He stroked her cheeks. “Was it really that bad?”
She felt the bed dip and Marco moved in behind her. He kissed her shoulder, and she smiled up at him.
“Go on and answer him,” Kyran stated and took a seat on the bottom of the bed. Mateo stood in the doorway with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
“There’s nothing to finish. I was just telling Leif that I’m worried about Evilly, Cara, and the baby she’s carrying.”
“You were telling me about your family and your vow to only return on your terms. Three years and you never went back? What the hell happened?” Leif pushed.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“You don’t want to talk about him or the possibility that he could be making his way back into your life,” Leif said.
“I won’t let him do that.”
“To protect Evilly, Cara, and the baby, you would make a sacrifice,” Leif said to her.
She shook her head.
“I want full names of these people. Of Pylo, of your ex, and your family and sister,” Leif demanded, and she was shocked.
She went to sit up, but Marco placed his arm around her waist and pressed her onto her back. “Don’t try to dismiss this. We’re your protectors. We love you,” he said.
“There’s no need to know about my family. This isn’t about them.”
“It is about them and about your safety. Evilly isn’t thinking. She is putting Cara at risk and the baby she’s pregnant with. Pylo is after money and whatever else. You’ve seen what happened to your friends around here. Do you want to be in danger next? What if your ex wants you back?” Marco said.
“He can’t have me back. I’m with you guys and here in Repose.”
Leif got up off the bed.
“I want names and that’s final.”
She looked at Marco and removed his arm from her so she could kneel on the bed. She held the towel with one hand against her chest, and she moved toward the edge where Leif stood. He was pissed off, and that was the last thing she wanted.
His arms were by his sides and his expression firm, serious. She leaned closer and kissed his chest as she placed her hands on his waist.
“Evilly’s boyfriend’s full name is Pylo Reyas,” she whispered and continued to kiss his skin. She ran her hands up his sides, which were thick, solid muscle.
“I want your ex’s name, not just Evilly’s,” Leif demanded firmly.
“It’s difficult for me to talk about this, Leif. About loving another man, or thinking I loved him at twenty years old.” She kissed his skin and looked up into his eyes. He licked his lower lip and stared at her with his eyes squinted. He was making this difficult because he cared and loved her.
“Without going into all the details, he was very possessive. Everything he involved himself in or took interest in became an obsession. Our relationship was no different. When he started following me or having me followed when I was out with friends, I got angry and told him to back off. Things got progressively worse fast.”
“He hit you?” Marco asked and rubbed her shoulder.
“Only two times, but he threatened me a lot. Caused bruises and shook me in anger, and this one time he hit me, it was on the mat while we were training.”
“Training?” Kyran asked.
“Martial arts, grappling, and whatever moves were being taught. Except before I got there, I was at the store with my friends when these guys they knew were talking to us, and one of them flirted and touched my hair. His friends saw and told him. He took it out on me on the mat, and it scared me.”
“Why did you stay with him?” Mateo asked.
“It was complicated. My family and his family run a business together. He thought I was going to marry him and be his little wife he could smack around and control. One night we were at a party, and these girls were all over him. He was laughing it up, but he looked at me like I should be grateful he chose me and was with me. It pissed me off so much. I had already told my parents about him hitting me and about his behavior, and they tried to calm me down, but I was so mad that night. When we got back to his place, I told him we were done. That I couldn’t trust him and that I was finished.”
She wrapped her arms around Leif’s waist and held him tight.
“He was angry. He yelled and threatened to hurt people I loved. I yelled back, and he shoved me. I told him to let me go and that I was done and leaving, and he carried on about me never being with another man and some other stuff, and I didn’t listen. I headed toward the door, and he swung at me. I ran for the bathroom, as he yelled and told me he was going to show me how much I belonged with him, and before I could close the door, he struck me. My head hit the toilet, and then next thing I know I’m in the hospital. My family is there, and it was touch and go because I had a concussion and some bleeding in my brain.”
“Jesus.” Leif caressed her hair and held her against his chest.
“When I recovered, I told him to never come near me again, and that I was dead to him and would never forgive him. He did. It lasted more than a month before he started showing up at places I was at. He was calling and hounding me to forgive him and give him another chance. It got bad, and I told my parents I couldn’t take it anymore, and I was leaving and would never come back. I knew it was difficult for them because our two families worked together. So I disappeared in the middle of the night and traveled away from Texas.
“It was difficult for the first few months. I got odd jobs here and there. I didn’t eat much, and finally, I went to Key Largo, where I bartended on a beach fourteen hours a day, five days a week, and just healed.” She shook her head and pulled back to look at Leif.
“Three years ago, this happened. I wasn’t ever planning on coming back to Texas, but then I wanted to check in on my family, and Evilly was the only person I talked to and kept in contact with.”
“You moved back here to Texas because of her, didn’t you? Because she got pregnant by Pylo and was being abused by him and you felt compelled to try and help her,” Leif asked her and cupped her cheeks.
“Yes, but I couldn’t. I can’t help her because she doesn’t want to be helped. He’s got a hold on her, and I get it. That could have been me, Leif. I could have been knocked up by Bragan and forced to marry him and live like that. Getting smacked around and God knows what else.”
“Bragan?” Leif asked.
“My ex-boyfriend’s name is Bragan Draffel.” She felt him tighten up, and then Marco, Mateo, and Kyran all made noises. She felt her gut clench, and looked up at Leif.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Mateo asked, sounding pissed off. She turned to look at him, and it hit her.
“You know him?” she asked. Tears filled her eyes.
“I know exactly who he is. If him and I both win the next two matches, we fight in Dallas in the finals.”
She covered her mouth and went to move away, but Leif grabbed her hand as she stood by the bed. She tried pushing away from him. She needed to think, to process this. She shook her head. “I can’t believe this.”
She covered her mouth and held the towel against her body.
“This has got the makings for some serious trouble,” Kyran stated.
“On the contrary, it gives us the opportunity to see him face-to-face and for Mateo to kick his ass and win,” Marco said to them.
Strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind, hugging her tight.
“I know it’s crazy. None of us could make up something like this, but it is what it is. You don’t belong to him anymore. You belong to us, and we intend on protecting you,” Mateo whispered against her neck then kissed her skin.
“And if I ask you not to fight him?” she asked, and he loosened his hold. She turned to look up at Mateo with that fierce panther tattoo along his shoulder and down his muscular pectoral.
“Are you serious?” he asked. He raised his voice. “Is it because you don’t think I can beat him, or you don’t want him to know you belong to
me? What?”
She shook her head.
“When he finds out, he’s going to fight dirty. He’ll start with getting into your head, and then do things to make you lose focus. He’ll cheat to win.”
“I can take him whether you think I can or not.”
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
“Then what are you saying?” Leif asked.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “I don’t know what to think or why this has to be happening.” Then it hit her. Her eyes widened, and she looked at them.
“He already knows about us.”
“How?” Marco asked with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
“Pylo said Bragan was asking about me. That means Pylo told him where I’m living, and he probably has someone here in Repose sending him information.”
“Then he knows. Who cares? It has no effect on us and our relationship, Lori—unless you still have feelings for him, or are ashamed to be in a ménage relationship with us?” Kyran said.
“I love you. Each of you.”
“Then what is it? Why react like this?” Mateo asked.
She felt her eyes well up with tears. “I thought I would never have to see him again. That I wouldn’t have to think about that night, the fear, the pain, and on top of this, I’m worried about Evilly.” Her voice cracked, and Mateo took her hand and pulled her toward him. He sat on the edge of the bed and held between his legs. He caressed under the towel.
“Fear we can handle. Doubt, uncertainty about your love for us, no way. We protect our own, and we will protect you from him. Don’t doubt that for a minute.”
She saw the seriousness, the certainty in his eyes and heard it in his tone. She pressed against him and hugged him tight. She kissed along his neck, and he pushed the towel from her body, then fell back onto the bed. He shifted them so she was fully on top of him. She felt his fingers slide into her pussy, and she lifted her hips and pulled from his lips. He cupped her breasts and stared up into her eyes.
“I’m yours, Lori. All yours. Show me how much you love me,” he said in a tone she took as a challenge.
She lifted up and down on his fingers, then pushed off his boxers. He pulled a leg from them, and then he removed his fingers. She sank down onto his cock, and they both moaned.
When he reached up to cup her breasts, she pushed his hands down to his sides and grabbed on to his wrists for support as she rocked her hips against him. It shocked him, and he countered her thrusts, making his cock go deeper as he leaned against the headboard.
She grabbed on to the wood behind him and thrust her pelvis harder and harder, fucking him in deep, wild strokes. She gripped the wood tight and thrust up and down, back and forth.
“Holy shit she looks fucking hot,” Kyran said, but her full focus was on Mateo. He reached up, obviously done with letting her have complete control and kissed her. She kept moving atop him, trying to ease that deep itch in her cunt. He grabbed her ass with his large, heavy hands, and he started counterthrusting. He was gripping her ass, then her hips and ribs, then back to her ass again. It was wild and sensual, and she was incredibly turned on that his brothers watched.
She grabbed ahold of his shoulders when he suckled part of her breast into his mouth. She held his head against her breast and rocked up and down wildly. They were panting and moaning. The bed was making noises.
“Come with me, baby. Come all over my cock. Mark me as your man.” He slapped her ass, and she gasped and cried out her release. He grunted, and she felt his cock enlarge, and then he came, too. He rolled her onto her back and kissed her fully, making it difficult for her to catch her breath.
Then he released her lips, and then he hovered above her. He ran his palms along her body from throat to breasts to pussy. “Every part of you is mine forever. No other men but my brothers get to see you like this. Get to claim you like this. No one.” He squeezed her breast and then lowered back to kiss her some more, making her fall deeper under his spell despite the trepidation that lingered in her heart.
* * * *
Leif met with Cesar when he got to work. He could get used to starting off every morning making love to Lori. He didn’t like leaving her but knew she was with his brothers. When he got into the station, everyone was asking about Lori and how she was feeling and what happened. Luckily he didn’t have to make anything up as Cesar interrupted and called him into his office.
“So what’s the deal?” he asked straight out.
Leif spent the next thirty minutes going over what he knew and what Lori had told them.
“Holy shit. So now Mateo might be fighting her ex for the championship title in Dallas in three weeks?” He ran his hand along his jaw and then exhaled. “This could get ugly.”
“Oh, it sure as shit is going to get ugly. Mateo is going to be training like a psycho, all the while worrying about Lori and any remaining hold this guy could have on her. Plus, Lori is a mess. She’s sick over her sister being in this abusive relationship that she won’t get out of no matter what Lori has offered in regards to helping her.”
“I can’t believe she was going there every week. I mean even I thought she was seeing someone. When a few men asked to be her guardians, and I approached her, she immediately declined. Kind of hinted that she had a boyfriend.”
“Men asked to be her guardians?” Leif asked and sat forward in his seat.
“She’s a gorgeous young woman. She’s tough, strong, and smart and has a big heart. She must really love her sister and niece to be going there and cleaning and cooking for her sister’s abusive boyfriend.”
“Well, she isn’t going back again.”
“What do you mean?”
Leif explained about the boyfriend mentioning Lori’s ex and how he was asking around about her, and Lori’s belief that he could already know about where she lived and her relationship with them.
“You need to keep her close.”
“She isn’t ready to move in with us just yet. That will take some convincing. Lori believes Bragan would have someone in town watching her and finding things out.”
“Well, we get a lot of strangers in town, and especially at the shops and the Filling Station. There’s no way we could tell who could be spying on her. The best thing to do is keep a close watch.”
“That is the plan. I’m going over to the Station to talk with Ledger, Dominick, Shimmy, Aqua, and the other bouncers.”
“She’s working tonight, right?”
“She is, but not looking forward to the questions about her bruises.”
“How bad?” Cesar asked.
“She took a shot to the jaw and cheek. It’s already discoloring. Plus, she has bruises on her back.” He then explained how it all happened.
“It could have been a lot worse. Is she certain her sister doesn’t want to get out of the relationship if we can provide protection, support, and counseling? I know a great place called Second Chances.”
“Lori said she doesn’t want to leave him. Her concern is for the unborn child and her niece, who is two.”
“If her sister isn’t taking proper care of the baby and the two-year-old, then social services could remove the two-year-old. Laws are really strict about endangering the welfare of a child.”
“Lori understands that and is concerned, but after her sister basically refuses to leave and the two-year-old never has any injuries, bruises or otherwise, and the boyfriend has never laid a hand on the child from what Lori says, there isn’t much to do. Mateo, Marco, and Kyran are using some of their connections to get more info on Lori’s family and this guy, Pylo. Lori said he works at a dojo and also for a loan shark.” Cesar raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, exactly. This could get dirty fast.”
“Well, there are a lot of us with many connections and capabilities. We protect our own. We have your back. I’ll need to speak with Lori, you understand that?”
“Yes. Perhaps it will help reinforce how special Repose truly is.”
“Is she doubti
ng it, and doubting you and your brothers?”
“Not anymore. She’s still scared. She thought she would never have to see her ex again. It was a shocker to learn we know him and that Mateo is going up against him.”
“Your brother has to win two more matches in the next couple of weeks.”
“Oh, he will. He’s even more determined to face Bragan. To know what he did to Lori years ago and how close she came to dying because of him. We’d all like a piece of that guy.”
“I don’t blame you. I think that’s an event a lot of us will be traveling to see. Let’s get what can on this Pylo guy and any priors on him. I’ll let Kyran, Mateo, and Marco do their thing. Keep me in the loop, though.”
“Of course. I’ll see you later, then,” Leif said and then exited the office. On his way to his desk, his cell phone rang. He looked down and saw it was Jack.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“We’re outside.”
“‘We’?”
“Zeke, Aero, Damon, and Kye. We’re here to help with whatever you need. Come on out here.”
Leif couldn’t help but feel proud. Repose was indeed a very special place.
* * * *
“You let me know who the asshole was that hit you, Lori. I’ll tear the son of a bitch a new asshole,” Bucky told her as she placed his beer onto the bar.
“She’s got the Lawson men as her guardians. They’ll take care of it,” Coon Dog added.
“Never should have happened to begin with. A beautiful woman like Lori doesn’t deserve to ever bear bruises,” Teeter stated, and they all agreed.
“I’m fine, and it was an accident,” she told them and then walked down toward the other end of the bar to check on Johnny O’Shay and Tucker Lawrence.
“How are you guys doing down here? Ready for another?” she asked.
Both men nodded, and Johnny shook his head.
“Leif going to lock up the guy who hit ya?” he asked, and she felt that tinge of fear hit her belly. When she thought of the situation, she thought of Evilly and Cara. It was hard ignoring her text messages.
The Battlefield Series 6: The Ties That Bind Us (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 10