The Muse: MMF Bisexual Romance

by A. Anders

  Gray lifted his gun. It didn’t get past his waist before he dropped it. Desperate to breathe, he reached for his throat, but it did no good. Coughing, Gray fell to his knees and died.

  I watched Rose as she stared intensely at the body below her. Looking at her, I knew she was wrong. She could control what was going on. How much of it, I still didn’t know.

  “Rose?” I said, barely able to speak.

  Her face melted when she turned and saw me. She hurried to my side. She didn’t know what to do. She was scared.

  Rose fidgeted over me. I knew that there was nothing she could do. I was losing blood all over the place, and a gunshot to the stomach was fatal.

  I reached up and grabbed her wet arm. All I wanted was for her to slow down and look at me. If my life ended here, I wanted her beautiful face to be the last thing I saw before I died, and my time was coming fast.

  Chapter 12

  My mind slowed down as I listened to the patter of the raindrops on the leaves. It was soothing. I was sure that my mind was easing itself into death. The mind-warping pain was also a tip off.

  “Brad! Thorin! Help!” Rose yelled.

  “Stop!” I said, knowing that they could have approved Gray’s plan. “Don’t risk it.”

  But she didn’t stop. She continued to yell until she got a reply.

  “Rose? Are you okay? Where are you?” Brad shouted.

  “I’m okay. Gray shot Ford. I need help.”

  I tried to object again, but I was too tired to speak.

  “Don’t move,” she told me, pushing me back down. “You’re losing a lot of blood. The others are coming. They’ll know what to do.

  “No,” I finally squeaked out over the blinding pain.

  “Trust me. I’ll protect you.”

  Rose lovingly touched my cheek and offered me a warm smile. It was comforting. It told me that she was going to do everything she could to protect me. Knowing that, my muscles relaxed.

  The sound of the building storm drowned out any approaching footsteps. All I could do was watch as Rose scanned the trees. I again wondered who the beautiful creature was next to me. I didn’t think I would ever completely know. All I knew was that she was complex and unlike anyone I had ever met.

  Rose stood as Brad and Thorin approached us. Brad immediately checked Gray and Thorin kneeled over me.

  “We couldn’t control him,” Brad explained. “Last night after Bob died, Gray took the guns and told us that he was gonna put an end to this. By the time we figured out what he meant, he was gone.”

  “He tried to kill me,” Rose said, touching her ear. “I’m alright. But…” She paused. “He was going to shoot me, and Ford stopped him.” She had left out the part where she was going to let him shoot her, but that was probably for the best.

  Thorin, who had been poking and prodding at me, stuck his hand under me in search of an exit wound. When he found it, his touch sent a blinding jolt of electricity through me. I couldn’t see or hear anything until the sensation subsided.

  “You’ve gotta help him,” Rose insisted as my senses returned to me. Both men looked away. “It was his plan to get to the compound,” Rose continued. “Do you really think you can get there without him?”

  “Can we get there with him?” Brad countered. “Carrying him would be like transporting dead weight.”

  Listening to the men debate my fate, I realized how Josh must have felt watching me carry Manny and Phil out, leaving him behind. Brad and Thorin were right. The smartest thing would be to leave me. I would slow them down. Everyone knew it.

  “No!” Rose exclaimed. “If you all leave him here, then I’m staying with him. And I’ll just accept that it was you two who let him die.”

  The two guys looked at each other. They understood that it was a threat. Yet, neither conceded.

  “You get it, right?” Brad asked with more directness than I would have expected. “You know what you’re asking us to do?”

  “To save the man who wouldn’t hesitate to save either of you if the situation was reversed?” Rose asked Brad, not backing down. “Thorin?”

  “Rose, Brad has a point. Our lives are at stake here. You are practically asking us to sacrifice our lives for his.”

  “I’m not asking for anything like that. I’m asking you to do the right thing. He would do the same for any of us. I think you know he would.” Rose paused before continuing. “But if you think Gray was right, if you think that killing me is the only way that you can save yourself, then I’m ready to die. Just promise me that you’ll help him once I’m gone.”

  As I watched Rose fight for my life, I finally began to understand who she was. In the military, we were taught to put your lives in someone else’s hands. As the man who always carried someone else off the battlefield, I thought it meant that I had to be ready to sacrifice my life for the man next to me.

  But now, lying helpless for the first time, I began to understand what it truly meant. Putting your life in someone else’s hands meant that you had hands to fall into when you needed help. Knowing that, I knew who Rose was. Rose was the person I could trust with my life.

  “If you leave, you’re leaving me here,” Rose said again.

  Thorin continued to argue while Brad did not. Withdrawing himself from the conversation, Brad seemed to be searching his soul. By the end, he appeared to be defeated. If I didn’t know him better, I would have sworn that he was giving up.

  As quickly as he gave me a glimpse of what he hid behind his smile, the glimpse was gone. Brad straightened up, stood tall, and removed any signs of sadness. Again looking confident, he glanced over at me and found me staring back.

  We looked at each other for a moment. He knew that I had seen behind his curtain. I wondered if he would be embarrassed. His response was to give me a playful smile and then walk away.

  Rose called after him, but he kept going. Quickly, he was deep within the trees and out of sight. I thought that was the last I would see of him, but to everyone’s surprise, in minutes, he was back.

  Rose and Thorin stopped talking as he pushed past them. Kneeling next to me, he spit a wad of something thick into his fingers. He then shoved it deep into my wound, and yeah, it hurt.

  He followed that with three more of the same. He was not gentle. It was excruciating. I couldn’t form words, but I gave him a guttural review of his bedside manner.

  Brad flashed me a devilish smile and leaned in so only I could hear. “I always knew that I would make you moan.” Uhhh, yeah, I didn’t have a response to that.

  “What did you put in him?” Rose asked.

  “It’s a mixture of anticoagulants, disinfectants, and a little something that he might appreciate. With enough rest, he’ll be fine.”

  Brad looked up at Rose. She was speechless.

  “You’re welcome, by the way,” Brad chided.

  “Thank you!” she finally said.

  The guys dragged me under a tree as we waited out the downpour. As I lay there enjoying the extra he added for me, I wondered why he had helped me. The guys were right. They gained nothing by helping me, and Brad had to know that with me gone, his chances were very high.

  Perhaps he thought he would get points with Rose for helping me. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it had to be something. Brad never stopped playing the game.

  “Thank you,” I said when I could speak again.

  He looked at me and barely acknowledged what I had said. “We need to keep moving,” Brad announced suddenly.

  “He needs more time to rest,” Rose argued.

  She hadn’t sat next to me, but she was keeping an eye on me. When I made a motion to get up, she was immediately by my side to stop me.

  “No, Brad’s right. We’ve spent too long here already. The rain’s lightening, and we have to keep moving.”

  I couldn’t get up on my own, so I was grateful when Rose offered me her shoulder.

  “We’ll take him,” Brad said, signaling Thorin.

  I couldn
’t help much, but I made sure that they didn’t have to drag me. Whatever Brad had put in me was amazing. Not only did it seal my wound, but I felt better by the second. Within an hour, I was supporting much of my own weight.

  I was testing my building strength when Brad startled me with a laugh. I looked at him, but he continued uninhibited. Perhaps because of the tension, his laugh brought an unexpected smile to all of our faces.

  Rose was the one to ask, “What’s so funny?”

  “This.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “All of this. Being trapped on an island with the black widow up there.”

  He nodded his head towards Rose. She stopped smiling when she realized that he was talking about her.

  “I’m grateful to you for saving my life and all, but cool it with the black widow crap,” I said, hoping it would be enough.

  “What? You don’t find this hilarious? Of all people, you’ve got to think this is funny. You didn’t even like her when you first met her. You didn’t care whether or not you got to stay. Now she’s got us doing everything we can to save you, and we’re doing it, knowing that she’s gonna kill us for it. If you don’t see the humor in that, then you’re just not looking.”

  “Seriously, Brad. Shut up,” I ordered.

  “I have to admit, it is kind of funny,” Thorin said from my other shoulder.

  “See, he gets it,” Brad said proudly.

  “Everyone, seriously, shut up!” I said in a hushed tone. “I think something’s following us.”

  Everyone froze, standing very still. I wasn’t sure what I had heard.

  “It’s the rain,” Thorin suggested.

  “Shhh!” I hissed.

  Thorin was right. The rain had gotten harder. It battered the leaves high above us and then hit the ground in large splashes, but I searched the millions of tapping droplets and heard it again.

  The noise stopped my breath. It sounded like someone desperately trying to suppress their laughter. My heart pounded as the image appeared in my mind: hyenas. We were being hunted.

  “Go!” I shouted knowing that they had heard it, too.

  We all moved as fast as we could. I knew I was slowing everyone down, but I couldn’t do anything about it. Even if I escaped the two men’s grasp, I was sure that Rose would lag behind to protect me. If she died, it could kill them all.

  No, the only thing I could do was block out the shots of pain that pulsed through me as I ran. Our attackers’ mocking laughter helped. I didn’t have to look back to know they were getting closer. With one almost on top of us, Brad did what I always guessed he would.

  Supporting me by the waist, Brad shifted his grip under my arm and pushed it over his head. Though I expected him to run off, I wasn’t quite prepared for it. I couldn’t yet support my weight. So when I slipped in the wet dirt, I took Thorin down with me.

  Unable to stop my momentum, I slid face first through the mud. Needing to see what was coming, I anchored my fingers and twisted. As I turned, a lone hyena burst through the branches. Its manic eyes were focused on me. Knowing I was defenseless, I decided to give Thorin as much time as I could to escape.

  Two steps away, and then one, it leapt towards me. Its fangs and teeth were aimed at me. Its yelps enveloped me and then gunfire exploded.

  The hyena continued forward, lowering its head. I froze as its muscular body enveloped me, collapsing on top of me. Though I expected to feel the familiar rip at my flesh, I felt nothing. With one shot, it was dead.

  I looked around to see who had done it. Brad lowered his gun. I was stunned.

  “Come on,” he commanded, helping me back onto his shoulder.

  Running again, we didn’t have to guess if more were behind us, as their cries assaulted our ears. We could hear a lot of them. I wondered if scaring them off the first time had caused them to bring in reinforcements.

  “Over there,” Rose shouted from ahead.

  I looked to our right through the curtain of rain. I could make out a clearing, and on the far side, I could see a cave with a four-foot opening. It would be a perfect place to hide if not for one problem; it was the only dry spot on this island. The odds of finding it empty were zero to none. But what choice did we have? We would have to fight our way in.

  “Someone with a gun go first,” I ordered.

  “I’ll do it,” Brad volunteered, again making me wonder if I had known him at all.

  Brad handed me to Rose, and we watched him run ahead. I knew that the next few seconds would determine our fate. We didn’t have enough guns to fight off the approaching cackle. If Brad found something similar inside, our trek was about to end.

  Brad scurried into the cave gun first. Consumed by the darkness, he didn’t make a sound. His silence was swallowed by the yipping behind us. Succumbing to the moment, Rose began to shake under my arm.

  Feeling Rose’s fear cleared my mind. As weak as I was, I remembered my purpose. I was going to do everything I had to do to keep her alive. I was about to blindly order everyone in, when Brad’s voice echoed out from the cave.

  “Come in! It’s safe,” he yelled.

  Running to the opening, I shifted my weight onto Thorin. Pushing Rose forward, she crouched and slid in.

  Falling to the ground, I scurried in after her. As I crawled, Thorin pushed me forward. As I crossed the opening, Brad grabbed me under my arm and pulled.

  “Hurry!” Brad demanded before tossing me aside.

  With Thorin climbing in on top of me, Brad crouched by the cave’s opening, filling it with his body. A deafening gunshot echoed off of the claustrophobic walls. My ears felt like they were bleeding. When Brad fired a second shot, it made it worse.

  Even after removing my hands from my ears, it took five minutes for the buzzing to diminish. When it did, the first thing I heard was the crackle of horrific laughter. I had preferred the buzzing. A minute after that, all of it fell silent to the hush of drumming rain.

  Finally having caught my breath, I looked back up at Brad. He now sat in the entrance, though he was still focused and aimed. Looking past him through the curtain of water, I saw the hyenas. The drenched beasts paced wildly, plotting their way in, but with Brad standing guard, I knew we’d be safe.

  Turning back toward the darkness, a few shapes appeared. My eyes were beginning to adjust, and I could see Rose and Thorin leaning against the wall. Still lying in the mouth of the opening, I chose an open space to the side, and I crawled towards it.

  I grunted and groaned as I moved and had to catch my breath again once there. My panting became the only sound breaking our silence. After that, we all sat quietly focused on the rain-battered hyenas moving back and forth beyond the opening. We were protected from them for now, but we all knew that we weren’t really safe.

  “We’re running out of time,” Thorin announced, barely softening his voice.

  “Do you have any bright ideas? Because I’m all ears.” Brad mocked.

  “There are less of them now,” Rose pointed out.

  I looked past Brad at our wet jailers. She was right.

  “We’ll wait for them to leave, and then we’ll all go,” Rose continued.

  “No,” I corrected. “You all will go. I’ll stay here.”

  “Are you abandoning your men again, commander?” Rose taunted.

  The words pierced my heart as suddenly as any bullet could. It was as if she had had them locked and loaded, ready to fire. At my first attempt to speak, all I could do was swallow.

  “No,” I eventually said. “I’m helping you all survive.”

  “You can’t help us if you’re not with us. And you certainly can’t help us if you’re dead.”

  Brad snorted his derision. Rose looked at him but didn’t respond. Her favoritism toward me was obvious. I wanted to equalize things, but I didn’t know how.

  When she had offered to sacrifice herself, I had stopped her. Now that I was trying to sacrifice myself, she was blocking me at every turn. I had no more r
ight to be upset with her than she had to be with me.

  “We’re gonna stay here. Ford will have time to rest and maybe those things will lose interest,” Rose explained.

  “All of us might not survive until then,” Thorin pointed out. He was saying what everyone else was thinking.

  “Then what do you suggest we do?” Rose challenged. “Do you wanna kill me? Is that what you want?”

  “No. I never said that,” Thorin replied meekly.

  “Then what? Fight past what’s outside? I don’t remember you doing so well the last time we had to do that, Thorin. In fact, I remember you on your knees crying like a baby, and the man who saved your ass needs more time to rest. So tell me, do you want to head the charge and lead us where we need to go, Thorin?”

  The darkness hid his true humiliation, but it was as clear as a stench that threatened to suffocate us.

  “Yeah. I didn’t think so,” she concluded, allowing the cave to again fall silent.

  No one dared speak for hours after that. Every so often, I checked for pain. My miraculous recovery continued on pace. I still couldn’t walk on my own, but I wasn’t sure if magic dust could have done much better.

  The rain continued as the sun set, and the daytime gloom was replaced by the tower’s light. It was as we stared at the diminishing cackle that the tower shifted from white to pink. When it did, Brad and Thorin looked at Rose. I did not.

  Brad snorted. “You can never guess how your life will end up, can you?” He released Rose from his gaze and became surprisingly relaxed.

  “You know, I call myself a botanist, and maybe that’s what I once was. But I know that all I am now is a glorified drug dealer. And I’m not even very good at that. There’s one rule, ‘Never get high on your own supply.’ But I guess I’ve never been much for following rules.”

  I listened to Brad wondering what he was doing. But seeing the light redden behind him and his grip tighten on his gun, I had an idea.

  “I’m with you, Ford,” Brad said, drawing my attention. “I didn’t come here looking for love. I don’t even know what that is. Do you all wanna know how I made my living before these game shows? I was an entertainer. And when you’re sexually liberal, you can always find work.