Here Comes Trouble [Trouble, Tennessee Prequel] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  Trouble, Tennessee Prequel

  Here Comes Trouble

  Ellie Hunter wasn’t looking for a protector, but she definitely wanted a place to lay low and hide. Divorced from her abusive husband for over six months, Ellie goes to Trouble’s gates as a last resort after her ex pays her a "final" visit.

  Allister McCall, Ryan Thomas, Derek Swinney, and Bradley Powers have known Ellie for the better part of their lives and the memory of sharing her is stamped in their minds. When Ellie arrives in small town Trouble, the men jump to all sorts of illicit assumptions.

  Once Ellie reconnects with Allister, Ryan, Derek, and Bradley, Ellie’s life is seemingly complete, assuming her ex-husband will let her live in peace. With Navy SEALs training behind them, Ellie’s men are confident Ellie’s ex will finally let her go but if he refuses there will be hell to pay. One way or another, four men will ensure Ellie is protected, loved, cherished, honored, and adored.

  Note: This book contains double vaginal penetration.

  Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre

  Length: 23,738 words

  HERE COMES TROUBLE

  Trouble, Tennessee Prequel

  Natalie Acres

  MENAGE EVERLASTING

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting

  HERE COMES TROUBLE

  Copyright © 2014 by Natalie Acres

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-63258-426-7

  First E-book Publication: September 2014

  Cover design by Les Byerley

  All art and logo copyright © 2014 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Letter to Readers

  Dear Readers,

  If you have purchased this copy of Here Comes Trouble by Natalie Acres from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

  Regarding E-book Piracy

  This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.

  The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.

  This is Natalie Acres’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Natalie Acres’s right to earn a living from her work.

  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  www.BookStrand.com

  DEDICATION

  For Clay L.

  You were every woman’s hero.

  We sure miss you around these parts.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  About the Author

  HERE COMES TROUBLE

  Trouble, Tennessee Prequel

  NATALIE ACRES

  Copyright © 2014

  Chapter One

  The concept was a good one, at least from the outside looking in.

  From what Ellie had heard Trouble, Tennessee represented a last hope, sometimes the final stop, for battered women. As excruciating pain shot through her abdomen, Ellie took a deep breath and muttered, “This is what my life has become.”

  It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Like all young women, she’d hoped for a bright future, a promising path, and a beautiful life to enjoy.

  Instead she’d become the product of abuse, some son-of-bitch’s punching bag. Tonight, however, was the final straw. Denny had kicked things up a bit and when he’d pulled out a weapon and fired off the first round, her mind was set.

  She had choices and Trouble, Tennessee topped her list.

  Ellie Hunter hadn’t ventured beyond the gates of Trouble but she’d driven by several times. All she’d wanted was a peek beyond the guard’s station. She often waited for the chance, too, hoping to catch someone coming or going so she could make some inquiries, find out if the place was on the up and up or just some sort of front for a drug operation like her ex-husband had recently suggested.

  She’d longed to talk to a female resident because somewhere in the back of her mind, she’d always assumed she’d end up there. Now, she was left with little hope but a lot of prayers. Behind the high gates of Trouble, Tennessee against the backdrop of the Holston River and the quiet landscape of Laurel Run Park would hopefully lay a safety haven secure enough to keep the rest of the world locked out and forever at arm’s length.

  If not the world, at least Denny Marshall and others like him.

  Large springs crackled and popped and the main gates swung open. Ellie stood in front of the entrance shaking like a limb. In the past when she’d been there, she’d never left her car. She’d pull curbside, roll down her window, and press her binoculars against the bridge of her nose. She’d wait, praying Denny wouldn’t see her there while hoping someone on the inside would come on out and talk to her, maybe even lure her away from her vehicle.

  “Approach one of the white posts and state your name.” Spotlights shone all around her then. Rumors had surrounded Trouble, Tennessee for the last three years and folks in the surrounding counties didn’t quite know what to make of the place. There were rumors, small town talk and all that went along with it. Supposedly the city had more armed men in place than most maximum security prisons.

  As the spotlights beamed on the path before her, Ellie believed the gossip. Regardless of tales, she had few options remaining. She could muster up the strength to walk through those gates and face tomorrow with optimism or she could turn and go back to the home she once shared with De
nny. There, she knew what to expect. Here, she had no idea. With Denny, abuse and punishment would soon follow. In Trouble, the element of surprise awaited.

  Here, she had room to move. With Denny she would forever know the suffocating power of an abusive hand.

  “We only leave the gates open for three minutes. It is for the protection of our current residents. If you’re interested in a home here in Trouble, please approach one of the posts, state your name, and tell us why you’re here.”

  On shaky legs, she found the strength to walk to the closest intercom. Standing before the waist-high post, she said, “Ellie.”

  The area seemed brighter then and a wave of light washed over the grounds, sweeping the area before and behind her. For a split second, she thought of running, but she had nowhere else to run and she wasn’t very good at hiding.

  As the yellow and white lights wrapped around her, she felt an overwhelming surge of relief. It was as if she were drawn to the warmth of the spotlights as much as the opportunity for freedom.

  Yes, even with the high walls and gates suggestive of a lockdown facility, Ellie felt as if freedom were only a few short steps away.

  “Ellie, we need you to state your last name and your reason for being here. We only accept legally separated or divorced residents. Please verify your status. If you have children, state the custody arrangements and if they are in immediate danger.”

  Tears flooded her eyes. She removed her hand from her bleeding gut and dropped her arms to her sides. Four spotlights landed on her stomach. A blaring alarm resounded. In the distance, she heard men yelling to one another, “Go! Go! Go!”

  Panic raced through her veins and she backed up a step, but then she lifted up her blood-soaked fingers and stared at the evidence of abuse. She’d been treated like an animal. Mistreated far more than she’d ever thought possible. The cruel punishment inflicted upon her had been severe, grotesque.

  She mustered up all the courage she possessed. Her vision blurred. Her head swam. She felt sick as she stared at her trembling red fingers. “My name is Ellie Hunter. There are no children. I’m here because my…my…ex…my ex-husband tried to kill me tonight.”

  For some strange reason, just voicing the obvious made her breathe a heavy sigh of relief. After Denny had made several attempts to end her life, she’d taken an oath of silence, frightened if she told her story to anyone, she would put her friends and remaining family in danger as well.

  “Does your ex know you’re here? Did you tell him where you’re going?”

  “No. He tried to kill me.” She repeated herself. “If he finds me, he’ll finish the job. This isn’t the first time he’s tried to end my life and it probably won’t be the last.”

  * * * *

  “Wake up, Allister.” Heavy footsteps thudded against the floor before the bedside table jarred and a lamp light flickered on. “Get up. You won’t believe who just showed up at the gate.”

  “What is it?” Allister rolled to his side and massaged his eyes, trying to see the clock’s digits and barely aware of what his brother Harley had just said. “It’s four in the morning. Can’t you process a new resident?”

  “I could,” Harley replied. “But something tells me you’d have my head if I so much as even tried, especially since a few other fellas are already on their way down to the guard house.”

  Allister yawned, stretched, and looked up at Harley. An occasional prankster, Harley would’ve been grinning from ear to ear if he’d thought Allister was about to become the butt of some public joke. And he knew better than to wake him in the middle of the night unless he had a valid reason. “What is it?”

  “You’ll want to see her for yourself. Get dressed. And you might want to hurry. Derek, Ryan, and Bradley already have a jump on you and they’re probably interviewing her as we speak.”

  “What do they have to do with—” Allister swallowed. A salacious memory flicked in front of his mind’s eye. Ellie Hunter was riding him while Bradley took her from behind. Derek and Ryan had already fucked her like savages and the little vixen had still wanted more. He grinned at the memory, recalling how insatiable she’d been. She’d been willing and capable, eager even.

  “It can’t be.” He studied his brother.

  “Go ahead. Say it. You’re probably on the right track.”

  “Ellie’s in Trouble?”

  “You need to hurry. She was bleeding when she showed up here. As soon as she found out the gusher from her stomach was a flesh wound, she—”

  “Flesh wound?” Allister jumped from the bed. “What are you talking about?” And what had he missed? Apparently he hadn’t come to quickly enough when Harley had entered his room. Either that or Harley was skipping the important details. “Are we talking about Ellie Hunter Marshall here?”

  If they were, how would they handle her processing? As far as Allister knew, Ellie was still married. New residents could enter with their children, but they couldn’t live there if they were “thinking about” divorce or “considering” a separation. Papers must have been filed.

  Prior to buying the land that later became known as Trouble, Tennessee, the founding fathers developed a strict list of laws and community regulations. They’d always enforced them in the past. They would not, under any circumstances, accept a woman for residency if she were still lawfully married.

  “You’re sure it’s Ellie?”

  “I saw her. Hell, I even talked to her. It’s her, Allister.”

  “Damn him. If I get my hands on Denny, so help me God—” Allister scrambled around for his clothes. He felt like someone had knocked the wind out of him. “Shit.”

  “We need to hurry. She may leave and she doesn’t need to.” Harley went to the door. “Allister, she ain’t married anymore but my guess is her ex-husband doesn’t see her as a free woman just because the courts do.”

  “You said a flesh wound. Has Doc checked her out?” Allister hurriedly stuffed his legs in his jeans, grabbed his flannel shirt from the closet doorknob, and snatched up his boots in passing. As usual, they were in the middle of the floor.

  “Doc said she’s fine. She’s anemic, which might explain why there was so much blood but when I first saw her? I gotta tell ya, I was afraid we might have to send her to one of the neighboring hospitals. Doc had her stitched up in no time. Now, if we can just convince her to stay…”

  “She’ll stay,” Allister snapped, stepping into his boots. “If that bastard tried to kill her, he meant to kill her. It was premeditated and I’ll bet on that.”

  “We don’t keep anyone here unless they stay of their own free will,” Harley said, acting like Allister needed the reminder.

  “Let me worry about that. She won’t need much persuasion.”

  “She might,” Harley said. “Besides, what happened between Ellie, you, Derek, Ryan, and Bradley was how many years ago?”

  “Time makes the heart grow fonder.” Allister’s heart wasn’t the only thing weighing in at the moment. With another provocative daydream, illicit recollections were wreaking pure havoc on his rigid body, too. He was having the kind of memories that made a man remember how close he’d come to falling in love.

  Close, hell.

  “If time tightens those heartstrings, I know four men who will be in knots once they get a load of her,” Harley teased.

  “Was that a pun?”

  Harley laughed. “Shoulda been. Sounded like one. Besides, last I heard, Derek and Bradley haven’t even looked at another woman since Ellie.”

  “They’ve looked all right,” Allister muttered, not giving away anything more. They’d looked and they’d touched. Allister had only looked. He hadn’t held another woman in his arms since the only woman he’d wanted up and married her high school sweetheart.

  Allister had told her at the time she was making a mistake. Given what he’d heard about her relationship, he’d been right. In this case, being right hadn’t kept him warm at night. Half the time he stayed up late thinking about her, won
dering how she was, where she might have been staying.

  He’d tried to find her and had come up empty-handed. Apparently Denny’s circle of influence had enough pull to draw in a few favors.

  “I can’t believe she’s here.”

  “Yep. And Allister? As much as you’d probably like to tell her you told her so? Now probably isn’t the time to mention it. In fact, now is probably the perfect time to let bygones be bygones.”

  “Let’s go,” Allister said, ignoring his brother’s warning. He knew how to handle Ellie and condemning her poor past choices was the furthest thing from his mind. He scooped up his phone from the dresser and quickly fired off a group text to Ellie’s other former lovers. “Wait on me.”

  He expected a few “like hell” messages. None materialized.

  Allister picked up his pace, taking the front steps down to the foyer two at a time. He and Harley walked out to the terrace and crossed the courtyard. They entered the narrow hall leading to the main processing center, which also served their legal team and city officials.

  Before they exited the building and headed to the guard house, Bradley opened the door to the observation room. “She’s in here. Draegan convinced her to stay for a ‘trial’ period.”

  “Trial hell,” Allister bit out, walking around Bradley. He didn’t bother greeting Ryan or Derek. They looked about as worn down as he felt. Allister blew out a hard breath and slowly lifted his watered-down gaze.

  As soon as he saw her, his heart clenched and his next breath shattered. One look and that was all it took. He saw his future and he just knew.