AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Fighters?Firefighters?”
“No. Real fighters, like mixed martial arts. They won trophies upon trophies and made good money. But Mama used to worry about them. They would get beat up real bad. And when she got sick, she asked them to stop. To come live where they were brought up. ‘Live off the land, have lots of babies, die happy,’ she would say. And give a legacy to the Locklear name. They won’t have me fight, even though I can. Says it messes with yourbrain.”
“Why fighters?” They certainly looked the part, and she imagined Jacob could easily hold hisowntoo.
“I don't know. They said it seemed like a good idea at the time, easy money. Their dad would beat them up when he got drunk. Mama said he was the worst Locklear of them all. But Ethan and Zach, they said it toughened them up. My mama raised them when my uncle burned down their house. They were about sixteen at the time but they had been fighting since waybeforethat.”
“What about theirownmama?”
“I don't even know her, never ever met her. She left when they were still babies. They don't need her, they had Mama and now that Mama is gone, they have me. I take care of them. I’m a great cook, just likeMamawas.”
Her heart went out to them. All of them. She wanted to protect them, hold them, love them even though they were twice her size and lookedinvincible.
“You're a good cousin, Jacob.” She placed her hands on his cheeks and kissed him softly. He deepened the kiss and if Zach hadn’t called them to eat, she might have let him do more thingstoher.
“Please stay,” he whispered in her ear as they walked hand in hand to the kitchentable.
She couldn't tell Jacob she was leaving, but she did have to leave. She owed her father that much. But after that, would modeling still interest her? She realized she didn't want to be around people who lied andcheated.
After Ethan, Zach and Jacob, she now knew the world was bigger than materialistic things. Like Zach, Jacob wouldn't believe her if she said she would come back after three weeks when her contract ended. Then he might think Ethan was right all along. She was weak and fickle and would leave at the first chanceshegot.
Something was happening to her. She knew she couldn't be falling for them only after a few days, but then why did she feel as if nothing existed before them—and that after them nothing would be the same. Right now, she knew only one thing. After her Rochelle contract, she had to come back and see where this wouldleadher.
More than anything in her life, she wanted happiness. Did her happiness lie with these men? She deserved a chance tofindout.
They sat down to eat a light meal Jacob was able to prepare quickly. She vowed from tomorrow she would do everything she was meanttodo.
She wanted topleasethem.
Chapter6
Because she was never awake early enoughto make breakfast, Jacob happily took over that chore of hers. After kissing them goodbye—Jacob and Zach long, wet and languidly, and Ethan, a stolen kiss on the side of his mouth, she set aboutcleaning.
Maybe Ethan did care about her in a small way. Before they left for their fishing expedition, he warned her not to try to leave the house because of Skitterish and his son who would take her in a heartbeat. His warning, delivered with his usual air of doom, had made her feel protected. He cared about her well-being. Or he wanted his money'sworth.
First, she soaked their clothes in tub of soapy water. She amazed herself that she had survived as long as she had without any of her clothes. To think: clothes, materialistic things were her whole life, and now she hardly gave them a secondthought.
They preferred her nakedanyway.
She smiled to herself and couldn't wait for them to come home. She wondered what they would do with her tonight. Something else delicious and deviant, shehoped.
She included Ethan when she thought of them and she was determined he would be touching her very soon. She was going to impress the heck outofhim.
She cleaned the kitchen, dusted and oiled all the furniture and brushed the rugs and swept the floor. All that work exhausted her. She was not accustomed to manual work, but once the house practically gleamed with clean, bursts of happiness rushedthroughher.
She made herself a cup of tea and glanced from one end to the other of the spotless home. The next day she would tackle their drawers which were a big jumbled mess of clothes rolled and stuffed into every tinyspace.
They had brought home a chicken, yesterday, thankfully so clean already it looked like they got it from a supermarket. She decided roast and gravy, with vegetables and freshly baked bread would be perfect. She didn't know how to bake bread and subconsciously reached for her phone to search a recipe online. Well, it would have to be rice then, since she knew how to cook rice. For dessert, she made a batch of coffee brownies, something she used to make for her father when she was muchyounger.
She washed up and found her chiffon baby-doll and G-string had been washed and neatly folded in Jacob's drawer. That's what she would wear. She wanted to feel feminine. They could ogle her whiletheyate.
She laid the table. Something was missing. A center piece. She glanced out the window and saw a couple of flowers. She could easily fit through the window. Snag a bunch and be back inside the safety of their house in threebreaths.
She slipped on Ethan's coat and easily climbed out the window. Flushed with excitement she hurried toward the bed of flowers and started gathering the ones in fullbloom.
As she stood up, a hand went over her mouth and a thick wet breath sounded inherear.
“One word and I willcutyou.”
