Their New Beginning [Men of the Border Lands 14] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Marla Monroe

  Harry didn’t think he’d been this attracted to a woman in his life. Not even Cassy, whom he’d left behind when she wouldn’t come with them. That had to have been nothing but infatuation compared to what he was already experiencing with Abby. This, with Abby? It was something much more, something deeper.

  He’d been thinking so hard about the woman that he nearly fell flat on his face when he pushed through the weeds in front of him to catch up with the group, only to find nothing substantial on the other side to stop him. Harry stumbled out onto an overgrown yard, but one that held no hedges or briar bushes, only chest-high weeds.

  “Thank God! I didn’t think it was ever going to be over.” Harriet turned in a circle with her arms spread open wide. The dinky weeds bowed under her as she swept over them.

  “Better stop that, Harriet or you’re going to get dizzy and fall over.” Abby’s laughter held a teasing note that tightened something deep inside of Harry. His cock twitched at the sweetness in her voice.

  “Fuck.” Harry walked over in another direction so he could adjust his aching dick before the circulation got cut off.

  “Hey, Harry, Thad is calling you,” his sister yelled out.

  “Coming.” He steeled his expression and walked across the yard to where Thad stood on a porch that had seen better days.

  “I don’t want the women to go in until we’ve had time to check it out. I left the rifle with Abby in case they need it.” Thad reached down to clasp his hand and pulled him up.

  Thad could see that the steps were a lost cause. He tested the porch boards beneath him and found that they were pretty solid. Looking up at the roof that hung over the steps, he figured the constant rain hitting them had slowly rotted them while the porch was covered and got very little exposure.

  “At least this time we’ve got some leeway before it gets dark.” Harry followed the other man into the house after Thad opened the door. “Odd that it wasn’t locked.”

  “I thought the same thing. Another reason I wanted us to check the house out, in case we find any skeletons. No need for them to have to see that.” Thad lit the candle he’d brought with him, then produced another one and gave it to Harry.

  “Need to check the women when we clear this place. They’re going to have a mess of scratches from hiking up here.” Harry touched the wick of his candle to the one Thad had already lit.

  “Yeah. I hate they got torn up, but I’d rather we didn’t stay out in the open more than we have to. Watch your step, looks like something’s been in here knocking things over.”

  Thad stepped over the broken lamp lying on the floor in front of him. When he held the candle higher, Harry noticed that books had been knocked off of shelves, and everything off the coffee table now lay strewn around on the floor.

  “Must have been an animal. Raccoon, maybe?” Harry asked.

  “Yeah, that would be my guess. I doubt squirrels would be able to make this big a mess.” Thad continued through a doorway that proved to lead into the kitchen.

  Here they found cabinet doors open and broken dishes on the counters and floor. The bottom cabinets were open as well, but nothing much had been pulled out of them. No doubt there was a nest or bed of something somewhere under there.

  “Definitely animal. I don’t think humans have been here since the owners left.” Thad walked over the broken crockery to one of the two doors in the kitchen. Without waiting for Harry to catch up, Thad pulled it open to reveal a nice-sized pantry with plenty of canned goods still stocking the shelves.

  “Bingo!” Thad stepped back so Harry could look inside.

  “Better check the rest of the place out. I don’t like leaving the women out there any longer than we have to.” Harry thought about the feeling of being watched he’d had earlier.

  “You’re right. I’ll take the rest of the first floor and the cellar, and you check upstairs.” Thad walked over to the next door and opened it.

  “Meet back at the front door as soon as you can,” Harry called out as Thad disappeared through the doorway.

  “Nothing upstairs but bedrooms and bathrooms.” He wasn’t sure why he said that out loud unless it was to reassure himself that he wouldn’t find anything.

  Despite all of the bodies he’d seen since the catastrophes, finding the owners of this little house decayed down to bones wasn’t something he wanted burned into his memory. He had enough there now to fuel his nightmares for the rest of his life.

  Harry made his way back to the living area where they’d come in and located the stairs. They creaked as he climbed them, though the runner that covered the center of the stairs muted his actual steps. The hushed atmosphere gave the place an eerie feel. Once standing on the landing, Harry lifted the candle high enough to get a general idea of where the different doors were located. The first door was directly across from him. Inside he found a small bedroom with standard bedroom furniture. The next door led to a Jack-and-Jill bathroom that opened into the previous room on one end and the next room on the other. In that bedroom, he found the exact same thing as in the first bedroom, only this one appeared decorated for a little girl.

  The next bedroom held what looked to be a combination sewing and play room. They might be able to find some things they could use. He would talk to Thad about letting the women go through that room. The last room was the master bedroom. It was a nice size with two walk-in closets and a luxurious bathroom he wouldn’t have expected to see out where they were.

  More than likely it had been updated not long before everything had gone seriously wrong. Harry hadn’t found any skeletons, thank goodness, but he wasn’t sure why the family had left. The house wasn’t damaged in any way he could see. When he pulled out some drawers and looked into the closets, it was obvious they’d packed and left voluntarily since nothing was strewn around and no clothes lay on the floor beneath empty hangers.

  Even the toiletries appeared to have been carefully taken so that none of the bottles or jars were upended. That meant they’d left in a calm way and hadn’t expected any trouble. The only thing Harry could come up with was that they’d gone on a planned trip somewhere and then couldn’t get back home when all hell broke loose.

  He figured Thad would be waiting on him at the front door by now, so he turned around and strode carefully toward the stairs. He didn’t want to trip over anything. The raccoons or whatever they’d been had pulled sheets out of the small linen closet that stood open across from the sewing room. Harry was almost certain that if he looked inside the closet he’d find the animal in question, its offspring, or the evidence of their nesting among the sheets.

  “Harry, about ready?” Thad’s voice drifted up to him as he slowly descended the staircase.

  “Right here,” he said as he stepped off the last step. “Did you find anything?”

  Thad’s face came into view as Harry walked toward the door. The other man shook his head.

  “Nothing to worry about. Not sure what happened to them, though.”

  Harry looked around the entrance hall. “I think they were on a trip or vacation when everything happened. They packed suitcases but weren’t in a hurry when they did it. Nothing upstairs looks out of place, except the linen closet, where something is or was living.”

  “Makes sense. The unlocked door bothers me some, but since I can’t tell that anyone has walked through here since there’s just our footprints in the dust on the floors, I think it’s safe enough.” Thad walked through the front door onto the porch.

  “About time you two showed back up.” Harriet stood with Abby on the far end of the porch with her hands on her hips while Abby held the rifle firmly with both hands.

  “House is clear other than maybe a squirrel or something,” Harry told them. He knew Harriet was fine with wild animals but he wasn’t sure how Abby would react to knowing that there might be a raccoon living inside.

  “As long as it doesn’t try to sleep with me, I’m okay with that.” Abby walked toward them with Harriett close beh
ind. “Can we go in now?”

  “First, let’s clean up all of our scratches where we can see them better. We can’t afford to end up with some kind of infection.” Thad grabbed his pack and squatted to rummage around inside.

  “Har, I’ve got all the first-aid stuff in my pack. Why don’t you see if there is an actual well here we can get fresh water from?” Harriet handed him an empty bottle.

  “There’s one to the right of the back door, Harry. I don’t know if it is still in working order, though. I didn’t check.” Thad had pulled out several clear zippered bags and was looking through them.

  “Hand me your bottle, Abby, and I’ll fill them up if the water is good.” Harry prayed their fingers didn’t touch, just as fervently as he prayed that they would.

  When they did, Harry felt the jolt all the way to his balls. It sparked another round of squirming to keep his thickening dick from making itself known. The tingle remained even after he’d taken the bottle from her and turned away to jump down off the porch. When he turned to look back at her, it took every ounce of control he possessed not to jump back up and kiss her senseless when he saw the shocked look on her face.

  She’d felt it, too. Hot damn, she felt it, too.

  * * * *

  What had just happened? Abby couldn’t stop herself from rubbing her fingers where they’d touched Harry’s seconds before. Now as he looked back at her, she knew he saw it in her eyes as well. They were attracted to each other. What was she going to do? She was just as attracted to Thad.

  “Hey. What’s wrong?” Harriet reached out and touched her arm. “Are the scratches beginning to hurt?”

  Abby realized she’d moaned out loud. In an effort to cover it up, and the hot blush she knew was covering her face, she grabbed her pack and started going through it.

  “Yeah, some of them are beginning to sting a little more than they were.”

  What am I looking for? I can’t think. This is stupid. I’m a grown woman, for goodness’s sake. This can’t be happening. Two men who give me the exact same feelings can’t feel the same way about me. Oh. First-aid supplies.

  Abby sighed and renewed her search now that she could think about what she was doing. Still, in the back of her mind, the faces of the two men in question teased her. She knew that some families were made up of two men now to keep the women safe, but surely in the new settlement they were going, she wouldn’t need two men, would she?

  The thought of two men in her life left her staring off into space with her hands buried motionless inside her pack. A small thrill traveled down her arms and across her neck. Would they want that or would they be jealous of each other?

  I can’t believe I’m even thinking about this. It’s a fantasy, that’s all. I’m not having sex with two men at the same time. That’s just—greedy. That’s what it is.

  How could it be greedy when there were far more men than women left on Earth now? At least that is what it felt like to her and what everyone had commented on back at the compound. Shouldn’t that be the norm? If other people had managed to have a threesome relationship, couldn’t they do it, too?

  “Whatever is on your mind right now has to be naughty. Share, Abby. You’ve got to share it with me!” her new friend pleaded.

  “What? No! It’s not naughty, exactly. I’d rather not talk about it. It’s embarrassing.” Abby prayed the other woman wouldn’t push it, but it wasn’t her day for answered prayers.

  “Hell, no. You aren’t going to leave me out. Share, girlfriend. You have to. It’s the law.”

  Despite her embarrassment, Abby couldn’t help but laugh. “The law? I don’t think there’s a law about sharing thoughts, Harriet.”

  “There is, too. Started when everything went crazy. All naughty or slightly naughty thoughts have to be shared with any other female in the vicinity.” Harriet grinned wider than a wolf with a mouth full of sharp teeth. “So spill it.”

  “Spill what?” Thad had gotten up and was walking toward them with several bags in his hands.

  “Nothing,” she and Harriet said at the same time.

  His slow smile turned Abby’s legs into jelly so that she sank down to the porch hitting a little harder than she’d planned.

  “Careful there.” He sat down next to her. “Let’s have a look at your arm. Those are some nasty cuts.”

  “Hadn’t we better wait for Harry to see if he finds any water?” she asked in a disgustingly squeaky voice.

  Harriett settled down next to her in a much more graceful move than Abby’s had been. “I think she’s right, Thad. Better wait to put anything on them until we clean them up some.”

  Thad looked over at Harriet and frowned. “You’ve got some bad ones, too. I’d hoped that putting you two behind me, I could save you from some of that.”

  “Oh, you did. You should see yourself. I just hope we have enough antibiotic salve and creams left to treat everyone.” Abby pulled her little bag of first-aid supplies out of her pack.

  “There’s bound to be more in the house since it’s pretty much stocked with everything else.” Thad nodded in Harry’s general direction. “He’ll be back in a few minutes, and we can take care of this. I want to be inside long before it gets dark out here.”

  As much as she’d love to sit under the moon and stars with him, Abby found that she agreed. Until they were safely among other like-minded people, she didn’t want to take chances by being out in the open at night. It was just too dangerous for all of them.

  Abby looked down at the hand not holding her first-aid bag and froze. It was only inches from Thad’s where it lay on his knee. Subconsciously she’d begun moving it toward the other man as if to cover his with her own. What was wrong with her? She didn’t need to be making passes at the man, at either man for that matter. It just wasn’t going to work out the way she dreamed. Hell, she wasn’t even sure that she wanted a relationship with two men, much less the two men she’d only just met a couple of weeks back. It was absurd.

  “Found the well and the water tastes fresh. There isn’t a smell to it either.” Harry carefully set three water bottles on the porch before hoisting himself up. “Check it for me, Thad.”

  Thad grabbed one of the bottles and after unscrewing the cap, sniffed it, then poured some into his mouth. He swished it around then swallowed and smiled. “Tastes good to me.”

  Abby took her bottle from Harry and opened the bottle to taste for herself. It was delicious, with a slightly sweet taste to it. It was much better than the water they’d been getting from streams and ponds. They’d had to boil it to drink it and that had left it with a metallic dry taste.

  “Lord, nothing could taste this good and be real,” she breathed with her eyes closed, after taking another swallow.

  When she opened them back up it was to find both Harry and Thad watching her with twin, almost feral expressions tightening their faces.

  “What?” she choked out.

  Chapter Eight

  “They’re staring at you because you just had the sexiest look on your face and made that kind of mewing sound when you swallowed.” Harriet’s voice held barely restrained laughter. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Harry look that way before. Not even with that witch of an ex-girlfriend.”

  Abby felt heat inch up her neck and into her face. “I—um, didn’t mean anything. The water. It just tastes really good.”

  She wasn’t helping things like this. She quickly stood up and staggered to the door. “Look I’m going inside and start cleaning a place off for us to sleep.”

  “Not yet, Abby. You’ve got some nasty scratches that already look red. We need to clean them up and put some ointment on them.” Thad’s warm hand wrapped lightly around the back of her neck, eliciting a calm she hadn’t felt earlier.

  There was just something about the weight of his hand around her neck that settled something deep inside of her. Abby couldn’t stop her body from reacting to it. Her arms went limp and her legs would have collapsed under her if she hadn’t
had one hand wrapped around the door frame.

  What is going on with me? He’s got me hypnotized or something. This isn’t me. I don’t get all fluttery inside.

  “Easy there,” Harry said as he grabbed her upper arm to steady her.

  “Just forget about it, Abby. We aren’t going to attack you, mon trésor. I don’t want you to ever be afraid of us, eh?” Thad took one step back, letting his hand slip from where he’d grabbed at her shoulder to keep her from falling.

  “Hell, Abby. Are you afraid of us? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you like that.” Harry let go of her arm as if her skin had suddenly grown hot. He too stepped back away from her.

  “Come over here, Abby. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know I was going to start anything. Come on. I’ll take care of your scratches and you can take care of mine for me.” Harriet held out one hand to her from between the two men.

  When Abby hesitated, Harriet glared at Harry, then Thad, until the two men backed off to stand at the opposite end of the porch. Her skin burned from her chest all the way up to her scalp. She kept her head down as she walked over to where Harriet continued to wait on her.

  “Hey. It’s okay. They overreacted and I made it worse. Just forget about it and let’s finish this up so we can go inside. I don’t like being out in the open like this with it getting dark now.” Harriet poured some of the delicious water onto a cloth, then applied some soap to it, rubbing it into the linen until there were suds. “This is probably going to sting a little but we can’t allow it to fester and get infected.”

  “Sorry I flaked out like that. I’m not usually so rattled.” Abby didn’t know how to explain her reaction. They seemed to think she was scared of them or something. She guessed it might have looked like that. All she’d really been doing was try to hide her embarrassment over the way she’d led them on without meaning to.