Shades of Ménage : A Dystopian Romance Ménage & Post Catastrophic Romance Ménage Boxed Set Series - Ultimate Four-Book Collection (16 page)

“
They kept me locked up like a lab rat, Luke. Five years. Every day they came and took my blood and anything else they wanted. Not just once but several times a day until I was so weak I could barely pace the room I was stuck in. They took skin samples, saliva samples, nail clippings.” She grabbed a tuft of her short hair and smirked angrily. “They cut off my hair. They did everything and anything they could think of to find out why I wasn’t affected by the X-virus. In the end…I escaped.”

That explained the hunted look.

And at least she was talking.

“
And they want you back.”

“
They want me back, yes.”

“
Well, you’re going back over my dead body.”

“
They won’t hesitate to kill you to get me. I’m not prepared to put your life in jeopardy for me.”

“
That’s why you didn’t come to me for help. That’s why you went to the preacher. Because you were afraid to put my life in danger?”

She didn’t say anything.

But he understood now.

She still cared enough for him to protect him. And the way she’d devoured his cock earlier made him realize she was still physically attracted to him.

It was a darned good start to rekindling their relationship.

“
Close your eyes, Luke. We’re finished talking. I want you to rest.”

He nodded in agreement.

Rest. That was the ticket.

He’d rest and when he felt strong enough he’d show her exactly how much he’d missed her.

Chapter Four

Callie blew out a long breath as she settled onto the lone sofa and tried to fall asleep.

She knew she was in for a long night especially now that she’d gotten a taste of Luke’s cock.

Oh, dear.

When she’d first spied him in the doorway she’d thought he’d followed her out of her dream. The one that had made her go outside into the wind and masturbate while she’d taken a dip in the nearby pond.

She’d been dreaming of him. Dreaming he’d take her back even after she’d told him her secrets. Dreamed of his thick rod stretching her vaginal muscles as he rode her hard and fast, plunging deeper into her pussy with every wild thrust.

When she’d comprehended he wasn’t a dream but reality and she’d seen the way his cock had thickened and elongated under her hungry gaze, she’d wanted that rigid piece of flesh in her mouth.

Just like old times.
Just like he’d said.

She’d wanted to taste him so bad her pussy had creamed while she’d made his bed.

When he’d returned from outside and she’d seen how red and engorged his penis had become she knew he wouldn’t rest. Not until she’d brought him relief.

He’d been so hot in her mouth.

As if his cock had been on fire.

Just like her pussy was now on fire.

She hadn’t been prepared for the agonizing ache of unfulfillment when she realized he would be too weak to return the favor. She would have preferred his volunteering to slide his long tongue between her pussy lips and nibble on her clitoris bringing her to the orgasm.

An orgasm she now craved so desperately.

But the idea of masturbating right here on the couch with Luke sleeping on the bed a few feet away made her uncomfortable.

She loved the man, but she didn’t feel right about masturbating in front of him, even if he was asleep.

She could go back outside and do it.

That thought didn’t appeal to her either.

She wanted Luke, darnit!

And she wanted him real bad.

* * * * *

The cackling of chickens was like music to Callie’s ears as she quietly pried apart the bushes that surrounded the Barlow Ranch’s screened henhouse and hen yard. All she had to do was open the screen door and slip inside the coop.

It wouldn’t be the first time she’d walked miles to this ranch. Barlow eggs were the best in Rackety Valley not to mention the closest to their cabin where she’d been hiding over the past several weeks.

The creak as she opened the screen door shot shivers up her spine. When the chickens saw her enter their domain they let out monstrous cackles of alarm that had her almost backing out. But she stood still and the birds lowered their white feathers and went back to their business of eating the seeds spread about the ground and chattering amongst themselves.

Passing the feathered creatures, she quickly dodged into the humid henhouse. Wrinkling her nose at the offending odor of too many birds cooped up without a thorough cleaning of their quarters, she began filling her sack with eggs.

She had about a dozen or so when voices drifted through the air.

Men’s voices.

Oh, shit
!

Had the Barlow brothers been alerted by the commotion and were now coming to check?

No, they wouldn’t be talking. They’d be coming in quiet.

The voices drew closer.

Callie froze as she made out what they were saying.

“
She’ll do what I tell her to do, Zeb. And she’ll like it.” It was Seth Barlow’s voice. He sounded mad. But that was his character. He was always mad about something.

“
We agreed with her she’d have no piercings, especially there.”

“
I don’t care. I want her clit pierced. She has no say in the matter.”

Clit piercing? Callie shivered with anxiety despite the heat inside the coop.

They must be talking about the woman they’d claimed.

From the loudness of their voices, the men had stopped just outside the henhouse. She dared a look out the dirt smeared, chicken-wired window.

She was right.

It was Zeb and Seth Barlow, the two eldest of the four brothers.

They were big men, as were all the Barlows. All stood over six feet. All of them weighed over two hundred and fifty pounds. But all of it was pure muscle.

She had to admit they were good to look at. All of them possessing the traditional deep blond hair of their German-born father, and the deep blue eyes of their Swedish mother.

They bordered on being almost too pretty. For men.

Unfortunately, they all had vile tempers.

At one time or another she’d seen all of them, more than once explode at the slightest provocation, their fists flying in anger against some poor fool who’d dared to defy them something during their high school years.

It was natural that they’d be wild and unruly because they were never disciplined by their meek mother or overbearing father.

No one controlled a Barlow.

The Barlows owned the ocean-side town of Rackety Valley and the one and only bank. In this tight-knit community, they held pretty much everyone’s mortgages. If anyone lifted a hand against a Barlow, they were seen leaving town by sundown or being buried in the local cemetery the next day.

It was like a spaghetti western. Unfortunately, it was reality in Rackety Valley.

In the gym locker room or over lunch she’d listened to the other girls about the sexual appetites of the Barlow brothers. Had heard the rumors of sexual bondage, the sharing of their women at orgy parties and how small their dicks were and how they couldn’t make a woman orgasm.

If those rumors were true whomever they’d claimed was in for a rough, unfilled sex life with these guys.

Callie felt sorry for the woman. Real sorry.

The woman would probably never experience love or sexual pleasure.

“
If you insist on the clit piercing she’ll be out of commission for days while it heals, and I for one can’t go a day without fucking her cute little ass,” Zeb argued.

Seth frowned and ran a hand over his chin as he pondered what his brother said.

“
You’re right. I still have a few things I want to try out on her. But then we’ll get her clit pierced.”

“
Fine, but you’ll have one tough fight on your hands with Laurie, she sure doesn’t like to be told what to do. C’mon, let’s get back inside.”

Callie’s blood froze at the mention of the woman’s name.

Laurie?

Her ears buzzed with an odd white noise as the men chuckled and walked away.

Not her sister, Laurie?

It couldn’t be. The one and only time she’d seen Laurie, she’d been reassured by her that she was going into hiding with a group of women who planned to start a resistance against the Claiming Law. She’d asked Callie to come along with her but Callie hadn’t wanted to put the resistance into danger by joining. Laurie had been the one who’d directed her to the preacher, the only man for miles around who’d been secretly helping with the fledgling resistance.

Suddenly she remembered the night Luke had shown up. How angry he’d been when the preacher had mentioned the Barlows.

Oh—my—God!

Had Luke known all this time that her sister was the woman the Barlows had claimed?

Dizziness washed over her and she almost dropped the sack of eggs. Reaching out she grabbed onto the windowsill for support.

Sweet Jesus! Don’t let this be true. Not her baby sister.

It had to be another Laurie. But there weren’t any other ones in Rackety Valley.

A cold clammy perspiration broke out all over her.

If Laurie was the woman they were talking about, so help her, she’d kill every last one of those Barlows with her bare hands.

* * * * *

Luke was just waking up when Callie burst into the cabin, her face flushed with anger.

“
You son of a bitch!” she spat at him, as she hoisted a sack onto a table and rushed over to him. Her fists were knotted, her chest heaved and her face was as pale as a white sheet.

Alarm sifted through him brushing away the cobwebs of sleep. “Whoa there, what’s happened?”

“
My sister! That’s what happened.”

Oh, damn!

“
By the way you’re looking at me it’s quite obvious you know what I’m talking about. Why the hell didn’t you tell me, Luke? Why didn’t you tell me they had claimed my sister?”

“
I didn’t know how.”

“
You just spit it out instead of keeping it a secret from me. I don’t like secrets, Luke!”

She had a wild-eyed look that made him uneasy and a tinge of hysteria laced her voice. Somehow, he got the feeling she wasn’t only talking about this secret he’d kept from her.

“
C’mon calm down, Callie.”

“
Calm down? Don’t tell me to calm down,” she ground out as she came toward him, her finger jabbing forcefully into his chest, making him wince at the pain. “I have every right to freak out about my little sister getting clit rings and nipple rings and who knows what else they’re doing to her.”

“
Where’d you hear this?”

“
At the Barlow ranch. I heard them talking while I was stuck in the chicken coop getting eggs for you! Imagine my surprise when I heard them mention my sister’s name. It hurt, Luke,” her voice cracked. “It hurt like hell to hear those men talk about my sister as if she were just a piece of property.”

Fat tears rolled down her cheeks.

“
I’m sorry, baby. I should have told you.”

“
Darned straight you should have told me. You had no right to keep that information from me.”

He reached out and wiped away the wet tears from her hot cheeks, quite surprised that she didn’t pull away from him in her anger. In fact, she slumped down on the bed and melted against him, trembling violently as he hugged her.