The Battlefield Series 1: Let It Go (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  “We all are. Starting right now when we take you home and stay with you so you can rest easy,” Aero said to her.

  “I’ll be fine. My sister and I will get through this,” she said.

  “Not alone, honey. Not alone,” Finnian told her.

  * * * *

  Brooklyn was exhausted. She had been glad to take a shower last night but felt on edge that Aero and Zeke spent the night on the two couches in the living room. She slowly got out of bed, feeling her body ache something terrible.

  “Oh, God,” she moaned as she sat on the side of the bed and looked at the clock. It was ten a.m.

  The door slowly opened and her sister was there, all dressed for the day and giving her a small smile.

  “In a lot of pain?” Antonia asked.

  Brooklyn nodded.

  “Aero and Zeke are still here.”

  She was shocked.

  “Tell them they can leave. I’ll be fine,” she said and stood up. She forced down the difficulty she felt and pushed herself up from the bed with Antonia’s help.

  The strap to her tank top lowered as Aero opened the door.

  “You need help?

  She looked at him and winced, as her body ached terribly.

  “I’m fine. Please, just go. I’ve got this,” she said to him. But with every step her back really hurt, and as she turned with Antonia to face the bathroom, Aero hissed.

  “Son of a bitch, Brooklyn, your back is all bruised up.” He stepped into the bedroom and was at her side in a flash.

  “Let me help you,” Aero stated.

  “What’s going on?” Zeke asked, joining them. Brooklyn felt her temper flaring but then she kept walking and the pain took away the anger. She felt tears fill her eyes. It was like waking up after having a car accident and suddenly everything hurt from other injuries she hadn’t realized she had.

  “We’ll help her, maybe you want to put on another pot of coffee, Antonia?” Zeke suggested.

  “Sure, no problem.” Antonia walked out of the bedroom and Aero got Brooklyn to the bathroom. As she looked into the mirror, she gasped. “Motherfucker,” she said aloud.

  Aero caressed her arm and Zeke stood behind her.

  “That about sums up my comment, too, baby,” Zeke said to her. She held on to the vanity and lowered her head. She felt the strap to her tank top lower and then Zeke’s hands smooth along her skin on the sides of her back.

  “You’re all bruised up back here,” he said and she took steady breaths and wished she didn’t look so bad.

  “He shoved me hard against the wall and the cabinets. I think I hit the sharper edges,” she said then gasped as warm, firm lips kissed her skin.

  “Zeke.”

  “No, baby, just let us care for you and try to take the pain away,” Aero said to her and kissed her shoulder and then eased his arm along her waist.

  “You scared the hell out of us last night. We’re worried about you, about what this is all about and how we can all ensure you’re safe.”

  “It’s not your worry. I’m not your worry,” she said to him and lifted up only for Zeke to wrap his arm around her waist from behind and press up against her. Her lips parted, and her breasts were pouring from the tank top she wore but she couldn’t move to lift them up. He kissed her neck and she let her head roll back against Zeke’s shoulder.

  “That’s where you’re wrong. You are our worry, our responsibility. We want to make you our woman, Jagger and Finnian, too,” Aero said and he cupped her cheeks and looked down at her lips. He pressed his mouth to hers and she couldn’t believe how aroused she was, how attracted to these two men. Two men were touching her, kissing her and telling her that they wanted her to be their woman and to share her with their other two brothers. How insane was this?

  “Oh, God, Aero, no, no, this won’t work. It won’t,” she said and pulled from him and Zeke. Zeke released her and she took a few steps to the side.

  “What is that?” Zeke asked and stepped closer. She looked down and her tank was lifted high enough against her ribs to reveal her scar from when Kevin had attacked her.

  She pushed her tank top down.

  “Nothing.”

  “That isn’t nothing. That’s a deep scar. From what, Brooklyn?”

  She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

  “I need to use the bathroom, so if you’ll excuse me, please,” she said, and Zeke and Aero exhaled.

  “We’ll wait in the kitchen,” Aero said, giving Zeke a tap on his arm, and he and Zeke walked out of the room.

  Brooklyn exhaled. She was shocked that Aero kissed her and Zeke was going to, too. What the hell was happening here? She was suddenly losing all sense of control and it wasn’t good at all. Shit, shit, shit.

  She did her business and then brushed her teeth and washed up as best she could.

  She got dressed as quickly as she could but realized she couldn’t wear a bra. The bruising was so bad and there were finger marks on her breast. The bastard.

  When she finally walked into the living room, Jagger and Finnian were there, as well as the Chief.

  “Shit,” Jagger said and met her halfway. He cupped her chin and tilted her face up toward him to check out the bruises on her cheek bone.

  “You need to ice it.”

  She turned away from him and stepped to the side, catching her sister’s expression. She was nervous, too, feeling on edge to have these men, these strangers, in the house.

  “What for? It’s only going to get uglier anyway,” she said and walked closer to Antonia.

  She clutched her sister’s arm and stared into her eyes.

  “I’m okay. We’re safe and everything is going to be just fine. I’ll handle this.”

  Her sister didn’t look too sure as she nibbled her bottom lip and looked at the Chief. Cesar was a big man. He was rugged, attractive, and it seemed to Brooklyn that he had his eyes on Antonia. Brooklyn didn’t know how she felt about that. Her sister was in a bad place right now. Hell, Brooklyn was back in one.

  She walked over to the coffee pot to pour a cup of coffee and felt the instant ache to her shoulder. She paused to take an unsteady breath. Son of a bitch, that bastard got her good. She needed to be smart here. To remain diligent in protecting her sister and herself. She worked too damn hard to get a new life after Kevin, after nearly winding up in jail.

  She tightened up when she felt a large, warm hand on her hip and one on her shoulder.

  “You’re hurting this morning, I can tell. Your shoulder is bruised and your back, too. Maybe some ointment or ice will help ease that ache,” Jagger said to her.

  She didn’t turn to look at him. He would see how his touch affected her and somehow took the pain away and replaced it with something nicer. Something she wasn’t going to accept.

  “I’ll be just fine, Jagger, don’t you worry,” she said and poured the coffee, her hand shaking still. He covered her hand with his and she tightened up.

  “You’re safe, Brooklyn. I promise you,” he said to her. She put the pot down and turned to look at him over her shoulder. Those dark blue eyes bored into hers. He glanced at her bruised cheek and then to her swollen lip. When he reached up to touch her, she stepped away from him.

  She looked at the others, who were sitting around her living room talking. The Chief was sitting on the barstool by the island next to Antonia in what appeared to be a protective position. It made her wonder how Antonia felt about the Chief and the rules of Repose.

  “So, Chief, what’s the plan now? I need to get to work today.”

  “You’re not going in. It’s covered,” Finnian told her.

  She was shocked at his statement and what sounded like a man taking control.

  “Excuse me?” she said, holding his gaze, which was difficult to do. The man was a force to reckon with.

  The Chief cleared his throat.

  “There are ways we’re going to handle this, Brooklyn. Protecting you and Antonia are our top priorities while Zeke, mys
elf, and a few others in the department try to locate this individual who assaulted you last night. I’ve got men watching Les’s business and I was there this morning already.”

  “What? Why didn’t you tell me? Was the guy there? Did you find out anything?” she asked him. He held her gaze.

  “He gave us a list of his employees,” the Chief stated.

  “He conveniently left off a couple of names,” Zeke added. One look at his facial expression and Brooklyn could tell he was ticked off.

  “You think it’s one of them, Zeke?”

  He looked at the Chief and she lifted her hands up. “What? Tell me. What’s going on?”

  “Well, honey, if it is one of these three guys, then the danger isn’t exactly over yet. All three are ex-cons, felons who’ve been out for a year to three years. All three of them meet the description from the information and details you were able to remember. One in particular meets it to a tee, and conveniently enough, he was working for Les yesterday and suddenly he isn’t anymore,” the Chief told her.

  “Okay, so we need to take precautions, but where does that leave Les and the idea that maybe he set this up so that I would use his company and not Jesse’s?” she asked.

  “We can’t prove that, and there’s no way to unless we find this guy and he gives up the information. Les isn’t talking or saying much and is in complete denial. He says he was just trying to help the guy out and give him a second chance,” Zeke said.

  “And you didn’t believe him?” she asked him.

  He raised just one of his eyebrows up at her like it was a silly question. She got it loud and clear. She also realized that the danger wasn’t over. This guy could still come back and try to finish the job. She felt like this because of the things he’d said and how he’d touched her. It was like he had been watching her, maybe interested, and this gave him the opportunity to get off on his desires. The idea had her opening up her mouth and asking the Chief a question that stirred every man in the room up.

  “What was he in jail for? What’s his record of crimes he’s committed?”

  The Chief held a firm expression, but she didn’t miss Zeke’s body language, how he shifted from one foot to the other, or how his brothers all seemed to exhale.

  “A multitude of crimes he’s been committing since the age of thirteen. The one that got him put in jail for five years was an attempted murder charge.”

  “And prior to that?” she asked.

  “Sexual assault with a weapon. Charges were dropped,” the Chief told her.

  She felt like throwing up. She could feel the sensations of fear, of the tears filling her eyes, and the idea that everything she had worked so hard for was once again being threatened by a man. A dangerous man she didn’t even know, never mind trusted, like she had with Kevin.

  “We’re going to protect you, Brooklyn. We know who he is, we’ve got friends helping us. Friends with connections,” Finnian said to her. She shook her head and she looked at her sister, who had tears in her eyes and was shaking. The Chief had his hand covering Antonia’s hand in support.

  “No offense, Finnian, but I don’t know you well enough to put my life and my sister’s life in your hands, or your so-called friends’. Excuse me,” she said and made her way out of the living room and back to the bedroom.

  As she closed the door, she sat on the edge of the bed. Her thoughts immediately went to New York. To Kevin and the days that she’d found out he was stealing money from her, from the business investments, and forging her signature on things, on documents that would give him full control of the companies she invested in and made money off of. He somehow used his connections with shady businessmen and lawyers that to make it look like she was stealing. She had caught onto it in the nick of time and called in a few of her own friends. Through their connections, she was able to get the Feds involved and was working with them to plan a setup that would land Kevin and about a dozen other men in federal prison for their crimes that consisted of money laundering and alleged accusations of murder. The case against Kevin and his associates was huge and she was smack in the middle of an ongoing investigation when she’d nearly become collateral damage.

  Kevin had showed up at her apartment in the middle of the night. She let her guard down. She’d believed the agent who was working with her would help her, but then Kevin attacked.

  She tightened up and exhaled, not wanting to think about how he forced himself on her, used a knife to threaten to kill her and told her about all the other people he’d killed and gotten away with killing. When he held her gaze and cut the skin along her ribs and explained how he would chop her body up and get rid of it, and that he had help, she knew she was as good as dead.

  The days that followed sent her into a downward spiral. Added to her misery was the fact that the federal agent she had been working with suddenly turned up dead. She thought Kevin had done it and showed her that he had more power and control than anyone. She backed down, afraid of what would happen when Kevin attacked again. This time, the anger at what he had done—how he had stolen money from her, planted incriminating evidence against her to make it look like she was the criminal, not him, and then forced himself upon her—made her lose control.

  She had loved him. Confided in him about her childhood and about Owen. He used it against her. Made her feel like she was at fault and then told her that he didn’t believe she’d stopped Owen from taking from her body. That she probably liked it and had wanted revenge against her mother. It was sick. Kevin was sick, and as he assaulted her, she fought back. She could hardly remember the details of how it turned out, just that she wound up on top of him, stabbing him. It took months to prove it was in self-defense. It came down to the last days of a trial, of all the counts against her of criminal activity, and she thought Kevin would get the final laugh from prison. Then a group of federal agents arrived, friends of the agent who had been helping her and had been killed, and they proved she was the victim in all of it.

  Now here she was, once again a victim. Some man she didn’t even know or have any issues with was coming after her, trying to rape her and assault her, and she didn’t know why—nor did she feel like she could handle something like this again.

  The tears flowed and Brooklyn wished for a normal life. A peaceful, loving, happy life, but it just didn’t seem like it was in the cards for her. She was destined for misery, or maybe even death.

  Chapter 7

  “The damn stubborn woman. She’s been painstakingly walking around this place for three days trying to pretend that everything is just fine. She’s got her game face on, handling all the concerned citizens and pretending she isn’t scared,” Jagger said to Finnian.

  “Don’t forget about what we all learned about her life in New York after the Chief got that phone call.”

  “I know. Zeke was beside himself with worry.”

  “Well, he shouldn’t have tried to talk to her about it last night. She looked pissed off and maybe embarrassed,” Finnian said to Jagger.

  “She has no reason to be embarrassed. Zeke and Aero saw the scar on her ribs and knew something was up. The things we learned just emphasize how scared and untrusting she is. We’re peeling away her layers.”

  “She’s so skeptical, Finnian. I can’t stand to see that fear in her eyes. Every time I try to hug her and hold her close she pulls away after a few seconds. Sometimes I think she believes we could hurt her, too.”

  Finnian exhaled and then looked at Brooklyn, who was heading to her office.

  “I’m going to go talk to her now. Maybe try and smooth things over.”

  “Good luck,” Jagger said.

  Finnian headed down the hallway and knocked on Brooklyn’s office door. He opened it up and she was standing there with her hand on a hammer on her desk. He eyed the hammer and then raised one of his eyebrows up at her. She swallowed hard. The poor thing was scared.

  He closed the door and headed straight toward her. Their gazes locked and he saw her chest rise
and fall as if she really was breathing heavily and fearful.

  “Come here,” he stated, but before she moved he pulled her into his arms and held her tightly. He felt her tense, but his hold was firm and he caressed his palm down her back, up and down. When he felt her ease closer against him and not feel so tight, he moved his hand a little lower.

  “Tired?” he asked her.

  “A little,” she replied.

  “You work very hard, run a really great place. You know we’re not going anywhere, my brothers and I. So if you need more time, and doing the construction is too much right now, we can hold off on the plans. It’s okay, baby,” he said to her.

  She pulled slightly back and tilted her chin up toward him.

  “I don’t want to hold back. I’m not letting this situation, this guy I don’t even know, run my life. I’m not, Finnian.”

  She tried to step away but he held firm. He kept a hand over her lower back above her ass and used his other hand to caress up her arm and then to her good cheek. He licked his lips and stared down into her gorgeous green eyes. He felt the fight in her. The determination was clear in her eyes.

  “Okay, then we need to make some changes. I’m not trying to control you, order you around, since I know that pisses you off,” he said and winked. She smirked.

  “What kind of changes? Haven’t I been cooperative with the extra patrols, the security at my house and over Antonia? What more, Finnian?”

  “This,” he said and lowered his mouth to hers slowly. When she didn’t pull back, he kissed her gingerly on the lips. When he felt her hands run up his arms and to his shoulders, he deepened the kiss. In no time at all, they were dueling for control over it. He squeezed her ass, pulling her against his body, and he knew she had to feel his arousal. He pressed her gently against the desk and she rocked against him.

  He’d never felt anything as powerful as this kiss, these sensations running through his body. He knew in this instant that he wanted Brooklyn in every way. He ran his other hand up her skirt to her hip. She lifted her thigh up against him and moaned into his mouth. She felt sexy, firm, and he was shocked that she wore thigh-high stockings, and even more shocked to feel the thin material of some skimpy, barely-there thong panties.