Chapter One
Alex wanted Clare since he was a senior in high
school and he knew Nick had the hot's for her since they became
friends in college. He was never jealous of Nick wanting the same
woman, they weren't friends like that. They had a unique
relationship with no competition. It was probably how they met,
because it had been extreme circumstances involving a college
fraternity gone wrong. The hazing he and Nick endured had been out
of control and incited by a bully classmen. They'd supported each
other through the trauma and eventually together found the courage
to break part the irrational hazing methods. They'd notified the
college and police. There'd been a trial and they were both
satisfied it wouldn't happen again.
So they knew each other's scars, and perhaps that was
why fate wrote in their cards the need to share. They'd talked
about sharing a woman before but had never done it. They might have
never done it, if the perfect opportunity hadn't arrived. That
fate, again, was pushing them. How else would two men and that one
woman they desired above all else find themselves naked
together?
***
Clare knew she was in trouble and once she realized
the severity of it, she knew there was only one place to turn too.
Alex and Nick. They wouldn't let her down if she were brave enough
to admit she desperately needed their help.
Her hand shook as she pushed Alex's number on her
blackberry. She looked over her shoulder at the closed bathroom
door. How had she gotten herself into such a mess? She was usually
so conservative. But this guy came out of left field.
"Hi, sweetheart, what can I do for you?"
Clare nearly wept hearing Alex's voice. Her voice
cracked as she answered, "I'm in trouble, Alex, please help me!"
She tried to be quiet, so the pervert the shower wouldn't hear.
"Where are you?" another voice demanded through her
phone. Clare felt unreasonable relief at hearing Nick's voice.
"Nick," she whimpered.
"Tell me," he demanded.
"A private mansion on Hunter Mountain," she answered,
with tears because she knew they'd never find her! It was a
secluded mansion she'd been hired to redecorate for a high-end
client. Nick and Alex were in New York, she was here — what could
they do?
"What trouble?" Alex asked, as she heard Nick in the
background ordering a helicopter.
Oh God, could they get here before...? No, she looked
at the bathroom door knowing she only had minutes.
"The client wasn't supposed to be here, but he is! I think he put something in my drink. He's in the shower
and I went outside to leave but my car isn't there. He caught me
and dragged me back inside. Made me drink some more." She knew she
wasn't making sense.
Nick's voice, "Get your coat and boots and walk out
of there, baby. Now. Take your phone. We will be there in
less than an hour."
"How can you find me!" she cried, already getting to
her feet. She trusted them that much.
"GPS your phone," Alex said.
Clare lost the signal running outside. She was woozy
and disorientated, seeing things in blurry contrast. But she
remembered Nick's orders to get her coat and boots. She tried her
blackberry as she ran down the snow-packed driveway. How could they
find her if she couldn't get a signal? Still, she ran on half
because Alex and Nick had told her too, and half because of fear —
she didn't want to be in the expensive getaway when the man got out
of the shower.
Her breath panted in puffs in front of her as she
reached the end of the driveway. A beep sounded and she looked down
at her blackberry. There was a text.
"It's from, Alex!" she cried, wobbling.
She quickly accepted it. "Stay off the road," it
read.
Clare checked her coverage. "Out of area," she
moaned. Sometimes texts could make it through when a call couldn't.
She wandered down the road trying not to cry. How could she stay
off the road, there was snow, trees, and mountain woods
everywhere?
If she hadn't trusted Nick and Alex so much, she'd
never been brave enough to just