Page 34 of Single Mom’s Mountain Men (Mountain Men Reverse Harem #1)

Patty

" P atty," I hear Wes’ panicked tone as my dizziness clears, his hand running over my body. "Oh God, Patty are you okay?"

"I’m fine Wes," I assure him even though I’m not sure.

I feel slightly nauseated, and my hips hurt from where I was thrown but I don't pass out or anything which is a good thing considering my head hit a rock. I gently pat the spot and wince. It’s tender but my fingers don’t come away with any blood so that's good.

"I’m so sorry," Wes says, his hands frantic in their need to assure himself I’m okay. His face is pale but he's otherwise unscathed, which is incredible considering he just fought three larger men. And as one of the men groans on the floor, I tell Wes, "Let’s get out of here, before they get up."

Wes’s face tightens as he turns back to face them, and his eyes glint with rage.

I know he wants to continue to beat that last guy to a pulp.

I’ve seen that anger on Keegan’s face multiple times, but it doesn’t scare me because I know that Wes would never turn that on me.

He’s shown me his care, even in the way his hands run over my body .

I slide my palm over the back of his hand now, drawing his eyes back to me.

"Let’s go," I tell him and then start getting up.

"No, you shouldn’t…"

"I’m fine," I say. "Just a little bruised but nothing worse than I’m used to."

That's the wrong joke to make because his eyes are even more devastated.

"I was kidding," I say. "I’m fine."

He shakes his head. "This was my fault." He takes my hand and helps me straighten up. "I shouldn’t have provoked them. I was just so used to…"

"It’s fine," I say again. "But we really need to get out of here before they wake back up."

He finally swallows the rest of his back behind him sentence and leads me back to the bike. My bruise at my hip aches as I climb on, but I try to hide it. Still, his shrewd eyes grab onto my wince, and his face tightens again.

He then steps aside and takes out his tumultuous feelings on the bike that’s still blocking the middle of the path. With two powerful kicks, he sends it sliding down the hill clearing the way for our escape.

Then he clambers on in front of me, jerks his bike into a start and slowly meanders down the hill at a glacial pace avoiding any bump in the road that could further irritate me.

My headache gets worse as we go, making the ride down only half as enjoyable as the ride up. By the time we're pulling into the ranch it’s a relief because I feel a little like I might hurl.

But it’s not so much of a relief when I see both Charlie and Mitchell exiting onto the porch as we approach. With a loud yip, Wiley also bounds down the stairs, barking at the bike as it slows to a stop .

Mitchell looks angry as he storms up to us with Charlie at his tail. "You took her riding?"

"Not now Mitch," Wes says. "Patty got hurt."

Charlie freezes and then hurries past his brother to me. As Wes helps me off the bike, I can’t help wincing and it causes all three men to react like they’ve been shot.

"Hurt where?" Charlie asks and I offer him a smile. ‘

"My head," I say, whispering it so as not to worsen the clamoring. "And my hip."

Charlie gently sweeps me off my feet, carrying me princess-style as Mitch asks Wes, "What the fuck happened? Don’t tell me you were riding carelessly and flung her off?"

"No," I say. "He rode carefully."

Wes isn’t defending himself though. He's still staring at me with that hang-dog look. And then his head ducks like he's ashamed of himself.

"It’s not Wes’ fault," I feel the need to clarify but then Wes adds, "It was Robbie's men."

The brothers freeze. Even Wiley stops scratching himself to turn to stare at Wes.

"They came up the mountain. I don’t know if it was a coincidence or if they saw me on the way there and followed. But they tried to start shit with me and…"

"And let me guess," Mitch’s voice is a furious sneer. "You got smart with them, didn't you? You didn’t even stop to think about the fact that Patty was there."

"I did," Wes continues in that subdued voice that is so at odds with his character. "I mouthed off to him, but I was trying to get rid of them as quickly as possible but then a fight broke out and one of them slipped past me to push her."

Mitch swears up and down. "This is the fucking reason you should never have taken her."

"I asked to go with him," I try but Mitch isn’t listening to me. Instead, he turns to Charlie and says, "Take her to my room and call Doc Newsome. Wes, you’re completing both our quotas today. Got it?"

Wes glances up, with his lips pressed together. To my surprise, he nods. I reach out to him but he simply touches my hand as Charlie takes me inside. Wiley tries to follow us, his paws pattering on the wooden floor.

I can feel the wrath bristling underneath Charlie's body even though he’s outwardly calm. His eyes meet mine and I see the storm inside them.

I cup his cheek. "I’m fine."

"No, you not," he says "And I’m going to kill them for touching you."

I giggle, because it’s hard to think of gentle giant Charlie so much as hurting a fly. But then I remembered that he was in the military and saw tons of combat, and probably killed lots of people too.

And right now he looks murderous. Because of me. He’s furious because I got hurt and yet he’s still so gentle with me as he carries me down the hallway.

"I really am fine," I tell him even though my insistence seems to be falling on deaf ears with the men. "And this isn’t Wes' fault."

"He never should have taken you there," Charlie says. "And when they showed up, he never should have even said more than two words to them. He should have gotten out of there."

"He tried to but they blocked the path."

"Then he should have done whatever it took to de-escalate the situation."

"They were not willing to let it go without a fight."

Charlie says nothing else as he shoulders Mitch's door open, walks me in, and places me on Mitch's bed.

It smells like him, like aftershave and Cedar.

It reminds me of the time I walked in to find Mitch in the throes of a nightmare, and how badly I wanted to take the demons from his eyes.

Wiley immediately pads over to my side. I rub his head, and he gives me a doggy smile, eyes half closed as his tongue licks my hand.

Charlie lays a hand on my forehead and says, "Is your head still hurting?"

I nod a little. "Do you have some Advil or something?"

Charlie shakes his head. "I barely get sick and Mitch doesn't really do pain meds. Not even when he had shoulder surgery."

"Why not?"

"Mitch has a thing about control," Charlie says and then we hear Mitch’s approaching footsteps turning in time to see him at the doorway.

He walks up to me. "I’ve called the doctor to come see you. I thought you might not want to travel all the way to the hospital.

A private visit is definitely better than being in the hospital. "Thank you."

"I'll go check on the girls," Charlie says. "They should be waking up now."

"Could you take them to school? And tell them I'm sick. I don't want them to see me like this."

Charlie nods and then brushes a kiss against my forehead. "I'll take care of it."

And with another kiss on my lips, he leaves, with Wiley following him.

Mitch still paces at the doorway looking pissed.

"Don’t be so hard on Wes," I tell him.

"He never shouldn't have endangered you."

"He wasn't trying to. I'm the one who asked to go on the bike with him and he drove very carefully. If they hadn't showed up..."

Suddenly Mitch explodes.

"Jesus Patty you don't even realize how badly he fucked up.

Those men are really dangerous, and they could have hurt you.

If he wanted to take you on the Mountain, we should have been there!

" The breath rushes out of him. "If anything, had happened to you Patty, I don't know.

.." The words don't continue and the emotion twists his face.

He cares about me. A lot.

Although I knew it before, I didn't understand just how much. The realization hits me right in the face.

And from Mitch's shocked expression, he just realized it too.