Passion, Victoria 6: Hailey's Secret (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  Passion, Victoria 6: Hailey’s Secret

  Hailey Wood arrives in the town of Passion, Victoria, Australia, after two years on the run. She's running from the monster that has destroyed her life. She inadvertently meets the three sexy, handsome Bartram brothers when she awakens them with her screams through the thin walls of her motel room. They burst through her door ready to do battle for her.

  Dillon, Chance, and Roman want Hailey as soon as they see her, but every time they get near her she flinches away from them. They know Hailey has been hurt by someone in her past but won't give up until they have her in their arms.

  Hailey's monster kidnaps her, and the men of Passion come together to try and get to her before her monster can hurt her again. Will her men get to her time? Will they be able to hold her in their arms again? Or will she be too damaged mentally as well as physically and push them away once more?

  Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys

  Length: 42,919 words

  PASSION, VICTORIA 6: HAILEY’S SECRET

  Becca Van

  MENAGE EVERLASTING

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting

  PASSION, VICTORIA 6: HAILEY’S SECRET

  Copyright © 2014 by Becca Van

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-62740-953-7

  First E-book Publication: January 2014

  Cover design by Harris Channing

  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,

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  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  About the Author

  PASSION, VICTORIA 6: HAILEY’S SECRET

  BECCA VAN

  Copyright © 2014

  Chapter One

  Hailey Wood gave a sigh of relief as she saw the sign indicating the turn off for the small country town of Passion, in Victoria, Australia. She’d heard of the polyandrous relationships in the town and had seen snippets on the TV when the media had inundated the area, but wasn’t even remotely interested in a relationship with one man, let alone more than one. The town seemed friendly and more than enough distance away from the big city of Melbourne, yet close enough for her to take off again if necessary.

  Hailey had been on the run for the last two years of her life. Her life was in danger, not only her physical self, but her mental well-being, too. She couldn’t get the incident out of her head. It haunted her wherever she went and he seemed to find her no matter where she ended up. He taunted her when he found her but she hadn’t actually seen him face-to-face. Not since she’d left and she hadn’t once looked back. She had no idea how he always ended up finding her, but she would continue running if it meant she kept on living. It was like he took great joy in making her life miserable, by playing a game of cat and mouse with her.

  She was so sick and tired of running, of living on nerves and not being able to put down roots. She went from job to job, town to town, with little or no sleep. She had dark circles under her eyes and knew they were bloodshot and red rimmed. If she didn’t get to rest soon, she would end up collapsing or falling asleep behind the wheel, killing herself and some other innocent bystander. She couldn’t live with the thought of hurting anybody. She needed to book into a motel and sleep for at least the next twenty-four hours.

  Hailey followed the main road through the small town until she saw a sign for a motel. She pulled into the parking lot, turned off the engine and closed her eyes. She breathed in deeply and let the air out slowly, then grabbed her keys and purse, exited her small car, and entered the motel reception office.

  Hailey signed the register and paid cash for the next two night’s accommodation. She took the keys to her room from the young woman, went back to her car, grabbed her luggage and entered the room. She locked the door behind her, dropped her possessions where she stood, kicked off her shoes and fell on the bed. She was asleep seconds later.

  * * * *

  Dillon Bartram, along with his brothers Chance and Roman, exited the reception office of the only motel in the town of Passion, Victoria. They were here to visit their Air Force comrades and best friends Tony, Colt, and Bear, and their woman, Nikki. Dillon led the way down to the motel room they’d booked for the next few days, opened the door, and entered. He and his brothers showered one after the other and put on clean clothes while they waited for the meal they’d ordered through room service. The three brothers had arranged to meet their friends tomorrow and took the time to relax after a long day of travel. They ate their meals, then settled back on their beds to watch the news on TV as they tried to decide what they w
ere going to do with their lives now that they were no longer in the services. Dillon and his brothers all had a fair idea of what they wanted out of life and had plenty of cash and time to choose where they were going to settle down, but first they had to scope out the town and the surrounding area and decide where the best place would be to put down roots.

  Dillon pushed the TV remote and turned the TV off and was just about to retire to bed when he heard a strange noise from the room next to them. He gave a hand signal which his brother’s immediately obeyed and stopped all movement and listened intently. He heard a whimper and what sounded like someone crying. The noises didn’t cease. In fact they began to escalate until a blood-curdling scream pierced the night.

  Dillon snagged his jeans, pulled them on and then grabbed his T-shirt. He didn’t have to tell his brothers to dress again because they had reached for their clothes as soon as he did. He opened the door cautiously and scanned the vacant parking lot and then the shadows along the side of the building and after giving the all-clear signal, he hurried to the door to the room next door, but tried to stay hidden in the shadows. Dillon kicked in the door to the room that the scream had emitted from and was inside in seconds. He held up his hands to stop his brothers in their tracks, just inside the door. His eyes connected with the gaze of a frightened pixie of a female sitting up on the bed. Her eyes were wide with fright and her mouth was opening as if she was about to scream again. But he couldn’t let her do that. He didn’t want everybody around hearing the hysterical cries of a woman and having the cops sent out for no reason.

  Dillon moved fast to the bed, covered her mouth with a large hand and he wrapped an arm around her waist. “It’s all right, sweet thing. We’re not going to hurt you. We heard you scream and wanted to help you. If I remove my hand, will you keep quiet? I don’t want you waking up the entire motel complex.”

  The small bundle of woman in his arms gave a nod of her head, so Dillon slowly uncovered her mouth.

  “Are you all right, little love?” asked Chance as he moved closer to the bed. Roman closed the door and he, too, stepped closer to the bed.

  * * * *

  Hailey stared at the three enormous men standing in her room. They were so sexy, she could feel her body responding. Her body’s response surprised her so much that she couldn’t answer the man. She had never felt desire before. It was such a foreign feeling, so she gave a nod of her head instead.

  “Are you hurt?” asked another of the men.

  Hailey shook her head indicating she was fine. She cleared her throat a few times before she spoke and was only able to manage to get out one word. “Nightmare.”

  “Okay. Must have been one hell of a dream,” the third man said.

  Hailey just nodded in affirmation as she continued to stare.

  “I’m Chance Bartram and these are my brothers Dillon and Roman. What’s your name, sweetheart?”

  “H–Hailey.”

  “Well, Hailey, we’re sorry to bust in on you like that, but we just got out of the military, and years of habit is hard to break. We thought you were being hurt by the way you screamed. We’ll leave you to it. Make sure you move one of those chairs over and put it beneath the handle of your door. Sorry, but we busted the lock trying to get to you,” Dillon apologized.

  Hailey watched the three huge, hunky men leave her room, closing the door behind them. She placed a hand over her racing heart and breathed deeply, trying to calm herself. She had never been so scared and then turned on in her life. The three men all had similar features proving their paternity. They had dark blond hair and bedroom eyes a female could drown in. Dillon’s eyes were the lightest blue she had ever seen. Chance had darker blue eyes and Roman’s had been a blue-gray color. They’d all been dressed casually in jeans and T-shirts. Their muscles had rippled in their arms as they moved, drawing her attention to their large biceps. She had seen their ripped pectorals and abs moving beneath their tight T-shirts, too. Hailey gave a sigh. Even though she had just seen these men for the first time, and they were exquisite masculine specimens, but she knew she would never do anything about the desire she felt for them.

  She scrambled off the bed, grabbed a chair, tilted it back on two legs and shoved the back of the chair beneath the door handle. Feeling a lot more secure, she stripped out of her travel-worn clothes, then slid beneath the covers on the bed. It took her quite a while to drift to sleep again. The events that had triggered her recurring nightmare spun around and around in her brain. She didn’t want to remember that horrible time, so she pushed it to the back of her mind and let her mind drift back to the three Bartram brothers. She fell asleep with a smile on her face for the first time in twenty-four long months.

  She woke up screaming. Tears ran down her cheeks as she sobbed out her pain. She couldn’t deal with the recurring nightmare much longer, or she would end up having a nervous breakdown. She hadn’t slept through a night for the last two years and knew if she didn’t get a decent night’s sleep soon, she would end up on the verge of collapsing. She was so tired. No, tired was too tame a word. She was utterly exhausted.

  A knock on her door stopped her tears as she fearfully crept closer to the entrance. She realized she was naked and went back to the clothing she had carelessly dropped on the floor. She pulled her jeans and T-shirt on, sans underwear, and crept back to the door as the knocking continued, becoming louder each time.

  “Hailey, open up! It’s Chance.” His voice was deep and husky and she couldn’t help but shiver as the deep cadence washed over her.

  Hailey removed the chair from the door, opened the door a crack and peeked through the gap. “I’m sorry if I disturbed you.” She bit her lower lip anxiously.

  “Let me in,” Chance commanded as he looked down at her from his great height.

  “Uh no, I’m good.”

  “No you’re not,” Chance frowned. “Let me in, sweetheart.”

  “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. I don’t even know you.” Hailey crossed her arms over her chest and nearly groaned when her arms brushed over her hard nipples, making her pussy clench, and juices leaked out onto her trousers.

  “No, I don’t suppose you do,” Chance continued to frown. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m sorry I disturbed you, it won’t happen again,” Hailey said firmly, but hoping like hell she didn’t wake up screaming her head off again.

  “Well, okay. As long as you’re sure you’re all right?” Chance questioned again.

  “Yeah. Goodnight, Chance, and thanks.” Hailey quietly closed the door. She decided she was going to have to remain awake for the rest of the night. The last thing she wanted was to disturb Chance and his brothers again, keeping them awake all night long with her screaming. She gave a sigh, replaced the chair, grabbed the TV remote, and then crawled back onto the bed. She stacked two pillows behind her back and sat up, determined to remain awake for the rest of the night

  * * * *

  “Is she all right?” Dillon asked when Chance entered their room.

  “Seems to be. I think she keeps having nightmares. She wouldn’t let me in, says she doesn’t know me.”

  “Shit!” Roman said. “I hope she’s okay.”

  “I wonder what happened to her.” Chance asked.

  “Whatever it is, can’t be good,” Dillon sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.”

  “I wish we could help her,” Roman said.

  Chance couldn’t get her face out of his head. She was a sexy little thing, not much over five four, with short brown hair. Her hair framed her pixie face and seemed to enhance her eyes. And he couldn’t get those beautiful eyes out of his mind, they just seemed to pull him in. They were such a deep, blue color and he knew he would have trouble keeping his gaze away from hers if she were standing right in front of him. “I know we’ve had a lot of women in our lives, but there is just something about her.”

  “Yep, I felt it, too, bro,” Dillon said.

  Roman
put his two cents in. “I think she could be the one we’ve been looking for.”

  “I do, too, but she’s scared out of her mind about something. I wonder who she’s running from. We’re going to have to take it real slow if we want to have a chance with her.” Dillon rubbed his chin and hoped like hell they could get Hailey to go out with them.

  Chapter Two

  Hailey showered, dressed, left the motel room, and went in search of somewhere to have breakfast. She didn’t bother taking her car. She walked down the quiet street of Passion, taking in the scents and the slow pace of the country town. She felt like she could breathe for the first time in a long while. She took in the shops of the town, noting that everything one could ever need could be bought in Passion without having to travel to a larger town or city.

  She spied an open café, entered, and took a seat. She ordered a toasted cheese and tomato sandwich and a much-needed cup of coffee. She had just finished eating and was sipping the last of her coffee when the bell above the door tinkled. She watched as three men and a petite blond-haired woman entered the shop. All the men were huge but one more so than the others, making the woman look like a child next to him. They sat down at a large table and ordered coffee and breakfast. She noticed the three men seemed to be really attentive to the woman with them. When Hailey realized she was staring, she lowered her eyes sheepishly, hoping they hadn’t seen her curiosity.

  Hailey ordered another cup of coffee and the waitress had just set it down in front of her as the bell gave another tinkle. She ignored it, staring at her coffee cup as she tried to figure out what she was going to do and whether she should leave town or find a job and rent a place. She heard a familiar voice greeting the people across the room.