Given (18 page)

She nodded.
Brax
took his cell out
of his pocket. “Hey.
You there yet?”
Brax
said into the sleek, touch screen smart phone.
“Ah,
mmm
, yeah.”

These sounds weren’t telling her much about
Mal’s
condition. She bit her lip, watching
Brax’s
face for any signs things were bad.

“Okay. Hey, before you come back, could you go get those
things on Krista’s list?” There was a pause and he frowned. “I’ll email it.” He
stood listening. She watched anxiously, wishing she could hear. “Okay. See you
later.”
Brax
slid his thumb across the screen,
hanging up and locking the device. “Mal will call you when they get him
settled. He’s going to be spending the night.”

She felt irrational disappointment. She realized she’d
wanted to give her funny man a special night.

“Hey, cheer up. Would you stay with me tonight?”
Brax
asked.

She was surprised. He’d been a bit distant since they’d
shared the amazing sex. “I thought you were mad at me.”

“Why would I be mad?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen you much since the other
night—morning.”

“I’ve been busy on my new novel. You’ve inspired me.”

“Really?
Things just feel off
between us. Maybe I’m being foolish.”

He looked down and frowned. “Okay, I might be a little
jealous too. I’m also pissed at myself for letting Damon hurt you. I thought
he’d make things right once he had you alone, but he didn’t,
did
he?”

“No, he didn’t. Mal had a great idea, bring a second in next
week. I don’t want to be alone with him again.”

“Who will you ask?”

“You.”

“Okay.”
Brax
smiled. He typed
something into his phone then put it in his pocket.

“What was that, a sex reminder?” Krista giggled.

“No, your underwear request.
I
emailed that list you made, good thing I put it in my phone. I added socks,
bras, and underwear. I took a guess on your sizes, hope he brings a receipt.”

She giggled at the idea of one of
her
men walking up
to the returns counter to exchange women’s underwear.

Brax
helped her put away her new
clothes. She chose a plain, purple t-shirt and jeans. Her undergarments were
fine, so she kept them on. She changed her clothes and
Brax
watched her, his eyes darkening. She realized she liked knowing he wanted her.
Even if she was the last woman on Earth, at least for these men, she could see
his genuine attraction to her. The afternoon sun shining in the window illuminated
him. Fancifully, she thought he looked like a dark angel. He was handsome, but
there was more to her feelings than just liking the way he looked.

They went downstairs. Max and Jared were watching a movie.
She and
Brax
joined them and filled them in on
Mal’s
losing battle with the snake.

“Well, we need to replace Timothy,” Max stated. “The man’s
clearly a bad shot if he missed the snake.”

“He did hit it, just too late to keep it from biting Mal,”
Krista defended the guard. “I like him, so I hope you change your mind.”

Max grunted, dropping the subject of firing the man.

“Speaking of employees,” Jared said, “your companion is
coming tomorrow. He holds a culinary degree and his resume states he’s an
accomplished painter. His name is Lee Young.”

She nodded, still unsure about the companion thing. “Cool.
It’s weird, hiring a friend.”

“I’m sure he’ll be happy to know you. Give it a try.”

“I will. Thanks for doing that, Jared.”

“We’re all footing the bill,” Max added.

“Thanks, Max, to all of you. I’m lucky to be here.”

Max grunted. “It’s not Thursday yet, maybe you’ll change
your mind.”

She put her hand on his. “I know you won’t hurt me.”

Max frowned, but placed his hand on top of hers. She felt
Brax
tense. Jared didn’t look too happy either. She and Max
pulled away at the same time, realizing they were creating tension. The phone
rang, causing her to jump. Her emotions were on high alert after everything
that’d just happened.
Brax
grabbed the house phone
from its base. Max pressed
pause
on the DVD player.

“Hello.” After a brief pause,
Brax
frowned, asking, “Are you sure that’s best?” Another pause and then he nodded.
“All right, if the doctor
okays
it. Hang on and I’ll
let you talk to Krista.” He handed the phone to her.

“Hello?”

“Hey, gorgeous, I’m going to make it home. Doc said I’ll
live,” Mal said with weariness in his voice.

“Are you sure you shouldn’t be in the hospital? I won’t make
you wait a week, I swear. Don’t do anything foolish. I hope you don’t plan on
any more dangerous antics,” Krista scowled.

“The doctor gave me the okay to come home. We’ve just got to
wait for my discharge and then we’ll be stopping at the store for you. It might
get a little late.”

“I’ll wait for you in my room if you get back after supper.
Just don’t do anything counterproductive to the doctor’s orders.”

“I won’t. I’m sorry about the way today turned out. I was
hoping to spend time with you, just the two of us.”

“Well, next time don’t let your python invite friends,” she
replied, chuckling.

The men in the room gave her a strange look, and she laughed
even harder.
Brax’s
scowl pierced her with guilt and
she stopped laughing. She realized he was not going to get the night with her
he’d been hoping to have. Even if she’d rather be with him, it was
Mal’s
night.

“See you soon,” she said to Mal.

“See you tonight, sweetheart.
I promise,
my python doesn’t bite.”

Laughing once again, she hung up. “Funny man is coming
home,” she told the men.

“I think he should remain in the hospital for observation,”
Jared replied. The young doctor-in-training didn’t look happy. “He’s so damn
stubborn.”

Jared hit the
play
button on the DVD player remote.
The movie began again. They watched the World War Two drama in silence.
Brax
put his arm around her, and both Jared and Max shifted
uncomfortably. Max took her hand again. Jared pouted on the other end of the
“L” shaped sofa. Krista hated the tension, but after a few moments, everyone
seemed to relax again. The movie was almost finished when Damon joined them,
sitting next to his brother in silence. He didn’t look at Krista or the men who
were touching her.

“Supper is ready to be served,” Steve said, popping his head
into the room.

Krista felt a massive relief to have an excuse to flee the
tension. She was the first one up and out of the room. Steve almost ran in his
haste to be away from her when she started for the dining room.

“I’ll be having one of those paid companions here soon, so
you don’t have to worry about your job,” Krista told the housekeeper.

“Thanks,” Steve replied, but he was still rushing away.

She sighed. Nothing was ever easy, not even befriending the
only person she knew whom she didn’t have to sleep with or wasn’t paid to like
her. Then she remembered her email. Maybe one of her teachers had replied to her.

The meal was delicious as usual. She and the four remaining
men enjoyed Steve’s bounty of roast beef, vegetables with cream sauce, and
cheesy potatoes. He’d baked a strawberry pie, another of her favorite desserts.
Strawberries were out of season, each meal she ate since arriving had certainly
cost a fortune.

“Jared, could you help me with the internet? I want to check
my email.”

“Yeah, no problem.
I’m almost
done.” He eagerly scooped the last of his pie into his mouth. “Want to go now?”
he said around the mouthful, but she was still able to understand him.

“That’d be awesome.”

They went into the game room and he grabbed the wireless
keyboard after turning on the computer sitting next to the big screen TV. He
turned on the screen and she watched the welcome message pop up. After a
moment, he hit the browser and began typing. When he had her email pulled up,
she took the keyboard.

“Do you want me to leave?”

“It’s up to you. I doubt they’d reply back with anything so
personal you can’t see it.”

He shrugged. “I’ll give you some privacy. See you later.”

When he left, she clicked on the inbox. She only had one
email. It was from Miss Neal.

Dearest Krista:

I miss you, my dear girl. You’ve always had such a
good head on your shoulders, I’m sure you’ll be able to navigate your new home
life. Just remember to show them your heart and you’ll find a balance. I
remember when I was in your shoes, I wish now I hadn’t held myself back and
expressed the different levels of emotion the experience created. They may have
chosen to keep me if I’d given them who I really was instead of being afraid of
them seeing the real me.

I have some sad news.
Cina
has run away. She was never as realistic as you, my dear, and being alone here
took a toll on her that we didn’t see until it was too late. I hope she is
safe, wherever she is. If she returns, I will give her your email address. I
can only pray she is unharmed. She doesn’t know how dangerous the world really
is now. I believe she’ll attempt to go to her family, we have watchers keeping
an eye on her father and brothers, but she hasn’t gone to them as far as we can
tell. We need to get her back into the safety of the facility. If she contacts
you, please help us convince her to come home. Her Giving Day is not so far
off.

I wish you the best, and I look forward to hearing
from you again soon. I can’t wait to hear you’ve become pregnant and found a
secure home. If you have a daughter, know I will look out for her as if she was
my own.

Your friend,

Mary Neal

Cina
hated the protection
facility, but Krista had never believed she’d actually escape. She hoped her
friend made it to family. Canada was her most likely destination. There was
supposedly an underground network of men who believed women should have a
choice and that the US government was using the lack of women to achieve their
objective of genetically engineering a smarter, healthier population. She
didn’t doubt there wasn’t some truth to the suspicion, but she knew there was
no guarantee of protection in Canada.

While the country offered any woman asylum upon request,
without a network of friends or family who were willing to be on
guard
for you twenty-four seven, the odds of enduring rape
or abduction were frighteningly high. There were “female friendly” communities
who guarded against strangers and would shot to kill intruders, but without a
support system, running was not the safe choice. At least the lottery gave you
a chance to find men who would care. After what Damon had done to her, she
hated the idea of another man forcing himself on her, and the thought of that
happening to
Cina
made her want to cry.
Cina
wasn’t as strong as she was; she’d been far more
sheltered and pampered. Harsh reality hadn’t ever been easy for her friend to
accept.

Krista deleted the email and then deleted it from the trash,
not wanting any of the men to know her friend escaped, but not really sure why.
Taking a deep breath, she began searching the internet. What would happen to
Cina
now? She needed to know more than she did. She knew
how to delete browsing history after a brief tutorial from Jared and she was
unusually alone. Reading the numbers of women fleeing to Canada and the number
of families who’d left after the government had demanded all ten-year-old girls
enter the protection facilities across the country made her realize
Cina
did have a chance, albeit slim. If she found the right
people, people who wanted to make her their agenda of goodwill, she’d be all
right.
But if the wrong people found her…

Severely disturbing YouTube videos made her cringe. She
closed her eyes.
Private leaked home footage of women who weren’t compliant
to their six
was one title and showed girls surrounded by military men
holding them down as the men received a quick tutorial of government-approved
bondage. Horrible images of girls crying and screaming, begging, but no help
came, just hard, punishing cocks. The rape was far more brutal than she’d ever
imagined. What she saw made Damon look like a saint. There was special
equipment, to ensure no injury happened to the girl. It was monstrous. Krista
shook. Suddenly, she felt lucky to be here, even if she knew in reality that
she wasn’t any freer than this brutalized woman was. Tears spilled down her
cheeks. Her heart broke for the traumatized woman. By the third man, she’d
stopped thrashing and just laid cursing and moaning on the bed. Krista closed
the browser. She couldn’t watch another moment. She deleted her browsing
history.
Do my six know just how far they can actually go?

For the rest of the afternoon and into the evening she was
quiet, worried about her friend. If the men noticed her introspectiveness, they
didn’t say anything to her about it. She noticed Braxton watching her, but
ignored his curious gaze.

Her six talked and joked, but Krista was too sullen to join
in.

“We’re going to play Xbox. What to play?” Jared asked.

She shook her head. “I think I’m going to bed.”

“Don’t worry about Mal. He’ll be all right.”

“Thanks, I’m worried about a lot right now,” she replied
cryptically. It was better he think she was worried about Mal than he probe
deeper for the truth.
Should I have run like
Cina
?
Is this really the life I want? Can six men with their own agenda ever make me
happy?
In her heart, she knew she wanted a real family, not this mockery.
Cina’s
escape reminded her that she did have a choice.
Danger lurked away from this compound built to disguise her prison as a home.
She looked at Jared. “Goodnight.”