Authors: Marla Monroe
Something glinted in the sun off to her left, nearly blinding her. She turned her head but couldn’t find what it was. When Brice climbed down from the hay, she turned off the water and rolled the hose back up on the wheel.
A few minutes later, they started checking the garden for ripe vegetables. Halfway through the garden, she noticed a glint again. This time she asked Brice if he’d seen it.
“No, what did it look like, Ronnie?”
“It looks like something shining in the sun, like a mirror or glass of some kind. It blinded me for a second the first time, but the second time, it just was there.”
“Let’s go on inside, Ronnie. I don’t like this.” He grabbed her bucket and urged her into a fast walk. They made it inside and locked the door without incident.
“Brice, what’s wrong with you?”
“I just don’t want anything to happen to you. With this gang out there hunting down runaway women, I don’t want to take a chance, especially without Garrett here, too.”
“You didn’t sound this upset about it the other night,” she accused, slapping her hands on her hips.
“Believe me. I am serious about it. I just didn’t see any reason to upset you. I was wrong. You need to take it very seriously.” Brice checked the back window, and then the front.
Ronnie began to worry now. He wasn’t acting like himself at all. She wished Garrett was there so Brice would feel more secure. He didn’t seem confident that he could keep her safe. Well, she could fight just like he could. Nothing was going to happen to her. At least she hoped not.
Chapter Twelve
A knock at the door startled both of them. Brice put his finger to his mouth and pointed for her to go upstairs. Ronnie shook her head no, and he turned her around and popped her lightly on the ass. This time she did go, with a furious look in his direction. Well, she could be mad all she wanted. He wasn’t taking any chances. He was glad she still had her apron on with the gun in the pocket.
When the knock came again, he crossed the room and opened the door just enough to see who it was. Two men stood outside wearing black T-shirts and sporting guns on their hips. Neither one of them looked friendly.
“What can I do for you?” he asked, still not opening the door much wider.
“You have a female here,” the taller one said. He didn’t ask.
“Yes, she belongs to me and my partner. Why?”
“Her description matches a runaway from back east of us. We need to see her.”
“You’ll just have to wait till my partner gets back. I’m not about to let you inside without us both being here.”
“If she’s a runaway, she comes with us.”
“He’ll be back late tonight. Come back tomorrow sometime.” Brice kept his voice confident, as if he wasn’t worried in the least.
“So you’ll have time to hide her? I don’t think so. Either you bring her out now, or we’ll come in. There are two of us, and one of you. And,” he pointed out, “we have guns.”
“You’d shoot an unarmed man? Where is the justice in that?” Brice demanded.
“We are justice. If she’s who we think she is, she’s going back after we administer that justice.”
“You mean beat her.”
“She will get five licks of the whip, like all runaways get.”
“And I still say you have no jurisdiction in a man’s own home.”
“Open the fucking door now, or I will shoot you.” Until this moment the shorter man hadn’t said anything.
“No, you won’t, because I’ll shoot you first.”
Brice looked behind the two men and nearly moaned out loud. Ronnie stood behind them, but not with the gun from her pocket. She had a shotgun pointing directly at the shorter of the two men. She kept her hand steady. Brice would have sworn she was used to handling a gun. Maybe she was, but didn’t like them.
The two men slowly turned around. They stared at her, and then at the gun. Brice opened the door now that there was no reason to keep it closed. He glared at her, but would save the dressing down until later, if there was a later. Garrett was going to kill him. He’d screwed up twice, where she was concerned.
“You’re Rhonda Ann Sawyer,” the second man said.
“I’m Ronnie. I don’t go by that name anymore.” She kept the gun steady on the two men.
“You are a runaway and are being sentenced to five lashes of the whip and being returned to your owner,” the first man stated formally.
“I’m not going anywhere. That son of a bitch wasn’t my owner. He was my jailer. No one owns me. I can live wherever I want to live, and that is here. You have no authority over me.” Her voice got higher and louder as she spoke.
“You need to hand that gun to me, or I’m going to be forced to take it from you.”
“Brice, move out of the way,” she warned.
Brice cursed and moved to one side. She was going to shoot one of the bastards. That was all they needed. But then, he couldn’t keep them from taking her, so what was his gripe?
“You take one step toward me, and I’ll shoot you. Don’t think I won’t. At this range, I can’t miss what I aim for.” She lowered the gun to crotch level.
Both men froze.
* * * *
Ronnie was scared spitless, but she wasn’t going back to that bastard, and they sure as hell weren’t going to whip her. She might take a spanking from her guys, but she wasn’t going to be whipped, hit, or slapped by another man.
“I think you want to lower that gun and come with us before you get into even more trouble, female,” the shorter of the two told her.
Ronnie took a couple of steps back and to the side. She never took her aim off of their crotches, though.
“I think you need to leave now. You’re not welcome on our property. Common law says I can shoot anyone trespassing on private property once it’s been claimed and worked. This has been claimed and worked for three, nearly four, years now. You are trespassing. Get the fuck off.”
They stood there staring at her as if she’d lost her mind. Then she racked the shotgun and they immediately backed away toward their truck sitting down at the edge of the road. She kept the gun trained on their asses until they had pulled off and were out of sight.
“Fuck, Ronnie! What in the hell do you think you were doing?” Brice grabbed the gun from her and opened it to eject the shells. Only there weren’t any.
“You didn’t even have it loaded,” he fussed.
“I couldn’t find the shells fast enough. I wasn’t going to let them shoot you. They would have, Brice.”
“And what in the hell are we going to do when they come back with more men? Have a damn shootout here?”
“So I’m just supposed to let them take me, whip me, and send me back to that rat bastard? I mean that little to you?”
“Hell, no, Ronnie. That’s not true. I’d never have let them take you.”
“Oh, you would have died for me. But you wouldn’t have been able to stop them from taking me in the long run.”
“Hell, there has to be something we can do, Ronnie, to stop this from happening.”
Ronnie sighed and hugged him. He pulled her back into the house and locked the door. Then he leaned the shotgun up in the corner by the door before picking her up in his arms.
He sat on the couch and cradled her in his arms, smoothing one hand up and down her back.
“We’ll figure something out. When Garrett gets back, we’ll put our heads together and come up with something.”
“If you say so, Brice. I’m tired of always having to hide.”
“I know, baby.” He lifted her chin and softly kissed her.
She wrapped her hands around his head and dove deeper into his kiss, opening her mouth to him. She was desperate for something to hold the fear at bay. His mouth, his body, would do just fine.
He licked along the inside of her mouth with his tongue, then explored her teeth before sucking her tongue into his mouth to tease. When he pulled back, she was about to force him down again when he nipped at her chin and nibbled his way around her jawline to her neck. He sucked and nibbled there before heading for her shoulder. He was marking her, she knew. She was fine with that. She belonged to him and Garrett, just like they belonged to her.
His hands went to the hem of her T-shirt and lifted it. When it needed to go over her head, he moved back from her shoulder and jerked it off, dropping it to the floor before returning to her collarbone. When he reached for her bra, she shoved his hands away and unhooked it herself and let it slide off. Then she grabbed at his shirt and pulled at it, trying to get it up over his head. He helped her and threw it over the back of the couch.
“I think if we’re going to get anywhere fast, we’re going to have to stand up for the boots and jeans,” he pointed out.
Ronnie grinned and scrambled off his lap and began pulling off her boots, then worked on her jeans. She watched Brice do the same thing. When they were both naked, she jumped on him and took him down to the floor. He chuckled and swung her on top of him. She immediately worked her mouth over his chest, finding each flat disc to nibble and suck on. Then she followed the happy trail to his massive cock and enveloped the head of it in her mouth to suck.
Brice hissed out a breath and grabbed her head as she began to suck him all the way down her throat.
“Fuck!” Brice fought to pull her off of him. “I’m not going to last if you do that again. Ride me, baby.”
She came off of him with an audible pop then climbed on top of him. He held his cock steady for her to slowly slide down over him. She stopped once to catch her breath at the fullness of him inside of her. When she sat flush against his pelvis, she squeezed her cunt and was rewarded with a string of curse words.
Ronnie grinned and began to slowly ride him. She used her knees to hold her as she pulled up and slammed back down again, over and over. Brice held her hips as if trying to help, but he was only holding on as she rode him to completion. When she felt him begin to come inside of her, she reached between her legs and found her clit and rubbed it. He pushed her hand out of the way and pinched it just right.
She exploded and lost her rhythm as she climaxed, clamping down on his dick as she did. He called out her name and they both collapsed against the floor. Ronnie was completely out of breath and worried she wouldn’t be able to catch it again. Brice didn’t sound like he was in much better shape.
After a few minutes of pulling herself together, Ronnie climbed to her feet and retrieved the shotgun. She laid it by the mattress on the floor and re-dressed in everything but her boots.
“Come on, lazy. Dress so we aren’t caught with our pants down, and let’s grab some sleep before Garrett makes it back home.” She grabbed his limp arm and pulled him to a sitting position.
“I think sex just stirs you up. No more sex for you,” Brice grumbled as he pulled on his jeans.
“I’m really worried that’s going to happen. I’m going upstairs to find the damn shells to the gun and I’ll be right back down.” She took the stairs at a jog and realized she felt much better than she had.
Was it because of the near-disastrous episode, or because she had stood up for herself, or maybe just like Brice said, sex revved her up? No matter why, she felt good, and even though she was sleepy and could use a nap, she knew she would probably stay awake and make sure no one snuck up on them.
Deep down, Ronnie was terrified of losing her hard-won independence and the two most wonderful men she’d ever been around. She’d fight tooth and nail to stay there with them. They treated her as if she were the most precious thing in the world.