Shannon's Fairy-Tale Foursome (35 page)

A piercing scream interrupted her getaway. “No!”

“Katie-Anne,” Landon yelled hoarsely, tearing out of the den and practically ripping the door off its hinges in his haste to get to her. Shane raced behind him with a panicked expression that made Shannon’s stomach turn over.

Sucking in the precious air she needed to sustain herself, Shannon took off after the men with everyone else. She prayed every step of the way. She bargained and pleaded.
I can’t do this. I won’t let them die because of me.

A second scream from Katie-Anne split the air. “Shepp!”

Everyone picked up their speed, following the sound of Katie-Anne’s cries in the midst of the pouring rain.

“Katie-Anne,” Landon yelled. His voice broke pitifully, and Shannon felt the urge to kill whoever would hurt the people
she
loved. “Answer me, kitten!”

Landon skidded to a sudden halt where the circle driveway ended and met the gravel leading to the road. Only a few steps past him, a drenched Katie-Anne lay on the ground with Shepp cuddled in her arms. His sister sat behind her, holding onto both Katie-Anne and Shepp. The sweet dog whined softly, but the noise wasn’t what caught Shannon’s attention. It was the blood covering him that did.

Landon fell to his knees then crawled over the small rocks to Katie-Anne. Immediately, Sarah moved aside, and Landon took Katie-Anne into his arms. He rocked her as she held onto the aged Australian shepherd and mumbled, “Good boy. You saved me from that car. Please don’t die. Please don’t die. I love you.”

Jaycee gasped, running around Shannon and all of the men to where Shepp lay dying. “Who would do this to our baby?”

“He’s old and blind, sweetheart. I’m sure it was an accident,” Gray assured her, his voice sounding thick and uneven. He went to Jaycee and gathered her in his arms before trying to lift her away from the now-whimpering dog.

Jaycee growled at Gray. “Don’t even think about it.”

“It wasn’t an accident. He was going to hit her,” Sarah mumbled then started to cry.

Crossing over to Sarah, Adam lifted her off the ground easily and cuddled her close to him. He whispered something into her ear that seemed to help, but she was still too choked up to offer them any answers.

“She’s right. It wasn’t an accident,” Katie-Anne said. “The car came toward me, and Shepp knocked me over and out of the way, but he hit him.” She tightened her arms around Shepp, who’d quit breathing, and broke down, sobbing. “He’s such a good boy.”

“Who hit him?”

Shannon missed the response to Gray’s question because she spotted a tired, beaten-up car out of the corner of her eye as it took off down the driveway. With the rain beating down on her, Shannon couldn’t make out the color of the car but she had a feeling she already knew. “What color is that car?”

When no one answered her, Shannon pursued the car on foot, only wanting to get close enough to see the color and model. She apparently had gone farther than she meant to when, out of nowhere, the grind of wheels locking up on gravel sounded. The car then slid around, sending rocks and mud in ten different directions, and came flying at her.

She turned on her heel and ran. The adrenaline rush helped her, but she still didn’t have a chance. She knew it, and her men knew it. They screamed for her, all three of them rushing in her direction with everyone else running behind them.

She veered to the left, slipping and sliding in the muddy gravel, as she attempted to get to the safety of her men, but the car anticipated her diversion and changed directions as fast as she did. Then something happened. Rather than speeding toward her, the car shot past her, giving her a perfect glimpse inside.
Uncle Pauley.

In a split-second, Shannon realized that he was going to do something far worse than kill her. The bastard was going to kill one of her men before her very eyes, and she couldn’t do a damn thing to stop him. There was no way she could reach Jared, Drew, or Randy in time.

Horrified, Shannon froze on the spot as she watched her uncle’s car hit Jared and keep going. “No,” she screamed before Jared’s body even had time to hit the ground. “God, no!”

“I’m fine,” Jared reassured Shannon yet again. “It’ll take a lot more than your psychotic uncle hitting me with a beat-up green car to get rid of me. Stop worrying so much, princess.”

Jared had spent the last two hours lying in an uncomfortable hospital bed, repeating the same words to Shannon like an annoying mantra. He’d grown tired of it long ago, but he wanted to ease her worries—not that it worked in the least.

Time to change my tactics.

Jared flung back the white cotton bedspread, along with the blanket and two sheets underneath it, then patted the cold, empty space next to him. “We have a few hours until dinner. Why don’t you come get on the bed with me, princess? I’m worn out, and I want to hold you in my arms.”

He wasn’t really tired enough to sleep, but he hoped she would be, if he could get her calmed down long enough to doze off.

She sniffled as tears continued to fall from her eyes, but she still got out of the rose-colored chair and climbed onto the bed with him. She curled her body into his, her delicate weeps turning into giant, hoarse sobs.

“It’s going to be okay,” Jared soothed as he stroked her disheveled hair from root to tip. “They’ll find him.”

“No, they won’t,” Shannon muttered hopelessly, shaking her head against his shoulder. “He’s never going to leave me alone, Jared. Never.”

Jared bit back the angry words on the tip of his tongue because she didn’t need that right now, but her response still offended him. A woman should have faith in her men. What did it say about them that their woman didn’t believe any of them could protect her?

He squeezed her, despite the soreness in his arms, and asked, “Do you have faith in us?”

She raised up, her shocked, hazel eyes meeting his and stunning him momentarily.
Focus, asshole. You’re trying to have an important conversation with her.

“You know I do, Jared.”

“Then trust us.”

He kissed her on the nose. “We need to rest. You know what they say about life-and-death situations?”

Shannon smiled for the first time in hours, her expression turning heated with no small amount of naughtiness. “You want to remind yourself that you’re living.” She giggled, her eyes lighting up. “Are you saying you want to fuck me, Jared Dalton?”

He groaned, his cock responding to her in the most basic way. “Rest now, but maybe later…” He trailed off suggestively.

“No maybes about it. We
definitely
will.” She sighed, and her body relaxed against his. Within seconds, her breathing slowed down and evened out. He held onto her tightly, afraid to let go, and fell into a deep sleep.

* * * *

A persistent ringing startled Shannon, rousing her from sleep. She cracked one eye open, but between the sun streaming in the window as it peeked out of the clouds and the gritty feeling in them, it took her a second to talk herself into prying her too-heavy lids apart. When she managed to get them open fully and into focus, she looked over at Jared, who still slept peacefully beside her. Thankfully, he hadn’t moved an inch.

She slid out from under his arm, wiggling until she had freed herself from his embrace then snatched the phone off the night stand and snapped, “What,” into the receiver.

“Now, is that way to greet your loving uncle?”

Oh, God.
Pauley’s grating voice caused a chill to race down her spine. Panic coursed through her veins and shudders wracked her body. She glanced at Jared a second time, checking to make sure he hadn’t awakened. Lucky for her, he hadn’t. “What the fuck do you want?”

“Ah-ah, you don’t want to piss me off right now. I would hate to have to kill one of your
lovers,
” he spat spitefully. “Well, I guess that isn’t true, but you already know what I like to do.”

No!
Her stomach heaved as it hit her that the bastard had gotten to Drew and Randy. How he had managed that she couldn’t imagine, but he did. And he would kill them if she didn’t do something. “Leave them alone. You want me, not them.”

“You are such a good girl deep inside,” he crooned. “There is hope for your soul yet.”

She forced herself to breathe in and out through her nose so she didn’t gag at his choice of words. Snatching her purse off the floor, she pulled out a pad of paper and pen. “Where? When?”

“I want you to get in your car and drive to Her Majesty’s Pleasure. My daughter will be in the front parking lot to meet you, and she will bring you to me. It’s that easy.”

“Where are you?” she asked, but he went silent then she heard a
click
and a dial tone
.

Exhaling harshly, she gave herself a much-needed pep talk.
I will not give up. I’m going to go get my men then I am going to live out my fairy tale. There is nothing and no one who will stop me.

Glancing over at Jared, Shannon stood. She went to the chair where her personal belongings lay, battling every instinct in her body to go to him, to touch him, to kiss him with each step she took away from him. But she couldn’t do it, not if she was going to protect them and herself. No, she knew better. She needed a clear head.

So, instead of doing what she wanted to do most, she grabbed her purse and the keys to his SUV then blew him a kiss. “I have to do this, Prince Charming,” she whispered. “I’m going to protect our fairy tale so we can all live happily ever after.”

With those parting words, Shannon slipped out of Jared’s room. Before she made it two steps outside of the hospital, she was already dialing the sheriff.
A girl can always use a little insurance.

* * * *

Jared jerked awake, lurching upright, just as Shannon turned the corner at the end of the hospital corridor and dropped from his sight.

“Shannon,” he yelled with enough volume for every person on the floor to hear him and, possibly, everyone in the entire hospital. But he wasn’t worried about anyone other than the woman who’d just walked away from him without a backward glance.

The medical staff at the nurse’s station outside of his door all turned and stared at him. One nurse even headed his way, but he shot her a dark look that he hoped would warn her to stay the hell away from him. Predictably, she hung a right and ducked into the room next door.

A sick feeling of dread washed over him. Was it a dream? Did she really say that? Would she really do something that dangerous?
Hell yes, she would.
Why else would she leave him here alone?

Not wasting a precious second, he grabbed the phone and dialed Drew’s number. His brother picked up on the first ring and barked, “Hello.”

Jared didn’t give Drew a chance to ask any questions before snarling, “She’s gone. Get your asses here now.”

“Fuck,” Drew cursed then yelled for Randy. “We’re on our way.”

Click.

Jared swung his legs to the floor and stood up, but he was too weak and ended up falling backward onto the bed. “Son of a bitch.”

Over the next fifteen minutes, Jared forced his body to get out of bed, despite his disorientation, loss of strength, and his aches and pains.

He groaned and staggered around like a lush. He bumped into things, swearing each time that he did, and nearly fell on his ass twice. But somehow, he managed to dress himself.

By the time he heard his friends and family storming down the hallway five minutes later, Jared was exhausted and panting but ready to go.

Drew stepped into the room first, followed by the other seven people in their inner circle. He offered no pleasantries, just demanded, “What the fuck happened? How the hell did he get to her in the goddamn hospital?”

Randy growled, “Motherfucker,” before throwing himself in the nearest chair.

“
He didn’t
,
did he?” Jaycee asked astutely, showing how well she knew her friend. “She went after the son of a bitch.”

Gray opened his mouth to say something, but Jaycee halted him with a malicious scowl. “My best friend is in serious trouble, so don’t say a goddamn word about my language right now.”

Gray glared back at her but snapped his jaw shut, going stony and quiet.

“You’re right,” Jared declared with a nod then filled them in on the sketchy details he had gotten while half-asleep. When he had finished, all the men and women started talking, speculating, and planning at the same time, each person drowning out another.

“Shut up,” Katie-Anne commanded in a deadly soft voice. Amazingly, her tone cut through all the noise, and every person in the room, including him, turned their attention to her. Standing at the end of the bed with her face pinched and her eyes furious, Katie-Anne glared at her cell phone screen as she typed on it frantically. “We need a plan instead of wasting time with this bullshit. If you guys will give me just a damn minute, I’ll pull up the tracking app I put on her phone last week. I knew the fucking thing would come in handy.”

“No,” Shane snapped. “
You
do not need anything.
You
are going to hand over your
phone. Then
you
are going to go home and wait until this is all over with.”