by Rose Nickol
“Okay…” Angie answered, her voice full of trepidation. She wasn’t sure she was ready for this. She enjoyed spending time with all four brothers and was starting to see how a life would work for the five of them, but was she ready for this?
Hunter reached out and took her hand, “Take a deep breath, baby. We aren’t trying to scare you.”
Rock grabbed her other hand. “Angela, we all love you and want to spend more time with you. We want you to move in with us. Will you think about moving in and living with us? You don’t have to decide tonight.”
“Oh…I thought you were…well…I mean.” She laughed and buried her face in her hands.
“I know what you thought, and we all want that eventually, but it’s a little soon. Why don’t you move in with us and we’ll see how things go? Can you take that step?” Sawyer moved to sit on the bed beside her and wrapped one arm around her.
“Yes. Yes, I can do that. I mean, yes, I will move in with you. I’d like that and I think Todd will, too. We can tell him tomorrow.” Angie let herself relax into Sawyer’s body. This was good.
Sawyer moved up on the bed and pulled Angie with him. He pulled her up until she was lying on top of him. “I’ve been waiting to have you here with us again.
Rock walked back over to the bed. “I guess we could have handled that a little better.”
“It’s okay. I…well, you know what I thought. That day will come. It just feels like things are happening fast. I have more than myself to worry about now.” Angela didn’t know why she felt the need to explain.
“Don’t worry about it.” River crawled up in the bed beside her. He moved her down until she was nestled between him and Sawyer.
Hunter started the fireplace and dimmed the lights. Then he crawled up in the bed with them.
River moved her until her head was resting on his shoulder. “Perfect. This is where you belong.”
Angie nodded. “I agree. You all make me feel so safe and cherished.”
River leaned down and brushed a soft kiss against her lips. “Once you get moved in with us, it will be like this every night if you want. One or all of us will sleep in here with you. Or you can sleep alone.”
“I sleep so much better when you are with me. For a while I’d like all of you.”
“We can do that, baby.” Rock crawled up from the foot of the bed and leaned over her. He took her lips in a deep kiss.
Angie wrapped her arms around his neck and threaded her fingers through his soft red-brown hair. It was just a little long, more than enough to bury her hand in.
Rock reached down and pulled her shirt over her head. She lay there on the bed naked with all four men looking at her, their eyes filled with lust and something more.
“You’re so beautiful,” Rock whispered and took her lips again. He kissed her until they were both breathless. “We all want you tonight,” he said against her lips. “Unbutton my shirt.”
Angie moved her hands from his hair and started undoing the buttons down the front of his shirt.
Sawyer, River, and Hunter jumped off the bed and removed their clothes, then got back in the bed with her and Rock.
“You need to take your jeans off,” Angie told Rock after she finished unbuttoning his shirt and pushed it down his shoulders. He lifted off her, and she undid the button and zipper on his jeans.
Rock sat up long enough to push his jeans down his legs and throw them over the side of the bed. He switched places with Angie, putting her on top of him. Sawyer and Hunter were on each side of her, and River moved behind her.
Rock lifted her, and she helped him ease inside her. She slowly slid down until he was fully sheathed inside her.
“We’ve missed having you here,” River said, his mouth brushing the nape of her neck.
“We’ll be able to do this as often as you want when you are living with us.” Sawyer picked up one of her hands and wrapped it around his cock.
“Todd can still stay with Dustin if he wants, and maybe Dustin can spend some time here with him.” Hunter leaned in and started brushing kisses along her shoulder and down to the top of her breast.
All four men were touching her. Angie closed her eyes and just let herself feel. She’d never imagined being with more than one man, but these four made her life complete. She didn’t know what she’d do without them.
Chapter Sixteen
The next few days the men were scheduled at the fire station. While they were at work Angie packed a few things from the house while Todd was at school during the day.
She was loading her car one day, getting ready to pick up Todd, when she noticed a car driving slowly down the street. She didn’t think much of it until she saw the same car drive by Todd’s school while she waited to pick him up. The windows were dark, and she couldn’t see who was driving.
She watched it drive by a few more times, and then Todd was getting in the car and she didn’t think anything more about it.
Angela was busy listening to Todd tell her about his day and didn’t pay attention to the car behind her. She was driving and talking when she felt the hit. She looked up in the rearview mirror to see the same car she’d seen earlier behind her, and it was speeding up.
“Hold on, Todd,” she screamed and stomped her foot on the accelerator. The car lurched forward, and she saw the distance between her and the car behind her increase.
“Todd, I want you to get my phone out of my purse and dial 911. Can you do that for me?” Angie said, trying to be calm and not scare him.
He started to undo his seat belt. “No, baby, I need you to stay belted in. Can you reach it without taking your belt off?”
“Yeah, I’ll try,” Todd answered and started squirming around to reach Angie’s purse which was under her feet.
“Just be careful, honey.” Angie tried to watch Todd and where she was going and look in the mirror to see what the car behind her was doing.
“Got it!” Todd said, holding the phone up.
“Great. Now sit back up. Do you know how to turn it on?” Angie didn’t let Todd play with her phone often.
“Yeah. What do I call?” Todd was looking at the phone.
“Nine-one-one for an emergency. Remember I told you if I was hurt or you were in trouble and need help?”
“Yeah. Ms. Jean told us that, too.” Todd dialed the phone.
“Can you put it on speaker?” Angie asked, not wanting to have to hold the phone.
She heard ringing and, “Nine-one-one, what is your emergency?”
Angie calmly explained what was going on and where she was. She was surprised she was able to be so calm.
She glanced back in the rearview and saw the car coming again. “The car’s trying to ram us again,” she told the operator.
“Do whatever you can to safely avoid. I have police, fire, and rescue in route. Don’t hang up the phone until they are with you. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Angie said and pressed harder on the accelerator. She was glad she’d used some of the money from her grandmother to buy a new car. She wouldn’t have been as confident in an older one.
“Hold on, honey,” she told Todd as she increased their speed even more. She was glad there wasn’t a lot of traffic, but maybe if there had been, the car behind her wouldn’t have been so brave.
Angie glanced down at the speedometer, and she was going close to ninety miles an hour. That was fine on the straight part of the road, but there were curves coming up ahead and she didn’t know what she was going to do then.
“Angie, are you still there?” the operator on the phone asked.
“Yes. There are curves coming ahead, and I don’t know what to do,” Angie answered, her voice a little frantic.
“Just keep calm. The emergency responders are on the way. They should be there in less than five minutes.”
“I don’t know if I have that much time,” Angie said, looking in the rearview mirror again.
She glanced over at Todd, and he looked as terrified as
she felt. What was she going to do?
Todd reached his little hand over and put it on her leg. “I wish Sawyer, Hunter, River, or Rock were here.”
“So, do I, baby. So do I.” Angie looked back again and saw the car was still behind her, but she could also see blue and red flashing lights in the distance.
Chapter Seventeen
“Was Angie heading to the house right after she picked up Todd, or are we picking them up at her place?” Hunter asked Rock while they were checking out the equipment on the fire truck.
“We are meeting her at the house…” he started to say before the speaker went off. They had a call.
They listened to the details, then grabbed their gear and headed for the truck.
They headed out to the truck, working as a team like always. River was driving while Rock radioed in for more details.
“Female driver with an aggressive unknown behind her. Unknown has attempted to ram subject’s car. They are both traveling at a high rate of speed. No injuries at this time. Outcome unknown at this point.”
Rock acknowledged the information, and they all sat quietly, mentally preparing for what they might face. At this point, there were no injuries, but with the fact that there was an active pursuit and more vehicles might become involved, it was hard to tell what might happen.
They drove for a few minutes, and then Rock radioed for an update. There was no new information, so they continued as quickly and as safely as possible.
It didn’t take long before they caught up with the police cars and could see that they were chasing two cars. An older sedan and an SUV. Both looked very familiar.
As they got closer he recognized the sedan as the car that Angie’s brother Thomas had used. After the police had taken Thomas into custody, they had arranged to have the car towed, and Rock hadn’t thought any more about it.
“Isn’t that…” River asked, seeing the car the same time Rock did.
“Yeah. I think so,” Rock answered, reaching in his pocket for his phone.
“Who are you calling?” Sawyer asked. He was driving and concentrating on the road.
“I’m calling the police station. I want to find out if Thomas is still in custody.” Rock started talking on the phone.
“How would he have gotten out?” Hunter asked. If it was Thomas in that car, this was so not good.
Rock hung up the phone and looked at his brothers. “It’s not Thomas. He’s still in jail.”
“Then what the hell? Who could it be?” River asked, leaning forward as if that would help him see who was in the car.
“Look, they’re trying to ram Angie’s car. Whoever’s in that car is trying to force her off the road.” Sawyer sat up straighter and increased their speed a little. He couldn’t go much faster without the possibility of hitting one of the police cars.
“You got to ease off a little, Sawyer. The cops need room to maneuver if necessary. Give them some room if they need it.” Hunter said, watching what was unfolding in front of them.
“Are we sure it’s Angie?” Rock asked, hoping it wasn’t.
“I know a way to find out quickly,” River grabbed his phone before Rock could tell him why it was a bad idea.
“No, don’t…” Rock started to say.
“Why?” River asked, holding his phone.
“If it is her, I don’t want her distracted trying to answer the phone,” Rock explained.
“Oh shit! I didn’t think of that.” River looked at Rock in a panic.
“Hello.” Todd’s voice came out of the phone.
“Hey, buddy,” River said, watching the car ahead of them.
“Angie’s driving really fast. I’m scared.” Todd’s little voice came over the speaker of Rock’s phone.
“We’re behind the police, buddy. As soon as it’s safe for Angie to stop, we’ll be there,” River told him, not knowing what else to say.
“I’m afraid to stop.” Angie’s voice came over the phone.
“I know, baby. There’s a little straighter road. I think if you can gun it and get some space between you and whoever’s behind you, that will give the cops a chance to get between you and slow things down. Can you do that?” River said calmly.
“I’ll try,” Angie replied.
Rock used his phone to call the 911 operator and explain who they were and what was happening, hoping they could relay to the police officers what the plan was.
* * * *
Angie listened to River explain what they wanted her to do. She didn’t know if it would work or not, but at this point she had to try something.
“Todd, I need you to hold on real tight. I’m going to try what River said and see if I can get us out of this mess. I’m gonna lock all the doors. Hold on.” She stomped her foot on the accelerator and said a quick prayer.
She felt the rear tires slide as she jammed on the pedal. “Oh shit!” she yelled, and everything went black.
Chapter Eighteen
One week later
“I think that’s the last of it,” River said, carrying a box down the stairs.
“We’d better check to make sure,” Rock said, passing him by and walking up the stairs.
A few minutes later he came out and turned to lock the door. They loaded the boxes and other things in the back of the truck and drove away, not sure when or if they’d be back.
Rock and his brothers had watched in horror as the rear end of Angie’s car slid, almost throwing the car off the road and into the ditch. If that had happened, the vehicle she was driving would have flipped for sure.
Luckily that hadn’t happened. She’d been able to control the skid and straighten out. She’d hit her head against the window and blacked out for a few seconds after she got the car stopped. Other than a small bump on her head, both she and Todd were fine.
The police had overtaken the driver of the car that was chasing Angie and Todd and forced them off the road. Inside the car had been Ms. Jean, Todd’s teacher, and several of the gang members Thomas had been involved with.
The leader of the gang had decided that if they couldn’t get the money from Thomas, they would get it from his family. Thomas had been stupid enough to have the gang take him to Angie’s house and Todd’s school.
When they got to the school, they had planned to take Todd and force Angie to give them money that way, but they had been too late. Angie had already gotten Todd, so they had kidnapped Ms. Jean, hoping to use her for leverage against Angie.
“Are Angie and Heidi still at the hospital?” Rock looked at River.
“As far as I know. They were going to try and be there in case Ms. Jean woke up.”
“Did Angie tell you what the doctors said?” River moved a box and closed the hatch on the back of the SUV.
“Yeah. It’s only a matter of time before she wakes up,” Rock answered and got into the driver’s seat.
* * * *
Angie sat by Maryjean Nicholls’s—Ms. Jean to her students—bed waiting to see if today would be the day the woman woke up. When she had been kidnapped by the drug dealer trying to extort money from Angie, they had given her a cocktail of drugs to knock her out. The combination had reacted badly with her system, and she still hadn’t woken up. The doctors couldn’t figure out why. She should have woken days ago.
The three men from the sheriff’s office, Chad, Zeke, and Brock Parsons, had been stopping by every day to check on Maryjean and see how she was doing. They had all helped extract her from the hands of her kidnappers.
“Any news?” Zeke asked quietly when he saw Angie holding Maryjean’s hand.
“Nothing new. The doctor was in a while ago and said that nothing’s changed. They don’t want to try any more meds, not knowing what her allergies or past history might be. They are working and trying to get the school to release her records and contact some family, but the school board isn’t being cooperative and getting a judge’s order takes time,” Angie answered. What a mess. She had become friends with Todd’s teacher, but di
dn’t know that much about the woman other than the fact she was a few years older than Angela, divorced, and had just moved to Rockville, Florida, from somewhere out west. Angie wasn’t sure where.
“You’ve got our number to call us if she wakes?” Brock asked. One of the brothers asked every time they visited to make sure someone would call them. Angie wasn’t sure whether their interest in the woman was professional or personal and didn’t know them well enough to ask.
“Yes,” Angie reassured him again. “I have all three of your numbers added to my phone, they are in her chart, and all the nurses know to call one of you and to keep calling each number until someone answers. And we have the number to the station and dispatch to try also.”
“Okay, I get it. We’re a little obsessed,” Zeke said with a laugh.
“Just a little, (stalker).” Angie laughed with him and decided the interest the men had in Maryjean was probably more personal.
“I’m going to head home. The guys were packing up the last of the house today, and it’s about time to get Todd. I just wanted to sit with her for a little while. I wish I knew if she had any family that would be worrying about her. Are you staying?” she asked as she gathered her things and walked toward the door.
“Yeah, I’m off duty tonight, and I told Brock and Chad that I would sit with her for a couple hours.” He held up a book. “I’m going to read to her for a while. Maybe she’ll hear me and wake up to find out the end of the story.”
“Good luck.” Angie gave Zeke a quick hug and headed to the school to get Todd.
Epilogue
One year later
“Angie, am I going to Dustin’s?” Todd called as Rock and River helped Angie into the car.
“Yes, honey. Sawyer and Hunter are going to drop you off while River and Rock take me to the hospital.” Angie held on to Rock as he carefully guided her to the waiting SUV.
“I could carry you, baby,” River said from her other side.