Sophie Oak - Siren Beloved

“Help me!” Lexi yelled at him before she ran into the barn. She could barely see through the smoke. It billowed out of the open doors. She could make out the rack. Someone was on the slab. Aidan.

Lexi raced across the floor. Her eyes were adjusting and the smoke was clearing now that it had a place to go. Aidan was tied down. His wrists were bloody from where he’d tried to pull himself free. There was a rag in his mouth. Lexi pulled it out. God, she couldn’t breathe. Aidan was so still.

Please. Please. Please. Let him be alive .

“I have Lucas,” Bo yelled.

Lexi looked over, and Bo was pulling Lucas across the floor. He wasn’t conscious. She couldn’t tell if he was dead. His head rolled back as Bo dragged him by the shoulders. “Get him out of here!”

“I’ll be right back,” Bo yelled.

Lexi could feel Ike beside her. He whined up at her as though begging her to free his master.

Aidan coughed. It was the most beautiful sound she’d ever heard. “Lexi?”

Lexi started working the ropes that bound Aidan. “I’m here. We have to get out.”

He shook his head. “No, angel. You have to run. Get Lucas out if you can, but Dwight’s going to kill us all. You have to run.”

She tugged and managed to pull his right hand free.

Bo was suddenly back in the barn. He pulled a knife out of his boot and started sawing through the ropes on Aidan’s right foot. “Dwight won’t be killing anyone, brother. Your girl took him out. Remind me not to piss her off. And your damn dog must have known something was up. He barked right outside my window until I got my ass up.”

Lexi crawled onto the table to get to Aidan’s left hand. Her lungs were burning. A piece of the roof fell beside her. They didn’t have much time.

“Damn, girl. That is very distracting.” Bo cut through both ropes in the time it took her to work through the first of hers. He avoided another board that fell. He was perfectly calm, given the situation. He took that wicked knife and slashed through the rest of his brother’s ropes. “I’m trying to rescue my brother. You don’t need to be flashing your cootchie. It’s awfully pretty, though.”

Lexi huffed and jumped down from the table.

“You little prick, that’s your sister-in-law.” Aidan’s hands were shaky, but he rolled off the table. His knees struck the floor.

“Yeah, hurt me later, brother.” Bo took the left side, Lexi the right, and they got Aidan to his feet.

Lexi nearly fell as they made it out of the barn. Aidan slumped down, but Bo took his weight, leaving Lexi to drag air into her lungs. She coughed, her lungs aching. Lexi saw Lucas on the grass. He was so still. She raced to him, running her hands across his body, praying for any sign of life.

“Didn’t work out how I wanted it to,” Lucas muttered between parched lips. “My horniness got me in trouble today, Lexi.”

Lexi laughed through the tears falling from her eyes. She put her head to his chest, reveling in the sound of his heartbeat. “Let this be a lesson to you, Lucas Cameron.”

“You take care of that asshole Dwight?”

Lexi nodded. “He’s gone, babe.”

His hand found her hair. “That’s my girl.”

“Our girl.” Aidan was suddenly at her back. His face was haggard, and his voice sounded three kinds of ruined, but he was alive. Lexi sat up, and Aidan leaned into her. “Our girl saved us. We’ll never hear the end of it now. And she did it all without any underwear.”

Lucas gave her a tired thumbs-up.

In the distance they heard a siren sounding.

Here came the cavalry.

There was the sudden sound of gunfire. Lexi jerked up.

Bo stood over Dwight, Ike at his side. He shrugged. “You’ve seen those movies. Bad guy always comes back. This one ain’t coming back. You know, I never did like that son of a bitch. You think anyone would notice if I shot him a couple hundred more times?”

“Don’t you dare,” Lexi threatened.

Lexi wrapped her arms around her men. Nothing in the world mattered but the fact that they were alive and well.

Two hands started to find their way under her T-shirt.

“Hey,” Lexi protested.

They both snickered.

“It’s my comfort object,” Lucas said.

“It’s my security blanket,” Aidan added.

They were together, and this time it was forever. Lexi felt her heart swell. She had everything she needed.

But she was going to start putting on panties first thing in the morning.

Ten months later

“You’re doing what?” Lexi asked as Dani jumped up and down.

Julian smiled as he sat down at the wide outdoor dining table that graced the Barnes-Fleetwood Ranch’s backyard. It was a glorious spring day, and just about everyone she loved was enjoying a barbecue celebrating the fact that Lexi had finished her first book. It was a romance, and she hadn’t sold it yet, but her family insisted on celebrating every little thing.

“She’s opening a spa.” Julian looked odd in his terribly expensive shirt and slacks, with a hot dog in his hands.

“In Willow Fork?” Willow Fork barely had a beauty parlor, much less a spa. Of course, it was practically a metropolis compared to Deer Run.

Dani’s face was lit with enthusiasm. “It’s a dude ranch spa. There will be horseback riding and hiking and facials and massages. I thought maybe writers could use it for a retreat or something. I’m really excited about it. It’s my senior project.”

Lexi had to shake her head. The rich really were different. Most people would think of a senior college project as a paper analyzing different business practices. Not Dani Lodge-Taylor. Nope. When she did her senior project, she opened a multi-million dollar spa. “Well, I’ll be there.”

“You’ll love it. It turns out Julian owns a huge tract of land in Willow Fork.”

Julian shook his head. “Yes, I actually meant to keep that secret, but my wife turned out to be a bit nosy.”

“I didn’t tell her,” Finn said, sitting down next to Julian. “She was pissed at me, too.”

“Well, I’m not mad now. Now I’m excited. I just hired a manager. She used to run this resort in the Caribbean that catered to people in the lifestyle. Her name is Gaby, and she has two kids. She and her husband are from Texas. They thought it was time to come home. I am really excited about this project. It will bring jobs to the whole area.” Dani chatted on, but Lexi found her focus shifting.

Aidan and Lucas were standing together at the swing set. Olivia and Josh were sitting in swing seats, laughing as the men pushed them. They looked perfect standing together, talking as they entertained the kids.

“Hey.” Her mother curled an arm around her waist. Dani sat down with her husbands. They were arguing happily about budgets.

“Hi, Momma.” Love for her mother swelled in her heart. She let her head rest against her mom’s shoulder.

“I finished your book, baby girl. I am so proud of you. It’s great.”

“Thanks. I’m happy with it.” It might never sell, but it did what it was supposed to do. It told her story. Oh, the names might have changed and the circumstances, but at the heart it was about the love she’d managed to find. It was about the peace she’d come to.

“One day I hope you’re ready to try again,” her mother said. “The best thing I ever did was have you kids.”

Strange, mentioning having kids never scared her anymore. “I thought marrying Jack and Sam was the best thing to happen to you.”

“It was a great thing, but you kids, you were the expression of my soul. All three of you were the product of the love in my heart for the men in my life. I loved your father. It was a child’s love, but it was love. I love Jack and Sam with everything I have. I hope one day you want kids, Lexi, because those men love you.”