Sidney’s Triple Shot [Apache Crossing] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Lori King

  Sidney took a deep breath. “Actually, I was thinking maybe I needed a change. I saw a picture recently in a magazine. The woman had her hair cut in a short bob that framed her face. It ended right at her jaw, but the back was just a little shorter. What do you think?”

  Marie’s eyes lit up. “Oh, I love experimenting! As beautiful as your hair is, I hate to cut much off, but you would look fantastic with short hair.”

  Staring at her own image in the mirror, Sidney took a deep breath before smiling back at Marie. “Let’s do it. I need a change.”

  With that, Marie led her to the washing station. As she washed Sidney’s hair, they chatted away. Within minutes Sidney found herself opening up to Marie like she had never done with anyone before.

  “You’re telling me that he beat you so badly you lost your baby?” Marie said, freezing in the motion of cutting Sidney’s hair. Their eyes met, and Sidney was stunned to see tears on Marie’s cheeks.

  “Yeah, he did. He didn’t want kids, and to be honest I’m not sure how I got pregnant. I was on birth control, and I took it religiously until I left Greenville. I wanted to believe it was a miracle baby, but apparently it just wasn’t meant to be. God just made a mistake when he let me get pregnant in the first place.” Sidney’s breath caught in her throat, and she choked slightly as she fought to hold her emotions together.

  Marie spun the chair around and took both of Sidney’s hands in hers. “Oh no, dear. Don’t you ever think of your baby as a mistake.” Sidney’s mouth dropped open in shock. “No child is a mistake. Look, I want you to forget about that monster that held you captive for the last year, and open yourself up to the possibility that you could be happy here.”

  “I wasn’t—”

  “Yes, you were. You were thinking about leaving, because you’re scared that that abuser is going to come looking for you. Well, let me tell you something about Apache Crossing. We protect our family, even the extended ones. You became family the minute you took on the Dawson brothers and fell in love with them. If I know those boys, they are already holding meetings with the rest of the men in town discussing how to protect you and how to get revenge on your asshole ex.”

  “I don’t want them to get hurt,” Sidney said softly. Tears were falling from her cheeks and dripping onto the vinyl apron over her chest. Her heart was racing, and her mind couldn’t keep up.

  “The only way they would get hurt now is if you left them,” Marie responded, and Sidney’s stomach flip-flopped.

  “I don’t want to,” she whispered.

  “Good. We need more women around here. All of these men just have way too much testosterone. It’s like their brains have been poisoned. Give them a beer and a handful of peanuts, and they revert back to cavemen,” Marie said with a wink as she spun the chair back to face the mirror and went back to work on Sidney’s hair.

  “Have you lived here all your life?” Sidney asked, trying to get her emotions under control.

  “Yes, my parents owned The Yellow Rose ranch just east of town. Now my nephews run it, Nathan and Jaxon Blake. I think they were the only two that didn’t make it to the party on Saturday. Like I told you before, I’m married to Ridge and Zane. They own the hardware store next door.”

  Sidney’s eyebrow lifted. “You’re really married to two men?”

  Marie winked at her and smiled. “Yep, Ridge and Zane came to town after they lost everything they owned in a fire back in Austin. They decided that it was a sign from God that they were on the wrong path in life and needed to start fresh. They bought the empty space next door, and before I knew it they had opened a hardware store and swept me off of my feet. We’ve been together for more than thirty years now.”

  “No way!” Sidney gasped. “You don’t look old enough—”

  “Aren’t you a doll! I’m going on fifty-two this winter. I have had three babies that are all grown and moved on,” Marie said wistfully. “My oldest son, Camden, is married to a sweet woman and has a two-year-old daughter. They all live in California. My second son, Logan, is in the Air Force. He’s overseas right now, and I miss him like crazy. And then there is my baby girl, Jessica. She just turned twenty-four, and she’s up in Kansas going to college to learn web design and marketing. She comes back home more often than the other two to visit.”

  “Wow, you must have had your kids young,” Sidney said, feeling a sharp pang of envy. Marie seemed to have had a gloriously rich life, and she had a family to show for it. Sidney had always wanted babies of her own, but the one that God gave her, Robert stole away. It was clear proof that life was unfair, and it sucked.

  “I was twenty-two when I had Cam. I was way too young, but I’m so glad I had them early. I get to enjoy being a nana to my sweet grandbaby, Lexi.” Marie set the scissors down and fluffed Sidney’s hair. “There you are, dear. You look even more gorgeous if that’s possible.”

  Sidney stared at the woman in the mirror dumbly. Instead of gray shadows under her eyes, she only saw cheeks that were softly pink and slightly rounder after regular meals. She could see her own brown eyes sparkling with joy, love, and longing. Her blonde hair was cut just below her jawline, and it framed her face perfectly. She was a new woman, and with that came a sense of control that she hadn’t had for a long time.

  Turning back to Marie, she smiled. “Thank you so much, Marie. I definitely needed an hour of being a woman.”

  “My pleasure, Sidney. In fact, we should make it a weekly date. We’ll just wash and style your hair or give you a mani-pedi on the weeks that you don’t need a trim.”

  “That sounds great! Now, I need to call Xavier. He made me promise to call him when I finished so that they could pick me up,” Sidney said, reaching for the cell phone that Tyce had gotten for her.

  “Oh, don’t bother him. The bar is only a few blocks away, and I can walk with you if you would like,” Marie said, taking her apron off and setting the neatly folded fabric on the countertop.

  Sidney waited while Marie locked the door behind them and then while she popped into the hardware store to let Zane know what they were doing. When they were finally on their way, Sidney turned to her and asked, “So, tell me, why is Apache Crossing the way that it is?”

  “You mean, why are we so tolerant of alternative lifestyles?” Marie asked with a raised brow.

  Sidney flushed and nodded. “I’ve just never known so many people to feel so confident in their choices.”

  “We are a unique bunch,” Marie said, laughing. “I think it all goes back a few generations. Apache Crossing was originally a trading post back in the early eighteen hundreds. It grew up into a town when the oil boom hit. I think the story I remember is that the first mayor of Apache Crossing was a homosexual man back in the times when a gay man was likely to get lynched if someone caught on. Because the town accepted him so easily, others came to live here. My grandparents were one of the first ménage relationships around here. My grandma met Pops and Gramps on the train out of St. Louis. They were best friends planning on coming down to Texas to stake a claim. They convinced her that it made more sense for her to have two men looking out for her than just one. Her little sister followed and ended up marrying the local banker and his brother. There have been dozens more, and if you look around, you’ll see a lot of variety in relationships here.”

  “That’s amazing. I’ve never felt like I could be myself anywhere, but here…well…Apache Crossing just seems to welcome a girl,” Sidney said with a giggle, and Marie nodded.

  “We welcome anyone who isn’t judgmental or nasty. We once had a fellow come through that thought he was going to open a big-time grocery store, but when he started making snide comments about our lesbian mayor and our fuck-buddy town council, well, let’s just say his business ran dry,” Marie said with a wink. “Here we are, safe and sound.”

  Sidney looked up to realize that they had reached the bar already. She could hear voices inside as she pulled the door open. “Why don’t you come inside and have a coffee with me. W
e won’t open the bar for another half an hour, so I have time.”

  “I’d love to,” Marie said as her face broke into a wide grin.

  The two women entered the bar to find at least a dozen men sitting in what should have been an empty dining room. Sidney’s eyes narrowed in on her three men, who were standing at what appeared to be the front of the meeting, and she frowned. Xavier was speaking and hadn’t noticed her yet as she moved forward into the room. Everyone held some sort of paper in their hands, and when she finally reached the back of the group so that she could see what it was over someone’s shoulder, she gasped, and her hand went to her mouth.

  “No! What…how…I…”

  Her eyes flew up to meet Xavier’s, and she could see the shock and shame in his frown. Anger shot through her, and then embarrassment. The papers everyone was holding were the pictures of her that the hospital had taken after Robert beat her up.

  “Sid—” Tyce started to say as he moved toward her.

  She backed up, running into Colton Rickert, the guitarist from Tyce’s band. His hands went up to her waist to steady her, and icy-cold fear went through her at his touch.

  “Let go of me!” she shrieked as she stumbled away from him. Her eyes darted around her, taking in Lane Thompson and Gage Laramie seated at the far table. Next to them sat Austin, Paxton, and Deputy Ruiz. The other half a dozen faces were familiar, but she didn’t know all of their names, and at the moment, everyone in the room had turned to stare at her. Some looked at her with embarrassment while others stared at her with pity. She hated pity. “Xavier, what the hell is going on? Why do you all have pictures of me?”

  Xavier’s eyes closed, and she could see the strain in his jaw as he took a deep breath. “I didn’t mean for you to find out like this. I wanted to protect you.” He looked like he wanted to defend his actions more, but he thought better of it, and answered her question. “We are holding a meeting, because I wanted everyone to know what he did so that they would help us watch out for you. They needed to know how dangerous he is.”

  “How did you get my pictures?” she said, and she could hear the tremor of hurt in her voice.

  “Sidney, you have to understand that we are only trying to protect you,” Xavier said without answering her question.

  “These men are all here because they want to help, because they care about you,” Tyce said, drawing her angry gaze his way.

  “So you decided to share my biggest shame with the entire town, without talking to me first. How could you do this to me? Why would you do this to me?” she said. Her voice was taking on an edge of panic. The pity in the room was starting to suffocate her.

  “You have nothing to be ashamed of, honey. Robert Wicks is the only one who has any reason to be ashamed. He’s the one that did this to you, and he’s the one that set your car on fire!” Noah said loudly, and she felt the earth fall out from under her feet. Her stomach twisted as she processed his words.

  “What?”

  “Shit. Thanks, Noah. Sid, they confirmed that it was Robert that set the fire. They found his DNA on the burnt canister that was in your car. He used gasoline to light it up, but he couldn’t destroy all of the evidence. Robert is the one that blew up your car. He’s here in Apache Crossing somewhere, and we need to do everything in our power to protect you. Even if you don’t like it,” Xavier said, crossing his arms over his chest in challenge.

  “Well, that does change everything, doesn’t it, Mr. Dawson. You’re as bad as he is going around making decisions for me that affect my life. Thank you all for your attempt at support, but I’ve been taking care of myself for the last twenty plus years. I will continue doing so, but clearly it won’t be here.” With that, she spun on her heel and ran. She ran straight out the door of the bar, past Marie, who tried to reach out for her. She couldn’t even take a moment to breathe. She was just trying desperately to get away before the tears exploded from her.

  In her mind she could see the hurt and shock on Xavier, Tyce, and Noah’s faces as they realized she was going to run, but all she could focus on was the fact that they went behind her back and that Robert was in town. She had to leave now. The betrayal in her chest felt like someone was pulling her heart out with a dump truck. It was almost too much to handle.

  If she stayed here, the likelihood of Robert killing her and hurting someone from this town was high, and she couldn’t be responsible for that. She kept running down the street as her brain grasped for a plan. There was a bus station, but she didn’t really have the extra money to take a bus right now, and a cab would be more expensive, plus she would have to wait on it to get here from Austin. Well then, I will just have walk out of this town, she thought with a sense of determination.

  Her running slowed to a walk, but her head stayed down. Silent tears still dripped down her cheeks, and she was gasping for breath. She needed to get her emotions under control before they stopped her in her tracks.

  Her heart hurt. A slow, steady ache burned through all the way down to her chest so badly that she actually glanced down to see if it was visible. Anger and betrayal were her strongest emotions. Surprisingly they even drowned out the fear that Robert was probably here in Apache Crossing.

  Did it really matter at this point if he found her? Xavier, Tyce, and Noah had just splashed her humiliation to the whole town. She couldn’t see any reason to continue running from something inevitable. Robert had found her once, he would find her again. It wasn’t worth this kind of pain to keep reaching for what she wanted the most.

  Stopping in her tracks, Sidney stared down the main road toward the horizon, lost in her pity party and completely unaware of the three men gaining ground on her. When a pair of masculine arms wrapped around her waist from the back, her survival instinct kicked in, and she reacted automatically. Her scream could have made a deaf man’s ears bleed as she fought to escape the arms holding her close. She clawed at the thick arms and twisted her body, jerking until the grip finally loosened long enough to spin her around so that she faced her assailant.

  Her panic fled as her eyes met Xavier’s concerned blue gaze, but it was quickly replaced by an intense flood of anger. Gasping, she pushed hard on his chest with both hands, and when he didn’t move, she began pounding on that wall of muscle with both of her fists.

  “What the hell are you doing? Let me go, Xavier!” she screeched, trying to step backward out of his reach, only to slam into Noah’s broad chest behind her.

  “Stop it, Sidney. You’re going to hurt yourself. I’m not letting you run, baby. I told you that,” Xavier said as he removed his hands from her hips to grab at her wrists so that she couldn’t continue hitting him. He did nothing more than hold her fists against him while Noah stood behind her without attempting to hold her. She could see Tyce off to her right watching her sadly, but he didn’t make any attempt to reach for her either.

  “You also told me that I could trust you. Damn it, Xavier. I knew this couldn’t work. Just let me go. Forget I was ever here,” she said as tears spilled down her cheeks and her chest tightened. She couldn’t face any of those men that had been in the bar now that they had seen what Robert had done to her. What she let Robert do to her.

  “Sidney, be quiet. You’re going to say something you’ll regret later, and I’m not going to listen to it. We are going back to the bar, and we’re going to sit down and talk about this. I made a mistake by not including you in the meeting. I should have explained what we were doing, but I’m only trying to protect you, baby. You are trusting me to take care of you, and keep you safe, and this is the best way I know how.” Xavier continued to hold her wrists, but his thumbs were rubbing gentle circles on her skin now. She focused on that as she tried to control her breathing. It was a gentle touch from a man who was usually such a hard-ass, the touch of a concerned lover, and she let her head fall forward until her forehead rested against her own fists.

  “Please…don’t make me do this…” she whispered.

  To her surprise all t
hree men chuckled and Tyce said, “Love, there is no way we’re letting you leave, so stop fighting us.”

  “You don’t have a choice. I have to leave. Robert found me. If he is here, he will stop at nothing to get to me, and you or someone else in town will get hurt in the process. I can’t live with that,” she argued. The strength was draining from her body now that they held her still, and she let out shaky sigh.

  “Nope. Not happening. Sidney, look at me,” Xavier said, and she lifted her wet eyes to his. “I would gladly sacrifice my life for you, as would my brothers, and to be honest those men in the bar would protect you with their lives, too. You’re ours now, Sidney. The moment you said that you loved us, you accepted that. There will be no more talk of you leaving, period.”

  She frowned as he spoke, and her mouth opened to argue, only to be stopped by Noah’s hand covering it from behind.

  “No talking. Just listen,” Noah whispered into her ear, and she felt her frustration building in her gut. They were treating her like a child. Her face heated with anger, and she glared daggers at Xavier over Noah’s hand.

  Xavier watched her for a moment, a look of contemplation darkening his face. In a flash she could see determination fill his blue eyes, and then he bent forward and lifted her up in his arms and over his shoulder in one fell swoop. She squealed in shock as her gut hit his shoulder blade, and she was suddenly treated to an eyeful of his deliciously taut backside. “What the hell are you doing?” she screamed as she clutched at the back of his T-shirt.

  Ignoring her, he turned and headed back to the bar with her bouncing on his shoulder and cussing up a storm. “That’s not going to work, Noah. She’s going to be a brat about it. I’m taking the choice away from her.” His big hand suddenly smacked down on her upturned ass, and she gasped. “Enough! If you stop acting like a child, I’ll stop treating you like one.”