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.
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Marly’s Choice
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“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.
“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.
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Marly’s Choice
71
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.
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Marly’s Choice
72
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.
“Cade.” She tried to crawl. To pull herself to her hands and knees, but the weight on her head was dragging her down, hurting her.
“Marly.” She didn’t recognize this voice either, but it was frightened, concerned.
“God, Marly, Cade’s gonna kill me.”
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Marly’s Choice
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Gentle hands lowered her to the ground, a husky, worried voice sounding above her. Marly fought to see the man touching her, trying to gentle her. Her eyes were opened wide, yet all she could see was a dark gray world of shifting shapes.
“I can’t see,” she screamed, trying to claw at her face, but something kept her hands blocked, kept her from reaching her eyes. Dark and unyielding as she fought to tear it from her head.
“Easy, Marly. For God’s sake, let me get it off you.” A body straddled hers as hands, firm and resolute worked beneath her chin. Then the hard covering was jerked from her head and she was watching Dillon’s face swim above her.
“It’s okay,” he soothed her as his expression remained strained with worry. “Are you okay, Marly? Is anything broken?”
Broken? She hurt all over. How the hell was she supposed to know if anything was broken?
“Son of a bitch just ran us off the road.” He dug his cell phone from his jacket pocket, his fingers keying in numbers with shaky speed. “I think he was trying to help you till he saw me, then he just lit off. Crazy bastard.”
Marly couldn’t make sense of what he was saying. No, something evil had touched her, dragging her to the pits of hell. She blinked, fighting to clear her memory, to make sense of the pain and the swirling lights.
“Hurt…no bones broken…get here.” She heard his voice from a distance.
“Cade,” she whispered his name again. Why hadn’t he come yet? Where was he?
“He’s coming, Marly,” Dillon swore, tearing his jacket from his body and laying it over her. “It’s gonna be okay, honey. Just relax.”
His hands began running over her limbs, testing, questioning her. No, it didn’t hurt in any one particular place. Yes, she could feel her arms, her legs. “Where is Cade?”
“Cade’s coming, honey,” Dillon promised her again.
Slowly, the fuzziness receded and Marly moved sluggishly, rolling to her side, then pulling herself to her knees.
“Marly, lay back down until the paramedics get here,” Dillon urged her harshly.
“You could be hurt.”
His hands touched her arms. She shrugged him away with a cry. Where was Cade?
She had to get to Cade.
“Let me go.” She jerked away from him, nearly falling flat on her face as she tore from his arms. “I want to go home.”
She had to get to Cade. Dammit, he should have been here by now. Where the hell was he? She was hurt and scared, and so cold she couldn’t stop shivering.
“Dammit, Marly, stay still.” He gripped her arms again, pulling her to the ground with him, wrapping her in his arms, holding her still.
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Marly’s Choice
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She fought him. Bucking against him, crying out against the restraint, her hair whipping around her, blinding her, her body screaming in pain. Or was that her screaming? Growling. Rage echoing through the night, and suddenly she was free.
“You bastard!” She heard his voice, rough and furious, like a demon gone mad.
“Cade.”She fought the cascade of hair raining over her face, nearly falling to her knees before hands caught her, pulled her close.
She fought to get free, screaming his name, terrified that suddenly her vision was once again darkened. The waves of hair wouldn’t move, wouldn’t be pushed aside. She pulled at the mass desperately, scared that she couldn’t remember what had happened, where she was. Why wouldn’t Cade help her?
“Marly.” It was Cade, his voice agonized, tormented. He pulled her into the warmth of his chest, his hands shaking, trembling as he gently pushed the hair back from her face, his expression streaked with tears, with rage when she blinked up at him.
“It hurts,” she whispered, her head falling to his chest, the fight going out of her, knowing Cade would keep her safe. “It hurts, Cade.”
An animalistic growl sounded beneath her ear as he swung her up in his arms. Lights were swirling again, yellow and white and blue, making her head splinter with pain. Marly buried her head against Cade’s chest, fighting the nausea welling inside her, and the fear that throbbed in her chest.
“It’s okay, baby. The ambulance is here. Everything’s okay. I promise.” His voice was husky and deep, ridden with pain.
“No ambulance.” She jerked in his arms. “No hospital, Cade. Promise me.”
Her hands dug into his shoulder and back, holding on as tightly as she could, terrified he would let go of her.
“Baby, they need to check you out,” he told her fiercely against her hair. “You could be hurt Marly. You have to go to the hospital.”
“Stay with me.” She held on tighter, scared. If he took her to the hospital he would have to leave. She would be alone. Defenseless. The monster was still out there. “Don’t leave me, Cade.”
“I won’t leave you, baby.” He lowered her onto a stretcher, staring down at her with such a worried expression that she felt fear tear through her again.
“Swear, Cade.” She gripped his hand hard. “Swear you won’t leave me.”
“I swear, Marly.” He leaned close, his mouth brushing her trembling lips for the barest second. “I swear, if you’ll just calm down, I won’t leave you.”
“Not ever? Promise me.” She felt sick. Her head was whirling again, and Cade’s face looked so fuzzy.
“Not ever, Marly.” His voice was distant, dark, as was his face. Then the darkness washed over her, her eyes closing as the pain rolled in like a dark, suffocating wave.
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Marly’s Choice
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* * * * *
Cade was in a violent frame of mind. Dillon was being treated for minor injuries, the least of which was the broken nose Cade had bestowed on him. Marly was asleep, pale but unhurt in the hospital bed, under close observation for the concussion she had sustained the night before. She had some bruising along her back, her left leg, but nothing serious. The full helmet Dillon used had protected her head from the impact with the road. Without it, she would have been dead. It didn’t change the fact that there wouldn’t have been an accident if she had been home where she belonged. There wouldn’t have been an accident if he had gone with his gut instinct and forbidden her to get on that damned motorcycle. He knew letting her leave that house was a bad idea.
But since when had he ever denied Marly anything? He grimaced at the thought. It terrified him, this all-consuming need he had to make certain she had anything, everything she wanted. But she never asked for anything. A new outfit, maybe. That damned Jeep she had wrecked last year. But at least it had been a relatively inexpensive used Jeep. They had learned over the years to never buy Marly a new vehicle. It never failed that she ended up wrecking the damned thing, new or used. At least no one else had ever been involved in her accidents. At least, no one outside the vehicle she was in. Cade shook his head. For eight years, every year, one way or another she ended up in the damned hospital. The first year, it had been double pneumonia. Every year after that it had been a concussion. A fall from a horse. A fall from the roof, and only God knew what she had been doing up there. The manner of the accidents were never the same, the outcome usually was. Her head. Damned good thing it was a hard one.
“Cade.” Dr. Barnett entered the room, his portly body moving with surprising grace, his homely face creased in a smile, his gray hair standing on end. He had been Marly’s doctor since her first visit to him; just days after her mother left her on the ranch. Cade still refused to allow anyone else to treat her.
“Hey, Doc.” Cade wiped his hands over his gritty face. His jaw was bristled with a day’s worth of beard, and he hadn’t had a shower yet.
“You look tired, Cade. You should have gotten a room at the motel last night at least.” Dr. Barnett frowned at him in disapproval. “I’ll have you in here next, at this rate.”
Cade grimaced. He had promised Marly he wouldn’t leave her, no matter what. She had awakened a few times through the night, scared, calling out for him. He had been there, moving close to her side, leaning close to her so she would know she wasn’t alone.
“I’ll be fine.” He shook his head wearily. “When can Marly go home?”
“Soon as she wakes up this morning. They just wanted to keep her for observation. The concussion was pretty bad. You know the routine, though. Keep an eye on her; wake her up once every so often after she goes to sleep for another forty-eight hours. Plenty of fluids and rest.”