Town of Chance: Fight for Freedom [The Dare Series 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  “The hell we don’t,” Bender snapped. She swallowed hard, noticing his tone drew other patrons’ attention again. God, she needed to get the hell out of here.

  He was so abrupt. Bender was bad ass and then some. From the scruff on his face to his wavy brown hair and dark eyes, he was the epitome of tough cop. She lowered her head and rubbed her temples. Parker reached out and squeezed her shoulder.

  “Calm down, Bender. Don’t blow this out of proportion.”

  “Blow it out of proportion? You’ve been assigned guardians to our woman. I think we’re being rational because I haven’t lost it and hit you yet,” Bender said.

  “Yeah, like you would do that? We’ve been friends forever,” Tazer replied.

  “Just calm down. Stop doing this,” Shelby said to them. “I don’t need all this attention drawn to me. It was a mistake coming here and talking to Max,” she said and then looked up at Bender and Kenneth.

  “I’m sorry, Kenneth, Bender, but this is how it must be. I’m in a bit of a jam. It’s nothing dangerous, just potential for some trouble, but nothing that Tazer and Parker can’t handle.”

  “We should be handling it, whatever it is,” Kenneth told her.

  “No, you shouldn’t because the rules of town say that I must accept your guardianship and have the same feelings for you that you have for me. I don’t,” she said and the tears filled her eyes but she held her ground.

  “That doesn’t matter. You’ll eventually stop being stubborn and fearful and let your guard down and let us in. In the interim we aren’t going anywhere.”

  “Are you certain that’s your final decision?” she asked.

  “Shelby.” Tazer looked at her as he said her name. He was there the other night with Max. He knew what she would do. But she wouldn’t get away with sneaking off without them knowing and stopping her. What did it all matter now anyway? What happened to her would be revealed and they would lose their interest in wanting her. Especially once they knew her body was scarred, and that three men saw her naked and had planned on forcing themselves on her. It didn’t matter that those men hadn’t been successful in raping her. The Pace men would think the worst of her and how stupid she was to ever get involved with a man like Skip Jordo.

  She needed to be smart and buy herself some time to think and be alone. She had to get Kenneth and them off her case. She had to.

  “I went into Charlesburgh the other day. I saw someone that knew me from New York, where I lived before moving here. He isn’t a good person and he knows my ex, who was abusive,” she said and she was shaking, especially as she saw Kenneth’s cheek cave in and also the way Bender scrunched his eyes at her as if he was already disappointed or disgusted. It would be better this way. To explain what happened and for them to know she wasn’t good enough for them. Then they would leave her alone.

  “Things happened back in New York. I left as soon as I had the chance and it wasn’t on good terms with my ex or the man who saw me in Charlesburgh. Bottom line, they may or may not come looking for me. We don’t know. Like I said, I left on bad terms.”

  “Why would they want you back if you left on bad terms?” Bender asked in that detective tone filled with inquisitiveness.

  “Because I was part of a deal, a benefit to a certain job being completed. I didn’t know anything about it and some things happened that made the deal fall through and the opportunity to escape and get out before they tried to seal the deal again came fast. I took off, wound up here, and until yesterday I believed they had forgotten about me.”

  “We still don’t know all the details.” Tazer added.

  “What kind of deal?” Bender asked.

  The waitress came over and interrupted, saying hello to everyone. They ordered some ice teas.

  “I need to use the ladies’ room,” Shelby said and the men stood up and she grabbed her purse and headed away from them. She could hardly breathe, it was so intense.

  So when she got down the hallway and out of sight, she followed her gut and snuck out the back door. As soon as she came outside, she took a series of deep breaths then saw a car pull into the parking lot.

  Caroline.

  Before she even made it to her sister, her sister was running toward her.

  “What the hell is going on? I heard that Tazer and Parker brought you into the diner and that Bender and Kenneth showed up ready to fight them.”

  “Just get me outta here and I’ll explain,” she said to her.

  Caroline looked into her eyes and that was all it took. That sisterly bond they shared was stronger than anything.

  “Get in,” Caroline said. They headed out of the area and to a place they could talk.

  * * * *

  “Start talking. She’s our woman, and you know how we feel about her,” Bender said to Tazer and Parker.

  “We know. She’s keeping you out of this because she cares about you guys, too,” Tazer told them.

  “What?” Kenneth asked.

  “She said that?” Bender added.

  “It’s fucking obvious, but she’s scared. Some crazy shit happened to her in New York. I know the one guy who she bumped into. I mean his reputation,” Tazer said and then explained about what had happened and what he saw.

  “Is he her ex?” Kenneth asked.

  “No. He knows her ex and she’s pretty sure Mickie called him right away. I got that feeling, too. When he saw her, his eyes lit up with interest and he went right to touching her like they just saw one another the other day. He’s slime. A real piece of shit,” Tazer explained and gave them some details about the guy and the case he was at the courthouse about.

  “I don’t like this. Did she give you further details about this ex Skip and why she took off?” Kenneth asked him.

  Tazer looked at Parker and then he looked away from them.

  “It’s not my story to tell.”

  “What the fuck does that mean?” Bender asked.

  Tazer looked at both of them. “It means, she’s hurting emotionally. It’s why she has kept closed up, why she won’t commit to you guys or accept your attraction. Something happened that really shook her up and scarred her.”

  “Damn,” Kenneth said and ran his hand up and down over his beard and chin.

  “Listen, I know you guys are pissed off and don’t like the way this is happening, but you need to step back a little. It doesn’t seem like this guy is looking for her. I do have Burker and Lynch looking into things as well. Let us handle this for now, and if it appears like she could be in danger and that these men might come looking for her, then we’ll let you in, too. It doesn’t mean you can’t go see her, check up on her, and still try to convince her that you’re here and want to be part of her life,” Tazer said to them.

  They were both silent a moment.

  “You know I won’t be able to keep away. None of us will. I expect that you’ll keep us in the loop on everything,” Bender said to Tazer and then looked at Parker.

  “Of course we will. She’ll come around and learn to trust us, and to trust you, and that because of our backgrounds, here in Chance is the best place for her to be,” Parker said to them.

  Kenneth looked toward the bathroom.

  “What is taking her so long?” he asked.

  “Oh shit,” Tazer said and stood up. He walked down the hall just as Betty Ryan was coming out. “Hey, Betty, did you see Shelby Ann in there?”

  “Nope. All empty.”

  “Thanks.”

  He headed back to the table.

  “Well, we all just learned something about Shelby Ann.”

  “What’s that?” Parker asked. Tazer placed money on the table for the ice teas.

  “She’s an escape artist. Let’s go,” he said, and Kenneth and Bender were just as surprised and shocked as Tazer and Parker.

  “Where the hell did she go?” Bender asked.

  “She couldn’t get far on foot,” Kenneth said as they exited the diner.

  When they walked out, they saw C.J
. walking along the sidewalk in uniform.

  “Hey, is everything okay? Caroline called and said she heard that all you guys were in here with Shelby and that there was going to be a fistfight.”

  “What?” Kenneth asked him.

  “Where is Shelby?” Tazer asked.

  “Inside with Caroline I assumed.”

  “There you go. She must have been waiting outside, maybe,” Parker said.

  “What’s going on?” C.J. asked.

  “Get Caroline on the phone and we’ll explain. Hopefully they’re together,” Tazer said, and they stood there telling C.J. what was going on as he tried unsuccessfully to get in touch with Caroline.

  “If she’s ignoring my calls on purpose, it’s going to cost her,” C.J. said aloud when Caroline didn’t answer.

  “Don’t panic. They should be fine. There’s no indication that any of these men are in the vicinity,” Parker told C.J.

  “Well, they still can’t be going off like this without protection. It makes me nervous and we have rules she needs to follow after everything that happened,” C.J. said.

  “That’s understandable,” Bender said to him.

  “I think Shelby needs to be informed of a few rules as well,” Kenneth said.

  “We’ll take care of that,” Tazer said to him.

  “It’s our job to,” Bender said.

  “Not right now, and not when that’s another reason she doesn’t want you involved,” Parker said.

  “What do you mean?” Kenneth asked.

  “It means, she knows how badly Caroline felt for nearly getting C.J. killed. Shelby doesn’t want you guys or her sister in the line of fire or in any danger of potentially getting hurt,” Tazer told them.

  “Damn. She’s really hurting,” Bender said.

  “Well, you guys need to make Shelby understand that she’s your woman and you would do anything for her, so it’s not her decision to protect you. You’re the ones that protect her,” C.J told them.

  “It isn’t going to be easy to do. Not with her feeling like she needs to take off and run from us,” Kenneth said to them.

  “She doesn’t want you to know about what happened to her, that’s obvious. I’ll get a hold of Caroline, then I’ll call you,” C.J. promised but it seemed that none of them were really content with the women out on their own, even if they were still in Chance.

  * * * *

  Caroline parked the car a little ways into the woods amongst the brush and where it couldn’t be seen from the road. It was a little spot C.J. showed her one day so they could talk about how he was shot and how he didn’t blame her but blamed Cameron.

  She didn’t know why she thought of this place to take Shelby right away. Maybe subconsciously she knew C.J. would figure out where they were in case her sister was in some kind of trouble and Skip was looking for her.

  She turned off the engine and then looked at Shelby. Her sister had cried her eyes out the whole way.

  “Okay, I expect the truth this time. Don’t you dare leave anything out, or I swear, Shelby, there’ll be hell to pay. Because right now I guarantee my men are having a conniption. So start talking.”

  Shelby looked at her and sniffled then used the back of her arm to wipe her tears and her nose. She leaned her head back and looked forward.

  “I wasn’t so honest about my relationship with Skip and why I had to disappear.”

  Caroline felt her heart racing. She was so worried.

  “My head is pounding. There’s so much to try and explain.”

  “Why don’t you start with what sent you running from New York and Skip? What ended it all?”

  “Basically, it hadn’t been enough that Skip liked to knock me around and was involved in some illegal activities. When he made some deal with Mickie, for I don’t know what, I was offered as part of the payoff.”

  “What?”

  “It’s exactly as degrading and low as it sounds,” she said and sniffled again. She looked at Caroline and more tears spilled from her eyes.

  “It was terrible and I couldn’t do a thing to stop them, Caroline. Skip tricked me. He told me how sorry he was and how he was going to make things up to me. He begged for forgiveness after he struck me and as he hugged me in bed, he handcuffed one wrist to one post and then the other.

  “He pulled the sheets from my body and stared at me. ‘No matter what, you’ll always belong to me. No matter what. But I had no choice,’ he said to me.”

  Caroline stared at her and listened.

  “Blade, his friend and his protector came in.” She sniffled. “Skip didn’t cover me up, Caroline. He let them touch me, look at my body, and I knew they were going to rape me.”

  “They?” Caroline asked, tears rolling down her cheeks.

  “Mickie, too. He was the one who left when Blade pulled out the knife and cut me.”

  Caroline covered her mouth with her hand as she covered Shelby’s knee with her other hand.

  “I was so scared, Caroline. I couldn’t do anything about it.” Caroline held her gaze as her sister cried. Caroline pulled her into a hug and squeezed her tight.

  “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have left with you. I would have helped you get through it.” Caroline pulled back and sat sideways in the front of the car.

  “They didn’t rape me, Caroline. They weren’t successful. Mickie took off because he got some phone call and once Blade cut me he must have thought he was going to do worse. Some call came in or else Blade would have continued. There’s no doubt in my mind that he would have. He wanted me. Had from the moment he laid eyes on me.”

  “And Skip did nothing? I mean, even though he was a jerk to you and hit you, he still didn’t stop these other men from hurting you? I mean what the hell kind of contract or deal did he make and why?”

  “I don’t know. I was never so scared, and I heard that Blade was violent with women. I heard that about Jerry, too, but Blade was evil. You could see it in his eyes. He was so pissed off that he couldn’t continue to have his way with my body. When they left, Skip swore me to never say a word about it, and to be ready for them to come again and take me if they wanted me. He said I needed to do it for him. That if I didn’t do it then I would suffer the consequences.”

  “So you ran?”

  “Yes.”

  Caroline pulled her close and hugged her again.

  “I won’t let him find you.”

  “I won’t put you in danger, Caroline,” she said and Caroline pulled back.

  “You’re safest here, and with men like Kenneth, Sam, and Bender. Wait, why were you with Tazer and Parker?”

  Shelby pursed her lips and more tears fell. “I asked Max to assign someone else as protectors.”

  “But why? You care so much about—” Caroline realized immediately what her sister was doing. She would have done the same if for one minute she thought that Cameron was in Chance. If she had, C.J. never would have been shot.

  “Oh, honey, they’re going to fight you tooth and nail on this.”

  “I know, but I can’t let them in.”

  “Why not? I mean Kenneth is a lawyer, Bender a well-trained detective, and Sam? God, Sam is all military and knows so much. They’re like lethal weapons. I get that now, even about my own men and their capabilities. You can’t keep running and hope that Skip gives up trying to find you.”

  “I have no choice. I can’t be what they deserve. They’re good men and they should be with someone perfect and beautiful and not tainted.”

  “Tainted? What are you talking about? You were abused and then you were tied up to a bed and forced into a situation you had no control over. You were damn lucky they weren’t successful in raping you or you would be in worse condition or who knows, maybe dead.”

  “If and when they learn about what happened, they won’t want anything to do with me.”

  “I don’t believe that. Hell, look at me with C.J., Hunter, and York. I was abused, treated like dirt by a man, and I thought no man would ever wa
nt me or could be trusted and then I come here. Because you told me about Chance and because you know how great of a town it is and how wonderful the people are. Happiness could be in the arms of Kenneth, Bender, and Sam.”

  “I can’t,” she said and lowered her eyes.

  “What are you not telling me? What are you so afraid of in being with them?”

  Shelby stared at her sister as her eyes filled up with tears again.

  “The scars.” She sniffled and then began to really cry. “I have scars from Blade cutting me.”

  Caroline hugged her tight and cried, too. She felt terrible. She was angry, sad, and disgusted with Skip and the men that hurt her sister. She pulled back.

  “How badly?” she asked.

  Shelby wiped her eyes. “Under both breasts and on my mound.”

  Caroline clenched her teeth. “Bastard,” she said and Shelby nodded.

  “There’s something I learned about love, about men who really care about a woman on the inside as well as on the outside. When there’s love, and it’s real, nothing else matters. It makes you feel alive, on top of the word. Free, Shelby. Do you want that? Do you want to be free, and to be loved for who you are scars and all?”

  Shelby shrugged her shoulders.

  “A yes or a no answer,” she pushed. Caroline held her gaze.

  “Yes,” Shelby said. “But—”

  Caroline placed her finger over her lip, signifying for her to not say a word.

  “Then fight for it, Shelby. Fight for love. Fight for happiness, and fight for freedom. Because if you just give up, if you keep pushing away everyone who loves you, then what’s there to fight for? Nothing.”

  Shelby swallowed hard. “I’m scared to.”

  Caroline gave her sister a soft smile.

  “Late at night, when I first got home from the hospital and was having nightmares, Hunter held me close and whispered into my ear. ‘Fear only has the power you give it.’ As a Navy Seal he faced some pretty fearful times and missions. But he never let them break his resolve to get home to his family, or change the person he was. He continued to fight and to not give into the fear. You need to do the same, Shelby. I need you here with me, so we can grow old together, raise children with one another, and share good times. Let the Pace men into your heart. Let these men in town and the sheriff and my men help you. You’re not alone. These people, our friends, are our family. Accept it, embrace it, and let’s see what happens, together.”