Brothers of Miller Ranch Box Set

by Natalie Dean

  Without a word, people began to hand her dishes of food, letting her take what she wanted from them and load herself up. There was also toast and some greens and a bowl of fresh fruit. It was basically what she would consider a feast, but these folks seemed to treat it just like any other breakfast.

  She had just finished getting a bit of everything on her plate when she heard several sets of footsteps coming down the stairs. Stiffening, she jolted only to see two more women coming down.

  And they couldn’t be more opposite from each other, could they? One was short and round, with truly impressive hips and thighs, freckles across her pale skin. The other was taller and slender, almost waifish. She was Asian, with her brown hair piled in a messy ponytail atop her head and full lips opened in a wide yawn.

  “Hey there, sleepyheads,” the blond bombshell said. “Bout time you joined us.”

  “Who you callin’ a sleepyhead?” the rounder one retorted. “We got in at four am. Basically just had a nap.”

  “Well, whose fault is that for coming back so late from their road trip?” the darker haired woman at the table said teasingly.

  “Excuse us for stopping and smelling the roses. Now, y’all gonna skootch to make room for us or make us stand here in our jammies.”

  “Alright, alright,” the tallest of the Bradley clones said, standing up. “Scoot over now everybody. There’s enough for all of us. We once fit fifteen people round this table.”

  “Forgive me for likin’ a little elbow room,” the blond bombshell said ruefully, but still standing and moving her chair.

  It was all so… nice.

  Which was weird.

  Nice, but weird. That could describe a whole lot of the situation.

  And yet somehow, besides the niceness and the weirdness and all of it, nobody asked her who she was or why she was there, or why her face looked like it had a fight with the broad side of a barn. And Sophia appreciated that. The less they knew about her, the safer they were.

  In fact, the only question came from Bradley himself.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked when most people were busy talking to each other or stuffing their faces.

  “Better,” she said.

  He nodded, seeming to take it at that, and she was more than a little relieved. For being some sort of stranger in the night, he didn’t seem to be that bad.

  Hopefully, she wouldn’t be around enough to see that change.

  It wasn’t until the meal was winding down, and half of the people had left the table, that Ma finally addressed Sophia.

  “So, what are your plans for the day? Bradley mentioned that you need to order some train tickets?”

  “Yes, but I need to research a couple of things first. And finish some work. You have Wi-Fi, right?” It was hard to imagine that anybody didn’t, but they were far enough away from things that maybe this mega-family was really old-fashioned.

  “Oh, of course. I’ll write the password down and put in in your room. I do have to clean up a bit first, so girls, if you don’t mind?”

  She shared a meaningful glance to the women at the table, and suddenly Sophia found herself swept up in the klatch of women, each of them saying something right after the other.

  “Ma mentioned your clothes are all packed up. How about we give ’em a wash and you can borrow something of ours?”

  “You look like you’re somewhere between Keiko and my size. I’m sure we can find something for you to lounge in for a few hours.”

  “Hey, I happened to just buy a brand-new skincare regimen from Korea! We could do our hands and soak our feet to pamper ourselves while we wait. Oh, I think there’s a hair mask too!”

  “There’s a hot tub if you wanna soak, but we gotta cut some wood for the boiler.”

  Sophia paused at that last one, looking to the shortest woman with the wide hips. “A hot tub?”

  “Yeah, biggest one I ever seen. The Millers had it special made since they have a whole brood of giant sons. Can fit all five of the boys and the parents too.”

  “Five?” Sophia questioned. “I thought there were just four.”

  “There are four who live here. The fifth—he’s the youngest. He’s not around too much.”

  “He’s a bit of a prodigal son,” Keiko added as if that explained everything. “But I have faith he’ll come back to his family. They love him very much.”

  “Let’s not get into all that,” the shorter one said. “I’m pretty sure we have shorts and a tank top you can borrow for the tub, if you want.”

  The thought of warm water and soothing jets on her battered body made Sophia’s knees weak. “Yeah, I’d like that. I’d like that a lot.”

  “Alright, then let’s all go get changed. I’ll have Bradley take your laundry to Ma while we’re busy getting the hot tub ready.”

  That didn’t seem right. “I can wash my own clothes.”

  “Oh honey,” the bombshell said, her red lips parting in an impish grin. “We have no doubt of that. But if you think for a second that Ma’ll let a guest in her house do their own laundry… well, you’ve got another thing coming there.”

  Actually, that made a lot of sense. “Alright. She doesn’t seem like the type I’d want to pick a fight with.”

  “No, she ain’t,” all of the women agreed.

  From there it was a trek upstairs, and then clothes were being shoved into her arms for her to try on. It was an exhausting affair, and by the time she was in a sports bra, camisole and shorts, she was more than ready for that hot tub.

  But first, there was apparently the whole cutting-wood thing.

  Sophia had approximately zero idea of what to do when they approached what had to be the wood cutting area, but the others seemed right at home. She’d learned their names during the whole clothing thing, and it was Chastity who stepped up first, her long, dark hair now up in a loose bun.

  Chastity was the eldest of the group, and wife of Ben, who was also the oldest Miller son. She was some sort of big deal career-wise, but Sophia hadn’t been able to quite catch the details of that. She seemed pretty nice, if not a little serious, and had a broad smile.

  Missy was the bombshell, all blond hair and red lips and a laugh that could make anyone grin. Sophia had expected her to be a bit snobbish, a bit like the popular girls that bullied her in school when she was young, but the young woman was anything but. She was mischievous and honestly told the most awful puns. She was apparently engaged to Bart, the second oldest who had been in the military. Sophia sensed that there was more of a story there but changing in and out of their clothes hadn’t exactly been the best time to investigate that.

  The slender Asian was Keiko. Apparently, she was a church friend of the family and a very, very close companion to Dani—who was the red haired, plus-sized one. Church folk automatically made Sophia nervous, if only because his family had used their connections in their congregation to pressure her to stay with her ex. Said that leaving him would be a sin. That maybe, if she let him be the head of the household that he needed to be and honored him, he wouldn’t need to… discipline her.

  In her head, she knew that not all Christians were like that. That how they had acted actually went against the very Bible they purported to believe, but the connection was already burned into her mind.

  Still, she doubted she had much to worry about with Keiko. The woman seemed kind and measured, meaning every word she said and saying everything she meant. She was almost the exact opposite of Dani, who seemed to have a constant monologue going on behind her eyes while saying less than a quarter of what she thought.

  Strangely enough, even with all of the personality and info she had about the group of women, they almost felt… safe. That was an odd concept, but maybe it was because there was safety in numbers.

  Or maybe it was because, even in the short time she had been with them, she could tell that all of these women were strong. Physically, in the case of Chasity, Missy (the guns on her were insane) and Dani, but also… more
than that. Even slender, waifish Keiko had a confidence to her. One that Sophia was maybe, kind of, jealous of.

  And strangely enough, being surrounded by these strong women, these women who knew how to handle themselves and chop wood and live on a Ranch filled with strapping men, made Sophia want to be less alone than she always was.

  “It was my ex,” she said finally, staring firmly at the ground.

  She heard the ax pause before it could hit the bit of wood Chastity had placed under it, and for a moment there was just silence.

  “The guy who attacked me last night. I don’t know how much Bradley told you, but it was my ex. He’s, uh, he’s not a nice man, and I left him a while ago. But he doesn’t want to let me stay left, so he keeps finding me.”

  There was movement, and then a gentle hand was on one of her shoulders. And then a hand on the other. Then two more hands were softly gripping her own. When Sophia could bear to look up, she saw that all four women were connected to her, a look of pained understanding on their faces.

  But no judgment.

  How was that possible?

  “I… I wish I could say that I left him after the first time he hit me. But I didn’t. He promised me he’d never do it again. And I foolishly believed him. Then eventually, I was too scared to leave. I—”

  “Hey,” Dani said softly, squeezing her shoulder ever so slightly. “It’s not your fault. We know those situations aren’t so easy to get out of.”

  Sophia nodded. “I managed to start working without him knowing. Doing art commissions and saving up. But he, uh, he found out. And that… that was a real bad fight.”

  She didn’t know why all of these words were pouring out now, but it filled her with relief, like the sheer weight of them had been building up pressure in her and she had been about to explode.

  “That was when I left him the first time. I filed a restraining order, got my own studio apartment, and found a job. I really thought I was going to leave him in the dust.”

  She swallowed, dark memories playing over again in her mind. The fear. The feeling like an animal, hunted and trapped by someone far stronger than her.

  “I was stupid. He broke into my apartment less than a month later. That’s when he gave me a concussion and blew out my pupil. And… some other stuff. I was in the hospital for weeks, and when I got out, I went to pressed charges.” She shrugged. “But eventually, the whole case was dropped.”

  “What? How is that possible?”

  “His father is the chief of police in one of the biggest precincts back where I lived. He’s got connections all over. So, when I finally realized that the authorities were never going to help me, I packed everything I could and ran. I’ve been running ever since. He’s managed to track down where I am a couple times over the past two years, but I’ve always managed to give him the slip. Back in the hotel…” She shuddered, replaying that scene in her head. She had been so sure that she was going to die. Just another statistic where someone would ask, ‘Why didn’t she just leave him?’

  Why was she telling these women all these terrible things? Now they were gonna judge her too. Think she was as stupid and weak as he said she was.

  “I really thought that everything was over.”

  There was a silence for a moment and Sophia dreaded it, wondering what the women around her were thinking, wondering why she had ever opened her mouth. But then a sharp cracking sound filled the air, and they all sort of jumped.

  Looking past Missy, Sophia saw Bradley carrying a laundry basket, no doubt taking it to the multiple clotheslines spread across a grassy hill. Or at least, he had been carrying it. Currently, the majority of the basket was on the ground with two cracked, plastic handles in his hands. Like he’d been so angry that he shattered them with his own grip.

  Her eyes went to his face. She saw a struggle there. What struggle, she didn’t know, but it was clear he was fighting some impulse. His gaze flitted to hers for just a moment, before quickly returning back to neutral.

  Without a word, he grabbed the base of the broken basket, turned on his heel, and marched right back around the house.

  “He must be going to use the dryer,” Dani said helpfully. “Ma likes to use the clothesline for energy saving purposes. You know, the environment and all that.”

  Sophia nodded, but inside, she felt embarrassment swamp her.

  She should have kept her mouth shut.

  “Hey, I have an idea,” Chastity said, stepping gently into Sophia’s field of view and interrupting her line of sight to where Bradley had just been.

  “Uh-huh?”

  “Why don’t you stay here for a couple of days? Then plan out where you want to go. You don’t have to worry about your ex coming here, and you’ll never have to be alone unless you want to. You’ll get three meals a day and a nice bed to sleep in. Not to mention Ma’s pretty great to talk to if you’re ever stuck in an internal debate—well, and in general—but you know what I mean.”

  “I can’t,” Sophia replied automatically. She’d already been caught in the town and sent to the hospital. If he knew what county she was in, it was only a matter of time before he found her.

  “Are you sure?” Chastity asked, just as gentle as before. “Or are you saying that because you’re scared? Because I understand being scared. And I understand feeling powerless. You won’t be that here, though. You’ll have all of us and even more that you haven’t seen yet.”

  As if taking that as her cue, Dani stepped away from their circle and started chopping wood again. Sophia could see the cords of muscle moving in her forearms. Missy turned as well, loading up large log chunks for the shorter woman to split. That couldn’t be easy either.

  Right. She was surrounded by strong women and rich people. These weren’t poor folks that her ex could terrorize or even bribe. He could slip one of them a cool hundred and they’d probably just laugh.

  Maybe… maybe it would do her good to recover a little, push out as many commissions as she could, and build up her nest egg again so that she could run whenever she needed to. And she would be lying if the thought of no ramen, Nutty Buddies or granola bars for a few days didn’t make her stomach jump for joy.

  “I… I guess it would do me some good to heal up before I hit the road.”

  “Good!” Chastity smiled and gently squeezed the upper part of Sophia’s arm. “I’ll tell Ma that you’ll be joining us for a bit. No doubt she’ll be thrilled. It’s been a while since she’s had new blood to fuss over.”

  Chastity looked over her shoulder and gave a few comments about how much wood was needed before heading back inside. Sophia watched, still too sore and tense to be of much help, until finally they had everything they needed. She did manage to carry a single armful of wood around to the tub which was much farther back than she expected, in a glen of wisteria, before the girls ordered her to rest. Not too much later, the tub was indeed bubbling and jetting, and Sophia was sinking in.

  Wow. That was every bit as nice as she expected. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, staying with these kinda intense, rich folks.

  Maybe, for once, she could have a real rest.

  6

  Bradley

  He watched Sophia—a lot.

  Not in a creepy way, or at least he hoped not, but she managed to end up in his peripheral vision quite often. He had been jazzed when Chastity had informed him and Ma that she was going to be sticking around for a bit. He knew he had no right, but he felt strangely protective of the woman, and the thought of her running off into the night with no money and a battered face made his stomach twist.

  His stomach still twisted a lot anyway, usually whenever he thought about that monster of an ex that had beat her and played mind games. Bradley tried to keep his emotions level, but it was hard. He wanted to find that man and teach him a lesson. Or a lot of lessons. Ranging from real men don’t hurt the people they love all the way down to it is the responsibility of the strong not to abuse the weak.

  But for every day tha
t passed, every day that he got to watch Sophia’s bruises shrink and her cuts mend, his stomach twisted a little less. She was slow to open up to any of them, of course, and still about as skittish as one could expect, but he saw her start to accept that they weren’t all about to pry into her business or chastise her for doing something wrong. Everyone in the house knew either the details of her situation or the peripherals, and Bradley was right proud of how they all were treating her.

  No one took offense when she flinched away from a hand that moved too quickly around her, or how she would jump and yelp if she was startled. They’d even all taken to knocking against a door or wall when they entered a room to announce their presence, or walking a bit heavier than usual.

  The only one who gave her a wide berth was Bart. He’d come home on her third day of being there after a round of sleep studies down at the VA, and apparently, Sophia’s nervousness and terror was a big trigger for his own PTSD. No one told Sophia, of course, because it wasn’t her burden to bear. The solution was that Bart visited the main house less often.

  The opposite could be said about Missy, though. She was especially great with Sophia, like she trained in exactly what to say and do to disarm the woman or make her laugh. She was the one he liked watching Sophia interact with the most, and he’d started taking his lunches later, and on the porch, so he could see whatever crazy thing Missy was teaching Sophia next.

  So far, they’d gone through some very basic self-defense, to tying different knots into ropes, into proper hand care for callouses and how to catch or run from an angry chicken. Bradley understood some of the lessons, but that chicken one definitely eluded him. Maybe it wasn’t for any reason other than to be silly. It certainly was nice to see Sophia laugh, open and loud.

  Several times Bradley wanted to go down and join in, take a break from his books, budgeting, and investments. But it was clear that Sophia was still much more wary of the men in the house than the women. She wasn’t outright scared, or even frosty, but he could tell that she would always tense up. And he didn’t want her to be tense with his family; he just wanted her to be happy. So he just stayed away for the most part.