Bred by the Bushmen

“Shit!”

Pulling away from the window, she ran to the bedroom where it was dark. In the past few weeks, she’d found the boards that were creaky. Moving toward the window, she saw Damon walking so slowly. Every now and then, someone shoved him, trying to get him to move faster. There was a small gap in the window, and she could hear them.

“What the fuck do you guys want?” Damon asked. “We don’t have any money here. We just live a simple life.”

“Not interested in your simple life, pal.” Another shove, and this time Damon fell to the snowy ground. She knew how sturdy he was, and in control, and knew instantly that he’d done that on purpose. No one could bring down a mountain like Damon.

He was slowing them down. Did he want her to escape? What did he want?

“We’ve got nothing of any value in there, so why don’t you boys just move along,” Damon said.

“When did your brother leave?”

“A couple of hours ago. He’ll be back soon,” Damon said. “Maybe not.”

Caleb had been gone a lot longer.

“Anyone else in the house?”

“No.”

He didn’t want them to know she was there. God, she didn’t want to imagine what that could mean. Her heart raced as she envisioned the horrific scenarios.

“Let’s go and take a look.”

Seconds later, she heard the door bang open, and she moved toward the bedroom door, slowly closing it. Looking around the room, she found a couple of guns. She was very much aware of how much her two men loved their guns. They wouldn’t be anywhere without them. Why didn’t Damon have a gun with him?

This was not what she was prepared for. Guns, danger, threats. Sure, there was lots of that in the city, but she wasn’t the kind of woman that got exposed to this kind of threat. When the streetlights came on, she was usually safe in her little apartment.

They were out in the middle of nowhere here. Even if she was to put a call through to local law enforcement, it would be hours before they made the trip up here, and those men could have killed Damon by then.

She was surprised they hadn’t killed him already.

Tears filled her eyes, and she sat on the bed, holding onto her stomach.

Everything will be okay.

Caleb will come.

Until then, she needed to stay alive, and to keep Damon alive as well. Staying in the house wasn’t going to work. Staring at the window, she knew she had to get to safety. If she could get out of the house, and find Caleb, or at least intercept him, she could give him a heads up, and give Damon some time.

Shit! Everything was going to hell, and it was only because Caleb had to go and get some supplies.

Hot water wasn’t worth losing either of them.

She loved them, dammit!

Even as she thought it, she covered her mouth at her own revelation.

She loved Caleb and Damon White. The two bushmen who’d saved her. Not only had they saved her, she’d fallen hard for each of them. This crazy life that they had set up for themselves, she wanted it more than anything.

To be their woman, to share each of them, to give them both everything they desired. To have a family with them. That was what she wanted so much, a family of her own.

She found a bag that she could carry on her shoulders, and in it she placed a gun and ammo that she found in the bedroom closet.

“I have to be the kind of girl that falls in love with men who have a thing for guns.” She whispered the words, and once everything was in the bag, she heard movement outside of the bedroom.

“You know, are you two faggots or something?” one of the men asked.

She quickly dived into the closet, and closed it just as the door to the bedroom opened. “Two men livin’ alone is sure a weird thing. Do you fuck each other?”

“We’re brothers, asshole,” Damon said.

“You’re not in a position to talk back to me.” The man flicked the light on and Opal held onto the bag she was holding a little tighter.

Her heart pounded inside her chest.

“You want to see what we’ve got?” Damon asked, entering the room. “We’ve got nothing to hide.”

“Two brothers, and no woman here at all.”

“No woman here,” Damon said.

From the crack in the door, she noticed his gaze kept looking around, and she wondered if he was looking for her. There was a gun trained on him. She stayed perfectly still even as the man stood in front of the closet. She closed her eyes, knowing that if they caught her, they’d hurt her and Damon would die trying to save her.

“I bet you fuck each other to pass the time. No woman, living in the middle of nowhere, it takes all sorts to deal with those urges.”