Vicious: A Dark Bully Reverse Harem Romance (Beautiful Tyrants Book 3)

by Vanessa Winters

  The skin on my knuckles was cut open and I thought that I could even see the white protrusion of a tiny piece of splintered bone. But I didn’t care. I only hoped that I broke her nose or gave her one hell of a black eye. At the very least, I would be happy for a concussion; anything that would cause her a tiny fraction of the pain that she had caused others.

  “We should wrap that up while we’re still here and have supplies at hand,” Michael said as he turned to walk toward the bathroom.

  I didn’t want to wait, though. I wanted to leave this house and go home. Not necessarily to Charlotte, in fact I dreaded going back there. But I wanted to get back to the mountainside cabin in Asheville, and if this was the way to do it then I wanted to get it done and then be able to return home again. I sat down on a chair in the kitchen and waited for him to return.

  He appeared a moment later with a handful of gauze wraps and antiseptic.

  When Michael poured the antiseptic onto my open skin, I didn’t even flinch even though I could see it sizzling against my raw flesh and felt the burning sting.

  “Wow,” he said. “Doesn’t that hurt you?”

  “Nothing really hurts much anymore,” I answered flatly.

  It was true, too. I felt like almost everything was numb, almost. My feelings for the guys still gnawed at my soul as if I was being eaten alive from the inside out, but aside from that, nothing else really mattered. My mother’s vision mattered, and that I would make sure to accomplish for her. But when I had finished, I would go back to the cabin with Michael and we would finally be free and happy. I would tell Adam and Rob about my choice, and they would probably move somewhere close by so that we could all still hang out, but far enough away that we would have privacy, and they would be able to move on and find someone else.

  In my head, the fantasy of that happily ever after wasn’t a fantasy at all.

  In my head, that was the goal that I would work toward.

  “How long do you think it will take to get the sanctuary up and running?” I asked Michael while he wrapped the white gauze around my hand.

  The fabric quickly turned a muddy-reddish color as the blood pushed up against it.

  “Well,” he said as he contemplated my question, “with all of the financial resources that you now have, and with all four of us working on getting it off the ground, I can’t imagine it would take longer than a few months. You have enough money to hire an army of people to work for you if you wanted, and maybe you should.”

  I blinked. “Should what, hire an army of people?”

  He chuckled. “Yeah. I mean, I know you want to honor your mother’s wish, but I just don’t want it to take too long. I want to get back to us. Is that selfish of me?”

  I laughed a little, both from the pinch of the clasp that he pressed down onto the bandage to keep it from coming off, and from the fact that I felt exactly the same way. “No, it’s not selfish at all. I want that too. That’s why I asked the question to begin with.”

  Michael smiled and leaned forward to kiss me. And the kiss probably would have lasted longer, had it not been for Adam clearing his throat in the doorway to get our attention. “Sorry to break up this little moment of intimacy inside this house where someone just died and we just knocked out a crazy woman,” he said sarcastically, “but Rob and I are getting tired of waiting in the car and it’s probably not the best idea to leave Naomi in there unattended. So, can we go now?”

  “Yeah,” I said as I stood up and tucked the paperwork and journal under my arm. “Let’s go.”

  Michael started for the door. “I’ll drive first.”

  Naomi was in the passenger seat so that she could be fully tied down and not close enough to anyone to be able to do anything stupid. I rode in the back in between Rob and Adam.

  It was still the middle of the night, so the roadways were dark, and I was tired. I had gotten used to being tired all the time.

  It was almost as if exhaustion was my new shade of eyeshadow because the area around my eyes was always purple.

  I leaned up against Adam’s shoulder and looked at the side of Naomi’s face, which I could just barely see from around her seatback. She looked so much like my mother and it made me sad. It made me sad because I missed my mom so badly that I wanted to scream until I broke my voice box. But it also made me sad because I wanted her not to be crazy. I wanted her to be sane, and kind, and I wanted to be able to know her and have at least someone alive that knew my mom, that I could talk to about her.

  I knew that I could always talk to the guys, but that was different.

  This was my mom’s sister.

  I bet she could tell me things about my mom when she was my age and about her childhood and funny stories from her past. She could tell me about my mom’s hopes and dreams as a young adult, and that was information that I longed to know about my mother so badly that it hurt.

  I didn’t even notice that I was silently crying until I felt Adam’s finger wipe away the wetness from my cheek.

  “Hey,” he said softly as Rob slept on the other side of the car by me. “What is it?”

  For a brief moment, I couldn’t answer him. I knew that if I tried to say anything, it would just come out as a cry. Even when I thought I had my emotions under control, my voice still cracked when I said the words, the simple truth that haunted me even after all this time.

  “I miss my mom,” I whimpered.

  Adam frowned as he empathized with my anguish. He pulled me closer into him and kissed the top of my head as he rubbed his fingers alongside my shoulder.

  “I know you do,” he said in a comforting tone that felt like a verbal hug. “I miss her too, and I didn’t even know her that well. Your mom was a very special woman, and so are you.”

  “No, I’m not,” I said with a sniffle. “I’m a wreck. I keep trying to do the right thing and I keep failing at it.”

  Adam lifted my chin up with his fingers so that my face was nearly right against his. “You listen to me, Lisette. You are not a wreck. You are one of the strongest women that I have ever known. You have been through unimaginable things, and yet still you try to avenge and honor your mother. Even when the people around you are trying to talk you out of it so that we can selfishly get back to the lives we want to have with you, you hold steadfast. You are every single bit as strong and special as your mother was. She would be proud of you if she were here to see all that you have overcome and all that you continue to persevere through. I am proud of you too.”

  I looked up into his face and I soaked up every bit of comfort that he was giving to me. I felt like I needed that reassurance more than I even needed the air I was breathing. Adam tilted his head down and softly pressed his lips to mine. And when our lips touched, fireworks went off behind my eyes. My brain spun on its axis as my heart started beating incessantly out of control. I needed this, and I needed him.

  I needed all of them in my life.

  I hadn’t realized it before, but I needed to reconnect with them in every way in order to feel the closure of having left them the way that I did. I needed to feel physically close to each of them. Again, in order to heal the mess that was churning around in my mind about everything. So, when we got to Charlotte, and after we got Naomi settled in some sort of confinement, I needed to connect with them once more.

  My sanity depended on it.

  I slid my tongue into Adam’s mouth and my hand that rested on his lap felt his immediate reaction as the crux of his pants began to fill and rise. When our mouths parted, because it was too much torture to keep our mouths pressed together within the confines of the car and no further intimacy possible right here, I caught a glance of Michael’s reflection in the rearview mirror.

  He looked as if he was fuming with jealousy and his reaction caught me off guard.

  I knew it would feel a little awkward for him to be around the other guys after I told him that I chose him. But I didn’t expect it to be such an immediate and potent jealousy. I could see in his fer
vent stare, that now that Michael knew I had chosen him, he didn’t want to share me with the other guys anymore.

  I had made a fatal miscalculation of my own.

  And I worried it would result in the death of my relationships with the other guys just to keep Michael in my life.

  6

  Our first task once we arrived back in Charlotte was to secure a new building.

  The guys and I had discussed the fact that building from the ground up was too ambitious and that we just needed to find a warehouse, or a big old house, or something that we could turn into a group home of sorts. The drive back had been long, and even though the guys all took turns driving, it was exhausting. We managed to keep Naomi out cold the entire time, thanks to a few of the pain pills that Adam had swiped from the hospital.

  I yelled at him at first, thinking that maybe a drug problem was rearing its ugly head, but he assured me that he had only swiped them in case I had needed them.

  He knew that I was too stubborn to admit needing help and thought that maybe I would end up being in more pain that I had expected after the hospital discharged me. They ended up being perfect for keeping Naomi peacefully drugged-up and asleep the entire ride.

  When we arrived in Charlotte, it was early morning and none of us had gotten more than a few sporadic minutes of sleep on the drive. We were all having trouble thinking clearly due to fatigue, and we knew that we would need to be able to deal with Naomi when she finally woke up.

  Rob had done some searching for buildings on his phone during the drive. There were a couple that he thought might work and we pulled straight into the parking lot of the first one as soon as we got into town. I got out and went inside the building with Michael to meet with the owner who was selling it, while the other two guys stayed in the car with a still-sleeping Naomi. If nothing else, she would be well-rested and hopefully that might help to calm her down a little bit when the drugs wore off.

  The building was an old retirement home. It had several private bedrooms down two opposite hallways, and a bathroom in between each set of rooms. There was a little kitchen, a community room, and even an outdoor gardening area. It was clean, operational, and needed only a few minor repairs in addition to needing to be furnished and stocked with supplies. It was perfect.

  “I’ll take it,” I blurted out, even as the man was still trying to explain some of the features of the building.

  Michael looked at me with a raised eyebrow. He was probably thinking that I should have negotiated a lower cost than the asking price. Or maybe he was thinking that I should have waited until we asked some more questions to make sure that everything was fully functional beneath the surface level and that there would be no major repair surprises in a few months down the road.

  But honestly, I didn’t even care about any of that.

  My mother’s inheritance money was such a large amount that I could have paid triple the asking price and still been fine with it. If something went awry with the building a few months from now, then I would simply pay someone to come and fix it. The bones of the building’s structure were perfect, and I could already envision the sanctuary.

  In fact, that’s what I would name this place.

  The Sanctuary.

  I wanted something that was ready to be lived in right now. That way we could all stay here, keep an eye on Naomi, and work on getting The Sanctuary up and running. I was ready to hand him the cash and take the keys.

  When we got back to the car, Michael explained in a rather amused tone that I had just purchased the building and that we needed to go to the bank and then come back with the necessary components to finish the deal. Neither Adam nor Rob protested, and the entire process took less than an hour before we were back at the building and I had the door keys in my hand. Just as I was getting back into the car to talk to the guys about what we would need to do next, Naomi woke up.

  She was groggy and agitated, and she was extremely confused about where she was.

  “Ugh,” she groaned as she looked out the window at the vacant building where we were parked. “Please tell me that you’re not stupid enough to think that you’re going to make that into some sort of mental institution.”

  “No,” I answered her truthfully. “None of us are qualified to run a mental institution. It’s going to be more like a group home, where people can come to get help and help each other.”

  Naomi made a simulation of a gagging gesture and rolled her eyes. “You are just like your mother. Optimistic and unrealistic to a fault,” she said.

  “How can optimism be a fault?” I asked her, smiling because she told me I was just like my mom.

  She shrugged. “Because optimism hides the truth. The truth is that this building will be nothing short of a disaster. No one will come here to be a part of your pet project, and even if anyone does, they will end up trashing it and leaving you to cry over all your wasted time and money.”

  “Well, Naomi, I guess you’ll be able to laugh in my face about it soon if you’re right then; because you’re going to be the first resident here,” I said with a grin.

  Naomi kicked and hollered as Michael pulled her out of the passenger seat and into the building by her bound wrists, which were starting to bleed. I felt no pity for her at all as I watched Michael drag her inside. She had nearly killed him. I didn’t care if he dragged her inside by her hair.

  The building was empty, aside from a couple of random chairs that had been left behind and a roll of toilet paper in the bathroom. We all agreed to take turns guarding Naomi while we got the place set up and figured out what to do with her. The first things to do were to make places to sleep, configure a way to keep Naomi confined, and get food and the supplies that we would need for the first few days of living here. Rob took the first shift to watch her while Michael stayed in the building and started working on some of the things that needed repair, like the faulty light in the bathroom. It was a good idea for there to be at least two of the guys at the building in case Naomi decided to try to pull something again. Adam and I headed back to the halfway house because there were supplies there that we could likely use. On our way there, we stopped at several stores and ordered beds to be delivered and a large delivery of food and sundries, which was thankfully able to be delivered on the same day.

  It was a strange feeling to be back inside the halfway house. I couldn’t even remember how many times we had all told each other that we would never be back near these campuses again. But yet here we are, again. There was a bit of bittersweetness to it. It was nice to see that the halfway house was still successfully being run, even without Adam and I there.

  It gave me hope that The Sanctuary would be able to have the same success too.

  It was also disheartening to be back though. It was as if we could never really outrun our past, no matter how hard we tried.

  Adam said hello to a few people while I looked around. Then we both went back to the storerooms to see if we could grab a few immediately necessary items to get us through tonight while we waited on our orders to be delivered. I left a plentiful wad of cash with the woman who was now running the halfway house, enough to replace the supplies we were taking about three times over. The money didn’t matter, but the time away from the building where Michael and Adam were watching over Naomi did. This was the easiest and fastest way to get what we needed for the next couple of days.

  “I wish Julian was still alive,” Adam said. Then he shook his head as if he was trying to clear away the cobwebs. “Jesus I can’t actually believe that I said that.”

  I laughed a little, even though the thought of Julian not being with us still made me as sad as if it had happened just yesterday.

  “I just meant that it would be cool to have him around to help us with all of this, you know?” Adam smiled fondly as he remembered Julian. “That pain in the ass kind of grew on me after a while.”

  I stopped my hand that was reaching toward a pile of blankets in the storeroom and looked at Adam. The th
ought of Julian being dead hurt every damn time that it came into my mind. I used the back of my hand to wipe my wet eyes.

  “Yeah, I wish he was here too. It’s my fault he’s not,” I said as I tried to replace my grief with anger.

  “What? No, it’s not,” Adam said.

  I ignored him and started reaching for the blankets again. We might not have beds built by tonight, but we’d have mattresses delivered, and blankets. But Adam grabbed my wrist and turned me around to face him in the cramped little storeroom. I think that he was going to say something to me, probably something along the lines of “none of this is your fault, Lisette”, but instead the sudden closeness of our bodies pressed up against each other seemed to have stopped his words in his throat. I was glad for that, not only because I wanted him so badly that I couldn’t stand it, but also because I was getting sick of hearing people tell me that it wasn’t my fault. It didn’t matter what people said.

  It only mattered what I believed.

  “Lisette,” Adam said in a whisper.

  He was trying not to. He was trying to tell me something that would make me feel all better. But the only thing we both felt was desire.

  So, I reached my free hand up and grabbed his face and pulled his mouth toward mine.

  When I did, he lifted my wrist and held it against the wall behind me as he pushed against my body with his own. He pinned me there, kissing me without relent. And when I finally wriggled my hand free from him, I used it to grab the top of his pants and pull his body even closer still.

  Until I could feel throbbing hardness between his legs that I needed to have inside of me.

  Our arms grasped at each other as our heads turned and our mouths pushed against each other. We were a formidable knot of pent-up desire that had come to a head.

  His hands were everywhere, groping my clothed breasts as I bucked against him, my body no longer holding back.

  I wanted him.

  I needed him.

  I felt the same kind of burning passion guiding me forward that always took over me whenever Michael was around. And with every stroke of his tongue against my own, it only confirmed for me what I already knew.