Original Match [Ménage.com 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (13 page)

“Did you touch her? Did you and your brother touch her?”

“Do you agree with me?” Ian asked. Shea figured Ian was trying his best to distract him until help arrived, but Shea wondered if that would happen. She hoped that someone standing around them had called 9-1-1. Brad couldn’t be that far away.

“Yes!” The man tightened the knife against her throat, causing Shea to hold her breath. She could feel the tip digging into her skin. “Why do you think I love her? I tried to get her to stop writing that filth. How can I claim her for my wife if she has a dirty profession?”

Shea saw Ian’s eyes dart down to where the knife lay at her throat. She suddenly felt something warm trickle down over her collarbone and realized it must be blood. She didn’t feel any pain, but that didn’t mean anything. Her heart was pounding so hard, she doubted she would feel much if he decided to slit her throat. That wasn’t a pleasant thought.

“If you love her, then why would you want to hurt her?”

Shea looked over Ian’s shoulder and saw Gray running toward them, panic written all over him. She wanted to yell out to him that everything was okay and that she would love him any way he wanted, but knew that would only instigate the situation further.

“I would never hurt her!” Shea could hear the insanity in his voice and knew it was only a matter of time before he broke. “But I need to teach her a lesson! She cannot go around writing the dirty sex she does. And she stayed with you! Did you touch her? Did she want you to touch her?”

“Harvey, put down the knife.”

The tip of the knife seemed to be stuck inside her skin, prohibiting her from turning at the sound of Brad’s voice. She still felt no pain, but could now feel the blood as it made its way underneath her shirt and down her breast. Shea met the stares of her men and mouthed, “I love you”, to them. She didn’t want to die without saying the words one more time. Ian nodded slightly, while Gray repeated her gesture. Seeing those words fall off of his lips, however silent, made her realize how much she had been giving up when she ran earlier. Ian had been right, and she had run at the first sign of trouble. What she would give to go back in time.

“Harvey, this will not end well for you. You are surrounded by police officers. Let her go and we can talk about this.”

“Shea, tell them you love me. Tell them you see things my way and that you want to live your life with me.”

“I do,” Shea whispered, finally knowing what she had to do. “I do love you, but the knife is hurting me. I want to turn around and have you hold me, Harvey.”

Brad must have found out who he was from the fingerprints, but however he figured it out, Shea needed to use it to her advantage. She pushed aside her fear due to seeing the love in Gray’s and Ian’s eyes. How many times had she told them that she was a strong woman? It was time to prove to them that she could handle whatever was thrown her way.

“Harvey, please hold me. I will make them all go away.”

The look of horror that crossed Gray’s face almost made her back off of her plan, but Ian nodded his understanding. She saw Ian shift his body, obviously knowing what she had planned. Harvey loosened his grip on her. Knowing what was about to happen made her heartbeat accelerate more than it already had, and a ringing had taken up residence in her ears. The knife was pulled away from her throat, and Shea used it to her advantage. She needed to bide her time until an opportunity arose to execute her plan.

Ever so slowly, she turned her body to face the man who had stalked her without her knowledge—a man who had a warped desire to own her. She forced herself to look into his empty eyes and lifted the corner of her lips into what she hoped would pass for a smile. Forcing the lump of disgust out of her throat, Shea brought her hands up as if she were going to wrap them around his neck. His mouth opened in a gasp, as if no one had ever reached for him before. His cold eyes creased in question, but she didn’t stop to think and just reacted. Bringing her knee up at the same time her hands made contact with his thin shoulders, Shea rammed him in the balls as hard as she could.

Two arms wrapped around her waist, whirling her around and away from any threat that might be left. Instead of facing Gray, she saw him rush past her. Craning her neck to try to stop him, she saw him tackle Harvey to the ground. Brad was shouting at him to stop, while Ian wouldn’t release her to go help. The rage that had completely taken over Gray was now being taken out on her stalker. Gray was straddling Harvey, his fists pounding into Harvey’s face. The thud of the impact was sickening, but Harvey wasn’t even trying to protect himself.

“Ian, stop him!” Shea struggled to get out of Ian’s grasp, to no avail.

“Brad’s got it covered, Shea.” Ian turned her in his arms so that she was facing him. His right hand lifted her chin. She knew he wanted to see the damage that had been done, but Shea needed to make sure that Gray didn’t do something foolish—like kill the man.

Out of the corner of her eye, Shea saw that it took two officers along with Brad to pull Gray off of him. Harvey was now lying on the sidewalk, his face all bloody, not moving at all. Shea hoped beyond belief that Gray hadn’t killed him. She wouldn’t want him to ruin his life over her.

“Ouch!” Shea hissed when a stabbing sensation overwhelmed her nerves where the knife had nicked her.

“You need to have the paramedics look at this and make sure it doesn’t need stitches.” Ian’s hand made her take her eyes off of Gray, who was still arguing with Brad. Meeting his eyes, she saw that love had replaced the initial worry. “I am so proud of you.”

All of a sudden, Shea started to shake. With Ian saying those words, it hit her that this was all over. She had survived, and so had her men. Her teeth started to chatter, and a cold sweat overcame her skin, making it clammy. Ian cursed, pulling her close against him.

“Brad, I think she’s going into shock, and she needs her neck looked at. Gray, do you think you can control yourself to take care of our woman?”

Even though she felt as if she were separated from her body, having no control over her reactions, Ian’s words registered in her brain. He had just announced to a bunch of strangers and Brad that they were in a ménage. If she could have straightened her back and stepped away, she would have. She wanted them to know that it was okay to live the way Gray wanted, that she would adapt. If it meant being able to spend her life with them, then she would do it. She just couldn’t get the words out.

Nothing surprised her more than when Gray came right over, leaning down to kiss her head. Ian didn’t totally release her, but moved enough so that Gray’s arms could encompass her as well. He was publicly letting everyone know that she was his and Ian’s.

“Ian and Gray, you need to let her go so that the paramedics can determine if she needs to go to the hospital,” Brad said.

“N-no hospital. I-I want to go back to the a-apartment.”

“Honey, let them look at you.” Instead of stepping away from her and letting the paramedics attend to her wound, Ian and Gray walked her to the ambulance parked on the side. Once they had her situated in the back of the vehicle, both men sat on either side holding each of her hands.

“Shea, I was wrong,” Gray whispered. He placed a kiss on the side of her head. “When I realized that we could lose you, all because of my warped sense of society, I thought I would die. Nothing is more important than you.”

In a matter of five minutes, the warm blanket had taken part of her chill away. It was determined that she didn’t need stitches, and that a bandage would suffice. The shock her body was feeling diminished each minute that Gray and Ian held on to her.

Once the paramedics were finished looking her over, they attended to Harvey, who was now in cuffs and sitting on the side of the sidewalk. He was crying and carrying on about how she had tricked him and that she didn’t really love him. He was saying that she was just like all the rest of them—that women were evil and all they knew how to do was commit sin. Brad left him to the two officers and medical personnel, coming over to where the three of them still sat in the back of the ambulance.

“How did you know his name?” Shea asked, loving that Ian and Gray were rubbing the back of her hands. Her trembling was lessening.

“We got a hit on the fingerprints we took at the office,” Brad explained. “Apparently, you are the second author that he’s been obsessed with. But she had a pseudonym and he could never track her down physically. They figured out who he was from prints on the letters he sent, but nothing ever went to court. We searched the car and found numerous listening devices and audio equipment, along with pictures of you that were dated months prior to today.”

“So it’s my own fault?”

Shea remembered her parents’ warning of how dangerous it could be not to use a pen name. She had been so excited about being an author and wouldn’t listen to reason. Having her name printed on the front of a book was a feeling she never got used to, the excitement as potent as the first time every time it occurred. She just hadn’t realized what that feeling would cost her in the long run.

“This isn’t your fault, Shea. Harvey Wilson is to blame, and only him. He’ll be arrested, and we have enough evidence and witnesses that he won’t be bothering anyone for a very long time. For now, I need to know exactly what happened before we arrived on the scene. When the 9-1-1 call came in about a man holding a woman hostage outside the building, I knew then that he had made his move.”

Shea felt steady enough to tell him what happened, leaving out why she had left the apartment to begin with. Her argument with Gray and Ian was something personal that didn’t need to be shared. Once Brad had all the information he needed and Harvey Wilson had been taken into custody, Gray and Ian escorted her back to their condo—and hopefully, to the start of their new life.

Shea heard Gray moan the minute they entered their apartment. Wondering what had caused such a disheartening sound, she peered around him. A woman with a flowing light-blue dress, its sleeves falling around her wrists, and enough jewelry to rival Tiffany’s stood in the middle of the room. Her gray hair was perfectly fashioned, and there wasn’t one mistake in the makeup applied to her face. She was elegant in her presence and certainly made sure that she was noticed with her flamboyant flair. It was kind of amusing to watch.

“Grayson, darling, why is the office closed? I had gone to pay you and Ian a visit only to find that no one was there. Is everything all right?”

“Yes, Mother,” Gray responded, walking over to kiss her on the cheek. “It’s a long story, though. Is there a reason you wanted to see us?”

Shea knew the minute Mrs. Stevens noticed her, because the woman flared her arms out to the sides, making the material fly through the air. Gliding across the living room, she made her way to where Ian and she stood in the entryway.

“And who might this be? I raised them better than this, dear, to not have a proper introduction. I am Beverly Stevens. And who might you be?”

“Mother, this is Shea Brennan,” Ian introduced, not letting go of her left hand. Shea raised her right hand, but Mrs. Stevens leaned right in, taking her by the shoulders and kissing both of her cheeks. “Shea’s had a rough day and needs to take a shower. Can the interrogation wait for another day?”

“Why a rough day, dear? And why do you have a bandage on your neck? Come sit with me and tell me all about it.”

Mrs. Stevens pulled Shea’s hand out of Ian’s and led her straight to the couch. The woman had such a dazzling way about her, Shea couldn’t resist following her and giving her men a smile at their exasperation. She knew they would like nothing more than to take care of her, with everything that had happened in the last few hours. But sometimes, family duty came to the forefront.

It wasn’t long into the story that Shea realized Mrs. Stevens was a lot smarter than she led on. Her eyes took in everything, from each look that was exchanged between her and Gray as well as her and Ian. The woman must have immediately picked up on the fact that Shea was involved with both of her sons, for it was toward the end of the conversation that she brought it up.

“Do you love my sons?”

“Mother!” Both Ian and Gray yelled her name and jumped out of their chairs.

“What? A mother can’t ask if the woman her sons are involved with has their best interest at heart?” Mrs. Stevens gave them what Shea always considered the evil eye of a loving mother, warning them not to overstep in their bounds of her respect. “I can see how you both look at her. I must say, it’s an unusual relationship, but I’m not such a prude that I would deny my sons the happiness they deserve.”

Shea didn’t want Gray and Ian to feel they had to defend her in any way, so she answered as honestly as she could. “Mrs. Stevens, we only met a couple of days ago, but if there is such a thing as love at first sight—well, then I do believe I love your sons. And I do realize that this is very unconventional, and I will try my best to make sure it doesn’t sully their reputation.”

“Shea, I told you before, I was wrong,” Gray said, coming to stand in front of her. Grabbing her hands, Gray pulled her to her feet. He brought her hands up to his lips to brush a kiss across her knuckles. “You deserve better than to be hidden away.”

“But what about your business? What about your reputation?” Shea asked, wanting him to be sure of his reversed decision. “The only thing I could think of when Harvey Wilson held that knife to my throat was that I would take you and Ian any way I can get you. And if that means only being able to be with you privately, and being with Ian publicly, than that’s what we will do. Life is too short to worry about the little details, and I want to enjoy every second of it with the two of you.”