think I have a pain fetish.” Eve giggled and closed the blanket. “It felt really good while it was happening, but afterwards…it got so sore. My behind is a bit more tolerable, but the butt plug they put into me is making me cream up a storm.”
C.J. hid a smile as she watched Eve’s cheeks redden. She figured this was not the time to kid her about such intimate things.
“Well, anyways, now I know where that smell is coming from. You’d better wear it more often in order to keep them away from you.”
The look of horror that flashed across Eve’s face had C.J. realizing that Eve truly was serious about her three men.
“I’m kidding. It doesn’t smell bad at all.” She chuckled.
Relief made her friend’s shoulders slump. “Thank goodness. Anyways, C., if you ever need some, just come by and ask Maddox.”
“Maddox? Which one is he?” She wanted to ask if he was the handsome one, but heck, all three were equally handsome. But as C.J. had discovered, good looks on men were deceiving.
“The one wearing the fur pants.”
“The cook?”
Eve smiled. “That’s the one.”
“And all three of them did you on the couch?” C.J. couldn’t help her curiosity, but it all sounded so fantastic, having three men making exquisite love to her at the same time. It was moments like these, moments when she saw Eve’s smile so bright and her eyes twinkling with such happiness, that C.J. wished she hadn’t sworn herself off men. But all she had to do was think about Wolfe, and she got totally turned off to men yet again. Still, the erotic way Eve described how they made love to her, all three of them taking her, one after the other, wrenching scorching orgasms out of her, made her pause.
“And Kayne took me down by the river. Twice. Once up against the tree with my hands bound,” Eve gushed. “That’s how my breasts got so red. The other time, he turned me around. That’s how my ass is probably just as red.”
C.J. shivered. Now that scared her. Being bound again would not be a good thing for C.J. For her, being bound only held bad memories. But she was glad for Eve that C.J.’s avoidance of men hadn’t turned her friend off toward them.
“Okay, I can see I’ve lost you in conversation.” Eve shook her head and inhaled deeply. “I totally understand. I know how guys turn you off. Tell me about what you’ve learned about Wolfe.”
C.J. couldn’t help but wince inwardly at the man’s name being said out loud, let alone coming from sweet Eve’s lips.
“I wish I could have saved you a trip to his hideout. Unfortunately he’s still using it,” C.J. confessed. She’d wanted to lie to Eve and tell her Wolfe didn’t use that cave where Eve had been brought after she’d been kidnapped. She didn’t want Eve going back there. It held bad memories. But C.J. also knew if Wolfe had spent the gold, he wouldn’t be using that cave anymore. He’d be living high off the hog somewhere. He’d be hiring people to farm for him, serve him, and who knew what else. Instead, he appeared to be keeping a low profile.
She knew the way Wolfe thought. Aside from being a sadist, he was greedy. He would be waiting until the gold increased in value. And it would, too. Within years it would probably be the only valid currency in the world. Then he would be able to do anything he wanted to, including hiring the top guns to hunt down C.J. and Eve. He had been hunting them off and on since they’d escaped. He’d put his hounds after them, but C.J. and Eve had always managed to stay two steps ahead of him. She knew one of these days their luck would run out. He wanted his son back, despite C.J. knowing it could have belonged to any number of the men she’d been forced to sleep with. Getting her hands on some of that gold would help her to hide herself and her son from Wolfe.
Eve wanted some of that gold, too. Protection money, she called it. C.J. had been prepared to put her life on the line to go in there alone and get that gold for her. But when Eve started having flashbacks about her old life, C.J. realized it was best for Eve to follow those memories, and she’d put her plans for checking on that gold on the back burner.
That is, until she’d decided she would go back in and see if that gold really was still there.
“The gold is still in the cave,” C.J. acknowledged.
She’d expected Eve to be grateful. Maybe even deliriously happy to hear the news. She wasn’t.
Eve glared angrily at her.
“You’re an idiot,” she snapped.
C.J.’s tummy hollowed out in disappointment.
This time her friend’s cheeks fused red with anger instead of embarrassment. “I told you to stay totally out of it. For your son’s sake, in case—”
“Listen to me. If I stayed out of it and stayed back at the cabin, not knowing what you or your men were walking into when I know the layout and the guards’ routines, then you could call me an idiot, okay?”
Eve sighed heavily. Good. Perhaps she’d understood her point that they needed her. Besides, she hadn’t felt comfortable staying at the cabin knowing that Eve might drop by unexpectedly and bring her entourage of hunky men with her. She just couldn’t stand to be around men, and worse, she couldn’t stand the idea that Eve would trust one, let alone three, to show them where their cabin was located. She’d been so damned uneasy, she’d decided to leave and check out that damned cave.
Once safely inside, she’d been tempted to grab some of those gold bars and get the hell out. But she also knew Wolfe admired those bars every day. If even one went missing, he’d be on alert.
“You could have been killed, C.J., or worse, caught. He could have tortured you into telling him everything. And you know you would have talked. You’ve told me what he does. The methods he uses…”
Oh bummer. Eve was acting like a mother hen again, despite C.J. being five years her senior. She couldn’t help but smile and feel warm and happy inside at her friend’s concern for her safety. She ripped her gaze away from her pissed-off friend to survey the windmill twirling like a bitch right there in front of them. Cables ran from the windmill down along the rocks and toward the cabin. If it was in working order, Eve would have electricity in the cabin. She would ask, but truthfully, she didn’t want to know. She’d gotten used to life without the conveniences, and preferred not to know if a hot bathtub might be available down there for her.
She found herself looking longingly at the lush green grass growing up along the rocks. Her horse was back on the other side of the hill, chomping on some scraggly yellow stuff. She hadn’t seen grass this green, vivacious color or so healthy since before the freaking Catastrophe. It seemed as if the Catastrophe had overlooked this jewel of a place. She just wished it had overlooked her own family as well. Pain speared into her heart at thinking about them, and she twisted her thoughts back to Eve, who was snapping her fingers in front of C.J.’s face.
“Once again, I’ve lost your attention,” Eve complained. “You don’t need to worry. They won’t come up here. I asked Kayne not to follow.”
C.J. switched her gaze down to the cabin as alarm whipped through her like a storm. For a few moments she’d forgotten about them. For a few moments she’d been totally relaxed in Eve’s company. She noticed her three men were still standing there on the porch.
“You’ve got them trained like dogs.”
>
Eve frowned, obviously not liking her teasing.
“That is not nice. They are men, not dogs. And I trust them with my life. With our lives.”
“Good for you,” she bit out. She couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her voice as she suddenly wished she could trust someone again. And here Eve trusted three men. Not just one.
“Okay, so you’re pissed off at me.” Eve chuckled. “Maybe I should just flash you my boobs again to get your attention back to what we were discussing earlier?”
C.J. rolled her eyes, ripped her gaze from those three men, and focused back on Eve.
“I came here to tell you about Wolfe and the gold. Not look at your breasts.”
Eve grinned. “Got your attention and I didn’t even flash you. So, you told me about the gold. I still don’t know about the guards’ routines or about Wolfe.”
“And you won’t, either.”
Eve visibly stiffened. “Why not?”
“Because, I’ll tell you when we get closer to the hideout.”
Her friend’s eyes sparkled with hope. “You’re coming with us?”
“I don’t travel with men. I’ll meet up with you when you get close to the hideout.”
“Oh come on. Stay here with us. It’s warm inside the cabin. They won’t hurt you. I promise.”
C.J. stepped away from the tree she’d been leaning against and forced herself to throw Eve a reassuring smile.
“I like the cold. Now go back down to them. I’ll meet up with you again.”
“Just make sure it’s not the same kind of announcement like this time around, okay? They’re pretty ticked at you. I think they think you’re crazy.”
C.J. laughed and reached for her rifle where she’d propped it against the trunk of a nearby pine tree. “Good. Let them think it. Then they’ll be nice and scared of me the next time I show up, and we won’t have a repeat performance of today’s scene.”
