Chapter Twenty-One
Garrett pulled into the driveway and saw his brother pacing with his phone up to his ear. Garrett could tell right away something had happened, and he dreaded finding out.
He parked, slid out of the truck, and walked to Trey. “What’s up?”
Trey stuck his phone in his pocket. “Madelyn’s gone.”
He was confused. “Gone? Where? When will she be back?”
“Give someone the meds you got. We need to find her as soon as possible.”
Garrett became worried and was afraid to know what happened.
“I’ll drive,” Trey said, and they both slid into the truck.
“Tell me,” Garrett said before they made it out of the driveway.
Trey sighed. “All I know is that Madelyn’s things are gone. When I asked Pearl, she told me she left.”
“Why? Is she coming back?”
Trey shook his head. “It doesn’t sound like it.”
“What happened?” Garrett asked as his stomach tightened more.
“Pearl says it’s because Madelyn doesn’t think we want her here or…”
“That’s bullshit. She knows. We’ve been asking her to move in with us.”
Trey turned onto the highway. “Hear me out. She knows we want her, but she doesn’t know how much we love her or that we want to make it permanent.”
“We’ve talked about that shit. I’ve told her I love her so many times,” Garrett growled.
“Think about it. I thought I’d told her how much she means to me, but when I really think about it, I don’t think I did. I said it in my head a hundred times but never to her.”
Garrett thought back to all the times he thought he’d told her. Fuck. Trey was right. Garrett didn’t think he’d said it out loud to her. “It was because we were afraid of coming on too strong, and now, we know we didn’t come on strong enough. Fuck.”
Trey nodded. “Yeah. I thought of that.”
“Do you have any idea which way she went?”
“Not really. I figured she’d head back to her state but would stop along the way to rest. I’m planning on driving until we find her.”
“I agree. If you get tired, I’ll take over.”
Trey nodded.
“So, when we find her, how are we going to play this?” Garrett asked.
His brother glanced at him. “Well, we’re certainly not going to spank her first. Right?”
Garrett scowled. He didn’t know if he liked someone who knew him as well as his brother. “Then later.”
Trey rolled his eyes.
They drove in silence, slowing when they came to towns or motels on the highway.
Trey slammed on the brakes. “I saw her car. Back there at that motel.”
“Let’s go get our woman,” Garrett said.
They pulled up, parked next to her car, and got out. The two walked into the office.
“Hello. How can I help you?” the man said.
“We need to get into Madelyn’s room,” Trey said.
The man stiffened. “I can’t do that.”
Trey looked at his brother. “Call the sheriff.”
Garrett made the call.
“Do you know the sheriff of Marshall County?”
“Well, yes, I do. Very well. We went to school together.”
Garrett handed the older man the phone.
Trey listened to his side of the conversation. When the man relaxed and smiled, Trey felt a relief so deep it almost made him dizzy. Now, all they needed was their woman, and he’d be okay.
The man handed Garrett back his phone, turned, and grabbed a key. “Here you go. Just leave the keys in the room when you leave.”
“We’ll do that.” Trey shook the man’s hands. “Thank you.”
“Tommy said he’d arrest me if I stood in the way of true love,” the man said and chuckled.
Garrett grunted and Trey smiled.
When they stood outside her door, the brothers looked at each other nervously.
“We can’t fuck this up,” Trey warned him.
“I know, Bro. Let’s go. I need to touch her.”
Trey didn’t hesitate and opened the door. The first thing he saw was Madelyn asleep on the bed. The light by the bed made it easy to see red swollen eyes and flush face, which told him she’d been crying, and he wanted to kick himself for hurting her.
He locked the door behind him and started stripping.
Garrett had already shed his clothing and was sliding carefully on top of the bed next to her. Trey climbed on the other side. The bed was cramped because they were used to an oversized one to fit all three, but the king mattress would work. It would have to. They weren’t going to head home until she heard and understood everything, and then they’d fuck her until she was unconscious.
Trey pulled the neckline of the gown down and started gently kissing and licking her shoulders, neck, and chest.
He saw Garrett slide his hand over her and whisper in her ear.
Several minutes went by before she started to stir. She hummed and twisted her neck to give him better access.
Garrett had moved down and was sucking on her nipples while his hand was between her legs.
Trey knew the exact moment she realized what was happening.
“Wait,” she said and tried to push them away.
“No,” Garrett growled. “You’re in so much trouble right now, Babe. If I don’t get into you in the next few minutes, I’m going to lose it.”
Trey rolled his eyes and thought, so much for not coming on too strong .
“Garrett, wait…”
Trey cupped her face. “No, you wait, Love. We can’t believe you thought you could leave us.”
“I was trying to help you.”
“Help?” Garrett barked. “How?”
“I thought you might feel bad, and I didn’t want you to have to tell me to go.”
“Why would you go in the first place?” Trey asked.
Her breath caught, and her body stiffened. Trey looked down to see Garrett’s fingers touching her pussy.
“Answer me,” Trey demanded.
“I didn’t think what we had was going anywhere, and my time was up for the room I was in.”
Trey sighed. “Garrett and I were trying to think of what could have sent you running. Pearl guessed it had to do with you not thinking we cared about you or thought about the future, and that couldn’t be farther from the truth.”
“Wait…” she said and then gasped when Garrett’s hand came down on her clit.
“You’ll listen to us, Babe.”
Trey hadn’t realized his brother had torn her gown in half with only a few inches of material still intact, and her panties were gone, leaving her bare.
Trey got her attention again. “I think I can talk for both of us when I tell you we thought we’d told you numerous times how much we love you.”
She shook her head but stopped when Garrett growled.
“I love you, Baby,” Trey said and gently kissed her lips. “I love you. I’ll tell you over and over again for the rest of our lives.”
“You’ve got my heart in the palm of your hand, Babe,” Garrett said.
“We haven’t talked too much about you staying because we were terrified we’d scare you off. The intensity of emotions is something we haven’t ever felt before. We would be lost if you tried to leave. And I mean ‘try’ because we both agree we’ll follow you wherever you go.”
“What? You can’t do that. You have the lodge.”
Trey shrugged. “It’s not as important as you are. Our nephew can take over sooner than we thought.”
“Babe,” Garrett said, getting her attention. “You are already our whole world. We wouldn’t survive without you.”
The men watched as she thought about what they said. He started getting nervous with every second that passed.
“Babe!” Garrett barked.
She jerked. “I’m sorry. I was just thinking.”
“About what? Don’t you believe us?” Trey asked her.
“I do. I do believe you. I want to apologize for being so difficult.”
Trey placed his hand over her mouth. “Don’t. This is on us. You’ve done nothing wrong. We were just too pussy to show you everything we want from you.”
He relaxed when she smiled.
Her mouth dropped open, and she gasped. Trey looked down to see his brother eating her like he was starved.
Trey cupped one of her breasts, bent, and kissed her with every emotion he felt at that moment.