“I will.” He swallowed tightly.
“Heather.” Tara’s voice was filled with protest. “I’ll fill you in…”
“No.” Heather shook her head. “Sam can fill me in. He knows what I need to know and what can wait until he’s ready.”
She didn’t give Sam time to answer, or Tara to protest. She swept from the room, pain echoing through her body; for herself, for Sam, and for his brothers. They stood there, together, yet apart. As though invisible shields separated them, refusing to allow them to draw together, to face the past as a unit.
She was already aware of many of the details. Painful, horrendous. Rick hadn’t cut them any slack when he first detailed the dangers they faced. They were three men lucky to be alive, to be able to function in any normal way, and one of them had committed murder.
Men so horrifically abused, that their only connection to each other was the sexual bonds they shared with each other’s women. Strong, dependable, decent men whose only faults were their sexual needs and their loyalty to each other. And these men were being stalked, possibly by someone who had aided the monster who tried to destroy them. Wanted to destroy them because Sam had refused the homosexual relationship his abuser had wanted.
The drugs they had been injected with had aided the abuser in forcing them to rape each other. The normal bonds of brotherhood and trust had been destroyed in ways Heather could only imagine.
Her stomach rolled with the sickening realization of what Sam had suffered. The guilt and the pain he lived with was suddenly more real to her than it ever had been. Her feelings for him though, rather than dimming at that knowledge, were only growing. And in growing, she faced the bitter realization that there were now choices she would have to make as well.
Chapter Eleven
“They’re going to try to hide from us forever,” Marly raged furiously as Heather watched her pace the room.
Her long hair fell in ringlets down her back, swishing against her hips as she stalked the room.
“They can’t hide for much longer, Marly.” Sarah sat back in the chair she had taken at the side of the room.
“It’s not like I’m unaware of what happened,” Marly bit out, pushing her fingers through her hair, as she seemed to grit her teeth in pain. “Dammit, Sarah, he treats me like I’m still a child.”
Not hardly, Heather thought sarcastically. She had been unlucky enough to walk into the kitchen one morning searching out coffee, only to find Cade buried balls deep between his lover’s thighs as he bent her over the counter.
“You look like you disagree,” Marly snapped as she turned on her.
Heather watched her curiously before shrugging. “He doesn’t treat like you a child.”
Her eyes narrowed until only a sliver of the brilliant blue could be glimpsed.
“What would you call it?”
“He thinks he’s protecting you,” Heather pointed out.
“I’m aware of that, Heather,” Marly sighed then, sitting down on the bed wearily. “It’s the only reason I don’t kick his ass now.”
Heather fought the grin that wanted to touch her lips at the thought of the petite, delicate Marly attempting to kick big Cade August’s ass. It would be an interesting sight…a lesson in futility, she thought humorously.
“Sam’s right, your sense of humor is warped. That wasn’t supposed to be funny,” Marly accused her with a frown.
Heather could only shake her head.
“Why didn’t you stay?” Sarah asked her then. “You could have at least let us know what they were talking about later.”
“Do I look like your spy?” Heather grumbled. “I couldn’t tell you anything.”
“Of course you could,” Marly waved her hand carelessly. “You are quite aware that those men are only hurting themselves, Heather. We need to know what’s going on.”
“I know that having even one of us down there while Rick is dissecting their pride isn’t a good idea,” she countered. “Until I break Sam of this idea that he has to share me with your lovers, then I’m a weakness to all of them.”
“And you think you can do that?” Sarah leaned back in her chair and watched Heather as she sat on the edge of the couch. “Break him of that idea?”
Heather frowned. The other woman wasn’t being sarcastic, rather mildly amused, which grated on her nerves.
“Sarah, you two are entirely too accepting of these relationships for comfort,” she said warily.