Shelby's Saviors [Slick Rock 7] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (11 page)

Cord shifted closer and rubbed a hand up and down her leg.

“Talk to us, darlin’.” Brandt rubbed her back. “Let go of whatever is hurting you. If you don’t, it will continue to eat away at your insides.”

She looked from Cord to Brandt and back again and then lowered her eyes as she gathered her courage.

“Look at me, baby,” demanded Cord, reaching out and gripping her chin between thumb and finger.

As she looked up again, she couldn’t contain her gasp of surprise when she saw so much emotion looking back at her.

“That’s right, Shelby. I love you, baby. I will do anything to make you happy, and if that means holding back from giving you orgasms and making love with you, then I will. You have to stop torturing yourself with the past. There was nothing you could have done to save your family. I thank God every day that the cops came at the right time, otherwise you could be dead as well. You mean everything to me. I won’t put up with you only giving us pieces of yourself.”

“I didn’t…I wasn’t…”

When she didn’t go on, Brandt said, “I love you, too, darlin’. Please give us a chance? We want all of you, Shelby, not just what you think we like. We know you have faults. God, neither of us are perfect. Cord is a control freak, and I am always the one trying to be the peace maker. No one is infallible, darlin’. Please talk to us.”

The love they felt for her shone from their eyes. Shelby’s tears began to fall faster and faster, and then she couldn’t contain them at all. Turning her head into Brandt’s chest, she sobbed for the horrific loss of her family. Finally, when the tears stopped, she reached for the handkerchief Cord handed her, wiped her face, and blew her nose.

Then she began to talk. Though she knew they had heard her tell Kayli, though she knew they’d learned even more in their effort to protect her from Perez, she had to tell them herself. It all came out, from seeing Perez’s face in the window to the way she’d run to the nightmares that continued to plague her. Her men let her talk without interruption, but she had their total attention. They kept their hands on her, reassuring her with their touch. Their love and support was almost palpable. Though Shelby still feared what might happen to them if Perez tracked her down, she realized just how grateful she was to have them here.

By the time she had finished, she was lying down on the bed in Brandt’s arms with her head resting on his chest. Cord had moved into her back, cuddling her from behind, and the covers had been pulled up. Shelby couldn’t seem to stop yawning. Even though she was still horny and wanted her men to make love to her, she just didn’t seem to have the energy anymore. Her eyelids were getting too heavy to keep open.

“Close your eyes and sleep, darlin’. You need to rest. We will talk more tomorrow.” Brandt kissed her head, pulling her in tighter against his body. Her mind, body, and heart felt a lot lighter now that she had talked out her problems. She wanted to reciprocate and tell them she loved them, too, but still she hesitated.

Her convoluted way of thinking was telling her to hold off. If she told them she loved them, then that would make this relationship real. And she didn’t want to have to face any guilt if Perez tracked her down and one of them got hurt because of her. Maybe tomorrow she would have the courage to tell them.

Cord wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her ass into his groin. He kissed her shoulder and sighed. That was the last thing she knew until morning.

* * * *

After showering and dressing, Shelby made her way to the kitchen, where she could hear the low rumble of Cord’s and Brandt’s voices. She hesitated in the kitchen doorway, not sure how they would treat her after what she had revealed the previous night.

“Hey, baby, how did you sleep?” Cord walked toward her, took her hand in his, and led her to the table. He handed her a mug of coffee after she was seated.

“I slept really well.”

“You sound surprised, darlin’. Did you think you would have more nightmares?” Brandt asked as he placed a plate of scrambled eggs and toast on the table in front of her.

Shelby looked up at him with a frown.

“Why do you care if I have nightmares?”

“Because we care about you, baby. Don’t you get it yet that we love you? We told you that last night.”

She looked at Cord then Brandt and looked down. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to disturb either of you.”

“You didn’t, darlin’.” Brandt brought two more plates to the table. “We have been trained to be aware of our surroundings. Habits are hard to break. Eat your breakfast.”

They ate in companionable silence. Her heart was full of hope since they hadn’t turned away from her now that they knew what she had been hiding inside. Those three words were on the tip of her tongue, but she held them back. She needed more time to be sure of what she felt, plus there was still a threat to her and, in her mind, to her men as well. She wouldn’t feel comfortable until they were all safe. When she’d had her fill, she pushed her half-empty plate away and sipped her coffee.

“You don’t eat enough, baby. How do you expect to last through the day without having a good breakfast?” Cord pointed toward her plate.

“I’ve eaten more here than I ever have before. I never ate breakfast before I came here.”

“Well, at least you’re eating something, I guess. We have to head out soon, are you nearly ready?” Brandt began to clear the table.

“Let me do that. You guys cooked breakfast.” But Brandt wouldn’t let her clean up by herself, so they worked together, and before long the kitchen was tidy. “I just need to brush my teeth and get my purse, then we can go.”

When they were on their way to work, Shelby realized she hadn’t been contacted by the Badon brothers regarding her car. She decided that she would call them as soon as they got to the office. They should have contacted her before now.

Cord and Brandt were in their office, so as Shelby waited for her computer to boot up, she picked up the phone and dialed.

“Badon Mechanics, Quin speaking.”

“Oh hi, Quin. It’s Shelby Richmond. I was wondering what was happening with my car?”

Quin was silent for several moments, and then he cleared his throat as though he was uncomfortable. “Haven’t Cord and Brandt talked to you?”

“No. Should they have?”

“Um, well, okay. The thing is, Shelby, that your car is a mess. You have a cracked manifold, a blown head gasket, the rings need to be bored, the radiator is shot, and the thermostat is stuck open. The sump is leaking oil, the suspension is shot, and your back window is unroadworthy.”

“Uh…” Shelby hesitated, not sure she understood everything. “Can you fix it?”

“Well, I could, but you’d be up for thousands of dollars, sugar. Your best bet would be to get a new car.”

“But I can’t afford a new car. Shit, what am I supposed to do now?” She sighed. “Wait a minute. Are you telling me that Brandt and Cord knew about my car?”

“Um, er, maybe you should go and talk to them, sugar.”

“Oh, believe me, I will. Thanks, Quin.” She wondered how long they had known about her car problem.
Why would they hide that from me?
Shelby was so angry she was shaking with it.

“No problem, Shelby. Just let me know if you need anything else.” Quin hung up.

Shelby stared at the receiver in her hand. What would she need Quin for? From the sound of things, there was nothing he could do to help her out.

After replacing the receiver, she spun her chair around and looked into the office. Brandt and Cord were both on the phone, so she couldn’t very well barge in there and give them a piece of her mind right then. She was going to have to wait, and Shelby knew that was not a good thing. The more she waited to vent, the angrier she became. How the hell was she going to confront them about her car without blowing things all out of proportion? They probably had a valid reason for not letting her know about her car problems. But right at this moment she couldn’t figure out what it might be. She felt a twinge of panic when she imagined Perez coming after her. There would be no way to run, no way to draw him away from Cord and Brandt. She wasn’t sure which made her angrier, that she’d gotten so complacent as to let this happen or that the men had trapped her here.

Brandt hung up the phone and looked up at her. He gave her a smile and a wink, and she narrowed her eyes at him. Sliding her gaze over to Cord, she caught him watching her with a frown.

Leaning back in her chair, she crossed her legs, folded her arms beneath her breasts, and shot daggers at them. Brandt’s smile turned to a frown. Cord’s eyes narrowed to slits, and she saw him clench his jaw.

Finally Cord hung up the phone and kept her pinned with his eyes. Shelby wanted answers, and she wanted them now! Rising from her chair, her arms still crossed, she stormed across the carpet and entered their office.

“Who the hell do you think you are? Who gave you the right to make my decisions and try and run my life?” she spat, pointing a finger at both men.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Cord snapped just as his cell phone rang. He held up a finger, indicating for her to wait. Shelby clutched her folded arms with her hands and began tapping her foot as Cord spoke into the phone.

“Yeah…hmm, okay that explains it…you could say that. Thanks, man, I owe you.” Cord disconnected the call and stared back at her. “Explain.”

That was all it took for Shelby to lose control. She ranted and raved, glared and pointed her finger at one man and then the other. By the time she had finished she was breathing heavily and couldn’t remember what her runaway mouth had just spouted.
Oh shit, did I just call them ignorant swine and controlling assholes?
Not that there was anything too bad in that, but from the way they were both looking at her they weren’t too happy, but they weren’t angry either.
What’s up with that?
Shelby tried to recall what else she had said, but when she was on a rant, which she hadn’t let out for so long, she never remembered everything her runaway mouth spurted. “Motherfucker” kept ringing through her head. No, surely she hadn’t.

“Sit. Down. Now,” Brandt commanded softly.

Shelby flinched but decided discretion was the better part of valor, even though she was still angry, and sat in one of the chairs across from their desks. She had never heard that tone from Brandt before, and even though he was probably angry and had every right to be, his heated control turned her on. Clasping her legs tighter, trying to circumvent her aching clit, didn’t help one little bit.

She studied Brandt’s face, and even though he didn’t look angry, his face was an expressionless mask. Then she looked into his eyes and saw the gleam in them. He might not be happy about her verbal tirade, but he was happy she had lost control. Shifting her eyes to Cord, she saw the same glint in his eye, and she thought she saw his mouth twitch. She looked back to Brandt when he took a deep breath.

“A. You will not flinch away from us. We would never hurt you, but that doesn’t mean we won’t get angry,” Brandt said quietly. “B. It’s about fucking time you let the real Shelby out. We are glad to finally see her, and don’t you dare try and hide from us again, but you still don’t have the right to speak to us that way.”

“C.” Cord took over. “The reason we didn’t tell you about your car was because we didn’t want you worrying about how to come up with the money to pay for repairs when it should be on a scrap heap. You had enough on your mind without another incidental problem. D—don’t you dare interrupt, we haven’t finished.” Cord rose from his chair and moved around to the front of his desk to lean back against it with his arms still crossed.

Brandt drew her gaze as he, too, moved out and leaned next to Cord. Obviously they were trying to portray a united front.

“I know to you not having a car is a major concern, but since we all work and live together it didn’t seem like too much of a problem. You have a lift to and from work every day. If you had wanted to go somewhere by yourself, all you had to do was ask and we would have handed over the keys or taken you ourselves. We already told you if you wanted to go back to Bloomington that we wouldn’t stop you. In fact, if I remember it right, we told you we would come with you. But you decided to stay, and since you seemed content to let us drive you around and we like doing it, we didn’t think anything of it.

“When Quin called and told us how bad your car was, we knew it was going to cost way too much money to fix, so we told him to leave it be. We had plans to surprise you with a new car when you accepted having a relationship with us. But if you decide you’d rather waste money on a heap of junk and spend God knows how long trying to pay it off, you go right ahead, baby.”

Shelby felt the tension begin to leave her body. Taking a deep breath, she processed what they had just said. She still wasn’t happy about not being told about her car, but she had also been lax in that regard. In fact, she had become so comfortable around them, having them drive her to and from work, she had completely forgotten about her junk heap. And now that she was back in control after venting her anger, she realized she had ruined what was supposed to be a surprise after she had insulted them both.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lost my temper.”