Lang, Chloe - Wilde Love [The Brothers of Wilde, Nevada 6] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) (12 page)

“He rejected me, Jessie. The motherfucker rejected me. Told me to put on my clothes and go back home. He wouldn’t even listen when I told him I knew a thing or two about being a sub. I am perfect for the Wilde brothers. Why can’t they see that?”

Jessie watched tears stream down Samantha’s cheek. “You poor thing,” she lied. The bitch had killed two people at least, and who knew how many more, and Phoenix’s horse. She didn’t have a right to cry.

“I know, right. I deserve to be Mrs. Wilde.”

When Samantha placed her head in her hands and sobbed, Jessie didn’t hesitate to act. She burst forward with every speck of muscle and energy inside her, lunging to push the laptop into the shaft.
It worked!
The metal clanged to the bottom, and Jessie guessed it was at least twenty feet deep.

“Bitch!” Samantha pulled Jessie’s hair. “That didn’t change a thing. I already started the clock. In ten minutes, this whole place will explode.”

Jessie punched, clawed, and bit her captor, but with her ankles restrained, she was no match for the deranged woman. Samantha was able to pull her and the chair up onto the place the laptop had just been—the two boulders on the side of the chasm that the silver computer had fallen into.

“You’re going to die next to my laptop, Jessie!”

Samantha reached for her, and Jessie realized the insane woman was going to push her into the shaft. On instinct, Jessie reacted. She sent a glob of spit into the girl’s eyes, temporarily blinding her.

Blinking, Samantha grabbed her hand. Jessie tried to pull her hand back from the crazed female but couldn’t.

“If I can’t have them, Jessie, neither can you. Let’s die together, and make them all suffer.”

Horrified, Jessie felt the girl tug on her hand and fall back into the shaft.
This is it! This is how I die.
Still hoping to break free, Jessie closed her eyes and prayed for a painless ending.

But then she felt a jerk, and Samantha’s hand slipped from hers.

I’m not dead.
The chair had lodged on the other side of the boulder, keeping her from the fall. Still, she dangled precariously over the rock, looking into the gray below.

The droplight hanging from the bolt sent enough light for Jessie to see her captor and would-be killer was dead. Samantha’s body was twisted into the shape of a pretzel.

She started the clock. How much time do I have left before the explosion? Maybe ten minutes? No more.

Jessie tried to pull herself back over the boulder but couldn’t. Only the chair kept her from falling to her death. Images of the Wilde brothers came to her mind. She wished she could say good-bye and tell them how much they’d meant to her. They’d changed her and made her see herself in a new way. She wasn’t the virgin who’d shown up in Wilde several weeks back. Now she was a confident woman who knew what being loved by such amazing men meant.

Even knowing it probably was fruitless, she continued trying to free herself.

Then instinctively, she also began to scream. “Help me! I’m in here!”

Please, God, I don’t want to die.

Chapter Nine

The nurse walked into the teenager’s room. He was out of his coma and whispering something.

“Rich, you don’t have to talk. I’m so glad you’re with us.”

He blinked and shook his head from side to side slowly. Again, he whispered.

“Are you in pain?” She leaned in close and checked the monitor. Vitals were improving, though he wasn’t out of the woods yet.

His words were loud enough for her to finally hear. “No. Old Mine. She’s taken her to the Old Mine.”

* * * *

Images of Jessie being mangled plagued Austin’s mind. He pushed them aside as he and his brothers ran into the Old Wilde Mine.
She can’t be dead. She just can’t.

They’d gotten the call from the sheriff about Rich’s revelation.

Austin’s first thought had been to call Heath, their cousin. He had a two-seater plane. Ranching was his life, but flying was his passion. He even had a commercial license in his wallet. Landing in one of the fields near the Old Wilde Mine would’ve been nothing to him. But when Austin got him on the cell, Heath told him he was in Carson City. He’d gone there to enlist some buddies he knew who worked for the state with some pull to join the search for Jessie.

With all the rain from last night and this morning, they couldn’t get to the mine by ATVs or motorcycles. So they’d saddled their fastest horses, brought some mining gear, and rode like wild men to the Old Wilde Mine. Pushing the beasts so hard wasn’t something he or his brothers ever did, but with Jessie in peril, they had to now.

As they rounded the corner, Austin saw the entrance. What if Rich was lying, confused, remembering something Samantha had shared with him that he believed to be true but wasn’t? But when Jackson silently pointed to the trees up on the hill with Samantha’s horse grazing there, he knew Jessie and the female murderer were inside.

In a flash, he and his brothers leapt from their horses, strapped on the gear, including the hard hats with lights, and bolted to the entrance. Thankfully, Jackson knew this mine almost as good as Pappy Jack.

“Where do we go, lil’ bro?” Austin asked.

“If I know Samantha, she’s gone deep into the mine with Jessie.”

Denver pointed down the tunnel. “Lead the way.”

Twenty minutes in, Austin heard a voice.
Jessie’s.
“Help! God, let someone come.” The despair in her tone crushed Austin.

With pistols drawn and shutting off their hardhats’ lights, he and his brothers shot down the tunnel toward the woman of their dreams.

Her voice echoed down the tunnel. “How could you have done this, you stupid dead bitch?” She continued to rant. “Breaking your neck was too easy a death for a monster like you.”

Samantha’s dead. No need to be stealth now.
“Jessie, we’re coming.”

“Oh my God! Guys, hurry. Before her fall, Samantha set off a timer that will detonate all these explosives in here. There can’t be more than five minutes left.”

“We’re going to save you, pet. I promise.” They rounded the corner and saw Jessie’s legs and her ankles tied to the chair that had apparently kept her from falling down the shaft.

There were enough explosives around the place to blow the all of them clear to California and back.

Without hesitating, he ran to her and pulled the chair back over the boulder.

Jessie leaned into him. “I’m glad you’re all here, but we’ve got to get out of here fast.”

Austin quickly untied her ankles and lifted her up in his arms. He ran for all he was worth down the tunnel. His four brothers followed.

For years, he thought he would leave his brothers someday. Now, after everything he’d seen and been through with them, he couldn’t imagine it.

He’d never believed he could be soft, but holding Jessie in his arms now, he knew better. She’d shown him so much about himself. She was everything to him, the love of his life. The darkness inside him lifted around the light of this amazing woman. BDSM would always be a part of his sexuality, but now with Jessie, he could expand into other avenues. Baby steps, sure. But she deserved his best effort, always.

Racing for the entrance and safety, Austin hoped they’d all make it out in time to get to the future he now desired—a life of sharing Jessie with his brothers.

Chapter Ten

Sitting in Austin’s dining room, Jessie sipped on the herbal tea like an automaton. She didn’t really taste it, merely lifted it over and over to her mouth. She was completely wrung out, every muscle and nerve dull. Like her soul.

Her hair was still damp from the bath Austin had given her. Wrapped in his white robe, she loved the feel and smell of his scent. It was the only thing that kept her grounded.

Lee Carpenter, her biological father, had just left, along with the sheriff. She’d recounted every moment of her time in the mine. She’d forced herself to say the words, pushing them out of her mouth, hoping that when she’d told the story she could be done with it. The case that had brought her to Wilde for the agency was now closed, as were the murders the sheriff had been investigating.

Though Lee had asked her to return to the agency, she’d declined. Jessie wasn’t sure what she wanted to do next career wise, but her old job didn’t hold any interest to her now. Facing death between the eyes and coming out alive on the other end had changed her. She wasn’t the same woman who had walked into Wilde. And it wasn’t just the tragedy that had changed her. The Wilde brothers had changed her forever.

Austin walked in with a plate of crackers, cheese, and fruit.

“Seriously, cowboy, I can’t eat. The tea is enough for now.” The brothers had taken her to Austin’s place after the mine explosion. The doctor had made a house call. Once again, he’d given her a clean bill of health, announcing to the five worried cowboys that she was tough as nails.

I sure don’t feel tough.
She was glad that the nightmare was finally over.

“Okay, pet, but Phoenix went to quite a lot of trouble to put this together for you. He’s going to be disappointed you didn’t taste it.”

Jessie felt her shoulders sag. Even with the crazy bitch, Samantha, dead, she still had one other worry. Though not life threatening, she knew it was certainly awful enough that her heart would never survive.

She couldn’t handle another moment with Austin’s demand over her head. She looked directly into Austin’s eyes. His demand for her to make the impossible choice had not been resolved. It never could be.

I just want to get this over with. I can’t bear much more.
“Where are your brothers?”

“They’re all outside.” He sat the plate of food down. “I asked them to give us a moment together.”

Her heart hurt. Maybe it had been better to be numb. At least when her heart was numb it hadn’t felt like an aching chasm in her chest. “Austin, I just can’t make—”

“Shh. Before you say more, let me talk.” His voice was deep but without the familiar edge. It was gentler than she’d ever heard it before.

Jessie braced herself for another round of his arguments of why she should choose him. He’d pulled her from the mine and saved her life. He deserved her ear one last time. “Okay.”

“Stand up, pet.” The hot cowboy that had captured her heart cupped her chin.

“Yes, Master.”
God, how can I leave him?
Dread and sadness rolled through her body.

When she was fully on her feet, Austin leaned down and kissed her. For a moment, nothing else mattered. The world stopped turning, and her insides warmed up.
Our last kiss. I’ll never forget it.
Jessie began to sob into his mouth, unable to hold back her pain of having to leave him and his brothers.

Austin released her lips. “Jessie, don’t cry.”

“I–I...can’t help it. Master, I just can’t choose.”

He pulled her close, and she melted into him. “I know, pet.”

“I love Jackson. I love Phoenix. I love Dallas. I love Denver.” Her entire body began to shake as she sobbed.

He squeezed her tight. “That’s what I want to tell you, pet. You don’t have to choose. I won’t make you.”

“I love your brothers, but I love you, too, Austin.” She closed her eyes. “I can’t live without you either.”

Austin’s eyes were warmer than she could ever remember. “I love you, too, sweetheart. I’ve been a fool my whole life. You made me see that.”