Alexander, Kalissa - Katlynn in Training (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (12 page)

David looked over her shoulder. His face stiffened in shock. He stepped back, taking her with him, his back against the closed door.

“Who the fuck are you and how did you get in here?”

“I’m Kat’s boyfriend from next door. She always keeps the sliding glass door open for me.”

Jarred closed the distance between them, his eyes never leaving David’s. He was bigger and more intimidating than she remembered. “The question is,” he spat, “who the fuck are you and what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

“I dated her before you did, and I know what she likes. She wants this. She asked me to come over.”

“That’s a fucking lie, you piece of shit. I’m going to take great pleasure in watching you suffer while I put you out of your misery.” Jarred grabbed David’s shirt.

In his haste to escape Jarred’s grip, David pushed her from him. She fell backward, losing her balance.

Jarred was on him instantly, pulling him back around by his shirt and up against the door. “You motherfucking asshole. I’ll make you curse the day you were born.”

David began to whimper and then screamed. “Katlynn, make him stop.”

“Jarred, please” she said, pulling herself up into a sitting position, “He’s not worth it. Just make him leave, please,” she whispered tearfully, her breath coming out in gasps.

“This is your lucky day, you fucking coward. But then again, a man like you is probably used to having a woman save him. Get the fuck out of here, and if I ever see you near Kat again, I promise you’ll wish I’d killed you now.”

Without releasing his grip on David’s shirt, Jarred pulled him away from the door and opened it, throwing him out onto the landing where he fell in a heap. Katlynn watched through the open door as David picked himself up and ran down the steps before Jarred slammed it shut.

Turning around, he bent to where Katlynn was slumped on the floor with a dazed look on her face. Her tear-stained face looked up into his. “Jarred, oh Jarred,” she cried before she collapsed in his arms, darkness overcoming her.

Chapter Twelve

When Katlynn came to, she was in her own bed. She felt odd, not at all herself. She started to get up when in a rush, David’s attack came back to her, causing her to cry out.

She heard footsteps and looked up to see Jarred enter her bedroom. “Kat, you’re finally awake.” She could see the worry in his eyes.

“I must have fainted,” she said weakly. “How did you know I was in trouble, that…” She closed her eyes, unable to continue.

She felt Jarred move closer. She opened her eyes to look up into his that were full of concern. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“You don’t have to thank me, Kat. I’m just glad that you left your sliding glass door open. Otherwise, I would have had to smash through it.”

“Thank God I always leave it unlocked for Justin and that you were out on the deck.”

“Yes, I was drinking my coffee, trying to come with a plan to get you to talk to me after I made such a mess of our first meeting. That’s when I heard someone knocking. I thought it was your door, but when they didn’t stop, I was about to get up and see who was being so insistent. Then I heard your door open and close. You left your bedroom window open, and I could hear voices and figured you had invited someone over. But when I heard you raise your voice in panic, I knew something was wrong. Since your deck butts up against ours, I just jumped over the railing. I was about to knock when I saw you through a gap in the vertical blinds. It didn’t take me long to figure out what was going on.”

“If you hadn’t been out on the deck…” Her voice trailed off.

“Well, I was and that son of a bitch was stopped. But regardless of that fact, we now have to deal with what happened. I delayed calling the police until you were awake. I’ll call them now.”

“No. You can’t, please. Calling the police would just complicate everything. I would have never believed David could have acted like that. He was angry when I broke it off with him, but he never threatened me with physical violence. I still can’t believe what almost happened and would have happened if you hadn’t been there. But regardless, I can’t relive it over and over again with the police. He didn’t actually rape me. I mean, he could say all sorts of things to make them think I was in some way to blame for his actions and that he had no intention of raping me. Please, Jarred, you can’t call the police.”

“Men like him are cowards. They prey on women who they know are alone. Seeing you half naked in his arms trying to fend him off made me crazy. All I could think about was squeezing the life out of that bastard. You can’t just let him get away with this, Kat.”

“I’ll never be able to repay you for what you did for me, Jarred. I felt so helpless. But now I’m begging you”—she began to sob—“don’t call the police. You’re right about him, he’s a coward and he’ll act like one. He’ll say anything to put the blame on me.”

Jarred sat down beside her on the bed and gathered her in his arms. “Shhh…it’s okay now. I’ll never let him touch you again, Kat, I promise. If you don’t want me to call them, I won’t.” He sighed.

She looked down and suddenly realized she was wearing one of her nightgowns. She pulled away slightly, looking back up at Jarred.

“Yes, I put you in your nightgown. I threw your robe and panties away. I didn’t think you’d ever want to see them again.”

“That was kind of you,” she said between her tears. “You were right to do so, but I’m so embarrassed.”

“Embarrassed? Darling, you’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about. You’re not the first naked woman I’ve ever seen, although, you might be the first one I’ve put a nightie on instead of taking it off.” He grinned, bringing her head back to rest against his chest.

She buried her face in the safety of his warmth, not wanting to look at him. He lifted her chin. “Look at me, Kat. Please.” She heard something close to a plea in his voice.

“You’re not afraid of me are you, Kat? You know I’d never hurt you.”

She shook her head. She wasn’t afraid of him. She felt safe in his arms. She wanted to stay there forever.

“When you’re feeling up to it, I need to talk to you. I know up until the moment I came barging in your house this morning, you probably never wanted to see me again. But there are some things I need to say to you. Things you need to hear.”

Nodding her head, she said, “After what you just did, the least I can do is listen to what you have to say. Just give me a few minutes to take a shower and get dressed.”

“Do you want me to help you?”

“No. I’m feeling stronger now. But you’ll still be here, right?”

“I’ll be in the living room waiting for you, Kat. I don’t plan on going anywhere.”

The shower felt good. She made it as hot as she could stand. She wanted to wash David’s hands off her body as completely as possible. She would never be able to fathom what possessed him to want to punish her so horribly. If Jarred hadn’t been there, she shivered at what could have happened.

As he promised, Jarred was waiting for her. He had even made coffee. Whatever David had brought had been tossed out with her clothes. She was glad she didn’t have to see any reminders of him or what he had tried to do to her.

She dressed in a pair of jeans and a short-sleeved blue shirt. She hadn’t put on any makeup and remained barefoot. When Jarred saw her, he stood up and smiled.

“I told you I’d be right here.”

“Thank you. Thank you for everything.”

“I poured you a cup of coffee. It’s on the kitchen table. Do you want something to eat?”

“No. I’m not hungry. Thanks for the coffee.”

She grabbed her cup and went to where Jarred was waiting for her on the sofa. She sat down beside him and took a sip of the hot coffee, holding the cup with both hands. When she looked up, he was staring at her.

“Are you sure you’re up for this? I could come back later.”

“Please don’t go. I’m ready to hear whatever you have to say.”

I’m not even sure where to begin,” he started. “But the first thing I want you to know is that my brothers are madly in love with you.”

She felt a cry escape her lips. “I know, and I’m so sorry.”

“Are you really sorry, Kat?”

“Of course I am. I would never pit two brothers against one another, especially two that I love as much as Jeremiah and Justin.”

“Then you really do love them both,” he said softly.

“I’m a terrible person, I know it. But I promise you I won’t come between them. I’m going to sell this place, and I’m going to move to another state, and I’ll never see either one of them again.”

“Now why would you do that?”

She looked at him quizzically, placing her coffee cup down on the end table next to the sofa. “I think that’s pretty obvious, and I would have thought you’d be happy about it.”

“How could I be happy about something that would break my brothers’ hearts?”

Katlynn shook her head, trying to clear her confusion. She knew she had been through a lot, but was it possible that she was suffering from a concussion or a delayed reaction of some kind. Jarred wasn’t making any sense. “I don’t understand.”

“I know you don’t. But I’m here to explain it to you,” he said, his eyes looking deeply into hers. “You see, Kat, you can have them both if you want them.”

Katlynn tried to absorb what Jarred was trying to explain to her. If she understood him correctly, he was telling her that Justin and Jarred wanted to share her in the most intimate of ways. “Have them both? Do you mean one night I’m with Jeremiah, and the next night I’m with Justin?”

“Not exactly.” He smiled. “They want to make love to you together, in what some people would call a threesome.”

“A threesome.” Now that she understood, for some reason it made perfect sense to her. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Say you’ll think about. That’s all I can ask.”

“They’ve done this before haven’t they?”

“Yes, they have, but it’s always been for fun. They’ve never found anyone until they met you that they wanted to commit to.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Please,” Jarred said, taking her hand in his. “Ask me anything you want.”

“Why did they want you to tell me? Why didn’t they just tell me themselves? They had plenty of opportunities.”

It seemed forever before Jarred spoke. “I could lie, but I don’t want to lie to you. You might not like the truth. Are you sure you want to hear it?”

Katlynn had a feeling that she knew what Jarred was going to tell her. “Do they want to share me with you, too?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

She waited for him to continue. She felt her heart beating faster.

“When they met you, they called me and told me they had found someone different, someone they thought they could spend their life with. I think they fell in love with you at first sight, Kat. They also told me they wanted me to meet you, to get to know you, because they hoped I would fall in love you with you the way they had. I never believed in love at first sight, and I thought you might be the kind of woman who was going to try and take them to the cleaners financially as well as emotionally.”

“That’s why you treated me the way you did last night. Do you feel that way now?” Her voice came out in a whisper.

“No. In my attempt to protect my brothers I insulted you and used you to make them see what I thought was the error of their ways. After you left, they were both devastated. I convinced them not to follow you even though they both wanted to. I told them I would talk to you and that they needed to trust me,” he said, his voice low and full of emotion. “When I tried to sleep, all I kept seeing was the tortured look on your face. This morning when I was having my coffee, I was trying to come up with a plan to make everything right. If I had been kinder to you, I could have asked you to share breakfast with me out on the deck and…” He paused “That bastard would have never had the opportunity to find you alone. When I saw him forcing himself on you,” he choked out, “I wanted to kill him for daring to touch you.”