by Marla Monroe
He winced and sighed. “Sorry. It’s a habit. I tend to say that to women. Sort of like people use the word honey all the time. If it bothers you, I’ll try to remember not to use it.”
“No, it’s okay. I just couldn’t figure it out since we didn’t really know each other,” she said.
“Get inside before someone sees us,” Wade barked. “I’d rather no one knew we were out here if possible.”
They both walked inside the house and stopped when they reached the door to the hall. It was dark and all of the curtains and blinds were closed. Wade snapped on one of the flashlights they’d found earlier at the store and led them into the kitchen where an old coal oil lamp sat on the table, casting eerie shadows dancing on the walls. He switched off the flashlight and set it on the table.
“I brought in a bag that has food in it, but I figure we can look to see if there’s anything here we can eat to save this for later.” Wade started opening cabinet doors.
Lyssa opened a door to peer inside. It was so dark she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face. She grabbed the flashlight from off the table and shined it into the small space.
“I found where they keep the canned goods,” she told the men.
“Good. Let’s move it to the table so we can sort through what’s usable and what needs throwing away,” Wade told them.
They gathered everything possibly eatable and checked the dates and tops to be sure they weren’t ruined. Once they’d sorted through them and had picked out something to eat that night they cleared the table and opened their cans to eat.
“What did you choose?” Stanton asked her.
“Peaches. They won’t last as long as the other cans. Fruit never does,” she said.
“Wade? What about you?”
Wade looked up and smiled, “Pork and beans. I think I got gypped though. I haven’t found any pork yet.”
She laughed and Stanton grinned. They finished eating then cleaned up after themselves. It was full dark outside now, and Lyssa noticed how quiet it was around them for the first time. Back at Barter Town it was never completely quiet. At first it had driven her crazy especially at night. Now, free for the first time in seven years, out in the open, Lyssa didn’t think she could stand it. She slowly backed away from the windows, wrapping her arms around herself. Why was it so quiet? Her back hit the wall behind her, and she jerked away with a muffled yelp.
“What’s wrong?” Wade jumped up from the table while Stanton walked quickly to her from the living room.
“Lyssa? What’s going on?” Stanton slowly approached her.
“It’s so quiet,” she whispered. “Why is it so quiet?”
“Fuck.” Wade eased toward her as well.
“What?” Stanton asked looking from her to Wade.
“She’s freaking out. It’s like undercover agents who’ve been under too long and can’t handle the outside world anymore or inmates who are released after years inside. They can’t be reintegrated into the outside. They usually commit some crime just to be returned to what they know and are used to.”
“You’re saying she’s afraid of being free?” Stanton asked, staring at Wade.
Lyssa felt tears building in her eyes. What was she going to do if she couldn’t handle this? Why hadn’t it bothered her earlier? What was different now? It was as if all of her fears from the first day she’d been taken from her friends from the hospital through their miraculous escape had finally caught up with her.
“She’s been operating on adrenaline all day and with everything that’s been going on, she didn’t notice the difference. Now it’s quiet outside and she’s not in her cage where she was safe for seven long years. Out in the open, without those bars around her, she’s feeling exposed,” Wade told him.
Exposed. He was exactly right. When she’d been locked up behind those bars, she’d been safe. No one could get to her to hurt her or use her. She’d treated enough of the sex slaves over the years to know what could have happened and still could if she didn’t have those bars to protect her.
And now I don’t. I’m free, but for how long?
“What can we do to help her?” Stanton asked.
Wade drew in a deep breath then let it out before speaking.
“We restrain her.”
* * * *
Stanton glared at him. There was no way he would let the other man tie her up. That was not the way to help her. What was Wade thinking?
“Hell no. You’re not. What is wrong with you?” Stanton demanded.
“She’s freaking out, Stanton. She needs to feel safe again.”
“I’m not letting you tie her down. No way in hell,” he told Wade.
“I’m not going to tie her up, Stanton. What the fuck?” Wade stuck his hands in his pockets and glared back at him.
“Then what are you planning to do?” he asked the man.
“It’s time for bed anyway. We’ll put her between us and calm her down,” he said.
Stanton wasn’t sure how to answer that. Despite being attracted to Lyssa, he didn’t want to take advantage of her fear by sleeping in the same bed with her so that she looked at him with dread or fear.
“Stanton. Either help me or get out of the way. She’s going to get worse if we don’t do something, and do it now.”
He watched as Wade slowly approached Lyssa, talking softly to her as he did. Stanton watched the other man as he soothed her and wrapped his arms around her. Stanton saw the difference in Lyssa right away. Her eyes that had been wide and wild looking softened and she stopped shaking.
“I’ll fix the bed in the back bedroom. Give me a few minutes,” he told Wade before turning to walk down the hall.
It took him about ten minutes to change the sheets on the bed and get it ready for them. When he had the pillows back in place, he started down the hall to get them but Wade was already on his way, carrying Lyssa in his arms. She was curled up against his chest with her arms around the man’s neck. For some reason it didn’t bother him that Wade had the woman he already had feelings for. What exactly those feelings were, he wasn’t sure.
Wade followed him back into the bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed with her in his lap. He looked up at Stanton and seemed to be trying to tell him something. He wasn’t sure what it was until the other man slowly unbuttoned Lyssa’s blouse. Stanton froze as he watched each button pop free as Wade slipped them free of the holes.
Stanton took one step then another until he was standing directly in front of Wade and Lyssa. The other man lifted her up so that she was mostly sitting across his lap now. Stanton reached down and slowly helped him remove her blouse.
“How are you doing, Lyssa?” Waded asked softly.
“I–I’m scared. Why am I so scared?” she asked.
“Things are too different for you right now. It will be okay, honey. Just let us take care of you right now,” Wade told her.
They finished undressing her then Wade found a T-shirt in one of the drawers that pretty much swallowed her whole. He handed it to Stanton then began removing his own shirt. Stanton turned and eased Lyssa into the shirt then helped her into the bed and covered her with the sheets.
“Get undressed and help me cuddle her. It’s like swaddling a baby. It helps her feel safe in an unfamiliar situation,” Wade said.
Stanton unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it off before removing his slacks. He left his boxers on since Wade had left his briefs on. He slid into the bed on one side of Lyssa while Wade turned down the wick on the lamp. He felt the bed move as the other man climbed into the bed on the other side. Stanton wasn’t sure what to do. It felt too awkward being in the bed with Lyssa without clothes on. The underwear didn’t count as far as he was concerned.
“Move over next to her and help me hold her so she’ll sleep,” Wade said. “It’s what she needs.”
Stanton hesitated but finally moved closer to her until their bodies touched. Her body heat slowly seeped into him, the fragrance of her body teasing hi
s nose. He wanted to bury his face against her neck, but didn’t dare. Instead he rested one arm over her waist and felt her sigh. It sounded contented to him. Evidently Wade knew what he was talking about. When she turned her back to him, Stanton knew a moment of disappointment until she backed up to him so that her body touched his from her shoulders to her toes. His hand rested against her abdomen as he rested his chin on the top of her head.
He expected to see Wade looking at him in the dim light from the nearly full moon that shown into the bedroom through a slight slit in the drapes. But instead, it was the back of the man’s head he saw. It dawned on him then that they were spooning, something he’d done with his wife nearly every night. He waited for the pain to hit him with the memory, but it didn’t this time.
“How’s she doing, Stanton?” Wade’s voice startled him.
He watched her for a few seconds before answering in a low voice.
“She’s resting, I think. Her breathing is regular, and she seems to be relaxed.”
“Good. Get some rest, Stanton. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”
Stanton had a feeling that Wade was right. In fact, he felt like they had a lot of long days ahead of them. Without any idea of where they would eventually end up, Stanton had a difficult time seeing a future for the three of them. It wasn’t something he really wanted to go to sleep on. But that’s exactly what happened.
Chapter Five
It was hard to look them in the eyes as they ate their breakfast the next morning. She was so embarrassed that she’d lost control like that. That wasn’t her. She was always in control. Lyssa ate her meal of pineapple and beans without saying anything. The men talked back and forth about their plans as if nothing had happened.
“What do you think, Lyssa?” Wade asked her.
She shrugged her shoulders. “I didn’t hear what you said.”
“We think we need to go west for another five or six hours before we change directions and head north,” Stanton told her.
“I suppose. From everything I’ve heard, there’s nothing left of California and parts of Nevada are so messed up that you can’t drive there.” She finished her beans before taking the last bite of the canned pineapple.
“I wonder if we’ll have trouble going north once we get that far west?” Stanton asked.
“If we do, we’ll just find a route back toward the east then try north again after fifty miles or so,” Wade said.
Lyssa stood up and gathered the empty cans to throw away. When she turned around to return to the table, Wade was standing directly behind her and stopped her, lightly clasping her upper arms with his hands.
“What’s wrong, Lyssa? You’re too quiet and won’t look us in the face this morning.”
She bit her lower lip and dropped her eyes once again. Why did he have to bring it up? Why couldn’t he have continued to ignore what had happened and not brought it up?
Because I’m acting like something happened, that’s why. I should have done the same and pretended that everything was fine, normal.
Only there was nothing normal about the world they lived in now or what she’d been through for the last seven years. There was nothing normal about steeling food and breaking into stores. There was nothing normal about lusting after two men. She nearly groaned out loud. This couldn’t be happening to her. Hadn’t she been through enough?
“Lyssa?” Wade promoted.
She drew in a breath and let it out with a sigh. “I don’t understand what’s happening to me. I don’t break down like I did last night. I’m always in control. I have to be in my line of work.”
“Look at me, honey.” She slowly lifted her head and looked in his eyes. “It’s not your fault. It will take some time for you to acclimate to being out in the open. That cage represented safety to you since you knew they couldn’t rape you and wouldn’t kill you when you were there. I know they knocked you around some, but it was your refuge and now that you’re out, it feels like you’re no longer safe. Hold on, Lyssa. It will get better.” Wade rubbed up and down her arms in a soothing motion.
“You’re going to think I’m weak,” she said. “I’m really not weak. I’m the one who usually handles the emergencies when they come in and deals with the violent drug addicts. Last night wasn’t me.”
She realized there were tears streaming down her face, embarrassing her even more. Before she realized what he was going to do, Wade had pulled her into his arms. Less than a second later, she heard the sound of a chair scrapping on the tile floor and another set of hands rubbed her back. Having both men comforting her, surrounding her made everything seem better, like she could deal with it.
The longer they held her, the more aware of her body’s reaction to them she became. Her nipples had grown hard, poking out so that every time Wade breathed they rubbed lightly against the material of his shirt through hers. It sent tingles through her body that ended up settling in her pussy, one that had grown moist with her juices.
“Stop worrying over it, Lyssa. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.” Stanton’s gruff voice rasped down her spine, awakening even more nerves she could have done without.
Her body was already entirely too aware of the two men for her comfort. After waking up with both of them in the bed with her, she was so in tune with them that she always knew when they were close to her.
“We need to leave soon, guys,” she finally said, slipping from between them.
“Let’s go ahead and load everything up,” Wade said with a sigh. “Lyssa, stay in the house until we’re ready to go.”
She nodded without looking back at them. She grabbed the rest of the utensils off the table and took them to the sink to clean up while the men carried a box each out the back door. Lyssa finished cleaning up their mess and packed up some of the dishes and silverware. They would need it wherever they stopped to eat the next time. They’d packed the manual can opener with the canned food, but she grabbed a few knives, some cooking utensils, and the cast iron skillet and Dutch oven. She knew if they ended up cooking over a fire the cast iron would be the best kind of pan to use.
The men walked back in for another load, talking about the pros and cons of Wyoming versus Montana.
“I still say that we’re better off heading to Montana. There are fewer people up there with less chance of trouble,” Wade was saying.
“Less people mean fewer people to work with us to stay safe,” Stanton argued.
“There are people living there. We’ll find some and settle down there,” Wade said.
They grabbed more boxes and walked out once again. Lyssa hoped they didn’t come to blows over their argument. She was for whatever meant safety. If that meant moving to Alaska, she’d go.
A loud noise startled her. She frowned, then heard it again and recognized what it was—gun shots.
* * * *
“What the…” Wade jerked around and tackled Stanton to the ground behind the carport.
“What was that for?” Stanton demanded, trying to get back up.
“Stay the hell down! Someone is shooting at us.”
“Lyssa! We’ve got to get back to her,” Stanton asserted.
“I know, but we can’t go anywhere until we figure out where they are shooting from.” He slipped back into the garage and grabbed the rifle out of the truck then returned to where Stanton waited on him.
Wade crawled farther down the side of the carport behind the brick half wall. He heard Stanton following him. He looked back over his shoulder.
“Stay down.” He popped his head up then ducked once again. A bullet hit the brick, spraying shards of it all over them.
He moved farther down and once again popped up then back down. Again a bullet hit the brick, punching a hole through it that just missed Wade’s head. He turned around and motioned for Wade to move back the way they’d come. Once they were halfway there, he peered over the wall before rolling back a few feet, watching the brick where he’d been explode. He figured from the w
ay the bullets where hitting that the shooter was on the ground near the front of the house, probably behind the clump of bushes that had lined the drive halfway up.
“Stanton, he’s probably behind that grouping of bushes that were halfway down the drive. They scratched the side of the truck when we drove up.”
“How does that helps us?” Stanton asked, worry evident by how strained his voice sounded and the lines at the corners of his eyes.
“He won’t be able to shoot at us once we get up against the side of the house. We’ll need to circle around the far end of the carport then a quick run to the wall. Once we get there, you take care of Lyssa while I take care of the asshole,” he said.
“How are you going to do that?” Stanton asked.
“You just take care of Lyssa. We don’t know if there is more than one. We also don’t know who they are and how they found us,” he said.
“Okay. Let’s go. We’re wasting time,” Stanton said.
Wade nodded and led the way as they inched their way along the brick barrier. When they reached the end, Wade held up his hand and listened. He couldn’t hear anything above the sound of the wind in the trees. He whispered to Stanton to hold off following him to the count of five then run.
He turned and calmed his breathing then ran like the hounds of hell were after him. Two shots rang out, but missed him by quite a bit. He slammed against the side of the house hard enough to make him grunt. It took him a few seconds to catch his breath before he could ease around the side of the house, aware that they had no idea how many men there were out there. A shrill scream pierced the air, sending another jolt of adrenaline into his blood.
Lyssa! Focus, Wade. Stanton will take care of her.
About the time he was around the corner her heard a shot ring out and then the grunt of Stanton hitting the side of the house like he had. Assured that he was safe, Wade slid down the outside wall to the corner that joined the side yard to the front. Worry over Lyssa made him sloppy and he didn’t duck down quick enough. A shot rang out and something burned along his upper arm.
