Marly's Choice (Men of August 1)

Cade groaned. He had lost his mind.

“Hey, Cade.” Sam stepped out on the porch, watching him questioningly. “What are you doing out here?”

He looked up at his younger brother; the affable expression on Sam’s face was enough to make him want to wipe it away with his fist.

“Waiting on Marly,” Cade snapped. “Since you threw her to the wolves I thought at least one of us should be concerned.”

Sam sat down on the step beside him, leaning back on the porch, his elbows braced on the floor.

“Aw hell, Cade, Dillon will take care of her. He’s a good guy,” Sam protested.

Cade knew better. He didn’t know who Sam thought he was fooling, but it wasn’t Cade. He had been to enough of Dillon’s parties himself; he knew just how perverted the man could get.

“He’s a pervert, and a lying tomcat that doesn’t care anything about a woman after he gets his rocks off,” Cade bit out. “Where are your brains, Sam?”

Sam was silent for long moments, and Cade could feel his brother’s gaze centered on him intently.

“And you’re any better?” Sam grunted, his anger thickening once again. “How stupid do you think I am Cade? I know what happened yesterday. I know what you did to her. Which would have been fine if you’d been smart enough to at least accept it for what it was.”

“This is none of your business, Sam,” he growled warningly.

“Wrong. When you fucked her mouth and left her crying, you made it my business, bro.” Sam turned on him furiously. “She’s not just yours, she belongs to us all. And I know that’s what scares the hell out of you. It does me too. But Marly’s not stupid; she’s heard the rumors by now. She knows what’s coming.”

“We protected her,” he bit out.

“And we can’t protect her forever,” Sam told him harshly. “Dammit Cade, she’s so horny she’s dying for it, and if you don’t give it to her soon, she’ll turn to me or Brock. Do you really want one of us to be the one to take her virginity, to claim her first?”

They would eventually claim her, though. Cade knew it, and his body hardened further at the thought of it. Marly, stretched out, screaming in pleasure while the men who loved her most took her in every way a man could take a woman.

r /> “She’ll leave. She’ll run.” He shook his head. “That’s what I don’t want, Sam.”

“I don’t think she will,” Sam disagreed quietly. “Not if you handle it right, Cade. Not if you ease her into it. I know. I’ve watched her. She gets horny for all of us to some degree.”

Cade rubbed his face furiously. Dammit it, he wanted to go back and kill the monster who did this to them all over again. Then he wanted to kill his parents himself for turning them over to the bastard. Then he wanted to kill his father himself for turning them over to the bastard. He couldn’t cry for them, he had lost that ability years ago. He couldn’t do anything but try to protect them, and show them in the only way he knew how, just how much they meant to him. By sharing Marly. And it was what he wanted, what he needed. An extension of his love for her, and his love for his brothers.

“Son of a bitch, I ought to just kill us all and get it the hell over with.” He rose to his feet then, stomping furiously into the house.

Sam hid his grin, whistled a soundless tune and leaned back against the porch as he waited on Marly as well. As he relaxed, watching the road that led into the ranch yard, he heard the distant sound of Cade’s phone ringing.

Chapter Thirteen

Marly stared in dazed fascination at the swirling stars in the sky. They moved haphazardly, streaking and impacting, bursting in a kaleidoscope of color and pain. She was lying on her back. Why was she lying on her back? She could hear the motorcycle throbbing in the distance, whining, a drone that grated on her nerves and made her stomach roll with fear. There was something wrong with that sound. Something she should know, should understand.

She tried to shake her head, but it felt as though a cement block was wrapped around it, choking her. Damn, Cade was gonna be mad. Real mad this time. At least in the other accidents she had the full body of a car around her. She had never felt as though every bone in her body had been whacked out of place.

“Cade?” She called out his name in fear as she blinked dazedly, fighting to understand the pain radiating through her, to make sense of the disorientation that whirled in her head. Where was Cade? He was always there when she hurt. She knew she was hurt. Knew she had somehow wrecked again. That was what always happened when she was hurt.

“Marly.” Grating, evil, the voice whispered at her side.

A hand touched her breast above her jacket, making her recoil in terror. God, why couldn’t she see?

“Marly, you’re mine.” The voice again, cutting through the pain in her head, making her mad with fear.

That wasn’t Cade. Marly trembled, shaking as the voice echoed in her head again. Then she screamed out in terror and pain as harsh hands gripped her arms, pulling her, dragging at her body. Someone was trying to take her away. Cade couldn’t find her if someone took her away. She couldn’t let them take her.

Marly curled her fingers into claws, raking bare skin, fighting to get free of whatever bound her head, her body. She screamed out into the night, trying to ram her head into the person dragging her across the ground, and though she felt the impacting agony in her head, there was a curious sense of something wrapped about her head. Smothering her. Cutting her off from the world.

Then suddenly she was released. She was thrown to the ground, her breathing harsh as she heard another male yell out, a scuffle, the sound of tires squealing in protest as a vehicle accelerated away.