Keeley's Fight (The Protectors Series) (13 page)

“What the fuck are you doing in our house?” Nate exploded at seeing Tawnya walking around the kitchen like she owned it. There was spaghetti sauce boiling over on the stove, vegetables chopped up and strewn about the counter, and about a dozen meatballs sitting in a pan on the counter uncooked, with another half-pound of meat waiting to be rounded.

Tawnya walked up to Nate like everything was normal. Kissing him on the cheek she whispered in his ear, “Welcome home, lover.” Before walking over to Ty, who quickly put his hands out and told her, “Get the fuck away from me you crazy ass bitch.”

Pouting, she stopped and tried flirting. “But Ty baby, I’m maki…”

Nate was done with her shit. Cutting her off and yelling, “Enough of your bullshit! What the fuck are you doing in our house, and where the fuck is Keeley?” Nate stormed toward Tawnya, seeing the rage in her eyes at the mention of Keeley, and the morph of her face into an ugly mask of jealousy. She quickly recovered and told them, “I don’t know who you’re talking about. I came over and unlocked the door myself. Nobody else was here.” The slight smirk she had on her face told them both she was lying and did something to her.

“I’m telling you this for the last time, Tawnya,” Nate snarled, getting right in her face. “We are done with you. You were a disgusting mistake and we have zero desire to repeat it. And so help me God, if Keeley has one hair out of place or slightest mark on her body because of you, I will end you without a second thought. You understand me?” By the paling of her face, Nate thought she might finally understand that they were serious. When she nodded her head yes to his question, Nate looked to Ty and told him, “Call the cops and have her ass arrested for trespassing, and anything else you can come up with. I’ll call Mom and the Dads and start searching for our girl.”

Going out the opened back door, from what Nate suspected was Keeley running from Tawnya, he ran toward the woods behind their house. He paused and pulled out his cell to call his parents. “Hello,” Nate’s dad, Jackson, answered on the first ring.

“Dad, she’s missing.” That was all Nate could get out before his voice nearly cracked. He felt like his world was ripped out from under his feet. His lungs were tight, his palms were sweaty, and he was dangerously close to going back inside and strangling Tawnya.

“On our way, son.” That was all his dad said before hanging up. Hearing footsteps behind him, Nate turned and saw Ty making his way towards him. “They’re coming, Ty,” Nate informed him.

Not waiting for a response, Nate started walking into the woods, knowing Ty would follow him. They walked in silence, listening for any sound that could possibly be from Keeley. Watching the ground and tree branches for any clues of the direction she went he asked, “Police arrested her, right?” Seeing Ty’s nod he continued. “She’s gonna be even more skittish now. Who knows what that viper said to her,” Nate snarled.

Holding his hand up for silence, “Do you hear that?” Hearing sniffling not far ahead they both started to run. “Keeley, doll, where are you?” Ty half yelled so he didn’t startle her.

“There!” Nate pointed just ahead, at a hollowed out tree, when he saw her in her white sweater from this morning; only now it was caked in dirt and leaves, looking nothing like what she had put on earlier. Slowing down as they got closer to her, they came to a stop and knelt down trying to grab her attention. She had her arms wrapped around her bent legs, and was rocking back and forth, mumbling something that they had to lean closer to hear. “You’re nothing Keeley, never have been, never will be. No one could want you.” His heart breaking at her words, Nate put his hand on the back of her head gently and was startled when she screamed. “Shit,” he said showing Ty his hand covered in blood.

“Come on baby, let’s get you out of here, shall we?” Ty asked her softly. When she finally looked up, she looked right through them like they weren’t there in front of her. The light they had worked so hard to put into her eyes over the past week was gone. She was pale, her hair had twigs every which way, and blood was dripping from various scratches on her face. Grabbing her hands gently, Ty pulled her to her feet and then lifted her into his arms, cradling her to his chest as they started walking quickly back to their house.

Seeing the cops were gone and their parents still weren’t there, they took her straight upstairs to their room.

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Laying her down
on their bed, Ty couldn’t believe the turn this day had taken. He was giving serious thought to burying Tawnya out in the woods, so she could never get her claws into or anywhere near Keeley again. “I’ll undress her, if you want to start a shower,” he told Nate. Not looking to see if Nate was doing that he started removing her clothes. Taking off her pants, he made note of the bruises along her legs and hips. “Fucking Christ,” Ty whispered, not liking what he was seeing.

He was turning when he heard Nate come back into the room. “I grabbed the first aid kit, too,” Nate informed him, placing it on the dresser before coming over to help Ty get Keeley’s sweater and bra off, without jostling her too much. “Has she said anything yet?” Nate asked. Shaking his head no, Ty stared in horror at the welt marks on her ribs.

“FUCK!!” Nate yelled, causing her to jump and moan from the movement. “Sorry, Butterfly, I’m just pissed this happened to you here. Come on, let’s get you in the shower,” Nate was quick to reassure her. They both helped her up and walked her to the shower, Ty held her while Nate stripped down and hopped in first, before grabbing Keeley and helping her sit on the bench.

“I think I heard the door. I’m gonna go check then I’ll be back to help get her cleaned up.” At Nate’s nod of acknowledgment, Ty ran downstairs to see his parents and sister, Kenny, walking in the front door.

“Oh Ty, what happened? Is she ok? How can I help?” His mom’s rapid fire questions helped ease some of his worry. Knowing that no matter what happened, Keeley would be taken care of by his family.

Kissing his mom’s cheek after shaking his fathers’ hands, he whispered a thank you in her ear. “Nate’s in the shower with her now. I’m gonna head on up and help him get her cleaned up, then one of us will be back down.”

Heading back upstairs, Ty started to strip as soon as he shut the bedroom door. Seeing her sitting in Nate’s lap, on the floor crying, ripped his heart out. Climbing in behind her, he whispered, “I’m here darlin’,” before touching her back gently, so as not to startle her.

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“Why me?” Keeley
whispered into Nathaniel’s strong chest. Curling her hands into fists she started to pound on his chest. “I didn’t do anything to deserve this!” She wailed. Nathaniel let her pound on him until she wore herself out, and silently wept and shook with the force of her emotions. Her whole body hurt from where that woman hit and kicked her. Then the run through the woods didn’t help, and caused her to get scratches all over her body. Sitting in the hollowed out trees for a few hours didn’t help with the muscle cramping either.

Hearing Tyler whisper in her ear, then touch her back, helped relax her a little more. Knowing they were both with her instead of that other woman, soothed her soul. Made her feel special and cared for. But she still felt worthless. Having it drummed into her brain for years was hard to let go of. Then when she finally feels secure with them, to have something like this happen? She felt unworthy and dirty. Logically she knew it wasn’t her fault and that everyone has a past, but to know that this was someone they had seen before was scary, because she didn’t measure up. Keeley couldn’t help the feelings she was having, she was insecure about herself with them. Whether she measured up to what they wanted and needed in a woman, or how long they planned to keep her around for. She knew her insecurities were getting the best of her. Trying to shake off her melancholy thoughts, she sat up with a wince from her many new bumps and bruises and looked to Nathaniel and whispered, “Thank you for finding me.”

Kissing him softly on the lips she smiled and turned to Tyler, putting her hand on his face she leaned forward and kissed him, too. Standing up slowly she tried to stifle the moan before it came out, but wasn’t quite successful. Feeling a hand on each arm, Nathaniel and Tyler helped her the rest of the way up. “Let’s get you dried off and bandaged up before we get you into bed,” Tyler said softly.

Leaning down to shut the shower off, Tyler stepped out before drying off quickly, then helping her out and wrapping a towel around her. Patting her dry softly, while Nathaniel rubbed down her hair with another towel, Keeley felt slightly better. Tapping the counter with his hand, Tyler told her to hop up before they helped her sit on it. Once they finished cleaning the small cuts on her face and moved onto her hands, she finally had the courage to ask, “Who was she?” She whispered almost too low to be heard.

Looking at each other before they answered her, and with slightly leery looks on their faces, Keeley braced herself for heartache. “That was Tawnya,” was all Nathaniel said with just a little bit of anger in his voice. Thinking that over, she tried to remember the familiar name when it finally registered who she was, she felt like the wind was knocked out of her. “The twatwaffle from work?” She asked feeling slightly horrified at the confirmation that she was indeed one of their past conquests.

Chuckling at her cuteness, Tyler grabbed hold of her chin and told her, “Yes, the twatwaffle who means, and meant, nothing to us. It might sound rude, but she was just someone to pass the time with. We only spent one night with her, more than a year ago. You have nothing to worry about darlin’. We’re yours and you’re ours, understand?” Waiting for her nod, Tyler wouldn’t let go of her chin. When she didn’t confirm nor deny what he said, Nathaniel looked up with his brow furrowed, stepped between her legs and said, “You are ours, Butterfly. Absolutely nothing will change that. Ever.” Punctuating that statement with a panty melting kiss, Nathaniel grabbed both her hips with enough force to leave fingerprints on her.

Moaning into his mouth, she started to grind her heat against his very erect cock. Trying to get better friction, she wrapped her legs around his hips and her arms around his back, squeezing tighter.

When Nathaniel started to pull back, she let out a little whine. Chuckling at her response he told her, “Come on, Butterfly, our parents and Kenny are here.”

Giving a blush she whispered “Oh. Why?”

“They were worried about you, baby. They wanted to make sure you’re ok,” Tyler reassured her. Hopping off the counter, she headed into their room to get dressed before following the guys downstairs.

W
alking into the
kitchen with one hand on Keeley’s back, Ty couldn’t help but feel relieved she was ok and wasn’t holding back like he assumed she would. She may have been quiet when they first found her, but she wasn’t reverting back into herself like she did when they tried to talk about her dad with her a week ago.

“Oh, my dear! Are you ok?” Their mom rushed over to her and wrapped her in a tight hug. Seeing Keeley close her eyes and give a small smile, he knew this was just what she needed. No one could hug like a mom can.

“I’m ok, Amber. I promise,” she whispered to their mom. “I was just surprised about her coming in the way she did. Just brings back memories, and it was easier to run from them than stay and fight with that woman and the memories, you know?”

“Oh, you poor baby. I could just slap that vile creature with a broom! I can’t believe she would assault you like that,” their mom practically growled. “Come, sit down and have some tea and cookies dear.” She had to drag Keeley to the table to sit down.

“Keeley girl, how’re you doing?” Their dad, Andrew, asked her while giving her a light hug.

Smiling, she sat down and took the cup of tea his mom handed her. “I swear I’ll be ok. I have bruises on my ribs, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.” She said it so nonchalantly that you would think it was ok for her to be beaten like she had. Nate walked over to her and picked her up, placed her in his lap, and told her while nuzzling her neck, “Butterfly, it really scares me just how accepting you are of being hit like that.”