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

by Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  “You’re so fucking incredible. You came in my arms,” Kenneth whispered and tried kissing her. She turned away. Bender’s hands stopped and he grabbed her hips, holding her in place from behind.

  She looked up at Kenneth.

  “I can’t do this with you. I can’t,” she said and started pulling away. Bender grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her up close against his chest. She felt how wet her panties were. She had come as both men pressed against her, aroused her, kissed her, and played with her breasts. How could she deny it?

  Bender held her gaze.

  “I’m not letting you go. Not until you tell us why you keep pushing away from us, and why you won’t give into this attraction we all feel.”

  “Bender, I can’t,” she whispered, and a tear fell and she wiped it away.

  His eyes squinted at her and his hold tightened. “I don’t like this. You’re keeping secrets, and my brothers and I are concerned to say the least.

  “We sure are,” Kenneth said, standing there with his hands on his hips and his shirt undone. Had she done that while he kissed her?

  She swallowed hard.

  “I already explained when Caroline was in trouble that I had a bad relationship. I’m trying to be independent, to establish my career and take care of myself. I don’t want or need anything else in my life right now.” Bender widened his eyes, and she could tell she probably insulted him. This wasn’t working. They were both staring at her, determined to break her down. She needed to get away from them. Being in their arms felt so good.

  “We’re not going to hurt you,” Kenneth said as he reached over and gently caressed a curl of her hair from her cheek and placed it over her shoulder. His thumb brushed over her cheekbone.

  “We’ll take things slow. We’ll work through your fears and reservations.”

  “There’s nothing to work through. I just can’t get involved with you.”

  “Tell us right now if this relationship you were hurt in is over, or if this has the potential of turning into something like what your sister was involved in,” Bender said, shocking her. Even when everything happened with Caroline, no one asked her about her last name being different, or about why she left New York and came here. These men knew she had a bad relationship but they didn’t think it was anything like Caroline’s with Cameron. Skip was worse. Skip had turned out to be a masochist. She found out that he was cheating on her and into some crazy shit when she walked into his apartment to surprise him on her lunch hour and there was a woman tied to the bed with welts and cuts along her back and ass. But the biggest shock was the dark smile on Skip’s face and the pleasurable moans that came from the woman’s mouth.

  She shivered.

  Bender gripped her cheeks.

  “See, right there. You were thinking of something bad, upsetting even now when we’re talking to you.”

  She shook her head. She felt the bile in her throat from the images she remembered. “I can’t,” she whispered.

  “Shelby Ann, please,” Bender said to her. His hands were on her, holding her, keeping her close, and she felt so safe, so secure with him and Kenneth there, but she couldn’t do this. She couldn’t let them in. What would they say when they saw the scars? How would they react when they found out what Skip had done to her? What would they think if they found out what she allowed Skip to put her through, and made her submit to or die?

  “I don’t want this, and I don’t want you or your brothers. Please leave me alone or I will call Max,” she threatened again, and she pressed away from Bender.

  Bender released her and he wasn’t happy about it as he exhaled then clenched his teeth and held his fists by his side.

  She hurried away from them and into Spencer’s. She felt like shit. Like the lowest possible piece of dirt for hurting them like that. But they were better off without her. Better off with someone who wasn’t scarred the way she was and emotionally unstable.

  “Shelby, what’s wrong?” Caroline asked as she hurried to her, stepping away from Hunter. One look at her sister’s men and she could see their instant concern. It hurt to know that she could have that, too, if it weren’t for her past and for what Skip had done.

  “I need to go home. Now,” she said to Caroline.

  Caroline looked over her shoulder and squinted her eyes at Shelby.

  “What did they do?”

  She held onto Caroline and forced a smile.

  “They didn’t do anything. I can’t give them what they want, Caroline. Please, understand.”

  Caroline looked confused. Her facial expression went from concern to sadness. She had her hand on Shelby’s shoulder.

  “I love you,” Caroline told her.

  “I love you, too. Stay, enjoy the night,” Shelby replied, forcing a smile.

  “Is everything okay over here?” C.J. asked, approaching.

  “Yes, just fine. I need to head out. I’m not feeling well,” Shelby lied.

  “Want one of us to give you a ride home?” York asked, joining them along with Hunter. Shelby was touched by their instant care for her, too. They didn’t need to look after Shelby. They needed to always look after Caroline.

  “I’ll be just fine. I hope you are enjoying the party, C.J.,” Shelby said to him. He gave a smile and then wrapped his arm around Caroline’s waist and pulled her close. “Very good time. Thanks for coming.”

  “Of course. Good night then,” Shelby said and the men kissed her good night.

  “I’ll walk her out,” Caroline said. Her men weren’t too happy about that. Ever since the day she was abducted and C.J. was shot, they were super overprotective of her. Shelby wouldn’t want it any other way.

  “I’ll go with them,” York said. “Come on, ladies,” he added and guided them from Spencer’s as Shelby said good night to other people and headed outside.

  * * * *

  “What are we going to do?” Kenneth asked Bender as they watched Shelby leave. York was walking her out. That should be them right now, not any other man and not her sister’s men either.

  “I don’t fucking know. I swear, she’s hiding something scary. I can tell,” Bender replied.

  “Do you think the sheriff knows? I mean, the rules are strict, and she did help her sister keep a secret about Cameron and that she was running and hiding.”

  “If that’s the case then Max needs to confront Shelby. It could be a means to getting her to accept us as her guardians. We would be the ones he picks,” Kenneth stated.

  “I don’t like that look in her eyes, when she’s lost in thought and it’s obviously something bad. She gets tense. Looks like she might cry or pass out of something,” Bender added.

  “What’s going on? What the fuck happened outside?” Sam asked as he approached.

  Kenneth explained and now Sam was upset as he ran his fingers through his crew cut and then looked toward Caroline and York as they came back inside and joined the others.

  “So what do you think we should do?” Sam asked.

  “Well, we have two choices. We go talk to Max, or we do a little investigating ourselves,” Kenneth said to them.

  “If she finds out then she’ll get pissed off,” Sam pointed out.

  “She’ll get over it. Here comes Max.” Bender nodded toward the sheriff as he approached. He greeted them and then looked over his shoulder before he spoke.

  “So, what the hell is going on?” Max asked them.

  “You tell us, Max,” Kenneth replied. He wasn’t going to be so nice if Max knew what danger Shelby was in and didn’t share it with them. He knew that they cared for her and wanted to make her their woman.

  Max raised one of his eyebrows at Kenneth. “Excuse me?”

  “What he means to ask is whether or not Shelby has confided in you about her past and the possibility of any trouble she could be in?” Bender asked.

  Max took a sip from his bottle of Bud and then looked around them. “She hasn’t told me anything, but the fact that she uses her mother’s mai
den name for all her documents and her paychecks from you, Kenneth.”

  “Her mother’s maiden name?” Kenneth asked, learning this for the first time. Granted, he had an office assistant that handled payroll and such, but she never mentioned anything about Shelby’s name being different.

  “So it’s Walters not Cummings? We all assumed that maybe they had different fathers because of how Caroline described their mother to Hunter and the guys. Shit, I didn’t even know that,” Kenneth said to him.

  “This is what I know. Shelby was involved with a bad relationship with some guy. Things ended and she left him. There were no other details, no indication that he was after her or wanted her back. But obviously he scared her enough that she changed her name as precaution. It’s actually hyphenated. I didn’t push for more information at the time because she was going through enough with Caroline being abducted and then killing Cameron and of course C.J. being shot. I told her that we would get together and discuss things after everything settled down. I suppose now is as good as a time as any.”

  “We think so, too. We’ve tried getting her to talk to us, but she isn’t cooperative,” Bender told Max.

  “Have you considered that maybe she doesn’t the feel the same way about you guys that you feel about her?”

  “No fucking way. We’ve kissed her and she’s kissed us back,” Kenneth told him.

  “Well, not me,” Sam added.

  “She gets all scared. She’s come straight out and said she doesn’t want us but it’s a lie.”

  Max squinted his eyes and then exhaled.

  “Something is definitely holding her back. Let me see what I can find out. But if she says that she’s not in any danger, there’s not much I can do.”

  “We understand. Then we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing and keep letting her know how we feel and keep watching over her,” Sam said, but Kenneth didn’t think he had that much patience. He was a man used to getting what he wanted when he wanted it. Like that night in his office, when they were alone and she looked so sexy and smelled so good. When he saw her massaging her neck, it was an opportunity to touch her, and to maybe help her feel the attraction they shared. He had to kiss her, and despite her eventually pushing him away, it was a kiss that knocked him for a loop, and he knew he wanted more. Hell, he wanted all of her. The icing on the cake was that his brothers wanted her, too, and that never happened.

  I’m not giving up and if need be, I’ll do some investigating myself.

  Chapter 1

  Shelby was in a bit of a panic. She’d avoided talking and meeting with Max all week, and here it was Friday and she knew she couldn’t dodge him any longer. So when Cynthia, another paralegal from the office, complained about having to drive into Charlesburgh three towns away to drop off documents and other items at the county courthouse there, Shelby looked at it as an opportunity. By doing that delivery for Cynthia, she could eliminate the opportunity for the stares and small talk from Kenneth she dodged all week, and she could get out of work early and skip meeting with Max. She would worry about talking with Max over the weekend. She needed to get herself mentally prepared to meet with Shayla, the new therapist she started seeing, at her office in Cambridge tomorrow.

  She exhaled as she gathered her things and prepared to leave. Her hope was to get over her fear and the anxiety Skip caused. It had been two years since she left him, and she had to start living and believing even if he did find her—that was if he was looking—she would be able to handle it. The thought alone had her shaking, and she dropped the small cup of paper clips on the rug in front of her desk. She bent down to pick them up, her mind on Skip, on the scars he caused, on seeing the therapist, and avoiding Max and the guys and getting the heck out of here.

  “Let me help you with that.” She gasped and nearly lost her footing as she squatted, but Kenneth caught her arm. He pressed close and put his arm around her and his hand over hers and some paper clips on the rug.

  She held his gaze. His dark blue eyes squinted at her. “So you’re taking off to Charlesburgh for Cynthia alone? Are you sure you should be doing that?”

  The fact that he knew she was going and obviously knew she was trying to sneak off was one thing, but how he asked if she was sure she should be going alone really freaked her out.

  “I’m a grown woman, Kenneth. I can drive my car and handle dropping off items in a courthouse. Thanks.” She went to move her hand and he held hers a moment. She looked at him and his eyes grazed over her breasts. She swallowed hard.

  “Be careful. Is your cell phone charged?” he asked her as he released her hand and helped her gather the paper clips. As she looked down she realized her white blouse was undone an extra button and her cleavage exposed more than normal. She was always dressing conservatively. Even when she went to the beach with her friends she wore a cover-up even to go into the water. She knew the scars couldn’t be seen in a bathing suit, but she didn’t like showing off her body. All because of Skip.

  She was shaking a little inside as she gathered the paperclips and then reached for the desk to help stand up. She wore high heels and wobbled slightly but Kenneth drew her around the waist and used the opportunity to touch her. He inhaled as he looked down into her eyes. She froze in place as usual. The man was so sexy, charismatic, and good-looking. Even with his neatly trimmed beard, slicked back brown hair, and gorgeous dark-blue eyes, he was hard to resist.

  “You be careful, baby. Call me if you have any problems or need anything,” he said. She widened her eyes at his use of the word “baby,” and how easily it released from his lips and how affective it was in setting her body on fire and making her pussy clench and her heart race.

  “Kenneth,” she whispered and he pressed a finger over her lips.

  “Don’t,” he said and then leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

  “Let me know when you get there and also when you’re home, so I know you’re safe.”

  She nodded, shocked at his show of affection and concern without thought to the fact that they were in the office and anyone could come by her open door like he had and see them. As he stepped away, he let his hand glide along her ass and she tightened up. It felt so good. She wished for so many things, but none of them had yet to come true.

  Thirty minutes later as she pulled her car into the parking lot outside of the county courthouse, she felt that panicked feeling once again. She didn’t like being so far from Chance. She didn’t like being alone, and Kenneth’s words rung in her head. She grabbed her cell and texted him.

  Just arrived in Charlesburgh at the courthouse.

  Thank you, Shelby.

  His return text was immediate. It made her imagine him sitting at his desk, cell phone close and waiting for her text to say she was okay. It gave her mixed feelings, but she pushed them aside. It would be something else to talk to Shayla about tomorrow.

  She grabbed what she needed and headed toward the busy courthouse. She would do what she needed to do and then get the heck out of there.

  * * * *

  Tazer Hayes was finishing up a meeting with some government representative and a judge in his office at the county courthouse. He was feeling a little on edge because on his way in earlier he saw someone he recognized, or at least he thought he did.

  Mickie Hayes was a piece-of-shit lawyer who worked for any scumbag out there doing illegal shit like arms deals, insurance scams, and even prostitution rings. Tazer remembered Mickie Hayes helping out a guy who was retired from the military and stealing government-issued supplies and selling them on the streets. Mickie was one hell of a defense attorney. Some people might have seen the offense as minor. So what that people who never served a day in their lives wore the uniform to get special treatment and even funds from donations by people who thought they were supporting soldiers. Shit like that made Tazer sick. Knowing that scum like Mickie Hayworth got men like that off without penalty really got under his skin.

  As Tazer finished up the meeting and shook t
heir hands, he couldn’t help but ask the judge if he knew about Mickie Hayworth and why Mickie was here in Charlesburgh county court.

  “I can’t stand that guy. He’s gotten involved with some of the worst individuals out there over the last several years. I believe he’s here today representing some guy who was charged with abducting a woman and holding her in his home against her will. However, there was a turn in the case as of this morning and all charges have been dropped. The woman took back her accusations of rape and being abducted and said she willingly went. Things got out of hand but she was a willing partner in the activities,” Judge Howards told Tazer.

  Tazer bit the inside of his cheek. “Are you serious?”

  The judge nodded. “I think that man has some serious connections, whoever he is.”

  “Or he had ways of getting that poor young woman to change her mind,” the other agent there added.

  “I remember the lawyer from a few years back, when he represented a case where a retired soldier was stealing military surplus and reselling them on the streets. People were getting away with posing as soldiers and getting free donations and things. It was screwed up.”

  “I remember that. There were a lot of angry people, including me. I believe it was a real soldier who was at an airport and saw another group of soldiers who were wearing the uniform incorrectly. I think medals were in the wrong place or their stripes, something, and he started questioning them,” Judge Howard said.

  “Yes, that’s what got the investigation started and then a local news station began to report on it and all hell broke loose. That investigation led to the arrest of the soldier and then Hayworth represented him. Got the guy off on lesser charges. He should have gone to jail for a long time,” Tazer added.