Precious Angel (Alpha Province #4)(5)

One of the men wore a patch over his right eye, and there was some  scarring she could see that wasn't covered by the patch. He was a big  man. In fact, they all were. Their tall, muscular bodies dwarfed the  chairs they were sleeping in. They all had black hair and from what she  could remember from earlier, they also all had blue eyes. There were a  lot of similarities that made her suspect they were brothers or cousins,  but they weren't identical. At least she didn't think so. The man in  the middle had burn scars on his forearms and the one on his other side  looked as if he'd been involved in a knife fight and come out the loser.  A frisson of fear skated up her spine as goose bumps raced over her  skin. Even though the men were damaged, they were also handsome, and she  gasped when her breasts swelled and her nipples hardened. She quickly  turned her head away from them.

After glancing toward the covered window and seeing no light seeping in  along the sides she suspected it was nighttime, but she had no real way  to gauge. For all she knew, it was the middle of the day and there could  be security screens on the outside of the window blocking any sunlight  from coming in.

She gasped and jerked when a deep voice spoke, then cringed as her ribs protested.

"How are you feeling, Kenzie?"

She turned her gaze toward the foot of the bed to find the doctor  hovering over her and making notes on a chart. "Better than I did."

He glanced up and met her gaze. "I'm glad to hear that. I've wrapped  your ribs, but it's going to take weeks before they're healed properly.  Is there anyone I can call for you?"

"No," she whispered in reply and tried to keep the tears burning her  eyes at bay when she thought of her alcoholic father and how he'd sold  her like she was a possession and not a living, breathing human being  with feelings. "There's no one. How long have I been here?"

"About six hours."

"Kenzie, you're awake!" the man with the patch blurted out loudly. The  other two guys stirred and sat up straighter in their seats.                       
       
           



       

"This is Jayson, Jenson, and Jordan Cannon," Broden pointed at each man  as he said their name. "Jayson found you passed out in your car and  called me."

"Thank you," Kenzie said.

Jayson rose, picked up his chair, and carried it closer to the bed. She  was shocked when he clasped her hand in his. "You're welcome, honey. How  are you feeling? Are you in a lot of pain? Is there anything I can get  you? Are you hungry?"

She opened her mouth to answer but with the pain meds still coursing  through her system, she couldn't keep up with everything he'd asked in  rapid-fire succession and quickly closed her mouth again.

"Give her a chance to answer a question before you ask another, Jay."  Jordan stood, grabbed his chair, and then carried it around to the other  side of the bed. Jenson shoved to his feet, picked up his seat, and  then put it down next to Jayson.

Even though she couldn't help being attracted to the three handsome men,  she was also very wary. All she'd ever experienced with the opposite  sex was disappointment and pain. She was still in pain and didn't like  having them so close to her. Her heart slammed so hard against her ribs  it hurt, and even though she was panting shallowly, she couldn't seem to  fill her lungs with enough air. Sweat formed under her arms and between  her breasts, but she shivered.

Jayson squeezed her hand to draw her attention. When she noticed he was  frowning with concern, she realized he'd seen her reaction. "Take as  deep a breath as you can and hold it for the count of five, honey, then  release it slowly and inhale again."

Kenzie whimpered and shook her head, all the while trying to tug her  hand from his. She glanced toward the end of the bed for the doctor, but  he must have left the room while her attention had been on the three  men.

Jayson released her hand, stood, nudged his seat out of the way, and  backed up. Jordan and Jenson did the same and she sighed with relief.  She didn't like feeling crowded by men, especially after what her father  had done to her for years on end.

"Do I scare you because of this?" Jayson pointed to his eye patch.

She frowned and wondered what the hell he was talking about, but a light  flicked on when she realized he and his brothers had misconstrued her  reaction because they had scars. Anger surged, chasing away her fear and  anxiety. If her ribs hadn't still been aching so much, she would have  surged upright and crossed her arms beneath her breasts and scowled at  him. Kenzie couldn't believe what she'd just heard. She had scars on her  back and the back of her legs, although, to be fair, these men wouldn't  have seen the damage her pseudo father had done to her over the years,  and she wasn't about to show them or tell them about it, either.

"No, you don't scare me because of your scars," she answered angrily. "I  don't give a shit about the marks on a person's body. It's what's  inside that counts. I've never judged someone by their outer shell, but  you obviously do."

"I think you need to apologize, Jay," a tall, dark-haired woman said as  she entered the room. She glanced at the huge man who followed behind  her. "Hi, Kenzie, I'm Emmy. I thought I'd come and see how you're  doing."

Kenzie nodded and tried to smile but she couldn't seem to drag her gaze  away from the big, handsome brute of a man who stood in the doorway. He  was watching Emmy with a smile on his face and lust in his eyes. She  wasn't attracted to him, but she could see how much he loved the other  woman. Before her mom had died and her dad had started drinking, she'd  dreamed about a man looking at her like that, dreamed about having  someone to love and who loved her in return. Those dreams had slowly  dwindled each time her father had beaten her. They'd been childish and  now that she was older, more mature, she knew that there was no such  thing as a happy-ever-after.

Her parents had fought constantly, and her mom had been so unhappy. She  had no idea why she stayed married to that asshole. He'd been so cold  toward her mother. Kenzie suspected her mom had accepted the marriage  proposal because of lack of money and hope that she could make a  relationship with the prick work. It hadn't been a happy home and while  they'd argued constantly, it had been all she'd known. Then the asshole  had turned his anger on her.

She pushed thoughts aside and tried to remember what the other woman had  asked. After dragging her eyes from the other guy, she met Emmy's gaze.  "I'm okay."

"That's Jett. He's one of my husbands." Emmy said as she walked closer to the bed.                       
       
           



       

One of her husbands? How many did she have? Where the hell am I? What have I stumbled into?

She gave the big man a tremulous smile, but quickly turned back to Emmy when she spun around with her back toward Kenzie.

"I think y'all should leave for a while."

Although Emmy wasn't facing her, it wasn't hard for her to figure out  the other woman had crossed her arms over her chest. "Kenzie needs to  rest. Why don't you go and get something to eat and send Pixie and Dusty  over?"

"Dusty's already on her way," Dr. Higgins said as he entered the room.  "I have no doubt that she's bringing the other ma … women with her."

Kenzie ignored the byplay between the people and stared at the huge  doctor, practically willing him to turn toward her. He must have felt  her gaze on him because when he glanced her way, he quirked an eyebrow  in query.

"When can I leave?"

The doctor looked at the three scarred brothers before meeting her gaze  again. The urge to look at them again was strong, but she quashed the  craving and tried to keep her face in an expressionless mask. All three  of those men were potently handsome with their dark, brooding looks. Add  in their delectable wild, musky scents and she was fighting her body's  desirous responses as well as the yearning to get closer to them. That  had never happened to her before and she wasn't sure what to make of it.

"Not for at least a couple of weeks," the doctor answered. "If you move  around too much or do anything too strenuous, you could end up breaking  those ribs all the way through. If that happens you'll be in danger of  puncturing a lung, and you could die."

Kenzie closed her eyes and sighed with weariness. She didn't want to  hang around in Ambrose. It was way too close to Bismarck, her fake  father, and the bastard he'd sold her to.

She gasped with terror when she remembered the car she'd stolen. "Where's the car?"

"Calm down, Kenzie. You have no need to be scared." Emmy clasped her  hand in hers and squeezed it. "All the guys in this town served in the  military and would die to protect someone weaker than them, or in  trouble."