Tormented: A Bully Romance Anthology Page 14

  Mouthing bathroom to him I pointed to the back wall where I had seen the sign for the restrooms. Okay, he mouthed back. The music bumped just the same as I left the dance floor. Exiting the crowd of people who were having a blast I felt the exhaustion wash over me. Dancing in heels really takes it out of you, even after a relaxing day of doing nothing.

  The wide hallway to the bathroom was as dimly lit as the rest of the club, seemed like shades of shadows was the general theme. Hitting the bathroom I counted my blessings that there was a stall open instead of the customary mile long line. The halogen lights of the bathroom blared ultra white against the contrasting darkness of the hallway. My eyes were struggling to adjust when someone bumped into me.

  "Hey, watch where your- hmpf." In the darkness I couldn't see the face of the person that pushed into me. Not until they had their hands around me did I realize that it hadn’t been an accident.

  Hand over my mouth I couldn't scream. The smell of sweat permeated the air as I bucked against their body fighting for release. Eyes searching the darkness for help I fought against the hands that struggled to hold me.

  My heart beat wildly as the strong arms held me close to the broad chest. Kicking and throwing my arms around wildly I couldn't concentrate on anything other than getting away. Getting the hand off my mouth so I could scream. Getting the arm off my body and getting away.

  Our wild hallway rodeo seemed to last forever as we both fought for control. Kicking against him I thought for a moment I was free.

  Hand on my shoulder he sent me careening toward the wall, where I hit my head. Then the hallway went from shadows to darkness in the next moment. I knew nothing more until I woke up.

  Chapter Seven

  Light at the End of the Tunnel

  The light was all I knew when I opened my eyes. Blinding light from all directions. Burning, hot white lights beat into me like the sun, scorching my skin.

  Face swollen and achy I tried to touch my aching skin only to meet the resistance of chains. Clanking metal links were attached to both of my wrists and ankles. What the hell?

  Headache blaring through my brain, I tried to focus my eyes to the room around me. Where am I?

  Lights encircled me. Huge bulbs with even bigger silver lamps sat in a haphazard row all around where I sat chained up. What the hell was happening?

  Recalling the hallway attack, my wounded mind worked to piece together any information. The shadows had been too thick from exiting the bright bathroom. I didn't see their face, but I knew it had to be a guy.

  "Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey." The cackling voice seemed to come from behind me, somewhere beyond the circle of lights. Damn hot the lights were. Eating my flesh to a crisp they must be some kind of UV lamp. Stomping boots sounded in the darkness that existed outside of the circle of lamps.

  Heart beating like mad I sat silently in the chair slowly testing the chains. I am not going to die like this. Heart beating in frustrated shock I tried to calm myself. My body vibrated with the call for the roots. I could feel them coming toward me from deep underground, they would be here soon. Here to help me.

  "Now that you're awake we can start."

  Click.

  Click.

  The sound of steel scraping steel sounded as I struggled to see past the blazing suns that circled me. What the hell is happening? I can’t see anything past these damn lights.

  Finally, I saw the bright flare of fire illuminating the figure of a man holding a welding torch. Head cloaked in a dark mirrored mask I couldn't see who it was but my heart knew. Slater.

  As he turned toward me, pointing the fire-spewing torch in my direction, my breath froze in my chest. He was going to burn me alive. Set on fire with a welding torch. What the fuck!

  Pulling viciously against the chains I called the roots to me urgently. It was go time. I could feel them inching closer as the black boots of my attacker pushed past the wires of the lamps. Stomping ominously toward me he shouldered past the silver lamps of the lights knocking them to the ground. This is it. My mind went blank as the panic set into my bones. I am going to die by the hands of this crazy person.

  Shaking, my arms were shaking with terror. My heart rumbled in my chest, like the sound of thunder. Legs stiff and knees locked I felt the movement at my feet rush over me like a wave. Thousands of vines swelled around me like a tidal wave. A burst of green vines striking out to the attacker as they pushed the lamps to the ground. Thick leather like vines whipped out to capture his hands, immobilizing his wicked torch.

  Shattering light bulbs and shaking floor boards brought the entire world around me to an apocalyptic standoff. Eyes focused on the attacker I crushed the cuffs around my wrists with thick vines that had made their way to save me.

  I could always count on the vines, on mother earth. She was always there. Just below the surface ready to protect her daughter. Today her gifts would save my life and end another.

  Standing tall on weak legs I raised my hand, compelling the thick powerful vines that held my attacker in place to construct. Pulling his struggling form from the buckling broken floorboards I seethed the hatred that flowed in my veins outward. Lights crashed to the ground around us.

  This ends now. I will not play the victim any longer. Slowly I bent my fingers, beckoning to the vines to lift the black mirrored mask.

  Tell me it’s not really him.

  Clanking to the floor the metal mask bounced away from the circle of destruction as my rage boiled over. Kill him. My eyes saw only the face of the man that tormented me endlessly.

  End him.

  He had been making my life worse day by day with his antics at the diner.

  Break his bones.

  Making the guys do his stupid bidding.

  Vines rippling with power he let out a scream as they began to break his weak human body. ‘We aren't supposed to hurt humans’ Eddy’s words echoed in my red focused mind.

  Fuck if I care that some person some years ago decided we shouldn’t kill humans. This human had been torturing me for months, and now he tried to kill me! Wasn’t that too far? Aren’t I supposed to be able to protect myself?

  Begrudgingly fighting my conscious I heard the pounding of fists on wood over the Slater’s screaming. Just past him, previously hidden from my view by the heat lamps, I saw a bear burst through a dilapidated barn door.

  My guys!

  Heart nearly leaping out of my chest I forgot about Slater. Hoping over vines and broken wood I threw myself into the plush brown fur of Will. Tears leaked from my eyes like liquid betrayal.

  Somewhere behind me, I heard the scuffling of a fight. The bashing brawling cacophony of fists meeting flesh

  “Don’t look.” Soft fur had transformed into bristling chest hair underneath my hands as I felt his arms band around my tender crispy skin. I was burnt worse than a marshmallow. Those damn lamps. That damn guy.

  “Are they going to kill him this time?” Somewhere behind us Rex and Eddy were undoubtedly laying into Slater. He deserved it, without a doubt. My only concern was for their conscious. Killing a person weighs on you, as I just realized when I had the thin string of life in my hands.

  “They already did, Sweetheart. You rest now okay?” Settling into the backseat of the pick up truck Will laid me on top of him, patting my head slowly until my eyes closed.

  Chapter Eight

  Together Ever After

  Cotton sheets encircled me. So warm and comfortable I didn’t want to wake up.

  I lay in the middle of the bed surrounded by mountains. Hairy and muscled peaks greeted my fingers as I rose from the plush softness of the bed.

  Mountains made of men. Warm breath caressed my cheek as I turned to shuffle myself out of the middle of the pushed together queen mattresses.

  ‘It’ll be a super king’ Rex had said with a wild look in his eyes the day we moved them into the big room. Yeah, sure. Some super king. I somehow always wind up right in the crack between the two beds. Socked feet hit the har
dwood floor as I sighed a contented breath.

  I couldn’t really complain. After all, I was sleeping in this super king bed with three guys much hotter than Clark Kent. Moans and groans? Oh yeah, we had those but not about the sleeping arrangements. Padding my way to the bathroom I couldn’t believe how much had changed in the last few days.

  It had only been five days since the attack.

  Five days since my birthday.

  That day I woke up chained to a chair in an old barn surrounded by heat lamps seemed so surreal now that it was over. It could have been a scene from a horror movie now that it was in the past.

  The hot lights burning my skin. The wicked glint on the black welding mask glass. The images snuck up on me when I got too still. Like a reminder of the attack. A reminder of Slater and his tormenting ways.

  It was all over now though. He was gone.

  The guys had lit the barn on fire. The news was reporting it as a accidental fire due to improper electric wiring in the old barn. Slater’s body was buried out there in the woods behind the barn. Deep enough the animals wouldn’t be able to dig it up the guys had said.

  I hoped no one ever found him.

  No one would miss who he had become.

  Not the guys and certainly not me.

  “Hey hot mama, you ready for some coffee?” Black curls all disheveled Rex looked like a model first thing in the morning, while I looked like toad frog. Unfair.

  “Yeah, first I need some sugar.”

  “Oh ask and you shall receive, my lady.”

  Leaning me against the table Rex pushed my haphazardly packed suitcase back as he lifted me to sit on the edge of the wooden top. We had bags laying all over the living room in different stages of being packed. Now that I was an adult we were going to start the traveling that I always wanted to do. First stop Brazil with three of the hottest bodyguards a girl could ask for.

  About Deborah Alexander

  *Mother- check x3

  *Wife- check

  *Teacher- check

  *Writer- check mate

  Paranormal romance reader and fangirl Deborah Alexander strives to bring her readers into the world she has created between the pages of her books. Busy moming and writing this lady can not consume enough coffee. Be sure to check out her page to see what’s coming up next for this paranormal romance author.

  Follow me at www.facebook.com/dalexanderwrites

  Hush, Little Wolf by A.C. Pontone

  Possible trigger warning: Some scenes may be a trigger for some people.

  To Mattia, I miss you.

  Prologue

  HAYLEE

  I hear the screams coming from the living room. I get up from the bed and go to the door of my room. I don't know why they started fighting. Maybe Mom burned the dinner again, or forgot to buy the beer, or dad is just drunk.

  I close my eyes, take a deep breath and open the door a little.

  "Please!" The screams are louder. I can make out the pleas in my mother's sobs.

  I run toward the stairs, but I stop as soon as I touch the first step. A cry of pain pierces the silence of the night. My heart starts beating faster.

  I see my father coming out of the living room. He looks up at me. His eyes penetrating. Anger, contempt, hatred, and something else that I can't quite figure out. I take a step backwards. I stumble and fall on my ass. The man doesn’t approach, though. Perhaps it was enough for him to go after just my mother tonight.

  I stare at him with wide eyes, and only when I see him go out the front door do I breathe a sigh of relief.

  I'm safe for tonight.

  And then I hear it. The silence.

  It has never been silent after. When my father stops, my mother starts to cry. It’s never quiet. But tonight it is.

  I go down the steps slowly, afraid he could come back at any moment. But the front door remains closed.

  I enter the living room. I can't see my mother. Then I hear a slight rattle. I go around the sofa, and in one corner, I see my mother lying on the ground. Eyes open, lips parted and from a corner of her mouth, a trickle of blood runs down her chin.

  "Mom," I whisper, bringing my hand against my mouth and trying to hold back the tears. "No, no, no!" I run to her, falling to my knees next to her motionless body. "Mom," I keep calling, but she doesn't answer. I don't dare touch her. I don't want to know if she’s still breathing. I can't.

  I stand up suddenly and run to the phone.

  I don't hear half of what the 911 operator is saying, but I still manage to give her the address of our house. Five minutes, she tells me. In five minutes, an ambulance will be here and my mother will be safe. Five minutes.

  And five minutes pass, or maybe something more. The paramedics arrive. They ask me questions. They talk about something, but I don't hear them. I’m frozen in the center of the room, with my eyes fixed on my mother's body. Someone puts his hands on my shoulders and leads me out. They make me get into the ambulance. They keep asking me questions, then they take a light and they point it at my eyes, forcing me to blink.

  "She's in shock," I hear.

  Suddenly, I have something soft and warm on my shoulders. I feel a pinch in my arm. Two strong arms hold me tight.

  "Everything will be fine, Haylee. I'm here now."

  I recognize that voice even though I don't really know why. And then my eyelids get heavy and I decide to believe in the voice. I decide to let myself go.

  Everything will be fine, Haylee.

  But, deep down in my heart, I know it's just a lie.

  Chapter One

  HAYLEE

  I try to distract myself, looking at the landscape that runs quickly by the window. I feel Mr. Stevenson’s eyes on me. I know he’s looking at me and I know he would like to say something, but I refuse to talk to the man again. He’s the cause of all...this. He’s the reason why my father got mad and killed my mother. It's his fault. But no one cares what an almost eighteen-year-old has to say. I'm not yet of age. I'm not yet an adult by law. Not until at least September. I always imagined finding a job after graduation to save up for college. Instead, I found myself arranging my mother’s funeral with the help of the man who caused her death. And since I’m not yet of age, I should have spent the two months left until my eighteenth birthday in a foster home, even though Mr. Stevenson – Gordon, as he said he wants to be called – managed, probably paying a lot of money, to get my custody. He adopted me. The man who ruined my life is now my foster father.

  I snort, attracting Gordon's attention.

  "Everything all right?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

  I hold a hysterical laugh back as I start to ignore him again, looking outside the window.

  "You know, Haylee, if you want to talk about what happened ..."

  I clench my fists and my jaw.

  Yes, of course I’d like to talk about what happened! I’d like to tell him how he should have stayed away from my mother. A married woman, for fuck's sake! But he didn't!

  I know I'm unfair. I know that Gordon didn't really do anything wrong, but I can't help thinking that if my father hadn't read the damn message he sent to my mother that night, then maybe she'd still be alive now.

  They had fallen in love. It was the perfect romance novel. She had gone to the hospital after a fall from the stairs, and he was her doctor. My mother often fell down the stairs, which meant they had met and talked many, many times. When I accompanied her to the hospital, I could see the worry on Dr. Stevenson's face. He tried to tell her to leave my father. He said he would look after both of us. But of course, even the beautiful and caring Dr. Gordon Stevenson had a sordid secret: He was married, too.

  Their affair lasted for more than a year. They kept seeing each other in the hospital and, I'm sure, they had found a way to meet outside, too. It wasn’t like we never went to the emergency room again. Sometimes it happened three times in the same week. So, yes, it was probably my father's fault if my mother had so many opportunities to cheat on him! Anyway, if i
t wasn't her, I was the clumsy one to fall down the stairs and find myself with a cracked rib or a black eye.

  Dr. Stevenson has tried several times to make me confess how I actually got these injuries, but I couldn't do it. I loved my father, and maybe a part of me still loves him. It wasn't like that before, but then he lost his job and started drinking ... a lot.

  So, yes, I admit that sometimes I imagined what it could have been like to have Dr. Stevenson as my dad. Someone who cared about me and never hit me.

  Yet, now that my curiosity can be satisfied, I just want to go back. Back to the sleepless nights, back to the beatings, back to my father who hit me and my mother. Because at least, back then, I had a mom.

  The night my father killed my mother, she had just received a message from her lover. He told her that he got a divorce and wanted to spend his life with her.

  I feel the tears running down my cheeks. I really wish things were different. I know Gordon loved my mother, and I'm sure he would’ve made her really happy, but in the end, he just messed it all up. And now I find myself having to live with him and his three sons for the next two months.

  He told me he did it because this was what my mother wanted. He promised he would continue to take care of me, even after I was eighteen. He wants me to go to college and have a normal life. That's what he would have done for me if my mother had agreed to move in with him. He says we would have been a family if she were still alive, but even if she's gone, we can be anyway.