The Brody Bunch Collection: Bad Boy Romance

by Sienna Valentine

  All I could do was stare, terrified, at the office door as it swung open, expecting to face the angry dark eyes of my father. Only what I saw was far, far worse.

  Staring back at me with a completely surprised look on his still battered and bruised face, was one of the tattooed thugs that had chased us in the woods. The same one that had grabbed Sarah at the carnival and that Ash had to be pulled off of by his brothers.

  He looked like a monster, his face still not healed and a wild look in his eyes, strange designs running up from under his shirt and along the sides of his neck. It felt like all the air in the office had been sucked out. I couldn’t even breathe.

  His gaze flickered to the bag in my hands, and then he spoke in a low and menacing voice. “You should not be down here, little girl.”

  26

  Wyatt

  “I still think this is probably the stupidest plan I’ve ever heard.”

  Ash just shrugged. “Beats the hell out of running for help from the very same group that created this mess in the first place.”

  “How was I to know all that shit? You were in deeper than I was when all that got set up and you didn’t know about it either!”

  “I’m just saying, you don’t go looking for help from people just as likely to stab you in the back. I think maybe that was the whole point of Bea’s story.”

  “What? That crap about the dog and the cat? That shit made no sense. Anyway, how would she know anything about what we were doing there.”

  “Bea knows, bro. I warned you about her….”

  I wasn’t about to get sucked into another ‘Bea is a witch’ argument. “Okay, just shut the fuck up about this already. We have more important shit to concentrate on. Like making sure we give this lame ass plan as much chance of working as we can.”

  “I agree,” said Reid. “Quit bickering like a couple of old ladies and let’s go over this one more time.”

  The plan was fairly simple, really. Ash was going to drive right into the village on his motorcycle and act like he was drunk. His job was simply to cause as much noise and distraction as he could while I snuck in and grabbed Beth. Hannah and Sarah had drawn a little map of the village so I was pretty sure I knew how to find their house. Reid’s job would be as a lookout, texting either of us if there was trouble, as well as to be waiting for us in my truck when we got out. We’d send Ash a text as soon as we were safe and driving back to meet Beth’s sisters at Hannah’s apartment, and that would be his signal to hop on his bike and boot out of there as well.

  As far as I was concerned, too much of the plan hinged on Ash’s inflated belief in his own acting and fast talking abilities. But as he said, it’s not like the Amish would be able to compare it to all the Academy Award performances they’d seen. So it would have to be good enough. As much as I really wanted to go in there swinging my fists, there was very little hope that the three of us would have much of a chance against a whole village.

  “Okay, we’re all set then,” I said as soon as I was confident we were ready to go. I just had one last thing I wanted to get off my chest. “Listen, guys, I just want to say something. I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye on everything—and I may not have always felt this way—but I really do understand now that you guys always had my best interests at heart. Even if you always found a way to sound preachy when you showed it.” I smiled so they’d know I was just kidding on that last part. Mostly. The rest was true though. Both Ash and Reid had been trying to steer me clear of the MC my whole life, even as I tried to run back to it every chance I got. “Anyway, it means a lot to me that you’re here to help me out now when I really need it.”

  “Well don’t get all fucking mushy on us,” Ash said, giving me a little shove. “Next you’re going to want a goodbye kiss. Anyway, don’t think I don’t have any vested interest in causing old Amos a world of pain for what he did to Hannah. I just wish this plan of mine involved delivering that to him.”

  “Me too,” Reid agreed, rubbing his still-healing nose. “Anyway, that’s what brothers do; we look out for each other. Someone messes with one of us, or even one of our girls, then they get the full might of the Brody bunch raining down on them. Now let’s go get Beth back.”

  I smiled and nodded as Ash hopped onto his bike. We were just past the outskirts of town. According to Sarah and Hannah, cutting through the forest would get me to the village just in time for Ash’s antics to be in full swing. I started moving just as soon as he did, using a flashlight to see where I was going and following the sound of his roaring engine.

  In the dark an unfamiliar forest, I could only move so fast, though, unwilling to risk falling and spraining an ankle or something that would make a quick getaway that much harder. In the distance I heard the motorcycle stop, which meant that Ash had reached the center of the village where he was going to start his performance.

  I continued forward as new sounds began to fill my ears. Shouting, mostly, from both Ash and unfamiliar voices. Once I was close enough to the village, I turned off my flashlight. There was enough illumination coming through the trees now from what I could see were lamps that a number of people were carrying. There were quite a few Amish standing around, all of them focused in one direction. Towards Ash.

  As I got closer I could see him as well. He was stumbling around, barely able to stay in one place. Yelling obscenities and ranting about something. Completely overselling it, in my opinion.

  Yet he had their attention, and that was all that mattered.

  I watched for a few more moments until some of the older men became really angry at how Ash was cursing so much and ignoring their demands that he leave at once. Things were escalating. I needed to hurry and find Beth.

  I backtracked a little way through the forest so that I could slip out far enough from the crowd not to be seen, careful to stay as much in the shadows as possible as I made my way to Beth. That wasn’t too hard, given that most of the light was coming from lanterns that were all focused around my brother. Only twice did I have to quickly hide as some new family emerged from their house to see what all the commotion was about. I was getting the feeling that pretty soon he’d have the whole damn village out there.

  The route I was taking had me backtracking behind the buildings, not far from where Ash was causing his scene. The yelling grew a bit louder, but I was now separated by at least a few buildings so I knew I couldn’t be seen.

  Just as I was passing a church, I heard a sound that caused me to reflexively duck behind the nearest shrub that was big enough to hide my body. Peering between the branches, I was expecting to see another family appear. Instead, what I saw almost made me choke.

  There was a struggle as two people emerged from around the building, with one of them, a large man, dragging another—a woman—by the hair. The man was carrying a lantern that was throwing shadows randomly across his face and body as their struggle made it swing wildly. It didn’t take long for one of the beams to light up their faces.

  The woman was Beth, and the one dragging her along was one of those fucks we’d handed a beat down to the other day.

  I leapt to my feet, charging through the bush towards them. Beth saw me first, her eyes lighting up in shock at first, and then fear. “Wyatt!” she exclaimed. As soon as she said that, the guy that was holding her stopped short and looked up, a sneer rising across his lips in recognition.

  “Well, isn’t this nice. It’s like a fucking reunion,” he said.

  “Wyatt, what are you doing here?” Beth cried out. She still looked scared.

  “I came for you,” I replied, still keeping my eyes on the bald asshole that had his fingers wrapped in her hair. I wasn’t about to let him surprise me with anything. I was still moving forward, but slower now. They were less than ten feet away.

  “You have to be careful, Wyatt. These guys and my father are very dangerous, they—“

  “Shut it, bitch,” the man growled, giving her a sharp look as he yanked hard on her blond locks. Beth cr
ied out in pain.

  I wasn’t going to wait for a better opportunity than that. With him momentarily distracted, I launched myself forward, barreling towards the guy with both fists clenched and at the ready. He looked up in surprise, releasing his hold on Beth just in time to raise his hands defensively.

  Just as my body slammed into his, Beth let out an ear-splitting shriek.

  My weight knocked the ugly brute from his feet and I landed on top of him. I felt the wind whoosh out from his lungs on impact, blowing across the side of my head with a rancid smell. Wasting no time, I pushed my upper body up and drew back my fist, letting it drop heavily down against the side of his head. It connected solidly, but he still managed to catch me off guard with a violent buck of his hips that flung me to the side and off of his chest.

  Both of us rolled back around and leapt to our feet, only as the other man did so he reached down into his boot and pulled out a knife.

  That changed things. I needed to be more careful now. Adjust my tactics.

  “Your face still looks terrible,” I said, attempting to goad him into getting angry and making a mistake. “But then again, I don’t remember it being very pretty to begin with. Guess I should have just let my brother kill you the first time, save you the shame of walking around looking like that.”

  Bullseye. The man grimaced at the reminder of his prior defeat and took a wild swing at me with the knife, which I easily blocked. As I did, I curled my own arm around his and pulled it up and against my chest, locking him in a painful arm bar—courtesy of all of my MMA training. He yelped in pain as the knife fell from his grip. I then used my free hand to deliver another blow to his face, this time slamming into his jaw.

  I could hear some sounds coming from behind me now, but I wasn’t finished with this guy. The last hit dazed him, and he wasn’t even raising his free arm in defense anymore. I took the opportunity to deliver two more blows to his head before I felt someone grab my arm firmly, holding it back. Then more bodies were on me, yanking me away from him.

  As I was pulled back, I saw some men help the tattooed thug, treating him more gingerly as they seemed to consider him the victim simply because I was the one doing the punching. But as soon as he had recovered, he pushed away and took off, fleeing between the houses and towards the forest. I guess that was enough to make the Amish think twice about his innocence, and a couple of them gave chase, disappearing as well.

  By now, other Amish men had surrounded Beth and I, her shriek likely having drawn their attention away from Ash’s antics. There was a lot of yelling in a language I didn’t understand, but also some voices in English demanding to know who I was.

  I began to struggle against the arms that were holding me, but these guys were strong and there were too many.

  I spied Ash’s face appear in the crowd, everyone having forgotten about the lone drunk fool in favor of the two men trying to kill each other. He was giving me a signal to calm down. He was right, of course. Struggling wasn’t going to get me anywhere, but it was hard to let go of my anger. I’d been so close to rescuing Beth. Now I had no idea what the hell was going to happen.

  She was still close by, but not approaching me. There was still fear in her eyes, but I had no idea what it was she was afraid of now, exactly. My mind reeled as I tried to think of what to do next. Of how to get out of here with her.

  “What’s going on here?” came a stern voice, speaking English and rising above the murmuring of the crowd, most of whom were speaking in Beth’s language. Bodies parted and a tall, dark haired man walked forward. His eyes were like pits of black, and his rage seemed to simmer almost as hot as mine. “Who are you?”

  I had no idea what to do or what to say, so I decided my best hope was to be honest. Our plan had failed, we were out of lies, and completely outnumbered. What did I have to lose?

  “I’m Wyatt Brody,” I replied, puffing out my chest in a show of confidence even as my arms were still being held. I cast a glance over at Beth who was standing a few feet away with wide eyes. “I’ve come for her. Beth. The woman I love.”

  A murmur went through the crowd as I turned back to the man confronting me. “Who the hell are you?”

  If it was possible, the man’s expression grew even darker. He paused as he looked over to Beth and then back at me. “I’m Amos Miller. Beth’s father.”

  27

  Beth

  My world was spinning out of control, and all I could do was stand there and stare. Fear paralyzed me. Too much was coming at me all at once. The discovery that my father was moving drugs through our community, the tattooed man grabbing me again, Wyatt showing up out of the blue and getting in a fight with him again, almost getting stabbed in the process. The entire town showing up to stop the fight and now a showdown between the two men in my life.

  On one side was my father, a man you didn’t ever stand up to or cross. The most imposing man in the whole village, and who had always been in command of my life and my decisions for as long as I could remember. At least until I had the chance to run away and experience true freedom for the first time, and how wonderful it felt to make my own choices. For a week, I had a chance to be in charge of my own destiny. Everyone always used to talk about my strong spirit and desire to try new things, but it was always within the bounds set by Father and this community. Being away had freed me to be myself, but as soon as I came back, that oppression fell back around me, and I reacted by cowering beneath it, like the little girl my sisters always treated me as.

  But on the other side was Wyatt. My own personal hero who had seemed willing to be my protector from the day we met. And how did I repay that selflessness? By running from him, by not giving him a chance, by not trusting in the goodness I knew I’d seen the moment I looked into his hazel eyes. And he loved me.

  He really said that, didn’t he? In front of the entire village. In front of my father.

  Oh, God.

  I could already see Father’s rage begin to grow, focusing itself on Wyatt before he looked around at his fellow Amish and addressed them in our own tongue.

  “You heard this man. He snuck into our village under the cover of darkness, in order to steal away one of our own. My daughter. Beth, who only a few days ago returned from the English world herself. She ventured down the road right into that den of sin, as is the right of the young, and rejected its wickedness, choosing instead to return home where she belongs. And now this man, this English man, has come back to take her against her will to force her to live an immoral life.” From the crowd, voices in support started to rise up. Angry glares were being cast at Wyatt, and I could see the men holding him tighten their grip.

  Father turned around, searching the crowd until he settled on Ash and pointed his finger at him. “And that one must be part of it as well. A distraction meant to cast us as fools as—”

  “Genunk!” Enough!

  My voice rang out, louder even than Father’s, and was so surprising to everyone that not only did he stop talking, but every face turned in my direction. But no one was more surprised than me. I hadn’t meant to say anything. I was terrified. But I could see the crowd beginning to rally behind my father and before long, he would have them doing whatever he wanted. As usual.

  Wyatt might have been stronger physically, but my father had the whole community on his side. Everyone believed in him, and I couldn’t imagine what he would say next. He was no stranger to lies, I had discovered.

  But it wasn’t until his hypocrisy of accusing the boys of trying to make the community look like fools that I could no longer hold my tongue. This needed to end immediately, one way or the other. Everyone needed to learn the truth. What they did with it once they heard it would be up to them, but they needed to know who the real liar here was. I continued in English so that Wyatt and Ash would know what was going on, just as my father had spoken in our tongue to keep them in the dark and unable to respond to his fabrications. But he didn’t count on me turning against him.

  “T
he only one playing you all for fools has been my father.” My voice was shaky at first, but then I looked over at Wyatt, his face lighting up with a surprised but reassuring smile as I began to talk, and it gave me the strength I needed to continue confidently. “Why don’t you tell everyone here what’s in your office, Father?”

  “Beth,” his voice snapped, eyes flashing dangerously as he glowered in my direction. “That’s enough. Go home and I will deal with you later.” The tone he was taking would normally have sent me running, but not this time. There was too much at stake for me to back down now.

  “No.”

  “No?” Father looked around at the crowd. All eyes were on him again, watching and waiting to see how he would handle his defiant daughter. “Do you see?” he asked the crowd, raising his arms as if at a loss. “This is what spending time in the Devil’s Playground does to a young person. Their minds are too easily influenced. They come back disobedient and disrespectful.”

  The crowd began to nod and murmur again, as father continued to play them masterfully. Respect and obedience for your elders—and more specifically your father—were among the most important principles in our society.

  But so was honesty.

  “Okay, Father, I will go home. Right after you tell everyone what is in your office. Or would you rather I do it?”

  “My office is my business, not the concern of a simple girl. Helping to run a community like this is not a matter I would expect a woman to fully understand, nor do I have the desire or time to teach you.”

  I saw Wyatt’s expression darken at the insult, but it was nothing I hadn’t heard before. Father’s attitude simply mirrored that of the community as a whole. Still, I wasn’t going to let him redirect the conversation again.

  “Well, then I guess the council of elders are fully aware of the large bundles of white powder, wrapped tightly in plastic and hidden behind brown paper. Those are some type of illegal drug, aren’t they, father?”