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hard,” Ben whispered, then swallowed hard and turned away from

everyone. Wyatt saw the tears in his brother’s eyes. He was about to

lose it himself with worry over Anna.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions. All we can do is wait until the

doctor comes out and tells us more,” Wyatt stated, and everyone

agreed.

* * * *

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It was a good two hours later when the waiting room filled with

more visitors. Mary and Jack came by with food and drinks for

everyone from Francine’s. The workers from the ranch and a few

other store owners and friends from town came in as well. When

Doctor Jones arrived, he went right up to the front desk, smoothtalked the nurse, and was able to go into the restricted area where they

weren’t allowed to enter.

“Dr. Jones will get an update,” Eric whispered to Stacy as he held

her in his arms.

Everyone turned toward the door as Dr. Jones and another doctor

dressed in scrubs came out. He looked a bit taken aback at the crowd.

Dr. Jones whispered something to him and pointed toward Wyatt,

Ben, and Charlie.

“I’m Dr. Martin, brain injury specialist.” He reached out and

shook the men’s hands one at a time.

“First, let me tell you that we are taking very good care of Anna.

She is getting the best treatment, and we are thorough in our

evaluations. The medevac paramedics explained how her injury

occurred, which is important for me to know in order to evaluate her

treatment and make certain she recovers.”

“Did she gain consciousness?” Ben asked.

“No. Not yet, which is what I am most concerned over.”

“Jesus! What else can you tell us?” Charlie asked.

“Is she going to be all right? Will she recover completely?” Stacy

asked.

“I can’t say with a hundred percent certainty that she won’t have

lasting side effects. She’s very petite and to sustain such a blow as she

did there are many concerns.”

“Those being?” Wyatt asked.

“My first concern is that she is still unconscious. The longer she

remains that way the more severe her injuries can be.”

“My God! What about tests like CAT scans or MRIs,” Stacy

asked.

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“We are in the process of doing those. So far, it doesn’t appear

that there are any contusions to the brain. Basically, brain contusions

are bruises of the brain tissue that occur as a result of brain trauma. In

some cases, brain contusions lead to hemorrhages that are absorbed

into the brain tissue.”

“Has the swelling gone down?” Dr. Jones asked.

“The swelling has remained the same since she arrived in the ER.

As you know, Dr. Jones, brain contusions are localized, a

characteristic that distinguishes them from concussions, which are

more spread out. Once we do the CAT scans and MRIs, we should be

able to rule this out.”

“So we wait for the results of the tests?”

The doctor nodded.

“Can we see her?” Wyatt asked.

The doctor hesitated then looked at Dr. Jones.

“I suppose for a quick minute. No more than that. We should have

the results from the tests soon, and then we’ll determine what we need

to do to help her recover.”

The men shook his hand, then followed him to the ICU.

* * * *

The nurse told them one at a time, so Wyatt entered first, although

Charlie and Ben could see her through the windows. She was covered

in wires, her face battered and bruised. Wyatt’s heart pounded in his

chest. The thugs had beaten her before him, and the others knew she

was in trouble.

They had failed to protect her when she needed them most. He

swallowed hard, finding it difficult to not become emotional.

She looked so pale and fragile with all the wires hooked up to her.

The beeping sounds filled the room. It was surreal and frightening.

One look at the gash by her head and the swelling that the doctor was

concerned about had Wyatt shedding tears.

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He knew he had little time, so he wiped his eyes and leaned down

to kiss her cheek below the bruise.

“I love you, baby. Please wake up and come back to us. I can’t

live without you,” he whispered as the tears rolled down his cheeks

and he walked out of the room.

* * * *

One look at his brother and Charlie felt like vomiting. He’d never

seen Wyatt cry before.

He touched Wyatt’s shoulder as he passed him, but Wyatt’s head

was down as he exited the ICU.

Taking a deep breath, Charlie walked into the room and stopped

short at the sight.

“Oh, Jesus, Anna!” he whispered, covering his mouth as he

absorbed the sight of tubes, bruises, and monitors beeping. The sound

of her heart beating should have brought him some peace, but instead,

it scared him. Her face had cuts and bruises on it, and the gash by her

head had been stitched up and bandaged. He prayed that there wasn’t

any internal bleeding or brain injury. He clenched his fists as the tears

rolled down his cheeks. He should have killed the fuckers. They had

enough time to rough her up again, and he hadn’t been there to protect

her. He swallowed hard.

He slowly moved closer and touched her delicate hand then a

finger that didn’t have some sort of monitoring device on it.

He leaned down and kissed her lips gently, away from the cut

there.

“I love you, baby. Please pull through. We need you.”

Slowly, he stood up and exited the room, closing his eyes and

inhaling as he made eye contact with Ben. Ben looked downright

pissed off.

* * * *

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193

Ben headed into the room and stopped short the second reality hit

him in the face. His woman was lying there in pain and possibly with

permanent injuries because of two New York fucking mobsters. He

hoped that the whipping he put on the one asshole had the guy dying.

He wouldn’t give the piece of shit a second thought. His focus was on

Anna and getting her to wake up.

He swallowed hard at the sight of her injuries but remained

focused before he cried like a fucking sissy. He leaned down low and

kissed her neck, the only uninjured part of her skin showing.

“Anna, you better wake your ass up real fast now, or I’m going to

punish you and turn that pretty little ass of yours red as a stop sign.

Damn it, I love you, I need you, and I ain’t gonna stand for this

nonsense. You are a strong woman, so get your shit together and

wake up.” He clenched his teeth and tried real hard not to let the tears

loose.

The heart rate monitor increased, making a louder sound as the

rate picked up pace.

Ben stood up straight as the nurse came in quickly, checking on

Anna then the monitor.

“What did you do?” she asked abruptly.

He was suddenly feeling guilty for possibly making Anna’s

condition worse.

“Shit!” he exclaimed as he ran his hand through his hair. The

nurse touched his forearm.

“No, sir, it’s not a bad thing. Whatever you did or said seemed to

get through to her somehow. Sit here and keep talking to her and

doing whatever it was you did. I’m going to call the doctor.”

“You better get my brothers. They helped, too,” he stated.

Ben watched the nurse leave, and he was suddenly filled with

confidence. He leaned down and whispered all the things he would do

to Anna when he got her back home to the Triple C Ranch.

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* * * *

Charlie and Wyatt were waiting outside the door of the ICU for

Ben. They heard a lot of activity, and then the door opened and the

nurse in charge of Anna told them to come back in.

Wyatt looked at Charlie and knew his brother was scared.

As they approached the room, there was Ben, leaning close to

Anna, whispering to her.

“Your brother was talking to her and said something that had her

heart rate increasing and showing signs that she may awaken. The

sooner she does, the better off she will be.”

Quickly, Wyatt and Charlie entered the room and stood beside

their brother. There wasn’t much room for them, but they made do as

Ben explained what he did.

“Son of a bitch! Our woman is lying here with a possible fucking

brain injury and you threaten to tan her backside!” Wyatt exclaimed

in disbelief.

Ben smiled a shit-eating grin, then continued to whisper to Anna

and caress her hand.

Wyatt took her other hand, and Charlie caressed her skin as they

talked to her and added comments to Ben’s outrageous sexual

adventures he explained to participate in with Anna.

“If that nurse or doctor hears what we’re saying, they’re going to

kick us outta here,” Wyatt said then laughed.

“I don’t care if they hear or not. I love her,” Ben replied.

Wyatt and Charlie smiled.

“I love her, too,” they both replied in unison then laughed.

Ben gently caressed her cheek and whispered. “That’s right,

Anna. You got three grown, macho men crying over you. That isn’t

an easy thing to accomplish, I’ll have you know. And just for that,

I’m going to add an additional spanking. You should realize now that

we would do anything for your love and to keep you with us on the

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195

Triple C.” He paused a moment then looked at his brothers.

“Anything for the love of Anna.”

“Anything,” Charlie added.

“Anything,” Wyatt whispered.

When they looked down toward Anna, her eyes began to flutter

open.

“She’s awake!” Ben called out as the tears ran down his cheeks.

There was no stopping them, and he didn’t care. He knew at that

moment that his Anna was going to be just fine.

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Chapter 18

The days had passed with tests, tests, and more tests until, finally,

the doctor was certain that Anna did not sustain any permanent

damage. She did have a severe concussion, had vomited too many

times to count, which lead to more medication and dehydration

treatments.

She suffered from headaches, dizziness, and blurred vision, which

the doctor said was normal and could last months following such an

injury. He did, however, say that since there was no sign of amnesia

that she should recover a hundred percent.

It had been a long, tiresome three weeks, but finally, she was

going to be released from the hospital to go home and remain under

the care of Dr. Jones as well as Dr. Charlie Cantrell.

Her men had remained by her side day and night in shifts,

traveling the hour to take the others’ places and still work and care for

the ranch. In between, she had visits from Stacy, Eric, and Max as

well as Jack and Mary. She had a family now that loved her and she

loved them.

Jake and Vinny were prosecuted for their crimes of attempted

murder, aggravated assault, and the murder of Hank Parker. Things

had a way of working themselves out. After the beatings that Ben and

Wyatt had put on Vinny and Jake, both men suffered broken jaws,

broken ribs, and cuts and bruises to their bodies. By the time they got

out of the hospital and were incarcerated, they were both murdered

during a gang fight in the prison courtyard. The detectives from New

York said the investigation into their deaths was still pending. At least

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197

now she could sleep at night knowing they could never hurt her or her

family again.

* * * *

Anna lay on the bed after taking a hot shower and dressing in

Wyatt’s black sheriff’s department T-shirt.

She loved the feel of being home, on the fluffy comforter in her

men’s home. They even placed vases of fresh wildflowers on the

bedside tables and opened the windows to let the warm summer air

into the room.

Just as she leaned back and closed her eyes, she heard the

footsteps coming up the stairs.

“Anna!”

“Up here!” she called back, keeping her eyes closed and loving

the sound of Ben calling her in their home and the comfort it gave her.

He entered the room, kicked off his boots, and slowly crept onto

the bed. Then she heard more footsteps as both Wyatt and Charlie

came in, with Wyatt still in his sheriff’s uniform. He just left for work

about thirty minutes ago, what the heck was going on?

Anna laughed as Ben slowly spread her legs and plopped his head

down in between them.

“Hey!” she exclaimed as she grabbed his head to stop him

although she didn’t want to. She had been waiting for them to make

love to her, but they were so afraid of hurting her. The cut on her head

would look bad for months, so they should just get over it.

A look toward the other two and she was pleasantly shocked as

they began stripping their clothes off at record speed.

“We spoke with Dr. Jones today and got the okay,” Ben stated,

raising one eyebrow and smiling so wide his dimples winked at her.

Then his statement registered just as Ben licked her folds, plunged his