Salvation [Slick Rock 15] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Becca Van

  * * * *

  Carly sat at the kitchen counter and watched Rocky and Bull cook breakfast while she sipped on the cup of coffee Ridge had handed her before he hurried outside to give the ranch hands their orders. Her stomach growled at the delicious, tantalizing smell of cooking bacon, eggs, toast, and pancakes. She’d offered to help, but they had refused. Now she wished she was doing something because each time they glanced at her she became increasingly agitated. The glances they sent her way were full of heat, and she squirmed again when her pussy pulsed with an empty, aching need.

  She drew in a quiet, deep breath and hoped they hadn’t heard her, but all of the Atkins brothers seemed to be attuned to every little thing she did. Bull’s gaze was once more locked on her, and he was frowning.

  “Are you okay, baby?”

  “Yes,” she answered, and as she lifted the mug of her coffee to her mouth, she moved her arms in front of her breasts to hide her hard, throbbing nipples. Bull’s gaze dropped, and when he licked his lips, she lowered her head and bit back a moan. There had been a fiery heat in his eyes, and though that fact didn’t make her uncomfortable, the thought of him knowing how much she craved his, Ridge’s, and Rocky’s touch did.

  Her whole body felt as if it was on fire and she had no idea how to put out the flames.

  When she heard more than one pair of footsteps coming her way, she gazed toward the front door, wondering why Ridge was coming back that way when he’d left by the back. She hunched her shoulders and was glad that she’d left her long, brown hair down and used it as a shield. She didn’t want to meet any of the ranch hands just yet. She needed to find her feet and what made the Atkins brothers tick before wanting to meet anyone else.

  Carly sometimes felt that she was drowning. Her life was careening out of control. She felt as if she was in a boat being tossed about by massive waves with no way to steer. Her emotions were in turmoil, and her grief seemed to raise its ugly head whenever it wanted.

  “Carly?”

  She lifted her head and met Ridge’s gaze before glancing behind him to the three men crowding in the doorway.

  “These three guys are the local sheriffs and deputy sheriff,” Ridge explained. “This is Sheriff Luke Sun-Walker, Damon Osborn, and Deputy Sheriff Will Blanchard.”

  Carly nodded as she sucked in a breath. “Hi.”

  “Nice to meet you, Carly.” Luke Sun-Walker came forward, offering his hand.

  Carly shook hands with him and then Damon and Will.

  “Breakfast is ready,” Bull announced as he came up behind her.

  She’d been preoccupied greeting the sheriffs and hadn’t noticed that Bull and Rocky had set everything out on the table. She’d also thought that they were making enough food to feed an army but hadn’t commented on it. It made sense now that the three other men were heading to the table.

  “Come and have a seat, darlin’.” Ridge clasped her hand and helped her to stand before guiding her across the room.

  When she was seated, he sat next to her and Rocky was on her other side. Bull sat across from her and the sheriffs were in line next to Bull. The table was big enough to seat at least another four people without having to cram them close together.

  The food was passed around and they ate in companionable silence until Carly had eaten her fill. She had no idea how Ridge expected her to eat the mound of food he’d piled on her plate and had no intentions of even trying. She leaned back in her seat as she pushed her plate aside and sipped at her coffee.

  “Carly.” Ridge stroked her back with his large hand. “I called the sheriffs first thing this morning and asked them to have breakfast with us so that you could tell them what’s happened.”

  Carly should have been angry at him for doing such a thing, but she wasn’t. In fact, she was grateful. The more law enforcement officers who knew about Scott Gold and were looking for him, the better. The man had killed five healthy, capable men, including her brother. He needed to be put behind bars before any other innocent person lost their lives.

  She nodded and drew in a deep, steadying breath as she went over what she’d told Ridge, Bull, and Rocky last night. When she’d finished that part, she paused to take a sip of her coffee and was surprised to find the mug empty. Bull jumped from his seat and hurried into the kitchen, coming back with a full, freshly brewed pot, as well as cream and sugar.

  Ridge took her mug from her, made her coffee just the way she liked it, and then placed it on the table in front of her.

  “Thanks.”

  He smiled at her as he scooted his chair closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “You need to tell us the rest, darlin’.”

  Carly thought for a couple of moments before she began to talk again.

  “When I was recovering in the hospital, Scott somehow found out which one. I never saw him or even knew he was there because he waited until the early hours of the morning to pay his visit.

  “He must have managed to lure the officer away from his post and into the stairwell where he killed him. Apparently he was about to enter my room, but a male nurse saw him and called out. Scott ran, and though hospital security and the police were called, he eluded them.” Carly paused to swallow around the lump in her throat.

  “Matt Hewitt was one of my brother’s best friends. They’d been through military training together, and they were in the same unit. I’d never even heard of or met any of the men Shaun was friends with until a couple of weeks before…” She wiped at her eyes and inhaled deeply.

  “One by one, he took them out. He burned their houses down, and if I hadn’t decided to get takeout the night he went after Matt, I’d probably be dead, too.”

  She couldn’t stop the tears from leaking out of her eyes, and she was having trouble filling her lungs. Ridge took the half-full mug of coffee from her hands, pushed it aside, and then he lifted her from her seat and onto his lap. She covered the sob that erupted from her mouth before scrambling on his lap until she was straddling him. After wrapping her arms around his waist, she buried her face against his chest and took deep, shuddering breaths. A noise that sounded like a cross between a sob and a hiccup erupted from her mouth, and she giggled hysterically. Ridge enfolded her in his arms and held her tight.

  It took her quite a while to settle down enough for the pain constricting her chest and throat to dissipate and for the silent tears to stop flowing. Ridge was so strong and sturdy with his big, hard muscles and warm body, and she savored his heat, strength, and manly scent. His and his brothers’ presences had a calming influence on her.

  Because she’d eaten more this morning than she had for a long time, the food sat heavy in her belly. The queasiness was hard to ignore, but when she felt a hand rub over her shoulder, she turned to see that Rocky was frowning with concern. When he nudged Ridge’s shoulder, Ridge removed his arms from around her and then, to her surprise, passed her over to Rocky. He settled her sideways on his lap, one of his large, muscular arms wrapped around her waist. The other hand stroked over her head and hair.

  “Are you okay, sweetheart?”

  Carly nodded and heat suffused her cheeks. She felt a little disconcerted about having a breakdown in front of the sheriffs and hoped they didn’t think she was weak. However, when she glanced in their direction, she knew that thought had been unfounded. They looked just as concerned for her as Ridge, Rocky, and Bull.

  “How did you get away, Carly?” Luke asked.

  “Matt.”

  “Explain, Carly.” Rocky pulled her side tighter into his chest. The tension in her muscles began to recede as his warmth seeped into her.

  “As I told you, Scott Gold had already tried to kill Matt, and he was worried that the asshole would come back again. He was right. My brother’s friend helped me set up a run bag. It was filled with clothes and some of the insurance money I got because of the fire.

  “He told me that if I had to run to leave my cell phone and to never use any credit cards or to access my bank account. Each day
I would don a disguise, leave his home, and go to the bank. After withdrawing the daily limit, I then walked the back and side streets of Great Falls toward the bus station. Matt had acquired a locker where we hid my bag of clothes and toiletry essentials. By the time that bastard set the fire, I had ten thousand dollars in that bag, which was enough for me to survive on until I found somewhere to work.”

  “How long were you on the run for?” Deputy Blanchard asked.

  “Four very long weeks.”

  “You should be proud of yourself, baby,” Bull stated. “You held it together and did what you had to to survive.”

  “I don’t feel very brave. I was so scared he would find me or see me leaving Matt’s apartment. That fucker had to have been watching the place to know when to set it on fire.”

  “You’re right about that.” Ridge sighed. “But I don’t think he knew you would be able to get away from him.”

  Damon nodded. “He waited until you weren’t in the apartment before he made his move. I think he probably expected to return and offer you comfort.”

  Carly bit her lip and nodded. “As soon as I saw the smoke and heard the first responder sirens, I knew that something was seriously wrong and decided to take off. I have a small tablet and kept up with the Great Falls news anytime I was near free Internet hotspots in towns. Matt was the first of my brother’s friends to die. Glen was next, and then Troy.”

  She swallowed around a sob. “What I can’t work out is how that bastard was able to take those men out without them being aware of it. Why didn’t they fight? Why didn’t they get out of their burning homes?”

  “They probably couldn’t, sweetheart,” Rocky said in a raspy voice. “Maybe that fucker knocked on the door and when they opened it to let him in, he held a gun on them.”

  “I just wish—” Carly wiped at her tear-filled eyes.

  “What do you wish, baby?” Bull asked.

  “I wish my brother and the others had never met Scott Gold.” She paused to inhale when her breath hitched. “I wish that evil man never existed.”

  She wiped at her damp cheeks, feeling guilty for even thinking, let alone saying, such a thing, but she pushed the guilt aside. If that man had never been born, she’d still have her brother with her.

  Luke rose with a scrape of his chair, and Damon and Will followed suit. Luke met her gaze and said in an earnest voice, “We will do everything we can to catch that man, Carly. This town doesn’t tolerate violence or bullying of any sort toward women and children.” He paused to point at his work colleagues. “We’ll send out an alert, and if there are any available, we’ll also send out photos to each and every man and woman in this town. If Scott Gold so much as sets foot in this county, we’ll know about it.”

  Damon nodded in agreement. “The men in this town take care of their women, ma’am. Make sure you stay by their side and do as they tell you.”

  “If there’s anything we can do, don’t hesitate to call,” Will said. “My fiancée has dealt with a similar situation, Carly. If you need a woman to talk to, I’m sure she’ll be happy to come and visit.”

  Carly nodded her thanks and tried to smile but knew she’d failed miserably when Bull frowned at her. She sank back against Rocky, following the men with her gaze as Ridge and Bull saw the sheriffs out. Now that she’d finished telling them everything that had happened, she felt totally drained, physically as well as mentally. All she wanted to do was crawl into bed, curl up into a ball, and fall asleep, but it had been over four weeks since she’d slept the night through. Each and every time she closed her eyes her brain seemed to go into overdrive, imagining the pain and horror her brother and his friends must have suffered before they died. She hoped that they were unconscious or had died from smoke inhalation or maybe from a gunshot wound, because to her, being burnt alive was one of the most horrific ways a person could die.

  “Carly, look at me, sweetheart,” Rocky demanded.

  She lifted her head from his chest and met his gaze.

  “What were you thinking about?”

  She shook her head and lowered her eyes.

  Rocky gently gripped her chin between his finger and thumb so she had to meet his gaze. “Talk to me, sweetheart. I’m worried about you. You’re panting.”

  “I just… I–I… It horrifies me thinking of the pain Shaun and his friends suffered before they—”

  Rocky placed a finger on her lips. “Don’t. Don’t even go there, sweetheart. Don’t torture yourself like that.” He swallowed audibly, and Carly saw the tears forming in his eyes. “Shaun, those other men, they didn’t, wouldn’t have suffered, sweetheart. That motherfucker probably shot or knocked them out before he set their homes on fire.”

  “But what if they didn’t?” she cried. “What if he tied them up?”

  “They would have died of smoke inhalation, Carly. They wouldn’t have felt a thing. They would have fallen asleep and then slipped away.”

  Carly swiped at the tears on her face and sniffed. “Promise me. Promise me that my brother didn’t suffer unendurable agony.”

  Rocky cupped her face between his hands and stared intently into her eyes. “I promise, sweetheart. Shaun wouldn’t have known anything.”

  As she searched his gaze and saw the sincerity in his eyes, she began to calm down. The tension in her neck and shoulders eased and her rapid heartbeat and panting breaths slowed, too. That was until she saw a change in his blue eyes. They went from concerned to hungry within a blink of an eye, and when he glanced down at her lips, she licked them unconsciously.

  Her heart flipped and sped up again. She’d never seen a man look at her the way Rocky was. There was so much heat in his eyes she gasped, and when he lifted his gaze from her mouth to meet her gaze again, she stopped breathing altogether.

  Rocky breached the gap between them and brushed his lips over hers. When she sighed, her lips parted and his tongue slipped into her mouth, rubbing along and twirling around hers. Liquid fire permeated her body to her heart and soul as he kissed her passionately. She’d never expected him, Bull, or Ridge to make a move on her since she’d suspected they still saw her as a little girl. Excitement raced through her body, sending elation into her chest. Rocky was kissing her, and she loved every minute of it. When he slowed the kiss down and broke away, she nearly groaned with disappointment, but she swallowed the sound back down as she gasped for breath. Never in her wildest dreams had she experienced such a wildly passionate kiss, and now that she had, she craved more.

  However, what she wanted to know more than anything was why Rocky had kissed her. Was he playing with her? Or had it just been his way to offer comfort? If that were the case, then she would never let him kiss her again.

  Chapter Six

  Bull knew the second he entered the kitchen that something had happened between Carly and Rocky. The air was so thick with tension he could have cut it with a knife. Ridge came in behind him and stopped right next to him when he felt the conflict going on between Rocky and Carly.

  All of a sudden, she scrambled from his lap and hurried across the room. If Bull hadn’t reached out to grasp hold of her arms, she would have barreled right into him. Her head was down, with her hair forward, as if to cover her face and keep her hidden.

  She gasped when he stopped her but continued to keep her head lowered. He glanced over at Rocky, and his brother puckered his lips and winked at him. A long, slow smile spread across Rocky’s face, and when he stood, he adjusted the fit of his jeans, drawing attention to the boner he had.

  “What’s wrong, darlin’?” Ridge asked as he moved around her and stood at her back.

  Carly didn’t answer verbally but still kept her head lowered as she slowly shook her head back and forth.

  Bull had had enough of her evasiveness, so he released one of her arms, cupped her chin in his hand, and nudged her head up. What he saw had anger surging through him. Carly’s face was red, and there were tears in her eyes. He glared over her head at Rocky. Rocky wasn’t slow
and knew that something was up when he met Bull’s scowl. The smile left Rocky’s face, and he walked over to stand at Carly’s side.

  “Shit! Why are you crying, sweetheart? Did I hurt you?” Rocky cupped her red cheek and looked as if he was holding his breath while he waited for Carly to answer.

  “What did you do?” Bull asked angrily.

  Carly flinched, turning her head to the other side, away from Rocky, and tugged her arm from his grip as she took a step back. She gasped when she bumped into Ridge but stilled instead of slipping out from between them.

  Ridge wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back against his chest.

  “He didn’t do anything,” Carly said after inhaling deeply.

  “Bullshit!” Bull frowned down at her.

  “I kissed her,” Rocky stated in a calm voice.

  “Why are you upset about that?” Ridge asked. “We’re all very attracted to you, darlin’. Bull and I would like to kiss you, too.”

  Bull nearly smiled when he saw Carly shiver and blink rapidly as if in shock. Her mouth gaped open as if she was going to say something before she snapped it closed again.

  “What the hell are you playing at?” she snapped as she looked up and back over her shoulder at Ridge. “Let me go.”

  “No,” Ridge replied before releasing her waist and quickly scooping her up in his arms. He took the few steps to the kitchen counter and plopped her ass down on the granite bench, caging her in with his arms on either side of her.

  Bull and Rocky walked closer to where Ridge had her pinned. He hoped like hell he would get the chance to kiss Carly, too, but he wasn’t about to push himself on her if she showed signs of discomfort or told him and his brothers no.

  “There’s some things about this town that you don’t know,” Ridge began as he nudged her knees apart and stepped between her legs.

  “Like what?” Carly asked a little acerbically.

  Bull had never heard that tone from her before, not even when she was pissed at them when she was little. He liked that she had a little fire in her, that that asshole hadn’t been able to totally destroy her heart and soul.