Attraction: A MFM Menage Romance Read online

  Attraction

  A MFM Menage Romance

  Henley Maverick

  Contents

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  About the Author

  Also by Henley Maverick

  Sneak Peek

  Copyright © 2019 by Henley Maverick

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Printed in the United States of America

  To Johnny Cash,

  for Sioux.

  1

  My steps felt loud in my ears as I walked. Winter was well on its way, as the ground could attest, as it was already getting cold. Not to mention the chill that just hung in the air. I always loved my afternoon hikes, but the woods felt different. The trees didn’t seem so comforting, no longer wise and sturdy inhabitants of the land. But something ominous…foreign.

  I took a deep breath and shook my head, trying to clear it. It was difficult though; the woods had always seemed welcoming to me. My father had been one of the best damn park rangers of the Ingalls Preserve and by association I felt protected in the woods. Even if I lived miles away in Houghton, I still had this little girl ideal that I was somehow in the club, and that mother nature was a friend of mine. Snorting, I sighed heavily and smoothed the stray hairs out of my face. Yeah, it was time to grow up. I was twenty-five for Pete’s sake and…my father’s death proved even the most prepared could fall short to fate.

  I sighed, remembering that I had dinner with my sister soon. I should probably turn around soon and head back to the house. I was lucky to live so close to a hiking trail, and it wasn’t so bad. A lot of my neighbors ran or jogged it, I liked to think we were like a little tribe. A neighborhood of about ten houses and everyone was so friendly and welcoming. Needless to say, my fridge had about a dozen casseroles in it and my next-door neighbor Gretchen came by every day to put fresh flowers around the house. The neighbor on my other side, Ryan, felt the need to send his teenage sons over to help me with chores around the house. It went unspoken in the neighborhood that the goal was to never leave me alone.

  I decided to take a longer walk just so I wouldn’t have to fake smile and waste energy hiding how I really felt. I mean I was lucky to have such a great community around me, but sometimes it was a bit suffocating. I looked up from the ground, unaware I’d been staring down for so long that my neck was actually stiff. I checked my watch, and the little green display read six thirty. It’d take me about thirty minutes to walk back to my place and Scout, my sister, would be there by then. I didn’t want to worry her any more than I already was by staying out in the woods too late. I wouldn’t put her through the same thing we went through with Dad.

  I glanced around, looking for the familiar mile marker that I usually walked to on the trail. But it wasn’t anywhere around. Had I walked too far? Not far enough? I turned around anyway and head back in the direction I came. There wasn’t any need to panic. I made no turns, and I didn’t leave the trail. So, eventually, I’d make it back to the break in the tree line. Glancing up, I saw the sky was already dark of course. It’s harder to tell when in the woods as the trees often hid the sky. I turned up the brightness on my headlamp and tried to shake off the feeling that the woods weren’t safe, that the trees and crickets were out to get me.

  “Behind!” the shout came from thin air and scared me lifeless. I froze on the spot, my heart pounding a million miles per hour in my chest. I heard the sound of a bike coming fast my way before I actually saw the cyclist behind me. I jumped to the side before he could hit me. “Hey! You okay? Holden, it’s Ryan…” He skidded to a stop in front of me and got off of the bike, taking off his helmet so I could see his face.

  “Oh Ryan…” I breathed, relief a heady extinguish to the adrenaline that injected into my system.

  “I’m sorry for scaring you. I can walk you back home if you want?” he offered, putting a reassuring hand on my shoulder. Ryan was a tall guy, fit and handsome in a young Tom Selleck kind of way. He was six years older than me, a widower, and was like everyone’s older brother in the neighborhood.

  “Oh no, it’s okay Ryan, I just got startled is all…” I said, trying to play it off even though my heart was still beating pretty fast.

  “Are you sure? It’s getting pretty dark, and I don’t want to leave you out here all shaken up,” he said, studying my face.

  “Ryan we’re less than a mile out from our street…” I said, chuckling a bit.

  “No, we’re about three miles out, Holden,” he said, his expression more serious, more concerned.

  “Right, right…it’s just that I came out here wanting some time to think you know?” I took a deep breath and made eye contact with him, trying to convey my point. I really wanted to be alone.

  “Okay…well stick to the trail and stay alert. I’ll be watching to see when you get back…” he said pointedly.

  “I’ll be careful, don’t worry. Can you do me a favor when you get back? Tell my sister that I’m on the way. She’s coming over in a half hour for dinner,” I told him, trying to seem normal so he could feel better about letting me be.

  “Okay, will do…” he said while getting back on his bike. He slowly rode off, glancing back at me a few times before he picked up the pace and disappeared down the trail. I took another breath and tried to get out of my head so much. I had walked three extra miles along the path? Father than the usual two, or mile and a half, that I did. It’d definitely be a while before I got home. I picked up my already clipped pace. Now, at least I could stop dwelling on morbid things and focus on getting home.

  The forest seemed endless though as I looked forward to hitting a mile marker. Finally, I saw one of the friendly signs not ten yards down the trail. I jogged towards it but heard a rustling in the trees right next to me. Looking over to shine the light in there, I didn’t see anything. My blood started to turn to ice in my veins, and there was no breeze whatsoever in this stagnant chill. I prayed fervently that I was paranoid, that this was me finally getting over my wariness of the woods after my dad’s passing.

  The bear came barreling at me from the trees. Its fur was jet black and, even on all fours, the thing was huge. I barely had time to sprint away before it lifted a heavy black paw, as big as my head, and knocked me off my feet. All the breath left my body as I hit the ground and, for the life of me, all I could think about was that scene in the Revenant. I wasn’t Leo DiCaprio. If I got torn to shreds, that was it for me.

  I tried to draw air into my lungs as I fought to regain my footing. The bear wasn’t having it though. It was right on me and standing up on its hind legs. If I could scream I would, instead I prayed for a miracle as I crab walked away from it. The bear roared and swiped at me, missing. I managed to get back up and turned around to run, my side screaming in pain. I heard the bear run after me, it was so close I felt its breath on the back of my neck. The blow of course came out of nowhere. The bear’s paw slapping against my head. I flew back down to the ground, my vision hazy and tunneling.

  I heard what sounded like footsteps and wondered if someone was coming to save me. I could
barely take in a breath and I knew I’d be unconscious soon. I saw a body fly over me, and it was huge. Lifting my head, a fraction I saw it and another, identical body, actually beating the bear back. As the world went dark around me, I wondered vaguely if my dad was as scared as I was as he died. Did the sight of the towering trees surrounding him bring him comfort at all? To me, they felt mocking, damning even. I wasn’t protected in the woods anymore, not by a long shot.

  * * *

  “Holden?” my sister’s soft voice pulled me out of unconsciousness. I felt her hand in mine, and she squeezed my fingers gently. “Holden…” she said again, patiently waiting for me to open my eyes. I did, and saw relief in her eyes as she let out a deep breath. “Oh, thank God,” she breathed and bent down to kiss me on the forehead. Her dark curls tickled my nose and I sneezed. I groaned as pain screamed along the right side of my chest.

  “Can we step back just for a second?” an unfamiliar female voice made Scout move away. The doctor came into view, an efficient looking woman. She was on the shorter side, her blonde hair pulled up into a tight ponytail. Her eyes were kind though, a chocolate brown color, and she had a little wrinkle of worry in her brow.

  “I’m Doctor Moore. How are you feeling, Holden?” she asked me while slowly raising the back of the bed. I held my breath as my ribs protested the movement.

  “Pain…” I murmured as a new pain registered in my head. It felt as if a jackhammer had gone to town just over my ear.

  “Yeah you had quite the trauma. Your sister and neighbor brought you in with a concussion and at least three bruised ribs surrounding one that actually cracked a bit,” she said calmly.

  “Was I hit by a car?” I asked, the pain in my head making it hard to think back to what happened. The doctor glanced at Scout whose concern grew to full on worry.

  “I’ll need a moment with her, Scout, if you don’t mind,” she said, and Scout nodded.

  “I’ll just be outside, Holden,” she told me before backing out of the room. I took in the surroundings for the first time: my room had two beds, but I was the only patient. There was a huge square window on the far right wall, looking out over the wooded vista of Houghton. To the left were two wide glass sliding doors, and Scout was outside pacing in front of the nurse’s station.

  “So, Holden can you tell me your date of birth?” Doctor Moore called my attention back to her, and I told her my birthday, gave her my address, and answered a few other basic questions.

  “Can you tell me anything that happened the night of your accident?” Moore asked me as a nurse came in with what looked like medicine, a couple of vials and needles. I pushed past the pain in my head and thought back to what I was doing last.

  “Hiking…I was on my regular hike and…” I paused, remembering the huge bear come out of nowhere. “It was a bear, it knocked me around pretty good, but I don’t remember…what happened after it knocked me out,” I told her.

  “Do you remember how close to home you were on the trail?” Moore asked me, and I tried hard to remember.

  “I think two miles out on the trail, it was very near the marker,” I said, and she nodded.

  “Okay, so we’ll have to report that to the sheriff’s office, they’ll want to send out an advisory for the area…” Doctor Moore did a few more tests before she allowed the nurse to give me some painkillers. She allowed Scout to come back in then and left to go call the sheriff’s office I guess.

  “Hey…” Scout brushed hair out of my face and sat down next to me on the edge of the bed.

  “What happened?” I asked her, still fuzzy on the details, like how I got from the woods to the hospital.

  “Well, when I got to your house, Ryan came right over with the boys and some food. He said that you were taking a hike like you usually do. Said you might be late because you went out farther, so we waited for you. But it got really late and we were getting ready to go look for you. We found you just outside the tree line, unconscious…” she said, her hazel eyes wide as she recalled everything. Scout and I looked a lot alike, like our mom. We often joked that we were twins even though she was a year older than me. We had the same jet black hair, high cheekbones, feline features, tanned skin, and the same hazel eyes. The only difference was that Scout kept her hair short, shoulder length, while I usually let mine grow below my shoulder blades.

  “I must have…I don’t know walked there and passed out again,” I murmured, trying to remember everything. It was beyond frustrating.

  “I was so scared; I didn’t know what to think when we found you…all I could think about was dad—” Scout got choked up, and I took her hand in both of mine.

  “I’m sorry. I can imagine everything you must’ve thought. But I’m okay…I’ll be fine,” I said softly, and she wiped her eyes, nodding.

  “Can you just promise me? No more woods, not if you’re alone. I can’t deal with the worry,” she said, her voice shaky.

  “I promise,” I said sincerely. I wasn’t sure if I would want to go back into the woods on my own any time soon.

  Scout took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair. “So, are they going to keep you in here for much longer?” she asked, and I remembered Doctor Moore saying she’d want to monitor me for another twenty-four hours.

  “Another day. You know with the concussion they have to make sure I’m okay…” I trailed off when I spotted a deputy walk up to the nurse’s station. “Deputy Roosevelt…” I said, nodding towards the door. Scout stood up, her expression just as confused as mine.

  “I wonder why he came all the way down here?” she mused. It was true the hospital had to call in animal attacks, but that doesn’t usually warrant an officer to come down and talk to the victim. But then again it could have to do with my dad. Deputy Roosevelt was the one who took up the case as a homicide.

  “Knock, knock…” Roosevelt stuck his head into the room after speaking to Doctor Moore. He was in uniform, but without his hat. “I just had to check on you when I heard about the bear attack. How you feeling?” he stood by the edge of the bed and studied me closely.

  “Well…a little groggy now,” I said truthfully, the pain meds finally kicking in.

  “Okay I won’t be long then, I uh also wanted to let you and Scout know that as of now we still have no viable leads as to who killed your father…” His tone was regretful. He glanced at Scout as she was the one not on drugs and perceivably the more cognizant. He expected some sort of reaction from her of course, but Scout usually kept things bottled up.

  “So, will you continue to look for our dad’s killer?” I asked, my voice a little thick and groggy.

  “Of course not. It’s been three weeks. They have no ‘viable’ leads.” Scout said bitterly, surprising me with the outburst.

  “Of course, we’ll keep our eyes open for anything that may come up as connected to your father’s killing. I just wanted to tell you both where we are as of now.” Roosevelt said regretfully.

  “You’re stopping the investigation,” Scout said bluntly. Roosevelt took a deep breath and nodded.

  “Unfortunately…yes. Your father’s case is unsolved.” Roosevelt’s words should have had more of an impact on me. I guess that was the drugs doing, but I had an odd compulsion to laugh. It all was just so…I don’t know, cliché. The unsolved forest murder of a small-town park ranger that was my dad now.

  “Thank you, Deputy Roosevelt, for all your help…” I said softly. He at least looked remorseful as he inclined his head and made a silent exit.

  “We need to move,” Scout said through clenched teeth. “Go to the city, Bangor…move out of this stupid state, move to Seattle! Like mom. Maybe she saw all of this coming. She left for a reason, right?”

  “Scout…take a breath, calm down,” I told her, my head feeling heavier and heavier. “We can’t just move, you have the store, and I just started at the new animal hospital…” I closed my eyes; my eyelids wanting to close and stay closed. “Dad loved this place. We can’t just leave i
t…” I murmured.

  “Yeah but…I just don’t know if it’s our home anymore, Holden,” she sighed. I let the warm spiraling sleep claim me. Hoping I woke up from the nightmare soon or at least had a nice dream to distract me from it all…

  As I slept, I dreamt of two men. I stood facing the forest, and they circled around me before standing at attention on either side of me. They weren’t dangrous by any means, they were my protectors.

  2

  “Holden, you have to if you want your ribs to heal better,” Scout was exasperated with me, but I hated that wrap thing the hospital sent home with me. It hurt me more than anything else.

  “But Scout, it hurts, like right now…I feel fine,” I lied, of course, she saw right through me as I winced when I sighed after saying I was fine.

  “The wrap is supposed to provide the pressure needed so that your ribs heal correctly. The pain means it’s working,” she said, and I pouted at her while she lifted up my shirt and hooked up the spandex wrap around my torso. “And who knows, maybe it’ll help keep that waistline,” she joked.

  “So, what are we doing today? You know you don’t have to stay here all the time,” I told her. Scout had been sleeping over my place ever since I got out of the hospital; that’s three days in a row so far. She was starting to seem more like a mother than a sister.

  “Well I’m heading home to get some things, and you’re staying here to continue resting up,” she said annoyingly.

  “Scout, the doctor said I should be up and moving by now, I can’t stay in this house another second,” I protested.

  “Fine…do you want to visit with Zoey?” I nodded, willing to agree with anything.

  “Ooh maybe we can go to the lodge for brunch,” I suggested. Scout nodded and gathered her hair into a short ponytail. It grew an inch past her shoulders, and she thought it was already ‘too much to deal with.’ She helped me up off of the couch and grabbed her purse and mine before we head out to her Jeep.