Page 27 of Theirs to Love

“Well, I wouldn’t have to get my hands dirty if all the people in this godforsaken town weren’t so incompetent. I tried to resolve this situation for me, but everyone went and screwed that up.” He smiled at Emily and Travis knew that neither of them was going to like his plan.

“I’ve decided that it’s time for you to settle down with the right person, of course. But you can’t do that while you’re having this little tryst with these Neanderthals. I’m simply helping the process along and making sure that the future of my family is safely secured into the right hands. You’re going to help me build an empire, my dear girl.” Emily barked out her laugh as if daringto disagree with her father. Travis knew that he needed to do something, and he needed to do it fast. At some point, Em’s dad was going to stop talking, and then he was pretty sure his time would be up.

“You will never make me do what you want,” she hissed. “You tried that once and I left, what makes you think that I will willingly go with you and marry a stranger?” Mr. Jude laughed, the sound sending chills down Travis’s spine.

“Well,” he pointed the gun at Travis and Emily shrieked, trying to block his body with hers. There was no way that Travis was going to let her take a bullet for him. He pushed Em out of the way just as her father pulled the trigger. The bullet went into his right shoulder and the force of it knocked his body back to the wall. He slumped to the ground just as Emily rushed to his side.

“No, Travis. Tell me that you’re all right,” she cried. He wanted to, he tried to get the words out, but the pain was searing through his shoulder.

“I see it like this, you want him to live then you come with me. Otherwise, I’ll finish your oversized play toy off, and then you can join him.” Emily closed her eyes, leaning in to kiss Travis’s cheek. He knew what she was about to do before she even said it. He wanted to stop her, to tell her that he’d rather die than live without her, but he still couldn’t speak past the pain.

“Fine,” she whispered. “Just let him and Jackson live, and I will do whatever you want.” Travis tried to reach for her, to pull her against his body but he couldn’t move. His focus faded and his world started to turn black just as Emily stood to walk over to her father.

“I knew you’d see things my way,” he growled, shoving the gun into her back. Travis’s world went completely black, and his last thoughts were of Emily and Jackson—his whole world summed up in two people.

Emily

Emily walked out of Travis’s shop saying a silent prayer that he would be all right. He looked like he was losing a lot of blood, and she was about to let her father lead her away without helping him. Her heart was breaking at the thought that she might never see him or Jackson again. If she let her father take her away, there would be no turning back. She would never know the love that the two of them so freely gifted her with, never know how wonderful their future could have been. She found herself longing for that future, the three of them together, and the family that they wanted to start. Emily knew that she couldn’t let her father take all of that away from her—from them.

“Please let me at least call for help. He’s lost so much blood, he’ll bleed out. If you let him die I won’t keep up my end of the bargain.” She knew that her father hated it when she acted like a brat, but he needed her cooperation now and she used that to her advantage.

“I can’t take the chance that you won’t call your other boyfriend for backup. Sorry, Emily.” She shot him a hateful glance and he laughed at her. “You always were a stubborn child.”

“I am what you created, Daddy. I am your daughter, after all.” She felt the gun nudge deeper into her back and she knew that if she made any sudden move, he’d kill her. He had already taken too many chances by coming here on his own. He had nothing left to lose and shooting her might still be part of his plan.

“You are so much like your mother, Emily. Unfortunately, nothing about you is like me. If you were like me, you would never have gone to college and wasted your education learning to help people. You would have never let those men violate you the way that they have. Do you know what I had to go through to find someone still willing to marry you? You have disgraced our family’s name and reputation.” Emily couldn’t help her laugh. Her father had always been a bit on the theatrical side, but this performance was taking the prize.

“So, what now? You dump me into a van and whisk me off to meet up with whomever you found to marry poor, pathetic, deflowered me?” He nodded, pushing her along the sidewalk, carefully concealing his weapon so anyone walking by would think that they were just out for a walk.

“Pretty much Princess. And, if you decide to change your mind I’ll have some of my men come back and finish the job. I won’t hesitate to kill both of your boyfriends, and I’ll make sure that everyone thinks that you did it. Maybe a jealous rage that sends you completely over the edge, killing both of your lovers. I, of course, will be there to testify that you were always a problem child, but your mother and I loved you so much that we indulged you. No jury will believe your story darling and you will spend the rest of your life in jail, I’ll make sure of it.”

“You’re a fucking monster; you know that right?” Her father laughed again and stopped in front of his car that he parked down the street from Travis’s shop. The thought of Travis still laying up there passed out and possibly bleeding to death brokeher in two. She wanted to end this game that her father was playing and go back to him, but she couldn’t. Not while he held a gun to her back.

“Now, I’m going to ask that you be a good little girl and obey me for once in your life. I’m betting that your future husband won’t want you full of holes for your wedding night.” He opened up the car door and shoved Emily into the passenger seat, shutting and locking the door behind her.

“Oh, I don’t know. I think all your daughter’s holes are fucking awesome,” Jackson growled from behind the car. Emily watched as her father turned and ran straight into Jackson who had the gun out of her dad’s hands before she could figure out what had happened.

Jackson handcuffed her father and handed him over to another officer who had been waiting behind the car. Watching the whole scene from behind the tinted glass made it feel almost as if she was watching a movie. Instead, she was watching one of the men that she loved arrest her father for trying to kidnap her.

Jack unlocked the car and lifted her into his arms, “Thank fuck you’re all right,” he whispered into her ear. “I was so worried.”

“Travis,” she sobbed, worried that it was too late. “He was shot.”

Jackson shushed her, “It’s okay, baby. I had an ambulance meet us out here, just in case. They’re already on the way to the hospital with Travis and he should be fine. It looks like it was just a flesh wound.” Emily broke down, letting herself fall apart knowing that Jackson would always catch her. Travis was right, falling wasn’t so bad especially when she had two of the most amazing men there to catch her and lift her back up again.

Jackson

After Travis spent the better part of a week in the hospital recovering from his gunshot wound, they decided that life was too short to wait for someday. Jackson moved into her place and in the weeks that followed the three of them were trying to figure out their new lives together. He had to admit that things were better than he ever dreamed they could be, and he knew that he was ready to take the next step in their relationship, he just hoped that Travis and Emily would feel the same. He planned the perfect night, and nothing was going to get in his way.

Travis’s shop was so busy that he had a waiting list of people who wanted him to work on their vehicles. He still worked at the ranch, cutting back his hours to mostly mornings and agreeing to help out when it was time for the cattle to go to market. Jackson liked to get his hands dirty around the farm and liked hanging out with the guys. When he and Travis were both at the ranch Emily got to visit Regan and Star. It was nice having good friends whom he knew wouldn’t judge them for their polyamorous lifestyle choice. Of course, they would always have to deal with judgmental know it all’s from town but having Regan and the guys around helped.

Emily tried going back to work after the ordeal with her father, but she grew tired of the gossip and whispers behind her back. She refused to hide who she was and her relationship with Travis and Jack were a part of her. The hospital board fired her after her first week back, stating that they were overstaffed for the town’s needs, and since she was the doctor with the least tenure, she was, unfortunately, the first to get cut. Emily knew the score; the board didn’t approve of her lifestyle but proving that would be difficult. Besides, her grandfather was a wealthy man and with her father in prison for a very long time, his fortune was now hers. She didn’t need to work another day in her life but that wasn’t who she was. Emily wanted to open a small clinic for women in town who couldn’t afford healthcare for themselves or their children. It would be a much slower pace than she was used to but if everything went according to plan tonight, she would need extra time at home to take care of their growing family.

He had called ahead and ordered the food to be delivered promptly at seven. That was usually the time that Travis got home from the shop and Em would give up pretending that she was going to make dinner and just order takeout. Tonight, they would eat food that he ordered from their favorite Italian restaurant, Giovani’s, and then he’d remind both Em and Travis that they were made for him.

“Wow, what’s all this?” Emily entered the room wearing a little camisole that she usually slipped into after her bubble bath. She looked good enough to eat and a part of him wanted to clear all the candles and dishes that he carefully laid out from the dining room table and lay Em across it.

“This is dinner.” He dramatically held out her chair, “Madame,” his bad French accent made her giggle. He kissed her neck as she slid into the seat, taking in the scent of lavender thatshe always filled the tub with. “You smell good enough to eat, baby,” he growled.

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