Crossroads 4: Shot Through the Heart (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  * * * *

  She opened the door and hid her weapons. At first she didn’t see him, and she looked toward where they’d come in and the large wooden door by the sitting area.

  But as she got closer, he appeared in front of her, wearing no shirt and covered with scars.

  “I’ve waited so long for this night. To hold you in my arms and make love to you, Mia.”

  “Keep on waiting, asshole.” She pulled the perfume out and sprayed him in the eyes. He roared in anger and reached for her, gripping her shirt and pulling her toward him. She stabbed him with the piece of mirror, right in the shoulder and neck area. He released her and stumbled back. She gave him a kick and a punch, knocking him to the ground, and he reached for the gun.

  She kicked it from his hand, but it went behind him.

  She ran for the door, pulled it open, shocked at how pitch-black it was, but she ran anyway.

  She was crying but trying to be quiet. There was no way he could see her. She just needed to run. She placed her hands out in front of her. The snow was smacking against her cheeks and neck, stinging her cheeks, but she tried to remember the direction they’d come in and how long the clearing was. Then she thought about him using the gun and shooting her. She needed cover. She ran to the left and nearly hit the tree, but with her hands in front of her, they hit first. She slowed her pace, only because she didn’t want to knock herself out by smacking into a tree. Her vision was poor with her injuries, her head throbbing from the concussion and her wrist throbbing from the sprain. She didn’t need to knock herself out.

  She heard the roaring in the distance. He was yelling her name, and then she heard the gunshots. One ricocheted past her head and hit the tree in front of her. She ducked and fell to the ground, soaking her dress pants with wet snow.

  She was walking slowly, trying not to give her location up, when she sensed the change in the ground below her feet. It was too late when she realized it was the steep decline, and she tumbled down, trying not to scream as her body hit numerous branches and rocks. Finally a tree against her ribs stopped her.

  She was stuck in the snow, now covered all over and feeling numb, nauseous as her head spun and she lost all ability to feel her body. This was it. She was going to die right here, and she knew it. But she’d gotten away from him.

  She fought with her mind to not give up and to keep fighting. But what was the use? She was miles from the road, injured so badly she couldn’t even move, and soon hypothermia would set in and finish her off.

  * * * *

  They heard the gunshots and saw the spark from the barrel of the gun shooting into the woods. They all took cover and used their night vision glasses and waited to see where Mia was.

  Tiegen watched, clearly noticing that Peter had no shirt and was holding his neck and shoulder as he pointed the gun to his left, their right, and fired into the woods.

  “Mia!” He screamed out her name, and they knew that somehow Mia had gotten away.

  “Take him out,” Tiegen said, and Murdock took the shot from the distance.

  Peter fell to the ground, and everyone approached with caution.

  As they descended upon the body and the cabin, they searched quickly for Mia, after making sure that Peter was no longer a threat.

  “He reeks like perfume,” the one agent said as he checked Peter’s injuries.

  “It looks like she sprayed him with it and stabbed him with a piece of mirror from the bathroom.” Damien pointed to the floor and the bloody piece of mirror.

  “She got away. She’s out there somewhere and can’t be far. This just happened.” Murdock started to head to the front and look around.

  “Here, fresh footprints,” Toro told them.

  “Good eye,” Tiegen said, and Murdock, Tiegen, Mitch, Toro, Damien, and Elwood headed in search of Mia. The agents remained behind and called in for assistance.

  “Jesus, where the hell could she be?” Mitch asked as they slowly followed the footprints.

  “Mia! Mia, where are you?” Tiegen yelled out her name, but they heard nothing. In the distance, they could hear the sound of four-wheelers making their way up the mountain. That would be their ride down, and they would be taking Mia with them. He wasn’t leaving here without her.

  “Look, watch yourself, that’s a steep drop,” Toro told them, stopping them right before the steep incline.

  “Oh shit.” Tiegen slid to his ass. They all noticed the same thing at the same time. Mia, lying in the snow, unconscious.

  Murdock pulled off his night vision goggles, and Toro and his brothers lit up the area with flares.

  “Oh God, look at her. Look what he fucking did to her.” Mitch reached for her shirt to check the damage.

  “Head injury. The blood is dry though so maybe from the accident. We need to get her warm,” Elwood said, and Tiegen slowly lifted her up and into his arms as Murdock looked at her belly and ribs.

  “I think she has some broken ribs,” Murdock told them.

  “Let’s wrap her up tight so when we take her down on the four-wheeler, the bumping around won’t injure her more,” Toro suggested, and Damien pulled out a special plastic blanket to wrap her with. It would keep her body warm.

  As they started to wrap her up, she began to moan. Murdock placed his hand against her cheek. “You’re safe, Mia. We’ve got you, baby. It’s over.”

  She moaned, and he held her close as they made their way down the mountain to the safest spot a four-wheeler could meet them and make the rest of the trip down.

  “Murdock?” she whispered.

  “Yes, baby. We’ve got you.”

  “You came,” she whispered and then cringed.

  “We told you we would never leave you, never abandon you, baby, and we meant it.”

  “We love you, Mia,” Tiegen told her.

  “We sure do, baby.” Mitch added, and she closed her eyes, and they got her to safety together.

  Epilogue

  Mia slowly made her way out of the bedroom and toward the staircase. She was tired of lying in bed resting. She needed to move around. She’d never been laid up before, and she hated it.

  As she grabbed onto the railing and took the first step, she tightened up. Three weeks had passed, and her ribs were still sore, her head still ached, but her vision was finally almost perfect. Still, she was aching everywhere. She had cuts and bruises on every part of her body and suffering from hypothermia had lasting effects she was still getting over.

  Before she reached the next step, Mitch was in front of her, holding on to her hips.

  “What in God’s name do you think you’re doing, Mia?” he scolded, and she exhaled and tried to continue walking alone down the stairs.

  “This is not happening.”

  “Please, Mitch. Let me do this. I can’t stand lying in bed. I need to move around. I’m getting all flabby and weak.”

  He hugged her close and ran his hand down the back of her sweatpants and squeezed her ass. “You don’t feel flabby to me.”

  She smiled then leaned her forehead against his shoulder.

  “What’s going on here?” Murdock asked, joining the conversation from the bottom of the stairs.

  “Nothing. We’re just coming downstairs for breakfast, that’s all.”

  “Oh really? Because it looks like you were trying to sneak down the stairs without assistance and Mitch caught you.”

  “I need to do this, Murdock. I’m not used to lying around and being lazy.”

  She continued to walk down the stairs, and with each step, her muscles felt better and better. She was ready to start getting things back to normal. That thought made her wonder when the guys might want her to go back to her place. When she got to the bottom step, Murdock was there to pull her into his arms and then kissed her deeply.

  He ran his hand over her ass and then gave it a slap. “You’re in great shape, baby, but your body still needs rest.”

  “I’m done. I want to be able to go see R.J. this weekend. The b
ruises on my face are better, and I won’t look like some freak when we go out to dinner in the city.”

  They walked her into the kitchen. Tiegen was placing pancakes and bacon onto the table.

  “Look who we found coming down the stairs all alone,” Murdock said, tattling on her.

  “What?” Tiegen asked, eyes squinted and a spatula in his hand. “Mia?”

  “Oh cool it, Tiegen. I’m being a burden, and there’s no need for it. I’m better now. I swear. In fact, we should talk about my apartment. I need to go back soon and get things back to normal.”

  “It’s not necessary,” Murdock told her.

  “What do you mean?” she asked as Tiegen made her a plate and Mitch poured her coffee, making it like she liked it, black.

  “What is that supposed to mean? I thought that we could stop by there today so I can see what dresses I have to wear for Saturday when we meet R.J. in the city.”

  She popped a piece of bacon into her mouth.

  “You’re not moving back to the apartment, Mia. We want you here with us,” Tiegen told her, and Murdock joined them by the table.

  She swallowed hard. “What are you saying?”

  “We’re saying that we love you and want to spend every day with you,” Tiegen replied.

  “We want to look into your eyes before we go to sleep at night,” Mitch said.

  “And see your beautiful face, and feel your sexy body pressed up against ours every morning,” Murdock added.

  “But I’m safe now. I know what I went through was traumatic for all of us, but I’m fine.” She felt the tears reach her eyes. She wasn’t fine. She was in love with these guys, and she didn’t want to live without them or leave them. How could she survive without them?

  “You’re a strong, smart, beautiful woman, and we want you in our house, in our bed, and right where you belong, here with us.”

  “Don’t you love us like we love you, Mia?” Tiegen asked her.

  She smiled, and a tear leaked from her eye.

  “I love you more than anything in the whole world. You’ve filled a hole in my heart I’ve had forever, and no one could replace the three of you. When I was lost, hurt, and had nearly given up the fight to live, you showed up. You didn’t abandon me like all the other people in my life. I don’t want to move out and go back to living alone. I need the three of you. I want to be here. I guess I just needed you to tell me you wanted me here with you forever and that you loved me like I love you.”

  “Then it’s settled. Because with you is where the three of us belong. Eat your breakfast, because then it’s back to bed and making love for the rest of day,” Tiegen told her then brought her hand to his lips and kissed the top of it.

  “Besides, now that I’m retired from the service, who is going to keep me occupied?” Murdock asked and winked, and Mitch chuckled.

  “There’s always the opening in the police department in Wellington,” he said to him.

  “Maybe I’ll look into it.” Murdock leaned over and kissed Mia on the lips. She placed her hand against his cheek and smiled.

  “You’d make a good police officer and detective, Murdock, plus your ass would look mighty fine in uniform.” She used her free hand to tap his ass.

  Mitch and Tiegen chuckled.

  “Oh you just wait until after breakfast, baby. That sexy ass is due for a few spankings.”

  She gasped as he cupped her breast, gave it a squeeze, and pulled away.

  She couldn’t help but to smile just thinking about making love to her three men together. She was blessed to have met them, to have met three men who made her feel safe and had taught her to take the chance and let her heart lead the way. She trusted them with her life, with her heart, and definitely with her body.

  She smiled to herself and felt the hum of desire and need for her men. For when they were all together, all connected as one, she felt whole and important, instead of that lonely girl with a wall around her heart and a fear she thought would never go away. That wasn’t the case anymore because, when she had been at a crossroads and needed to decide to take a chance and let her heart lead the way or run away from the feelings she had, she’d taken a chance. She would never regret doing so with Tiegen, Murdock, and Mitch McKay.

  THE END

  WWW.DIXIELYNNDWYER.COM

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  People seem to be more interested in my name than where I get my ideas for my stories from. So I might as well share the story behind my name with all my readers.

  My momma was born and raised in New Orleans. At the age of twenty, she met and fell in love with an Irishman named Patrick Riley Dwyer. Needless to say, the family was a bit taken aback by this as they hoped she would marry a family friend. It was a modern day arranged marriage kind of thing and my momma downright refused.

  Being that my momma’s families were descendants of the original English speaking Southerners, they wanted the family blood line to stay pure. They were wealthy and my father’s family was poor.

  Despite attempts by my grandpapa to make Patrick leave and destroy the love between them, my parents married. They recently celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary.

  I am one of six children born to Patrick and Lynn Dwyer. I am a combination of both Irish and a true Southern belle. With a name like Dixie Lynn Dwyer it’s no wonder why people are curious about my name.

  Just as my parents had a love story of their own, I grew up intrigued by the lifestyles of others. My imagination as well as my need to stray from the straight and narrow made me into the woman I am today.

  Enjoy Crossroads 4: Shot Through the Heart and allow your imagination to soar freely.

  For all titles by Dixie Lynn Dwyer, please visit

  www.bookstrand.com/dixie-lynn-dwyer

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com