Fugitive (Misty) Read online

  Maybe this would end in total disaster if I ever did pick, but I didn’t want to. I was falling in love with all of them. I loved Aiden for his gentleness and how he cared for his grandmother. I loved Gareth for his passion and opinions. Even for his dirty jokes. I loved Andre because he was so reserved in person, even when we were playing video games, but he was flat out hot and dirty when we fooled around. He totally let go once we were alone.

  It was Friday again and I expected to walk into the kitchen and see Aiden and Gareth at the breakfast bar and Andre at the stove. It was too quiet when I walked in. I realized I was totally alone except for Casey sitting at the breakfast bar sipping coffee. He tried to smile when he saw me, but that was when I saw it. Casey was wearing a cop uniform. I’d moved in with a cop and been having sex here for a month. I should have been worried about what Casey did for work and why he was always gone. He was probably here alone to arrest me.

  “You’re a cop?” I shrieked. “I can’t stay here.”

  I tried to take off running. Casey probably had backup outside just waiting in case I didn’t come quietly. I ran straight into a hard chest. Someone had caught me and they were holding me tightly.

  “Tasha!” Casey yelled in an authoritative voice. “We haven’t asked you why you needed to hide and I was here this morning to ask you for a day with you like the others, but if you’re upset I’m a cop, maybe it’s time to be honest about why you are hiding.”

  “You won’t hear me out! Let me go. I’m leaving!”

  “Boys! Get your asses in here,” Casey yelled. “You know them better than me. I’m sorry I kept my distance, but this is exactly what I was worried about. You flipping out I was a cop and leaving without telling us your story. I don’t want to hurt you, Tasha. I also stayed away because I feel this pull towards you. I want to help you, not arrest you. Will you trust me? If not me, Aiden, Andre, and Gareth.”

  They all came storming in and saw Casey clutching me to his chest and me about to cry. They all started yelling. He explained the same way he explained it to me. The time for secrets was over. I didn’t know if I could trust Casey, but maybe Gareth, Andre, or Aiden would convince him to let me go after he heard my story instead of shipping me back to California in handcuffs.

  “Do you want coffee? Booze? I made breakfast. Would you prefer to tell us your story over food?” Casey asked. He had a kindness behind his eyes now. I still didn’t trust him totally.

  “I don’t think I can eat,” I said weakly.

  “The den then,” Casey said. I thought he was just going to let me go to walk there. I still wasn’t sure if I was going to try to make a run for it. I don’t know if Casey knew that or not, but he scooped me up and carried me to the living room. I thought he just did it because he thought I was going to make a break for it, but he was holding me like a baby.

  He placed me gently on the couch and took the chair across from me. “I can’t protect you unless I know the whole story.”

  “What if you won’t want to protect me when you hear my story?” I said, one lone tear escaping my eye. I was an idiot to think this would work.

  “Why don’t you let us be the judge of that?” Casey said gently. This was the nicest he’d been to me and I was finally seeing his face, but I was about to ruin that.

  I cried the entire time I told them my story. I told them how Jake wormed his way into our lives and the drugs I saw him do that I knew he was stealing from work. I told them about him abusing my mother and me running away when I was sixteen. I hadn’t even gotten to the part about the night I ran.

  “We can protect you from Jake, Tasha,” Casey said. “You did nothing wrong.”

  “But I did! I shot him with his own gun! Right in the junk!”

  I was shocked when Casey cracked up laughing. He was practically hyperventilating. When he finally caught his breath, he looked me right in the eye. “Good! He deserved it. He must have some extra bad karma besides what he did to your mother to get shot with his own gun in that area.”

  “But the cops at his station don’t see it that way and my mother backed him up. They told them I did that to her face. They are looking for me and if Jake doesn’t kill me, I don’t know what the guards will do to me in prison. It’s my word against theirs.”

  Casey came over and slung an arm around my shoulder. “This is where you let us help you. You’ve been this shining light for everyone here. Let us take over from here. Is there anything else you aren’t telling us?”

  “My name isn’t Tasha. It’s Misty. Misty Hardwin.” It felt so nice telling them all my real name. It hadn’t even registered yet a cop heard my story and wanted to help me, not arrest me.

  “That’ll make things easier on my end,” Casey said. “Andre, do you think you can get into this Jake Yakov’s computers and email?”

  Andre snorted. “His passwords are probably all password or his birthday. He sounds like an idiot.”

  “Don’t underestimate him. He tricked my mother and he’s fooled the station for years,” I pleaded.

  “Jake is about to find himself without a job,” Casey grinned. “Me or Andre will find evidence and he’ll be out.”

  “Why do you want to help me?” I asked, finally realizing Casey actually wanted to help me. “I shot one of your own.”

  “Shit stains like Jake are not mine. I don’t claim them. They don’t need to be anywhere near a badge. So, here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to use my resources at the station to monitor the hunt for Misty and find something to pin on Jake. Andre is going to try to get into his computers and ruin him that way. Jake will pay for what he did and we’ll try to clear Misty’s name. Does that sound good, Misty?”

  I smiled shyly at Casey. These men really were my protectors, even Casey, who had been avoiding me all month. “Yes, that sounds great.”

  “Good! Now, today is my day off and I think I deserve the alone time you’ve been getting with Misty. Will you spend the day with me, Misty?”

  “I’ve been wondering when you were going to ask that. I thought you hated me.”

  “No, I liked you a little too much for someone I’d just met.”

  Chapter 11

  I had no idea what to expect as the boys started spilling out the room and left me alone with Casey. He stayed sitting next to me on the couch with his arm around my shoulder.

  “Is this okay? You looked like you needed a hug.”

  “Yes. I still do. Why did you stay away for so long?”

  “You were this strange girl who just showed up in our lives. I was the first one who realized I liked you. I haven’t had the best luck with relationships. I either ruin it or they cheat. I didn’t want to get hurt and I didn’t want to hurt you. The guys finally talked about their feelings and came to that arrangement. They thought I should get to know you. Guess I was too boneheaded to try until today.”

  “Why did you decide today?”

  “Because wouldn’t it be better to try to woo you and have you happy with one of them if I lost or never even try and wonder what it would have been like?”

  “I heard about your girlfriend in high school. I’ve asked the others. Is this going to hurt you in the end?”

  “That Gareth and I were both after her or that she cheated on me with a punk?”

  “Um, both.”

  “She hurt me, but I’ve hurt people too. I’m not really all that nice of a guy, Misty.”

  Casey smelled just as good as the other three men. I nestled my face in his chest. “You’re my hero today. What did you want to do today?”

  “Would you be opposed to taking a nap with me? I’ve been signing up for double shifts since you got here and I just got off an hour ago. That’s why you saw me in my uniform. It wasn’t to scare you or some stupid test. Can I just hold you while I nap?”

  “We can do that. Do you mind if I go change back into clothes I can nap in?”

  “You should eat too. I need to take a shower, so you have time. Please eat, Misty. You�
��ve had a rough morning,” Casey’s eyes were soft and pleading.

  I agreed to eat and went to change. I put on my normal sleep clothes instead of dressing up like I did for the other boys. Casey told me to just walk in without knocking. I was pretty sure he’d already be sleeping. Aiden should have taught me better. I walked in just as he was walking out in boxer briefs toweling off his short hair. We both just stared at each other.

  “Do you always sleep in getups like that?” he asked.

  “Were you planning on putting pants on?” I stammered. Casey was just as ripped with muscles as the other three and I could see his erection straining against those thin blue shorts.

  He grinned at me. “No. This is how I sleep.”

  “Okay…this is how I sleep.”

  “And you look quite mouthwatering that way. Does this bother you?” he asked, indicating his shorts.

  “Does this bother you?” I asked, indicating my little boy shorts and camisole.

  Casey was giving me a hard time, so I was giving him one right back. Unlike Gareth who just liked to joke, Casey seemed to want to push my limits. He had his arms crossed and his eyes traveled the length of my body.

  “Oh, no. I totally dig this. Do you mind if we get into bed? I’m exhausted.”

  Maybe he was just cranky from not sleeping. I crawled into the other side of the bed and I wasn’t sure what we were going to do. Did he want to snuggle? I kind of wanted to snuggle with Casey. I was facing him and I had no idea why he asked me to turn over. I felt him snuggle into my back spooning me. He wrapped his arm around my waist and rested his face on my hair.

  Big, confident Casey was gone. “Is this okay, Misty?”

  “This is nice,” I sighed, trying to settle into his arms.

  He groaned. “Can you not rub your ass against my junk?”

  I grinned. Casey tortured me by avoiding me and never telling me he was a cop. It was time to return the favor. “I don’t know what you mean,” I said, grinding my ass into him.

  I expected another groan. Anything other than his hand spanking my ass. I yelped and moved to jump out the bed, but he tightened his arms around me. “Be a good girl, Misty. I’m exhausted. If you want to bump and grind against my crotch once I wake up, we can try that then.”

  “Are you going to spank me again?”

  “Are you into that?” he whispered in my ear.

  I shivered. “I have no idea. No one has ever done it to me before. Are you?”

  “I like to tap the ass a little when I’m giving it from behind, but I think you know we can’t do that. If to see if you like it without sex, you should get out of bed now.”

  “I thought you were tired?”

  “Not too tired to see if little Misty wants to explore her naughty side,” he said nibbling on my ear.

  “Were you naughty with a lot of other girls?”

  “Does that bother you? None of them tried to turn me on when I wanted to sleep then asked me to spank them.”

  I didn’t even know if I would like it when I brought it up. The smack he gave to my ass stung in a good way. I didn’t think it would excite me. He didn’t stop me when I crawled out of bed.

  “What do you want me to do?” I asked meekly.

  “Take those shorts off slowly.”

  Those shorts didn’t cover much, but I slowly slipped them off. Casey took in a hissing breath. “Come over here and lay across my lap. We’ll play this by ear.”

  I did what he asked and just waited for his hand to come down. It didn’t. It was tenderly caressing my ass. His fingers slipped and rubbed my clit.

  “You’re already wet, little Misty. I haven’t even started with you yet.”

  With that, he brought his hand down hard. I yelped and I liked the sting again. I waited for his hand, but it didn’t come. He started massaging my ass instead. I groaned, thrusting my ass up at him. I either wanted his fingers or his hand.

  He brought his hand down a total of three times. In between each one, he’d massage me. On the third time, I felt him kissing me where his hands had been. I was coming to like ass play from experimenting with Andre, but I had no idea what to expect from Casey.

  When I felt his tongue probing my ass, I moaned. His tongue kept up its exploration and he slipped two fingers inside me. He was working my clit with his thumb. I was practically whimpering.

  “Come for me, little Misty,” he said, taking a break.

  That was all I needed. As soon as his tongue touched me again, I came all over his fingers. “Oh, god, Casey!” I cried. My entire body was shaking. He worked me slowly until I came down. I managed to pull myself into a sitting position and kiss him deeply. He wrapped his arms around me because I was still shaking.

  “How I can return the favor?”

  “By snuggling with me. I want to do this to you, but I want to wait for you to do anything to me. Delaying it makes it all the sweeter when it does happen. For now, I just want to hold you while you smell like sex.”

  I was disappointed. I wanted to know what noises Casey made when I had him in my mouth. I couldn’t fault him though. The man had to be exhausted and he delayed his nap to give me a mind shattering orgasm.

  I didn’t think I would be able to sleep, but I could lay there while Casey slept. I was the least I could do for him after everything he’d done since I finally saw his face again.

  “I want to spoon you again. No ass on my dick this time,” he ordered.

  I settled into his arms and before I knew it. I was fast asleep.

  Chapter 12

  I was keeping late nights now that all my days were occupied with one of the boys. I’d started sleeping in the bedroom of whoever I was with that day. I slept much better. Sometimes, I had nightmares about Jake finding me and killing me. They were always gone when I woke up in the morning. I figured out where they were going the first morning I woke up alone.

  They were having pow wows in the den about me. They were keeping me in the loop. Andre was easily able to get into Jake’s computers after I gave him a little more information. He found texts and emails between Jake and my mother. None of them wanted to tell me something one morning and I had to demand they spit it out.

  The boys all looked at each other, then went and made a pile on the large leather sectional. They all opened their arms. Whatever they wanted to tell me was going to be upsetting and they wanted to be there for me. I jumped on top of them and stretched across their laps. Casey played with my hair and Gareth massaged my feet.

  “Your mother was in on it,” Andre said gravely. “It was a ruse to get you there. You weren’t supposed to shoot Jake. He put his gun on the table by mistake. Their plan was that you walked in and saw what looked like Jake beating your mother. You were supposed to attack Jake with your bare hands. After you left a few marks, he intended to shoot you. They were going to claim you beat up your mother and Jake shot you in self-defense.”

  “That’s…insane. Are they stupid? Am I stupid for going?”

  I couldn’t believe I feel for my mother’s bullshit. I should have never gone to that house and just sent her a plane ticket. Now I was a fugitive with a mob of angry cops after me.

  “No, little Misty,” Casey crooned. “If anything good came out of it, you ended up here with us. We have the ammunition to put Jake and your mother away. We can clear your name. We just hope once you aren’t forced to stay here, you’ll do it because you want to.”

  “Like I could ever leave you boys.”

  I said that knowing it was already a problem. They’d eventually ask me to pick and I didn’t think I could. I didn’t think it was possible to love four men at once, but here I was. I loved all of them equally. It wasn’t just an issue of me breaking their hearts. It would break me to pick just one of them. I was too invested and I wanted to be with all of them. I knew that wasn’t possible, but a girl could dream.

  “That’s my girl,” Aiden said.

  No one argued I wasn’t Aiden’s girl, I was theirs. They were
all taking this like champs. I think I was more conflicted about this than they were. I don’t know if they thought I needed more time to make up my mind, but it was already made up. I wanted all of them and couldn’t choose one.

  “Misty, you still haven’t addressed the elephant in the room,” Andre said. I panicked. Was he going to ask me to choose? “Do you want to talk about what your mother did?”

  I let out the breath I was holding. “I’m sure it’ll hit me eventually, but to be honest, it doesn’t surprise me right now. When I ran when I was sixteen, she didn’t try to find me. I was staying in our family cabin. She could have easily sent Jake to drag me back home. Maybe she never loved me.”

  “I’m not just talking about that night,” Andre sighed. “I went back pretty far in their emails. Your mother knew Jake before your father died. Didn’t you find it odd your father died right after he changed his will and left all his money to you?”

  “No, it was a freak accident with a drunk driver. Nothing could have stopped it.” What the hell was Andre talking about?

  “Your mother and Jake had been planning on killing your father. They had been having an affair for three years. Jake was tailing him trying to figure out how to do it when the accident happened. Your father wasn’t dead on impact. Jake broke his neck.”

  I fought my way off all their laps and started pacing. I should have killed Jake that night instead of accidentally shooting him. Or I should have just not answered when my mother called. The two of them deserved each other.

  The boys all jumped to their feet and I was enveloped in this huge four boy bear hug.

  “They’re going to pay, little Misty. Andre has the emails ready to go when you give the word. They’ll see Jake and your mother killed your father and set you up. They won’t just go to jail for setting you up. We have proof of murder. They’ll be in jail for the rest of their lives.”