Anita's Triple Temptation [Men of Montana 4] (Siren Publishing Menage Amour) (36 page)

The memory of what he had done to her the night in the tavern sprang to mind. A real man would not ever hit a woman, even if she egged him on. Chivalry was not dead as most people thought. Dave, Kevin, and James were chivalrous. Now she understood what they meant by making sure their woman was taken care of. Lyndee had that with her three men, while Angela had it with her two. Even Gina had it with Connor and Jared.

Virgil had no idea how to treat a woman and after what he done, she hoped he would never find out. He didn’t deserve to live, let alone love.

Caught up in her thoughts, Anita flinched when Virgil spoke. “Your husband wouldn’t take me up on my offer.”

“What do you mean…offer? Anita eyed him suspiciously.

Virgil leaned back on the desk on his straight arms, an evil smile on his face that Anita wanted to slap off. The four-inch ragged hole in his cheek creased, marring his features. He was evil personified.

“I offered Craig a hundred thousand dollars to divorce you.”

Anita gasped. She couldn’t believe what she had just heard. She couldn’t believe that he would try to buy someone else’s wife. The audacity of the man!

“I thought I had him there for a minute,” Virgil continued after a slight chuckle. “I thought the silence was him thinking about the proposal. Then he told me if I offered a hundred million dollars he wouldn’t give you up. Stupid man.”

“Ha!” Anita threw at him. “Good for him.”

Lithely, Virgil jumped down from his perch on the desk and squatted down in front of her, placing both hands on her knees. “Don’t aggravate me anymore than you already have, Anita. I will be keeping you one way or another, whether you accept it or not.”

“What are you going to do, keep me tied up?” she asked, not able to curb the sarcasm that bubbled up. “You are out of your mind!”

Virgil’s hand moved faster than lightening as he slapped her cheek so hard her head snapped to the side. Feeling the split on her lip, she licked her tongue out to touch the spot and felt the warm blood. Venomous feelings welled up within her and she acted without thinking, spitting in his face.

Virgil stood and grasped his hand against her throat again and she knew this time he wouldn’t let go. One thing that she knew about Virgil was he liked to hear himself talk and while he was going to squeeze the life out of her, he was going to do just that.

“I took care of my father so I could get out of this godforsaken business but he thought better of it in his will. I took care of Craig because I wanted you, though now I don’t know what I saw in you. You are a whore sleeping with three men. Your body is to die for, Anita, but I can’t have a woman who acts out like you.”

The black spots were becoming more numerous as her lungs felt like they were going to explode.
Oh, God! Help me! I love my boys! I love my men! I don’t want to die!

* * * *

Eight vehicles converged on the logging company, stopping about a quarter of a mile down the road from the yard. From them emerged two federal agents, two sheriff’s officers, one state patrol officer, four ambulance attendants, six Circle G hands, and one other woman.

Weapons were drawn, handguns, shotguns, rifles, knives, and a crossbow. The moon was only a crescent but determination drove all of the people standing around as the law enforcement agents gave directions to everyone while one person held an illuminated cell phone carefully in one hand.

Dispersing, everyone headed up the road, splitting off into groups, the ambulance attendants remaining with their vehicles to wait for their needed time. As the groups made it to the top of the road, everyone stayed in the shadows, moving stealthily. Half of them made their way toward the trailer, the others toward the equipment parking area.

One Hummer, one Prius, and one pickup sat in the parking lot. James’s pickup.

Trey, Lyndee, Storm, and Austin along with the two sheriff’s officers kept to the tree line that led to the office. Coming to the far end of the building, they found Jeremy leaning up against the side about halfway down the length, smoking a cigarette. The tip glowed orange as he drew in the nicotine-laced breath before the glow diminished as it was lowered.

Lyndee made her way toward the man, not being seen until she was next to him, her Glock aimed at his head. He was still unaware of her presence as he brought the cigarette up to his lips and drew in. The glowing tip hovered as the ominous sound of the gun being cocked stopped his movements.

“Don’t move an inch,” Lyndee warned quietly.

Letting the burning object drop from his fingers, Jeremy looked over at the petite woman with the gun and grinned, his white teeth baring as if he was laughing at her. Another gun being cocked to the other side of him stopped him and the grin disappeared quickly.

Storm had gone around the backside of the office and came up silently on the other side of the muscle man, shotgun aimed at the man. Now, with two guns trained on him, Jeremy swallowed hard.

“She told you not to move,” Storm said as quietly as Lyndee had. “Now, where’s your boss?”

Jeremy didn’t have to answer as Virgil’s rant could be heard coming from the office. Austin and the two sheriffs moved quickly to the door of the office, careful to be silent on the metal steps. One of the officers opened the door, gun drawn in a police stance as he entered first and then the other officer along with Austin.

A smack sounded before a crash. An officer shouted, “Police! Step away from the woman!” before a shot ripped through the night.

Jeremy heard the commotion and thought with the distraction he could run, but found out otherwise when a flash from Lyndee’s gun seemed to appear before the shot sounded. Crying out, Jeremy dropped to his knees.

“Oh, get up, you idiot!” Storm said, nearly laughing. “She totally missed you.”

Storm grabbed Jeremy’s shoulder, pulling him up, turning him, and then grabbing the man’s hands he pulled them back and slapped the cuffs on him.

The two officers came out of the building, both holstering their guns, and made their way over to Storm, Lyndee, and Jeremy. Each one taking an arm of the prisoner, one spoke into his radio and called for the ambulance which within a matter of seconds the siren could be heard making it the last distance to the yard. They began marching Jeremy down to their cars.

“Wait!” Trey shouted, coming toward them, still holding the cell phone. Stopping in front of Jeremy, he demanded, “Where’s James?”

The man shrugged and chuckled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Trey struck out with his free hand, knocking the man’s head back, a crack sounding. “Your boss is dead and you are going to take the fall for the murder of Craig Cummings. Do you really want another murder on your hands, or two?”

As if deciding his fate, both officers shook the man a few times to help him along, but he decided against helping. “I want my lawyer.” As he was being led away, Jeremy sing-songed, “And I’ll be suing for police brutality.”

Lyndee had disappeared into the office along with Storm by the time Trey finished with Jeremy and both ambulances came screaming into the parking area. One of them backed up near the office since the lights were blazing brightly there.

As Trey walked up the steps, Storm came out with a map that looked as if it had been torn off a wall. “I’ve got it,” he announced. “There are two shacks along the western ridgeline about two miles apart. The first one is about a mile and a half from here.”

“Any roads leading there?” Trey asked.

“Logging roads. We’ll take the trucks in,” Storm said.

Whistling loud and shrill, Trey called for the others. Everyone came running, including Angela. Austin came out of the trailer, carrying an unconscious Anita. The ropes were still attached to her wrists and ankles, and once they spotted their woman, Dave and Kevin came running over to the man.

Gently, Austin laid her limp body on the stretcher one pair of the paramedics had already pulled from the back of their bus. More bruises adorned her pale face and blood covered her hands. As they were getting ready to each pick up a hand, Lyndee emerged from the trailer. “Don’t touch her hands. They’re evidence. She tore that bastard up!”

“Is he dead?” asked Dave, the fear in his voice evident.

“Yes.”

“Good. Let’s get her to the hospital,” Kevin said.

“We need to find James and the secretary,” Trey said. “We need your help up here on the mountain. Angela will go with Anita to the hospital.”

“But, we need to be with her,” Dave whined.

Austin placed a hand on the man’s shoulder. “She’ll be in good hands. We have to find James because if we don’t, Anita is going to be pissed.”

Nodding at the logic, Dave turned as trucks started appearing in the yard. The other hands had retrieved them. As the paramedics loaded Anita into the ambulance, the men piled into the three pickups and headed off behind Brian Hawthorne’s state patrol SUV. Angela climbed in and sat next to the gurney as the medics closed the double doors behind her.

* * * *

As time slowly passed, Gwen stopped moving. James was able to determine she was still alive but her pulse was very weak. James came to the conclusion that body warmth was going to be their only chance at survival so he carefully zipped their sleeping bags together and prayed Anita would understand. Pulling Gwen’s body against his, he cradled her, trying to warm her up.

Through the open phone connection he could hear the gunshots and the chaos that was going on around Trey, including Jeremy tell him he wanted a lawyer and Trey trying to reason with him and the refusal. The sound of sirens rang out and then he heard chatter amongst his bosses and Lyndee. Though it was chaotic noise, it was soothing to know that they were looking for him.

Numbness set in over his whole body and his brain. All he wanted to do was sleep. Perhaps that was the best way to go. Just go to sleep and never wake up. Was that what Gwen was doing?

He had to fight. He had just found happiness. Love. He tried to stay awake as long as possible.

“Anita, I love you,” he whispered over and over again until the darkness took him.

* * * *

Anita woke to a horrible headache that seemed to travel down her jaw and neck. As she moved, a hand covered hers before she heard, “Be still, darlin’. You’re in the hospital.”

Moving her head to look over at the familiar voice, she found Dave sitting there, worry lines on his face. The shadow on his face created a more rugged look to the man she loved. She might have to ask him to keep it.

Trying to swallow, she found her throat burned and the memory came crashing back to her. A sob escaped her before she could hold it back. “James?”

“He’s going to be all right,” Kevin said from her other side. “He’s asleep.”

“Where?” she choked out.

Both men chuckled before Dave spoke and gestured toward the closed curtain behind him. “He’s in the next bed.”

Anita smiled. “I love you both so much.”

“We know, sweetheart,” Kevin said, kissing the hand he was holding. “Now you need to be quiet, to let your throat heal. We’re here for you, so just gesture what you need.”

Quirking a finger at him, he rose, smiling, and lowered his head down to hers. She kissed his lips, savoring the fact that she was able to do it again. When Kevin sat down, she turned and smiled at Dave who rose and kissed her before resuming his seat. Content with that for now, she relaxed and let the pain medication being pumped into her through the I.V. take effect and drifted off to sleep.

After five days, James and Anita were released from the hospital. The doctors said that the cold probably saved James’s life since it slowed down his heart rate, which in turn stopped the wound from bleeding so much. He was going to be using crutches for a few weeks and was going to have to stay home from work but Anita thought that would be all right since it would give her some company.

Anita just didn’t want to leave the hospital until she knew James was going home with them. The bruises were beginning to fade and she was happy to say that most of the previous bruising was nearly gone. The spot on her lip was nearly healed. The men stopped kissing her because every time they did, it would split open again.

The majority of her issues were psychological. After pictures had been taken for evidence, Anita’s hands were cleaned by the nurses. That wasn’t good enough, for every time she looked at her hands, she could still see the blood that had caked on them after her temporary slip from reality and had torn into Virgil’s face. Though the image would fade, she knew the memory would remain forever.

Gwen was released the day before James, her teenage son coming to pick her up. She suffered from hypothermia but had recovered nicely. Apparently it was touch and go for a bit when they first brought her into the hospital since she had been in the shack several hours before James had been dumped there.

When James and Gwen had been found, two bodies were found in the shack with them. Apparently when Sean and Gene had taken James there, they were surprised by Jeremy, who shot both of them before they could defend themselves, their bodies dumped in a corner of the shack. Unfortunately, Gwen had seen this happen and been locked in with them. She was going to need therapy for years to come.