Crossover 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One' (34 page)

I was standing at the fence with my
chin in my hands when I felt Shay staring at me. I turned to look
at her. “What?”

She cocked an eyebrow at me. “Is there
something you want to tell me?”

My eyes widened. “Um. I don’t think so.
Is there?”

She snatched my left hand and held it
in front of my face.

I burst out laughing. “Oh! That! I was
going to tell you.”

“You’re married?” She was
smiling.

“Well…yes. Yes, I am.” That’s the
easiest answer to a very complicated situation, I thought to
myself.

“Details!” She sat on the fence and I
hopped on it too.

“I met him where my real mom is from.
His name is Jasper. He is about six feet tall, dark brown curly
hair, sky blue eyes…umm, what else. He’s twenty eight.”

“What does he do?”

“He’s in the army.”

“Oohh. When do I get to meet
him?”

“You can’t right now. He’s not in the
country.”

“They sent him overseas? That’s
horrible! You must be worried sick!”

“I am.” I took a deep breath. “I miss
him so much, Shay. He’s…he’s my world. He makes me laugh, and can
tell when I’m upset without me telling him. He can make everything
better with a kiss.” I realized how corny that sounded and stopped,
my face turning red. I looked over at her.

She was grinning from ear to ear. “Can
I say it?”

I started to laugh. “I suppose you
can.”

She reached over and gave me a hug. “I
told you so.”

I felt another pair of eyes staring at
me and looked up to the front of the arena. “Ugh. I don’t feel like
dealing with this right now.”

Shaynna looked where I was staring and
grunted. “If it isn’t the king of the jackasses.”

Dave started toward us through the
arena.

“I was hoping he wouldn’t be here,” she
said. “Twirp bowed a tendon last week, so he doesn’t have a horse
at the moment.”

He had made his way over to us. “Hey,
Hayden.”

“Hey, Dave.”

“I didn’t know you were back in
town.”

“She was hoping it was going to stay
that way!” Shay chimed in.

He glared at her then turned back to
me. “Feel up to going for a drink after this is done?”

“I can’t Dave.”

“For shit’s sake, Hayden, when are you
going to realize I actually care about you?”

A small spark of fear fired up in my
belly. He had been drinking.

“Well, when you stop trying to
physically force me to leave places with you, or when you stop
calling me a slut, or a whore because I turn you down. That would
be for starters.”

He glared at me.

“And even for some reason you did
succeed in convincing me you don’t just want to add me to your
trophy wall, I couldn’t go out with you anyway.”

“And why the hell not?”

“Because I’m married.” I showed him my
band and his eyes widened.

“Gotta feel sorry for that poor
bastard,” he grumbled as a parting shot before walking
away.

I let out a deep breath and tried to
calm myself.

“Are you ok?” asked Shay.

I nodded. I watched Dave make his way
to the bar and order another beer. “I need some air. I’ll be right
back.”

“Do you want me to come?”

“No. I’m fine.”

I took the back door out, headed toward
the single pens, and sat on the railing of the one Dodge used to
stay in.

Jasper’s voice floated into my head.
“More than anything in this world or the one you came from. That’s
how much I love you.”

I put my head in my hands. “I love you
more,” I whispered to the voice. All I could think about was how
much I missed him and wanted him to be here with me. To feel his
arms around me, his lips on mine. To look into his eyes and forget
about everything else that might exist.

“What if mom is right? What if it’s
years?” I felt the panic start to take a hold and I tried to push
it back down. “I don’t think I can handle another week of this,
much less years!”

I took a few deep breaths but the fear
refused to go away.

“Hayden? Are you ok?”

I wiped the tears from my cheeks and
tried to smile at Shay. “I’m fine.”

“Do you want to talk about
it?”

I shook my head even though there was
nothing I wanted more than to be able to tell her what was
happening.

“Well, looky who I found!”

We jumped at the sound of Dave’s voice.
He was walking toward us with two other guys I didn’t
recognize.

“Who are those guys?” I whispered to
Shay.

She shrugged. “He brought them tonight.
I’ve never met them. They don’t ride here.”

Dave passed a bottle to one of the
others and the man took a drink. All three of them were evidently
feeling the liquor.

“So this is her, is it?” asked the
shorter one.

They stopped a few feet from us. I
could smell the alcohol on them.

“That’s her. And her mouthy little
friend.”

“Why don’t you guys go back to the
barns, Dave. I’m sure there’s more beer for you to drink.” I tried
to sound a lot calmer than I was feeling. I glanced at Shay and saw
her staring at them, her eyes wide.

“I don’t think I want another beer. I
think you know what I want.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me off
the fence. “Who’s going to protect you now, Hayden?”

Shaynna tried to make a run for the
barns but was tackled by Dave’s taller friend. “I don’t think so
sweetheart.” He clamped a hand over her mouth.

“Let her go!”

“I don’t think so. From what Dave’s
been telling me, she needs to learn some manners.”

“Look, just do what you want with me.
Just don’t hurt her!”

Shay’s eyes bulged out of her head and
she tried to free herself.

Dave looked at his friends. “What do
you say, boys? Do we take her up on the offer?”

The shorter one shrugged. “How about we
see if she makes it worth our while before we promise
anything.”

Dave smiled. “Good plan.” He turned
back to me. “It’s up to you Hayden. You be a good girl, and we’ll
keep our hands off of Shay.”

I nodded. My heart was beating a mile a
minute and I had to swallow to keep from throwing up.

“Let’s take a walk then.” Dave dug his
fingers into my arm and turned me toward the trails. The other two
pushed Shay along behind us, making sure not to let her
scream.

Good job, Hayden, I thought to myself.
That’s twice in about six months someone is going to try to rape
you. That has to be some sort of record.

Had it been just me, I would have
fought and screamed and kicked, but the thought of Shay getting
hurt because she happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong
time kept me from trying to cause a scene.

We walked deeper into the woods until
we were well out of sight and hearing range of the
arena.

The fear and panic were starting to
take over everything. Could I let them do it? Should I let them do
it? Even if I managed to fight Dave off, the other two would hurt
Shay. I couldn’t fight three of them. I could feel the weight of my
knife against my leg. Maybe if I could reach it without them
noticing.

Dave pushed me to the ground and
straddled me. I started to try to wiggle out from under him. He put
all of his weight on me and ran his hands up my shirt.

“In a hurry, honey?” He grinned at me.
“Don’t be. I’m going to take my time and enjoy this.”

“Dave,” I tried to reason with him.
“You’re drunk. Do you really want to wake up tomorrow morning and
realize that you forced me to do this?”

He laughed. “I didn’t force you to do
anything. I seem to recall you just volunteered your services.” He
pinched my nipple hard and I jumped at the pain. “I bet you like it
rough,” he mumbled.

“Dave, please…”

He pinched me again. “Please
what?”

I realized he wasn’t about to stop. I
spread my hands over the ground and ran them along until one of
them found rock. It wasn’t a big rock, but it would have to
do.

“Dave! What the fuck are you
doing?”

Dave didn’t look up from what he was
doing to my breast. Both of his friends jumped and
turned.

Shawn’s eyes bugged out of his head at
the sight of his girlfriend being held hostage. He looked down at
me and back to Shay, trying to see which situation he should deal
with first.

I swung my arm around and brought the
rock up to Dave’s head as hard as I could. He grunted and fell to
the side.

Shawn strode to where Shay was being
held.

Her captors pushed her to the side and
got ready for a fight.

Shay ran to my side. “Are you ok?” She
helped me sit up.

“I’m fine.” I pulled my pant leg up and
pulled my knife out.

Her eyes widened.

“Go hide behind those bushes over
there.” I gave her a push and she did as she was told.

The calm I felt when I was sparring
engulfed me. I could see everything happening. Shawn was handling
himself quite well with the other two. Dave was standing and
marching toward me.

“You’re going to regret doing
that.”

“Stop there, Dave. I don’t want to hurt
you.”

He laughed at me then
charged.

I stepped to the side and flicked my
knife over his arm.

He cried out. “You stupid
bitch!”

He came at me again, this time more
cautiously.

Behind me, I heard a growl. I looked
back quickly, my heart in my throat. All I could see was Shawn and
the other two men. Shawn had one in a head lock while the other one
was swinging a large branch at his head.

My small distraction was all Dave
needed to tackle me to the ground. He grabbed my wrist and slammed
my arm on the ground. I lost my grip on my knife.

“Any last words before I knock you
out?” grumbled Dave.

I couldn’t help but grin at him.
“Actually, yeah. I should have listened to Jasper and brought my
swords.”

I heard another growl. “Yes, you should
have. But you’re always to bloody stubborn to listen. I thought you
said it was safe here.”

Dave’s head snapped up and looked
behind me.

Relief washed over me and I relaxed.
“It usually is, hun. I wasn’t lying.”

Dave looked back down at me then back
at Jasper.

“Would you mind getting off my mate,
please.” Jasper spoke softly but no one could deny the calm
threatening tone in his voice.

“Your mate?”

Jasper growled again. “My
wife.”

Dave stood up and kicked me. “I’ll deal
with you after.” He looked down at me and as an afterthought added,
“what is it with you a big Scottish guys, anyway?”

I laughed.

“Shlova ?”

I looked at Jasper and noticed the
strange look in his eyes.

“If you’re all done making small talk,
I’d like to get this done and over with.” He closed his eyes then
opened them again, before taking a deep breath.

Dave smiled, taking this as a sign of
nervous weakness. “Scared are you?” he sneered at
Jasper.

Jasper raised an eyebrow at him. “No.
You see, I haven’t seen my wife for over a month now, and the
sooner I get rid of you, the sooner I can hold her in my arms
again.” He bared his teeth and Dave’s smile faltered. “No worries,
Shlova. I can’t see this taking too long.”

“No, I don’t imagine it will.” Dave
didn’t stand a chance.

Jasper stood still. He looked so
relaxed. But I knew his battle calm. By the set of his mouth, I was
sure he could have taken out five Maj by himself. He was breathing
faster than normal, probably because he had run here. His curls had
grown out a bit and were in his face. It looked like he hadn’t
shaved since I had left. Standing there in his buckskin pants, his
shirt slightly damp with sweat, his dagger at his side, and his
teeth bared, he looked wild. But Jasper being Jasper, he pulled it
off with a certain degree of sexy.

I shook my head at myself and took a
deep breath. I had almost been raped, Shawn was fighting twenty
feet away, and all I could think about was pulling Jasper into the
woods and having my way with him.

His eyes flashed with amusement like
they always did when he would sense me feeling this in public. He
turned toward me. His eyes met mine and widened.

After not seeing him for a month, I
wasn’t ready for the pull of his gaze. It was like being newly
fated all over again. I caught my breath. God, I had missed that
perfect blue.