Shannon's Fairy-Tale Foursome (38 page)

“Pauley called the King and told him about this family and the twisted young girl he’d fallen in love with. By that point, Pauley was more frantic than ever to help this family. He had to save the girl so he could keep her forever. Of course, the King wanted to aid his brother in the crusade against the evil spirits possessing this family, but he needed to see them for himself. So they traded places.” Gently dragging the tip of his blade across her stomach, Sid drew small X’s with her blood without piercing the skin there. “When he arrived, King Sid found an Evil Teenage Bitch who was in love with three men. Every night, he listened to her moaning their names in her sleep, and every day he saw the lust in her eyes when she talked about them or looked at them.”

“The Evil Bitch deserved to die a brutal death,” he whispered.

Without offering her a warning, he sliced the soft flesh above her belly button in one, fluid sweep. She cringed, her eyes flaring in surprise before dulling back out. He saw the struggle in her face, the need to cry, but she didn’t cave.
I will break you if it is the last thing I do.

“But the King was an honorable man,” he went on. “He wanted to save the young girl trapped in the Evil Bitch’s body. It was the right thing for him to do. So he spends three long, agonizing years with her and her family in a godforsaken town filled with horny toads and the slutty trolls who’d fuck them.”

Serenity, my ass. They should have named it something along the lines of Raunchy Town, Vulgarville, or Orgiastic Village.

“Daddy,” Mary interrupted as she entered the room, distracting him from his story but not diverting his actions. “Do you need help?”

“Sure,” Sid agreed with an indulgent smile. He unsnapped and unzipped Shannon’s jeans then pushed the material aside. “She is bleeding too much, my child. I need you to put pressure on the wound.”

Like an obedient daughter, Mary snatched up a thin, white towel before strolling over to the bitch’s side. She used the terrycloth as a compress, pressing it against the ragged square around Shannon’s navel to help stem the flow.

“Good girl,” he crooned to Mary. “Now, I must get back to work.”

Mary nodded eagerly, “Yes, Daddy.”

Sid refocused entirely on Shannon, the room and his daughter fading away and leaving them alone once again. He searched her body, seeking a new spot for his blade.
Ah! Yes!
Perfect!
A nice, long, delicate strip down the right side of her abdomen called to him.

He lifted the scalpel from its position on her abdomen, waving the bloody blade in front of her face, and asked curiously, “Do you like the taste of blood?”

Shannon’s face paled drastically until there was no color in her face, leaving her looking more dead than alive.
Damn, that is sexy.

“No? Oh, well. I guess we will get back to the story. Where were we…?”

“Daddy,” Mary cut in, annoying him just a little. “I need some alcohol to cleanse this cut. I’ll be right back.” With a wink and girly giggle, she dropped the bloodied towel, the wet fabric going
splat
when it hit the floor.

He waved his daughter off with a muttered, “Whatever,” and she left him in peace. He guided the scalpel to Shannon’s side, running the tip up and down, leaving a trail of blood behind without ever cutting her skin. “Oh, yes. We were talking about when the Evil Bitch turned nineteen. One night, the family discovers that King Sid is not related to them at all and that he’d been trying to save their daughter for a very long time. Like the depraved family of an Evil Bitch, they threw the King out of the house. But he was persistent. King Sid gathered all of his treasured possessions, returned to their house, and rid the world of two heinous beings.”

Halting in the midst of his story, Sid admired the bloody trail on her side, taking his finger and rubbing the blood into her sickly white skin. “Of course, the people in this sin-filled town saw the deaths as murder, but King Sid knew better. It was a blessing. Since he had no desire to rot in jail in this Podunk town, he left.”

Standing back up, he ambled over to the tray in search of a new tool of torture. A loud
clank
echoed inside the room as he dropped the scalpel onto the stainless steel. He stared at the various instruments, fingering each one as he attempted to decide what to use next. “After years of patience, King Sid put the wheels in motion to return for the whore. Unfortunately, when he located Pauley for help, his brother had the King sent away to a mental institution. He’d found a
conscience
,
as he called it, and just couldn’t bear the thought of another person’s blood on his hands.”

He laughed. “Like that could stop the King. Within two months, he’d escaped the hospital and hunted down his backstabbing brother. He killed the bastard before finally returning to Serenity. Now, here we are—the King and the Evil Bitch. You get to choose your happily ever after. Should I save your soul or just kill you and be done with it?”

“How about we kill
you
, asshole?”

Shannon felt relief rush through her when she heard Randy’s deep, gruff voice. She jerked her head to the side, finding him, along with Gray, Cade, Shane, and Landon, stealthily entering the room through the front door. None of the men so much as glanced at her position on the room dividing column, not even Randy, who remained focused on her captor.

Jared? Drew?
Her heart picked up as the fear sent her into panic mode.
I have to breathe. I’m overreacting. That’s all. They’re perfectly fine.

Once they’d announced their entrance, the five men confidently swept into the room, circling Pauley or Sid or whoever the fuck he was.
Sid, I think.

Like an arrogant and more-than-a-little crazy bastard, Sid refused to move away from her despite the five guns pointed at him, choosing instead to move the scalpel to the curve of her neck. He stared down each man, obviously checking out his competition. “Make one move, demon lovers, and I will cut her throat.”

“I don’t think you will,” Drew remarked with conviction as he emerged from the hallway with Deke and Adam. “What will happen to
you
if you cannot save
her
soul?”

Sid jumped, startled by more unexpected guests, and his knife grazed her skin but didn’t do any serious damage, only a tiny scratch. “Nothing will happen to me. Just her.”

Shannon swallowed nervously, gulping in deep lungfuls of air.

“Are you sure about that?” Drew asked, advancing on Sid. He had Deke and Adam flanking him, their dominant personas adding to the air of danger whirling around him. “Really sure?”

Sid nodded. “Yes, I’m sure.” Then he shook his head, the uncertainty filling his crazed eyes. “I think.”

* * * *

Entering the Hatchers’ kitchen, Jared came to a hard stop. His jaw dropped, and he nearly chuckled. At any other time, he would be laughing his ass off at the scene in front of him, but it wasn’t funny right now. Too much was at stake.

Katie-Anne had Mary backed into a corner. She was jeering and sneering at Mary while Sarah murmured soothing words to her, obviously trying to calm her down. Jaycee, on the other hand, was scrambling to get back up off the floor nearby, cursing and muttering wildly.

Jared walked over to Jaycee, offering her a hand and helping her up. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” Jaycee replied as she released his hand with a grimace. “That bitch hit me.”

“I kind of figured that out,” he countered. “But you’ll have to explain the rest to me later. I have to go in there and get my woman.”

Jaycee nodded to him then stalked over to Sarah, Katie-Anne, and Mary.

Katie-Anne growled like an overly-protective feral animal. “I’m not going to kill you because it is so damn messy,” she said. “But I will make you hurt for all the shit you’ve done to my friends.”

“Katie-Anne,” Sarah said softly as she attempted to step between the aggressive women. With her gentle nature, she didn’t get far before Jaycee pulled her out of the way.

Jared saw Katie-Anne make a fist and pull her arm back, but he was in too big of a hurry to stay and watch what happened next in the surreal show. He strode through the kitchen, making his way to the dining room. Behind him, he heard a fist against flesh followed by Katie-Anne explaining sharply, “That was for being a bitch to Shannon.” Then another punch reverberated through the kitchen. “And that was for hitting Jaycee.”

They’ve got this under control.

Jared stepped into the dining room, immediately spotting Shannon bound upside down on a wooden column. The asshole had used thick rope to hold her there, tying it so tightly around her wrists and ankles that Jared could see the changes in her skin color around the bindings. The milk-colored flesh on her hands and feet now had a purplish-blue hue to it, and that wasn’t the only color change on her body. Her peach-and-cream face now looked more like an over-ripened strawberry.
I’m going to kill that motherfucking bastard.

Neither Shannon nor Pauley saw Jared entering the picture. Thankfully, her head faced the opposite direction where the other six men stood in a circle, prohibiting her from giving him away. And so did her uncle’s face. Jared’s brothers and friends knew he was there, but didn’t take their eyes off the psycho in the room.

Jared had a prime opportunity lying in front of him, one that Pauley would never anticipate. He moved just inside the doorway, getting into position with his feet shoulder width apart, knees bent, and the gun extended toward Pauley. He was ready to do whatever necessary to protect Shannon and, within a second, he had to.

A
crash
followed by a
thump
and Mary screaming, “
Daddy
,”
had him pulling the trigger.

* * * *

Shannon heard Sid demand, “What the fu—” But he was cut off when a gun went off. He jerked, falling over with a
thud.
Blood flowed freely from the hole in his chest, and Shannon knew there was no saving him.

Before she could respond, three men were on her. She had one man untying her feet, one untying her hands, and one more holding onto her so she didn’t fall and crack her head open.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she heard the remaining six men in the room go tearing through house, screaming for their respective women. And she heard Belle, Ash, and Kegan burst into the house. Swarming around, they discussed how Judge Caldwell’s delay at the courthouse had cost them time and, now, they had to deal with a dead body and the red tape that came along with it.

Not that she gave a damn about any of them or what they said. She needed
her
men,
her
princes,
her
saviors.

A sudden wave of vertigo hit Shannon, and she felt nauseous. Spots appeared before her eyes and a buzzing filled her ears.
I’m going to pass out. No, I have to say something to them first.

“I love you,” she declared with a sigh then gave into the darkness for the second time that day.

* * * *

Whispers greeted Shannon when she finally managed to pull herself out of the abyss. Prying her eyes open, she was momentarily blinded by the sunrise peeking through the window. She had to blink several times before her vision returned, and she was able to see all of her favorite people standing in clumps around her hospital bed. Predictably, she sought out her men, finding them at her bedside speaking in hushed tones.

Instead of alerting them or anyone else that she had returned to the land of the living, she lowered her lids to slits and shamelessly eavesdropped on her friends and three lovers.
I’m such a nosy bitch.

Choosing to save the best, and sexiest, for last, Shannon listened in on Shane, Landon, and Katie-Anne. At the end of her bed, Shane towered over Katie-Anne. He ran a shaky hand through his rich, mocha-colored hair. “Katie-Anne, would you like to explain what in the hell possessed you, Sarah, and Jaycee to take on Mary like that? And, while we are at it, where did you get a fold-up easel to knock her out with? Have you ever heard of a real weapon?”

Katie-Anne stared blankly back at Shane, playing with a small object dangling from the silver chain around her neck. She shrugged indifferently. “It was the only thing we could find in my car.”

“You didn’t answer his other question,” Landon said as he rubbed his face wearily. “Why did you fight Mary?”

Katie-Anne sighed sadly then said, “She attacked Jaycee from behind when we got into the house, and I ended up punching her a couple of times. I thought I had knocked her out, but I hadn’t. When she went after Jaycee again, I hit her over the head with my easel. I could not let that nutjob hurt her or the baby. Sarah couldn’t either. She kicked Mary’s foot to make sure that she was out cold that time.”

“Fine,” Shane acquiesced, crossing his big arms. “I’ll give you that, but why did you bring the easel in the first place?”

“
That woman
,” Katie-Anne spat, a bit of her old self sparking back to life, “is a lunatic. Her elevator has never gone all the way to the top, and I figured we would need something to defend ourselves with.”