Chapter 4

The drive back was more comfortable than the previous trip.

Victoria still was shy and stuttered sometimes, but she seemed happy enough.

“I guess you don’t know how to ride a horse?”

“No,” She shook her head, even though he wasn’t looking. “Mama s..s..said they were too dangerous.”

He had noticed speaking to her she struggled the most saying words beginning with the letter s.

“She was very protective of you?” It sounded more like a question than a statement.

“Yes. Nan told me it was because s..she didn’t want to lose me like Daddy… They were high school sweethearts and friends s..s..since they met in preschool,” She said the last part in a type of daze.

“Mama never dated any other men.”

“That’s nice,” He said honestly. “Too many women today sleep around and men are just as bad, if not worst. But I can’t speak. I have hardly been an angel. But I have always loved how your grandparents were together. I think their relationship became a sort of aim for Kray and me,” He told her what he had told no one else before. He was surprised by this, but he enjoyed speaking to her. She didn’t judge him or anything, unlike the others in town.

He knew Kraven might take a little longer to open up to her, but without a doubt, he would.

“Yes,” She agreed thoughtfully. “I want that one day.”

They rode the rest of the way in comfortable silence until they came to the long road leading to the ranch.

“I lost my chain of thought before, I meant to ask if you would like me and Kray to teach you to ride a horse? When the weather is better, I mean.”

He glanced in her direction and saw she looked both excited, a bit worried by the question.

“We have special harnesses to make sure you don’t fall and hurt yourself if you wanted to use one. But I can assure you neither Kray nor I would let anything happen to you if you decided not to use one.”

“I would like that,” She shot him a smile that made him feel warm inside.

They came to the house a minute later. Unsurprisingly, Victoria’s car was still where she parked it. But now parked alongside it sat a bright red sports car with the top down.

“What the hell is that damn woman doing here now?!” He muttered to himself. The moment he stopped the car he jumped out.

He went straight to the front door of the house, a dark expression covered his face.

Hearing nothing, he exited the house again. “Vicky, can you start taking the stuff you can reach inside, baby?”

She smiled and nodded, taking the keys from him.

“I’ll be back in a minute. I just have to get rid of a pest.”

He walked away a second later, but not before thanking her.

Coming to stop just inside the stable entrance. He felt enraged seeing the lanky, brunette trying to push herself onto his friend.

“I told you, I’m not interested,” Kraven pushed her back when she tried to kiss him.

He never pushed her very hard – they didn’t hit women, no matter how much they annoyed them – but she must have noticed Theo enter because the next thing he knew she had knew herself on the ground. “Don’t hit again,” She exclaimed theatrically.

Theo walked over and stopped next to his friend, both wore nonchalant expressions, not surprised by her act. It was the kind of thing they expected from the woman.

Realizing no one was going to help her up, the woman pushed herself off the ground. “Did you see that, Theodore? He hit me,” She whined.

“My.Name.Is.Theo!” He said through gritted teeth. “Leave!”

She furrowed her brows and wore a fake confused, hurt expression.

“I said leave, Summer.” Kraven remained silent.

“Who does that truck belong too?” She asked ignoring the order and changing the subject.

“One last warning and then I’m going to make you…”

She smirked, obviously not realizing what he meant.

He looked to Kraven as though silently communicating. The taller man nodded before whistling.

Seemingly out of nowhere a good sized Australian Shepherd dog appeared.

The woman screamed, “You know I am scared of dogs,” She squealed trying to scurry away as the black and white dog innocently tried to approach her.

But thankfully it was enough to see her gone.

They followed the dog and the woman out of the stables and to her waiting car.

“Next time you come on my land I’ll let him bite you,” Kraven warned.

She glared at him but looked afraid of him. “You’ll be back…” She mumbled before belting out of the drive.

“It’s a good job you came,” He drew his arms around Theo. “I would have ended up letting Ozzie maul her.”

Theo laughed and pressed his lips to his friends in a quick kiss.

“I was so pissed when I first saw the two of you. I thought you were going to give into her,” He admitted.

Kraven looked at him as if he were insane. “Are you crazy?!” He looked down at his friend and lover.

“You were the one who slept with her, not me.”

“In my defence, she made sure I was completely loaded with alcohol first. She knew I’d never touch her any other way.”

“Good, because I might have had to keep you to myself, no more pussy…” He pressed their lips together in a deep loving embrace. But pulled back a few seconds later when he remembered their new house guest.

“Do we have to worry about her?” It would have sounded cryptic to anyone else. But Theo had been with him that long he understood every word the man said, even if it wasn’t out loud.

“Only about her going out alone,” Theo told him. “She isn’t like other women her age. She is terrified of people. There is no way she can travel alone.”

Kraven nodded thoughtfully. He didn’t want to say anything for definite until he got to knew her more. But he knew enough for one thing… “She will not leave this house or travel alone. Pa would be furious if we let her.” His partner nodded in agreement.

“Strange as it sounds, I feel protective over her. She isn’t like any women we’ve ever met. She emptied the truck without arguing and she even tried to… I mean she did pay for the shopping while I was packing.”

His friend frowned. “Don’t worry, I gave her the money back. But she wouldn’t tell me how much it cost, so I just put a couple of hundred in her bag.”

The taller man smiled, “I half expected you to come back without her speaking to you.”

“Nah, she gets nervous around groups of people. But she didn’t stutter half as much.”

“That’s good. Come on, man. Let’s head inside. She’ll be waiting,” Kraven said moving to his partner’s side and together the pair entered the house followed by their dog.

Upon entering the house, a delicious smell hit them.

Entering the kitchen, they found Victoria’s jacket on the back of a chair, shopping on the table unpacked but not put away and lastly the short girl stood in front of the stove.

“Eeek!” She squealed and jumped back when she felt a wet nose on her calf.

“Ozzie!” Kraven exclaimed and the dog moved back towards him with his tail between his legs.

“Sorry about that, baby…” Theo said walking over, stopping a few feet away. “Ozzie was just saying ‘hello.’ He gets a little excited with new people.” He stopped by the pans and looked inside.

“What are you cooking?” He went to reach inside, but she pushed his hand away.

“I..it’s not r..ready,” She stuttered.

“You really didn’t have to cook anything, little one,” Kraven said gaining her attention.

She looked at him nervously and then went back to preparing the food.

“Y..y..you both worked h..hard…”

“You are a sweet girl. But really you shouldn’t have.”

“I d..didn’t kn..ow w..where these went,” She indicated to the rest of the shopping.

“That’s alright, baby. We’ll put it away.”

He and his partner began putting the rest of the things away.

Kraven looked at all the fresh ingredients and flour and then to Theo.

“Vicky, only eats fresh, homemade. Isn’t that right, baby?” She hummed a ‘yes,’ not looking away from what she was doing and his partner looked at him amused.

“Baby?” He asked quietly. Theo glanced back at her and back to his friend and shrugged.

Kraven eyed her appreciatively, she was too involved in her cooking to notice.

“Suits her.”

“S..s..s…shall I m..make the dog d.dinner?” She struggled out.

Both men couldn’t help but smile. “No, little one. He only eats tinned or dry food or he will get too fat.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, you didn’t know,” He reassured her. “What do you want us to do?” He walked over, stopping beside her.

“N.N..Nothing. G.go wash u..up.”

“Are you saying I smell?” He asked with a serious expression.

Her eyes widened and she looked horrified realizing. “No!”

“You know it’s not nice telling people they smell, baby,” Theo walked over saying teasingly.

“I..I..I..I…” She gaped like a fish.

“You heard the girl, Kray. You are a smelly s.o.b, so go get a shower!”

“Fine. But you need one too.” Kraven turned to the dog. “Ozzie, be good and don’t harass Vicky.” Then turned back to her, “We’ll be quick. But if we aren’t back, call us, alright?”

**

Both men left the kitchen together leaving the dog they called ‘Ozzie,’ behind.

Victoria never thought anything of it, she assumed they would each go in their own bathrooms for a shower. But the one thing she was worried about was that the guys thought she was mean or rude when she suggested they clean themselves up.

Ozzie was well behaved, he sat doing nothing but watching her.

Soon enough the food was ready and the guys were still not back.

“How long does it take?” She spoke to the dog without a problem. His ears perked up listening.

“I thought guys were meant to take less time?”

She kept the food on a low heat and waited five minutes… Then ten…

Still nothing. She sighed and groaned, “I am going to have to get them aren’t I?” She sighed again. “I have no idea… Ozzie, isn’t it?” The dog jumped up with its tongue hanging from the side of his mouth.

“Do you know where they are?” Nothing, not that she expected anything. It was the desperate attempt of a fool. She didn’t want to go wandering around the house alone, not yet anyway.

She sighed once again and began walking, but not before turning the hob off completely.

“You coming too?” She asked noticing him following her up the steps.

She could just shout for them, but she was certain the words wouldn’t come out. Plus she hated shouting.

On the landing, she didn’t need to ask which room they were in. Ozzie ran ahead of her and straight into a room with the door ajar.

“Mmm, yeah!” She heard and looked up just in time to see the dog bark at Theo, who was butt-naked on top of and straddling an equally naked Kraven.

There was no mistake in what they were doing.

She gasped and turned around with her hands over her eyes.

They are gay… She realized.

“S.. S.. S.. Sorry,” She hurried out best she could before running away.

But she did hear the noise of damp flesh slapping against one another, repeatedly.

Then a lot of moans and groans, pained sounds before coming to a stop.

**

Minutes later in the kitchen, the guys entered. Victoria avoided eye-contact and dished up the food too embarrassed to look at them.

“You alright, Vicky?” Kraven sounded worried.

She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Instead, she nodded her head.

They began eating in awkward silence. But that didn’t last long. So Kraven was made sounds of appreciation that sounded strangely similar to the moans she heard earlier. Her cheeks turned pink without realizing.

“This is so good. What is it called?” He said finishing his food.

“N. No… Name,” She answered with minimal words, but her voice very quiet.

“What do you mean?” He looked confused but then the expression disappeared and was replaced with one of wonder.

“You created it?” He guessed and she nodded. “Is this the first time you made it?” Another nod.

Theo looked down at the dish which was a mixture of many things but the main ingredient, mushrooms.

“Did you make this because what I told you?” He asked with a knowing look in his eyes.

“As a th…Th..th.. Thank y..you.”

“It is your house, baby. There is no need to say thank you.”

She opened her mouth to argue but closed it when he gave her a pointed look.

“What did you tell her?” Kraven asked curiously.

Theo looked at him with a smile, “I told her how much you love mushrooms.”

Kraven eyes widened, “This was… For me?” He was in shock. No one had ever done anything for him without asking or wanting something in return, other than the three people who mattered to him most in the world – Marshall, Irena, and Theo.

She shuffled awkwardly in her chair and tried to hide her blush, but failed.

“I…i…it’s nothing…” She mumbled stood up and reached to take the empty plates, but Kraven stood up and stopped her.

“We’ll do the dishes.” He leaned down and hugged her, before placing a kiss on her forehead. “Thank you, little one.” She stood still in his arms, almost as if scared to move. “And I am sorry if we made you uncomfortable earlier.”

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