Davis, Keyonna - Nowhere to Hide [Pine Valley] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (7 page)

Chapter 6

What the hell was she doing? Kissing two guys and completely attracted to them both? She was twenty-six years old, and in that time she only ever kissed one guy, and here she was kissing two guys in one day not even an hour apart. What
was
next? Pausing from her pacing in the bathroom, Cane looked at her reflection
.
S
he knew what was next
.
T
hey both made that very clear. The question was did she want it to happen? A part of her was scared to death, but another part was saying go for it. Why shouldn’t she have some fun? Hadn’t she suffered enough at the hands of a psycho? She certainly enjoyed kissing the both of them. They kissed the complete opposite of their personalities
.
T
hat shocked Cane. Logan seemed to come across a
s
the dominant, aggressive type, but his kiss was slow and sweet and gentle like he had all the time in the world. Duncan on the other hand, was the complete opposite. He came across as the calm, gentle one, but his kisses weren’t anything like that. He was aggressive and passionate but nothing like Sam who was way too dominating. She felt like he was trying to crawl into her skin. They both made her feel things that she had never felt before, and it scared her. Deciding not to think about it and let whatever happens happen, she freshened up and returned to the room.

Duncan was sitting in the chair by the bookshelf and stood when she came in. “I’m ready
.
J
ust
let me grab my bag and a jacket.”

“You know you shouldn’t carry that bag around with all that money. This is a small town, but crime still occurs here.”

“I know, but it is all I have. I don’t want something to happen to it.
”

“I have a small closet safe at home you can borrow. I will bring it when I bring you back tonight.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course, sweetheart.” Smiling, Cane walked out the door. That was the second time he called her that and Logan called her baby earlier. She could get used to this. It was certainly better than being called bitch, whore, or slut.

They made it to Duncan’s truck in no time and began the drive to his house. “So? How do you like the town so far?”

“It’s great,” Cane said, and truly meant it. “Even though it’s small and secluded, everyone seems very friendly. I know I have only been here for a little over a day, but I have never really had a home, and I feel like I could have that here. I just don’t want to get to ahead of myself until I know that Sam has given up trying to find me.” Something told her that wouldn’t be anytime soon, but she pushed that negative comment away. Placing his hand on top of hers, Duncan just smiled.

“I hope you are comfortable tonight
,
because the rest of my family will be there.”

“Oh, who else will be there?” Cane asked, not sure she was ready to meet the rest of his family.

“Well, Ali and Logan of course, and my older brother Chase and my younger brother Riley.” Cane smiled and nodded her head. She turned and stared out the window. Hopefully his other brothers would like her. She never wanted to be accepted more by this family than anyone in her entire life, and she was scared of the unexpected feelings. As if reading her mind, Duncan squeezed her hand that he was still holding. “Don’t worry,” he said smiling, “they will think you are great. Of course Ali, Logan, and I already do and so will the other two.”

They drove the rest of the way in comfortable silence. It took about ten minutes to get the Matthews’ house, and Cane could feel the butterflies in her stomach growing bigger the closer they got. The house sat at the end of a driveway that seemed a mile long. The house was beautiful. It was a very large log cabin-style house that looked like it sprouted out of the forest that lined the back of it. It had two stories and a wraparound front porch with rocking chairs and a swing. “Wow
,
this is beautiful.”

“Thank you. My dad built it for my mom. He knew she wanted a large family, so he said she needed a house large enough to put us all in, so this is what he came up with. When they died, we didn’t want to sell it, so we all still live here, including Logan.”

“Logan lives here, too?” she asked.

“Yeah, he moved in when he was eleven after his mom died. His dad couldn’t handle it, and my mom took him in since he was here most of the time anyway.”

Cane couldn’t believe it. “Your mom must have been a really great woman to take in a child that wasn’t hers when she already had four of her own to raise.” Duncan didn’t say anything, but the sad look in his eyes told her that he still wasn’t over losing his parents. They were sitting in the truck outside the house and he was still holding her hand.

Taking a deep breath, she asked, “Ali said your parents died last year in an accident
.
W
ill you tell me what happened?”

Duncan was quiet for a while and finally said, “They were killed in a car accident driving home from Carlton. It was raining and the tractor-trailer in front of them lost control after trying to change lanes. My dad couldn’t stop in time, and their car slid under the trailer. The doctors say they died instantly, so there was no pain. Ali was in the car also
.
S
he barely escaped with her life. When the car slammed into the guardrail, it went through the back door and impaled her in the back. She feels guilty that she lived and they died since they wouldn’t have gone if she hadn’t asked for new shoes.” Turning her hand over so that their palms were touching, Cane laced her fingers through his and squeezed.

“You, your brothers and sister, and Logan are very lucky. Even though your parents are gone, you grew up knowing that you were loved and that they would have done anything for you. I would love to know what just one day of that feels like. I never knew my parents. I was dropped off at a hospital when I was six days old. The nurse that found me named me Cane. I was told it was because of my hair being the color of sugar. My parents didn’t even care enough to give me a name, and no one has wanted me since, so don’t focus on the fact that they are gone, only think about all the times that you had them here when you really needed them.” Duncan reached over and wiped a tear away that had run down her cheek and then leaned over and kissed the same spot.

“You have no idea how damn special you are,” he said. Cane gasped at Duncan’s statement. She couldn’t hold back the flood of emotions that followed it. Never in her life had anyone told her that she was special, not even Sam. He grinned at her and opened the door to get out. Here goes nothing
,
she thought
,
and got out as well.

The inside of the house was more beautiful than the outside. There was a warm and cozy feel to the place. In the living room there was a large plush leather sofa and two matching chairs facing a fireplace
,
and the hardwood floors were covered with thick throw rugs everywhere. Cane could hear talking coming from the kitchen as she followed Duncan. Walking into the kitchen, her mouth fell open when she saw that the kitchen basically took up the whole back of the house and was dominated by a long wooden table that looked like it could seat about twenty people. The whole back wall was nothing but glass overlooking the patio, pool, and forest behind.

Whispering in her ear, Duncan said, “The kitchen is the place that it seems like everyone in our family always ended up, so since we spent so much time there, Dad said that logically this should be the most important and biggest room in the house.”

“It’s great!” Cane said in awe.

Ali came over and hugged her. “I didn’t think you would ever get here, but I’m so glad you came
.
T
his will be so fun!”

Grabbing Cane’s hand, she began to lead her to the table where everyone else was already seated. “Of course you already know Logan, but this is our oldest brother
,
Chase, and this is our other brother
,
Riley.” Both men stood and greeted her. They both were just as gorgeous as Ali and Duncan. Good looks must run in the family, Cane thought as she waved and smiled at each man. Chase was just as tall as Duncan only he was a lot broader. He looked like he had muscles on top of muscles. Both men had the same green eyes that the whole family had. Riley was the shortest of all the Matthews brothers. He looked like he was around six feet. He wore his coal black hair pulled back in a ponytail, where Chase wore his in a military buzz cut style.

Still holding her hand, Ali said, “I hope you are hungry because we are having steak and potatoes and salad.”

“You girls are having salad
.
W
e men are having meat and potatoes,” Chase said laughing. Smiling and instantly feeling comfortable, Cane took the empty chair next to Logan
,
and Duncan sat on the other side of her.

Dinner was great. Not only was the food delicious, but the conversation was excellent. The wine had been flowing freely all through dinner and she was feeling very relaxed. Cane had never laughed so hard in all her life. All through dinner Chase and Riley told the most embarrassing stories about Duncan and Logan and all the trouble they got into growing up. Cane had never felt
this
accepted
so easily in all her life.
I could fall in love with this family
.
Looking at Duncan and then Logan, she thought, especially these two men. That particular thought scared her, but she pushed it away to think about at another time. She wasn’t going to let it ruin her night.

“Let’s go for a swim,” Ali said while starting to clear the table. Everyone agreed and left the room to get changed into their suits. Cane sat at the table biting her bottom lip. What excuse could she use to get out of this? It wasn’t that she didn’t like to swim
.
S
he just didn’t want anyone to see the nasty ten-inch jagged scar across the bottom of her stomach
,
courtesy of Sam
,
and ask questions. It was a story that she did not want to tell.

“Is something wrong?” It was Logan looking at her with concern in his eyes.

“I…I don’t have a suit,” she said, hoping that was a good enough excuse.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure Ali has something you can borrow.”

“Oh yeah
,
I don’t mind
.
Y
ou
can take your pick
.
I have a ton of suits.”

Damn! That didn’t work. Not wanting to ruin the night, she just nodded and followed Ali to the bedroom. She knew that unless Ali had a one piece, the scar would show, but she gave in.

Ali’s bedroom looked like any other sixteen-year-old girl’s room. Hot pinks and purples everywhere. She had two twin beds in the room with matching comforters and posters of whatever teen singing sensation that was hot at the
moment
all over the walls. Ali was happily laying out every suit she owned on the bed, which seemed like hundreds of them.

“Um…you don’t happen to have a one
-
piece
,
do you?”

“No, sorry,” she said, looking a bit guilty.

“It’s okay,” Cane said. “If I had a body like yours, I would never wear a one
-
piece either.” If it was possible, Ali’s grin lit up the room. She ducked her head as if not used to getting compliments and started sorting through the suits on her bed. Sighing, Cane began to look over what she had to offer. She ended up picking the least skimpy suit there, which wasn’t saying much. It was white with small blue stars all over. Both pieces tied, so Cane could adjust it to fit since she was smaller than Ali on the top, but a little curvier on the bottom. Ali used the connecting bathroom first and changed. When she came out, Cane reluctantly went in.
You can do this, you can do this, you can do this
…maybe if she said it enough it would be true. Once the suit was on, Cane had to admit that if it wasn’t for the scar that was still an angry red color peeking out of her bottoms, the suit would be sexy. Being
that Ali was
their baby sister and seeing how protective they were of her,
Cane
couldn’t believe the Matthews boys and Logan would let Ali wear something like this. Well, here goes nothing. You can’t hide in here all night
,
she thought as she walked out of the bathroom. Ali was sitting on the bed and from the look on her face, Cane knew that she saw the scar. Unconsciously, she put her hands over it and turned away.