by Charlie Hart
I feel Banks’ eyes on me, and I’m glad. I want him to imagine taking me in the open like that.
Emerson laughs, his hand resting on my breast. “You’ve thought this through.”
“A bit. But I also fantasize about…”
“About what, love?” Fallon asks.
I sigh, swirling the Chardonnay around in my glass. “About giving birth to a healthy baby, with all of my husbands there at the delivery. About seeing all of your faces when you meet your child. The child I gave you.”
“You want that?” Banks asks, stepping closer.
I nod. The truth is I’ve never spoken aloud these hidden dreams of mine. Why wish for a life that isn’t a possibility?
But I didn’t think it would be possible to love all six of my husbands so much either. But I do.
“I want to have a family. A real family. The kind I’ve only read about.”
“We will find a cure,” Banks says. His voice is ragged and raw. Not cold and stony like it usually is and it catches me off guard. The way he speaks reveals a hidden truth, one I crave to know more of.
He has the same dream I do.
I may have been scared to voice it, but I know Banks is even more terrified. No one becomes so intense without a reason, no one desires so much control unless at some point they felt like they had none.
“Remember,” I tease, trying hard to make things less intense as I set down my wine glass. “No talk about research this weekend. Only--”
He cuts me off, moving closer and pulling me to my feet. “Only thing you’re interested in is biology. I remember.”
Without hesitation, he grabs my ass and pulls me to him. His hungry mouth crashes into mine before I realize what he’s doing. He’s done waiting for his turn, he’s taking it.
All other sounds of this mountainside resort are gone. As Banks kisses me, the only thing I hear is the thrum of my heart against his as he takes my lips with abandon.
His hands are in my wet hair and my swollen lips part, our tongues colliding and ours bodies melting together. I’m moaning in his mouth, my body primed to be had.
“Damn,” I hear Hux whistle loudly.
And just like that, Banks pulls away, like a spell has been broken. As if he just remembered that he and I aren’t alone, fucking in private. His eyes go cold again and he is lost in his thoughts. It’s too much for him, too fast. But oh, how I long for him to go all in with me.
Still, I know Banks needs time. Not wanting to draw attention to his sudden change of heart, I turn from his arms and sit down on Emerson’s lap.
If Banks doesn’t want to have sex this way, I won’t force him. But I know Em does. And so do I.
So I ease Emerson inside me and get lost in his clear turquoise eyes.
I’m not going to get sad over what Banks isn’t ready for. Instead, I will live out my fantasies with the husbands who want to play along.
Chapter 13
Banks
Tia is cuddled up to Fallon in the backseat beside me, and I can’t help but let my gaze fall to her, knowing I’ll never be the man she leans on. At least, not physically.
The roads are covered in fresh snow and I wonder when this winter will ever end. I grew up on the East Coast where the winters were bad, but this wild land is something else.
It’s a long drive back from the hot springs. Or at least it feels that way. Everyone is quiet and exhausted, but it’s more than that, it’s like every mile closer we get to the compound, something ominous settles on the car. Like coming down from a high, or out of a dream, back into the darkness of reality.
A hand wraps around mine, and I glance over at Tia. She gives me a small smile, squeezing my fingers before pulling away, and snuggling back into Fallon’s chest.
It’s a small display of affection, but it makes my chest compress.
When the hell did I get so invested?
I know the answer. The moment I held her bare body against my own, took her not as a fuck-buddy but as my wife. To call it anything different would be a goddamn lie.
“What the hell?” Huxley says from the driver’s seat as we make our way up the long driveway of our compound.
“Shit,” Salinger mutters beside them.
I can’t see what they’re looking at as the van pulls to a stop in front of our house.
“What’s wrong?” Fallon asks, sitting up, already looking like he’s ready for a fight.
“Someone vandalized my fucking truck.” Huxley puts the van into park and jumps out.
“Stay here,” Fallon says to Tia, before following Huxley out.
Quick to take action, but not to think, all the men jump out of the van.
“What happened?” Tia asks, craning her neck to see what the others are looking at. Our wife has no interest in staying put, she wants to know what is going on as badly as everyone else.
“Looks like someone took a bat to one of the cars.” I glance around the property looking for any other damage, anything that might signal someone is still here. But I see none.
“Who would do that?” Her fingers slip between mine. “Do you think it was Lawson?”
“No.” I shake my head and open my door, refusing to let go of her small, soft hand. “That isn’t his style.”
She lets me help her out, not releasing my hand as we walk towards the others.
The damage to the truck is significant. Both headlights and the windshield have been smashed in.
“I’ll kill the fucker,” Huxley mumbles.
“Do you have any idea who would do this?” I ask, a pressure at the base of my skull warning me that something isn’t right.
Huxley shakes his head. “No fucking clue.”
Tia shivers beside me as a gust of cold wind whips around us.
“We should go inside.” I place a palm on her lower back and guide her towards the door.
It isn’t until I open it that I realize what’s wrong, the alarm system has been tampered with.
I’m about to tell Tia to go back to the others when I hear the click of metal across the room.
“I was wondering if you were ever coming home,” a man’s slurred words draw my attention to the couch.
Sitting there with a half-empty bottle of Huxley’s whiskey in his hand, a pistol in his other, I recognize the dark-haired man who points the gun at me.
Peter or Philip, he was one of the husbands of the woman who’d tried to give herself an abortion. The woman I couldn’t save.
He stands, wobbling as he does, and waves the gun around carelessly.
“Banks,” Tia whimpers beside me.
“Go outside, Tia,” I demand.
“No,” the guy yells, pointing the gun at Tia. “You stay here.”
“Whatever your issue is, she isn’t involved.”
He chuckles a disjointed sound. “She was there with you. You could have saved her... You should have…” His eyes are red, distant. “You killed my wife...”
“I tried to save her, but what she took--”
“Are you blaming her?” The gun is pointed back at me. “You guys always blame the victims. But it’s you. The... scientists... you did this. You killed them all. All those women. You don’t deserve to have a wife.” He points the pistol back at Tia.
Fear is the only motivator now. Not fear for myself, but for Tia.
She’s all that matters.
I move in front of her, blocking his shot if he takes one.
“You don’t want to do this.”
“Why not?” His eyes are desperate. “What do I have to lose? I’ve already lost everything.” He tosses the bottle across the room and it shatters as it hits the fireplace. “You took everything from me. Now I’m going to take everything from you.”
“Tia, go,” I demand.
“Banks.”
“Go.”
A shot rings out as she runs through the door.
The bullet grazes my shoulder, but even though I feel the sting, I know it does little, if any, damage. A
nd I take the opportunity to lunge for the man.
The gun goes flying as I tackle him to the ground. He swings wildly at me, clipping me in the jaw.
My own fist makes an impact on his temple, and for a moment the world goes black. It gives the man the opportunity to get on top of me. Hell if I’m going to let this bastard win. His fingers try to wrap around my neck, but I pry them away.
Yelling and footsteps let me know that the others are here, and the man’s weight is pulled off of me. But he doesn’t go down without a fight. He clips Huxley in the eye, and it’s only when Fallon gets him in a chokehold that the man finally stops.
“I’m not here for you,” he spits out. “Just...” His words are slurred and rambling. “Just give me the scientist and I’ll go.”
“You know as well as I do that you’re not walking out of here except in handcuffs,” Salinger says.
He laughs. “You turn me in and I’ll use my phone call to inform Warren Thorne that I know where his daughter is.”
The room goes still, and a coldness settles over us.
“Get the hell out of here,” Fallon commands, not taking the bait. In the midst of all this chaos, I can’t help but feel pride in his resolve. “We won’t be threatened.”
The man chuckles sadistically. “In that case, you’ll be without a wife as soon as I notify the authorities.”
“Like hell, you will,” Huxley says, stepping closer. “I know where you got your drugs for your wife and I know you bought more than one dose. And that’s not all I know about you.”
The man growls in anger, a bear who’s missing a meal. “You think you can hold that over me? Kyle already took the fall for that.” He clenches his fist, ready to pounce again.
Huxley doesn’t move fast enough and the man gets him in his eye a second time.
“Goddammit,” Hux bellows and I use the moment to strike.
Using my good arm, I push the man to the entrance of the house, holding him by his neck. “You need to go, and keep your mouth shut or we will dig up all the dirt on you and the men at your compound. The family you’re fucking with has more intel than you’ll ever have. Understood?”
I push him out the door and he runs, falling into the snow, then pulling himself up again, scurrying away like an uncoordinated rabbit.
Good. I turn back to the room, a thousand things running through my head, most importantly getting Tia safe.
People know she is Warren Thorne’s daughter.
But the thing that is really causing my heart to pound in my chest are the words I used: The family you’re fucking with.
I called the people I live with family.
It doesn’t seem to matter how hard I’m fighting it. Tia, these men, they are my family. And that might be one of the scariest revelations of all.
Chapter 14
Tia
“We need to get the hell out of here,” Huxley says, holding an ice pack to his swollen eye.
At first, I startle at his words. The last thing I want is to be on the run again, but at the same time, the threat of my father coming for me forces every muscle in my body to tense.
Hux seems to notice that I’ve gone still. Groaning, he shakes his head. “Look, I know I mentioned that Phillip guy buying more drugs, but I can’t actually go to the Feds about it, it would implicate me.”
“Then we better hope he doesn’t piece that together,” Giles says, pulling his arms around me from behind.
I let my shoulders fall into his chest, but my mind races. There is no way I can relax after what just happened here.
In my own home.
My family isn’t safe anywhere. Or maybe that isn’t right. We were plenty safe at that hidden resort this weekend. Why did we ever leave to come back and face reality? Isn’t ignorance bliss?
Huxley’s words are heavy on my mind.
Leaving.
Running.
We should never have stayed.
“I think Huxley is right,” I say, feeling Giles’ hand tighten around mine. “We should leave.”
“And just stop working on a cure?” Banks asks incredulously. “Tia, don’t lose focus now.”
“If my father--”
“It’s not just about you,” Banks says. His words cause the entire room to stop and turn.
“I didn’t say it was just about me.” My face flushes with embarrassment. “But the odds are you won’t even find a cure, Banks. We aren’t any closer than we were when you started.”
I see the flash of hurt in Banks’ eyes and immediately regret my words.
The truth is the impulse to run is all about me. But also all about my husbands.
I’m not thinking of the greater good.
Does that make me a monster? To care more about my family than anyone else's.
Emerson and Fallon are picking up chairs that have been broken as the men fought, and Salinger kneels down to pick up shards of glass from the broken bottle of liquor.
The room is in chaos just like my heart.
“Well, Hux and I are in agreement,” I say, wrapping my arms around my chest. “We should go.”
Hux shakes his head though. “Banks is right. We can’t leave. Think about the attention that would bring,” he says, running a hand over his beard. “Everyone would be looking for us. Lawson, your father, the fucking Alaskan government.”
“Then we make a vow to never return,” I say, a plan formulating as I speak. “We get Fallon to fly us in his plane and--”
Fallon cuts me off. “Whoa, whoa, there Tia. I can’t just take a government plane and leave without being seen.”
The men are looking at me now like what I’m saying is crazy.
But all I want is the seven of us to be safe. “We could, you just don’t want to.”
“Because I don’t want to go on a suicide mission.” Fallon’s jaw clenches and it’s clear what his opinion is on the matter.
“Well, if my father finds me, you’ll all be dead.” That’s my biggest fear, and my voice is shrill from it.
“Maybe Tia is right. In a few weeks, she’ll be gone,” Emerson says, sitting down heavily on the couch and burying his face in his large hands. “Lawson will be back for her and we won’t be able to stop him.”
His words somehow hurt the most. It’s like he doesn’t believe I’ll be his wife until death do us part. That I won’t get pregnant on time. He’s already thinking worst-case scenario.
“We can’t give him the list.” Turquoise eyes look up at me, filled with so much anguish. “How could we live with ourselves?”
Hot tears fill my eyes. I agree with Emerson in theory. Handing over the list of women would mean they become pawns in an already corrupt world. It would be betraying everything good and right in this broken world.
But at the same time, it means I would be forfeiting my life.
I’m not ready to die. Not when I’m only now beginning to truly live.
“I’m not saying it to hurt you, Tia,” Emerson says gently. “I’m trying to be realistic. I love you, and will go anywhere you ask me to.”
Giles interrupts, “But running into the wilds of Alaska is not going to bode well. It’s a death sentence just like everything else.”
I hear him, I do, but I hate that we don’t seem to have any choice.
And right now I selfishly want everyone on my side. I want hope. Faith. Belief, whether true or not that everything will be okay.
I can’t stand here listening to my husbands accept anything less. We may not have any options, and I know they’re right about leaving, but I have to hold onto hope that everything will be all right.
Lawson threatened to find us if we ran. And I have no doubt that he probably has spies watching us, ready to bring me in or take my men down if needed. I know we can’t run. But I need to believe that there’s something else we can do than just wait here like sitting ducks.
I go upstairs, sinking to the floor when I’m finally alone.
My husbands were just beaten in fr
ont of my eyes by a man on a mission to kill and destroy. He would have killed me if given the chance. My home is dismantled and a neighbor is looking for vengeance for the death of his wife.
In many ways, I understand his motivation.
The world stopped making sense and he wants to make the wrong right.
But I was there with Banks. We were trying to save her. Our intentions were pure, yet everything in this world, even the good things, can so easily be twisted into something broken, something vile.
My life no longer feels like my own.
Was it ever?
My shoulders shake as sobs begin to wrack my body. I want my husbands safe, and the reason I ran away all those weeks ago is still fresh in my mind. I was scared that being with me would ruin them.
The only hope is a pregnancy, but no matter how often I’m injected with Banks’ treatment, there are no guarantees.
Part of me wants to speak with Salinger’s mother, ask her what she would do if she were me. I crave the guidance of an older, more experienced woman. Someone who can see beyond herself and her own fears.
Because right now, I’m so focused on my own family I can’t see the forest for the trees.
“Tia,” Giles says, coming into my room.
I wipe my eyes, but it’s no use. The tears keep falling.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” He sits, wrapping his arms around me, and pulling me into his lap.
I breathe him in, the lingering scent of the outdoors still on his skin. Clean air and cedar. He smells like home. I lean into him, but there is nothing left for me to say. The guys don’t want to run, and I know despite my protests that running is not the answer.
But what is?
“Remember when you ran the first time?” he asks.
I nod, the worst night of my life fresh in my mind. Will I ever forget it?
Giles’ warm breath is in my ear and I steady myself against him.
I bury my face against his chest. “Of course I do,” I say brashly. “My choice caused you to be attacked by vicious wolves, then beaten within an inch of your life.”
