Shades of Ménage : A Dystopian Romance Ménage & Post Catastrophic Romance Ménage Boxed Set Series - Ultimate Four-Book Collection (32 page)

Laurie frowned.

“
I have my personal reasons, Callie. Rest assured though, I’m doing the right thing. Please don’t worry about me, okay? Promise?”

“
How can you be doing the right thing? I don’t understand? You were supposed to join the women’s resistance. You were supposed to be safe.”

“
Please, just trust me on this.”

“
Laurie—”

“
We’ve only got a few minutes. Let’s not discuss this anymore.”

Callie nodded, but frustration screamed through her.

“
How are they treating you?”

Her sister flinched visibly at the question.

“
And you don’t want me to worry about you? I want you away from them, Laurie.”

“
I’m where I need to be at this time,” she said gently. There was a strange glint in her eyes. It made Callie even more concerned.

“
What do you mean you need to be there?”

“
Please, don’t ask any questions. The answers are private…for now.”

Private? What in the world was going on? Before she could put the pressure on her to spill her guts, Laurie continued, “They are demanding. Men who haven’t had sex in a while can be tiring—especially with so many of them, and now that there is one less it will be a relief.” To her surprise, Laurie smiled and squeezed her hand. “You’ll find out how demanding sexually deprived men can be with the Outlaw brothers…but I’m sure they must make excellent lovers if they’re anything like Tyler.”

At the mention of Tyler, Callie’s heart picked up speed. How she ached to tell her sister about him.

But she didn’t know what the final deal was Luke had hammered out. She had to keep quiet for now, and she had to bite her inner cheek to keep herself from saying anything.

“
Is that a wedding ring, you’re wearing?” Laurie’s shocked voice made Callie realize she still wore the gold band that Luke had slipped back onto her finger.

“
Luke and I got married.”

“
Married? That’s not possible. All the preachers and anyone capable of marrying couples have been imprisoned. How did you do it?”

Quickly Callie explained about what had happened after Luke had escaped from the Barlows ranch.

“
And he forced you to marry him at gunpoint?”

Callie nodded, and had to laugh as her sister’s eyes widened into saucers in disbelief.

“
How absolutely romantic. If Ty had lived, he would have been my Prince to my rescue like that, too.”

Tyler is alive! And the Barlows know where he is.

She’d figured agreeing to be claimed by four men would be the hardest thing for her to do in her life, but keeping this secret from Laurie was even harder. How long could she keep the information to herself before she actually cracked and told Laurie? But as Luke had said, if she did tell Laurie then the Barlows would have Ty killed.

“
Time to go, Laurie.”

Callie’s head snapped up at Zeb Barlow’s deep voice. He stood in the kitchen doorway watching both of them intently. Obviously, he was making sure Callie didn’t tell Laurie about Ty.

Familiar anger burned inside her, but she clamped down on it, opting to keep Laurie here with her as long as possible.

“
Oh! Couldn’t you all stay for supper? Laurie and I have so much catching up to do.”

Zeb frowned and shook his head. “I’m sorry, but no. We have other plans for Laurie tonight.”

Callie’s excitement plummeted. Laurie hadn’t even been here for ten minutes and they were already taking her away.

“
But please,” Zeb continued, as he was joined by the other Barlows behind him, “We’d all love to see your Claiming videos. Feel free to drop by and visit anytime.”

Callie’s stomach tightened.

The Barlows were absolutely disgusting and vile creatures.

As if sensing Callie was about to blow up, Laurie quickly stood and embraced her tightly.

“
I have to go,” she whispered. “Please come and visit me when you can.”

Tears shone in her haunted eyes as she pulled away and gave Callie a watery smile.

Callie nodded, suddenly wanting to grab her baby sister and never let her go.

This isn’t right!
her mind screamed.
She shouldn’t go with them!
She doesn’t belong to them! She belongs to Tyler. He’s alive!

She took one step forward with every intention of telling the Barlows that as far as she was concerned they could go straight to hell with the brother she’d killed when Luke’s hand wrapped around her elbow stopping her cold.

“
Let her go,” Luke whispered. “She’s a strong woman. She’ll be fine.”

She wished she could believe him. Wished she could trust that Laurie would be safe with the Barlows.

But she couldn’t be sure of anything.

Deep down in her very soul she knew there was one thing she was sure of. Only one man could rescue her.

Tyler Outlaw.

Keeping silent, she stood at the kitchen window as the Barlow brothers and Laurie sped away.

“
Everything is done. We buried the body over on Ty’s land in a place they’ll never find it. We can keep the fact that there is one less Barlow hanging over their heads just like they can keep Ty hanging over our heads. The good thing is the Barlows accepted most of the deal we agreed on last night. They’ve agreed to drop the charges against me and to make the one-month waiting period vanish for you if I gave them our ranch. That’s why we were gone for so long. We went with them to buy a judge.”

“
So they have our little ranch.”

He nodded, and she bit her lower lip to prevent from crying.

They’d lost their ranch. Their beautiful future was gone. The finality of it left her with a hollow, empty feeling.

“
That’s not all. We’re not to mention to Laurie that Ty is alive.”

“
I don’t know if I can do this to Laurie. I feel as if I have to tell her the next time I see her.”

“
Hear me out, Callie.”

“
What?” Callie stamped her feet in frustration.

“
It’s only for nine months. We keep quiet for nine months, and they’ll tell us where Tyler is.”

“
Why nine months? He could be dead by then.”

“
I tried for less. But they wouldn’t go for it. They figure in nine months they’ll have her pregnant, and she’d be less likely to leave them when he came back.”

Callie felt like screaming. How could Luke ask her to keep quiet?

Luke’s arms curled around her waist and he squeezed her tightly. His warm body pressed lovingly against her, but it did little to douse her hatred for those men who would betray Laurie in such a way.

“
If we tell her within that time frame, the Barlows have threatened to have Tyler killed.”

“
Can we really believe that they even know where he is?”

“
Oh, they know where he is.”

Anger spiked his words and he let go of her, digging something out of his shirt pocket.

He held up a photograph of Tyler, and it just about broke her heart. His face was bruised, one eye swollen shut and he was holding up a copy of last week’s edition of Rackety Valley’s newsletter.

“
Do you think they have him hidden close by?” Callie asked, as she ran a finger over the picture, tracing Tyler’s black eye. Despite the fact he looked awful, he was smiling, if only to defy whoever was taking his picture.

“
Close enough so they can get a picture of him with last week’s town paper, but far enough away where it’ll take us one hell of a long time before we find him. If you’ll notice the background is a white wall. It could be anywhere.”

“
I don’t know, Luke. So many things can go wrong in nine months.”

“
We have to trust them, Callie. We have no other choice.”

Even when he said it, Callie detected the doubt lacing his voice, and Callie knew he was trying really hard to make himself believe Tyler would be all right.

Perhaps he believed the same thing she believed? That the odds of Tyler making it back home alive were pretty bleak.

“
Something else the judge ordered. This will probably come as a shock, but he’s ordered the Claiming right away. The minute he gets the tape, he’ll approve it. If it’s okay with you, I’ll tell the boys and we’ll do the Claiming tonight.”

At Luke’s words, Callie’s breath backed right up into her lungs and erotic weakness splashed through her, along with tremors of nervousness.

Tonight? So soon?

Better to get this over with as soon as possible. She wanted to be safe, and she wanted to be with Luke.

And she wanted to be close to her sister.

“
Will you be there always?”

“
Right beside you. We’re in this together, sweetheart. Every step of the way. Go on into the bedroom and get ready. I’ll bring Colter in first.”

Callie blew out an anxious breath, and headed for the bedroom.

Chapter Eleven

Tension knotted Luke’s shoulders as he listened to Callie’s shower running.

He’d told Colter, Mac and Cade about the plans.

They’d been visibly shaken that the Claiming was taking place so quickly, but after reassurance from him that this Claiming was something that needed to be done in order to protect Callie, they’d retreated to their rooms to get ready.

Shoving his fingers through his hair, he closed his eyes and wondered once more if he was doing the right thing in allowing this Claiming.

Maybe he should have simply thrown Callie over his shoulder and dragged her off to live in some cave with him like their ancestors had. But Callie said she’d run enough. She wanted stability. A life. Peace and security.

Luke had explained to the judge about Blakely wanting Callie. The judge had reassured Luke once she was claimed she would be legally safe from Blakely’s wants. At present, in the government’s eyes, a man’s sexual satisfaction was top priority.

Sex kept the men happy.

Kept them out of trouble in a world that had gone topsy-turvy without a woman to gentle a man’s fierce needs or keep his bed warm at night.

Luke sat there listening to the running shower, and imagined how warm Callie’s flesh must feel after being naked under the hot spray. He could imagine her hands soaping the curves of her breasts, over her belly and lower.

He hadn’t missed the familiar tremors or arousal coursing through her as he’d held her earlier in the kitchen and told her the Claiming would take place tonight.

A little stab of jealousy had ripped into him at the idea his brothers would be so intimately involved with Callie but he’d reined his emotions in, making himself grateful that at least Callie’s Claiming would be consensual and not forced as it might otherwise have been had she been caught by some strangers.

“
Luke?” Colter’s soft voice ripped into his thoughts.

He opened his eyes to find Colter standing in front of him wearing nothing but a pair of black track pants, the material stretched tight over an impressive bulge between his legs.

Maybe he should have warned Callie that Colter was a hell of a lot bigger than he was?

Oh, hell, she’d find out soon enough.

“
Ready?” Luke asked.

Colter nodded tensely.

“
Okay, let’s go.”