Page 11 of Theirs to Have

The elevator doors opened, and she knew that she had to get up and leave the hospital, but it felt like her legs were weighted to the floor. “Fuck,” a voice swore and suddenly, Mercy was surrounded by two very big men, standing over her protectively, lifting her from the floor of the elevator into their arms. Cash and Callan her angels of mercy had come to save her and right now, she’d let them. Because right now she could use a little saving.

Callan

Callan cradled Mercy against his body as Cash opened the cab of his pick-up. She was sobbing against his chest, and he wanted to find who made her cry that way and rip them apart.

“Baby tell us what happened,” Callan crooned. He wanted to protect her from whatever was hurting her, but he was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to.

Mercy sniffled into his shirt and sobbed, “I got fired.” Cash growled and Callan shot him a look. The last thing Mercy needed was for either of them to lose their temper. They needed to keep calm and figure out what the hell had their girl so worked up.

“It’s okay, honey. Tell me what happened,” Callan whispered. He lifted her into the truck and slid her in to fit between the two of them. Cash pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead.

“Just take a few deep breaths little one and when you’re ready, tell us what happened.” Cash rubbed her cheek, wiping away her tears with his thumb, waiting her out. Watching Cash with Mercy, Callan knew that they were going to be a good team in taking care of their girl. They were complete opposites but together, they made a pretty good pair.

“I finished my shift and all I wanted to do was go home to eat and sleep,” she cried. “My supervisor, Lisa found me in the locker room, and she just fired me.”

“Why would she fucking fire you, baby?” Callan growled. Cash shot him a look over Mercy and he sighed, knowing that his friend was right. He needed to calm the fuck down and get his temper under control. The last time he saw Mercy he walked away from her, saying some nasty things to her. He wanted their reunion to go so differently.

Cash came up with the idea that they would go into the hospital to see her and ask her out on a date—the three of them. But when they showed up earlier, her boss told them that she was busy with patients. When Cash asked where they could wait for her, the woman told them that they should wait for her outside of work hours, preferably off hospital property. They had to expect some people to push back when they realized that the three of them were together. Callan just didn’t expect it to happen on the first day out of the gate.

“We met Lisa, earlier. She was the one who sent us packing,” Callan said.

“She said that I had two visitors, I assumed that it was you guys. Why were you there today?” She whispered, using her sleeve to wipe her nose.

“We came in to ask you to have dinner with us, little one. We have a few things that we need to discuss,” Cash said and placed his big hand over her belly. Callan didn’t remember her bump being that big last night but chalked that up to her clothes being too small for her growing belly.

“You can’t just show up where I work and demand that I go out with you or that I talk to either of you, Cash. I asked you to give me some time. I thought that I was clear.” Mercy had stopped crying, and Callan liked her anger better than her tears.Her anger he could handle, crying always turned him inside out, not knowing what to do.

“Yeah, I got your text, little one. I’m just not letting you push me out of your life or our baby’s life.” Callan nodded his head, agreeing with Cash. They had agreed to show Mercy a united front, not letting her push them away.

“Cash is right, Mercy. We want to be a part of both of your lives.” Callan placed his hand next to Cash’s and rubbed her belly. The thought of them being a family did strange things to him. So much had changed in his life in the last twenty-four hours. He wasn’t sure how they were going to get through all the obstacles in their way, but he was sure that the three of them would be able to figure things out together.

“I can’t deal with all of this right now,” she sobbed. “I just lost my job and now I have to go home and tell Gram that I won’t be able to pay our mortgage this month. What the hell am I going to do? There isn’t another hospital in the area, and I can’t move. I won’t leave Gram.” Mercy covered her face with her hands and cried, her body shook from her sobs.

“Little one, you have to stop crying. All this upset can’t be good for the baby,” Cash said gently. “We will figure this all out, but you have to take care of yourself.”

“Cash is right Mercy. You won’t have to be alone in this, we are both here for you.” Mercy uncovered her face and looked at him as if he was crazy.

“Why the change of heart, Callan?” She spat. Her words felt like a slap across his face and had him wanting to scramble out of Cash’s truck, but he didn’t. Mercy was testing him and honestly, he couldn’t blame her. He treated her horribly and then completely dismissed her when she reached out to him. Callan had treated her badly and she was lashing out at him. If he wanted her to trust him, he’d have to earn it.

“It wasn’t so much a change of heart, Mercy. It was more of me coming to my senses. I am so sorry that I said those horrible things to you last night. I was hurt and I lashed out at you both. I can’t promise that it won’t happen again.” Callan barked out his laugh. He was pretty sure that they would all have doubts and experience jealousy, especially during the early stages of them all getting to know each other.

“He saw us together and he got jealous,” Cash offered. “It’s going to happen with the three of us trying to make this work.”

“Wait.” Mercy struggled to free herself from them both, “Make what work? Jealousy won’t be a problem for any of us because there is no us.”

Cash tried to pull her into his arms and her struggles landed her in Callan’s lap which was just fine with him. He shot Cash a smug smile only making his friend growl in frustration. Callan barked out his laugh and Mercy gasped as if she was a little afraid of Cash. He saw that he frightened her and instantly backed down.

“I would never hurt you, little one. Neither of us would.” Callan banded his arms tighter around Mercy. He loved the way she felt in his arms and the fact that she was pregnant with their baby, he was in a perpetual state of being turned on while she was around. Mercy struggled against him, and he released her, letting her scramble back to her seat.

“I know that you wouldn’t hurt me, I’m just not in the mood to deal with either of your changes of heart. I agreed to just one night—we all did. Just because I went and got myself pregnant doesn’t mean that the two of you have to take care of me or this baby. I’m very well versed at taking care of myself.” Mercy defiantly lifted her chin, as if daring either of them to contradict her and Callan found the whole thing completely adorable.

Cash looked at Callan as if he wasn’t sure what to do or say next. It wasn’t often that Callan saw his friend completelyknocked off-kilter and watching their sexy little hellcat be the one to do it, was a complete turn-on.

“I think what we are poorly trying to say here is that we’d like to take you on a date. A real date, the three of us, and see where this all leads.” Callan held his breath hoping that she would give them both a second chance. God knows he didn’t deserve it, not with the way that he walked away from her the night before.

When Cash showed up at his door spouting off about some crazy scheme to get Mercy between them, Callan thought that he had lost his mind. He knew that Cash didn’t want to share her any more than he did. But as Cash went on to explain how Mercy needed them both and that this thing between the three of them could work, Callan felt himself hoping Cash was right.

Mercy’s silence took away some of the hopefulness and the way she watched the two of them told Callan that she wasn’t going to make things that easy for either of them.

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