Wicked Ugly Bad (A Kinda Fairytale)

by Cassandra Gannon

  “Benji?” She looked over at him and smiled. “Being a bridge ogre, I’ll bet you know a lot about boats…”

  ***

  “This will never work.” Rumpelstiltskin looked like he was about to hyperventilate. “We’re going to be gassed for sure. This whole day has been a bad idea, but this is just…”

  “Shut-up.” Avenant ordered. “We all know we’re doomed, but whining about it won’t help. Just quietly resign yourself to death.”

  Scarlett did her best to disregard the negativity. “Benji, sweetie, you look fabulous. Don’t worry, at all. I know that this is going to be fine. I have total faith in you.”

  He swallowed so hard his throat clicked. “But, Letty…”

  “The key is to think ‘I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.’” She pointed at her temple. “The power of positive thoughts can create positive action.”

  “Oh my God, you just quoted Dr. Ramona.” Marrok shook his head. “You really do need to get out of here, Red. Psychobabble rots the brain and you have such an adorable one.”

  She spared him an irritated look and he grinned at her.

  It was difficult to stay perpetually annoyed at the handsomest man in the Four Kingdoms, but Marrok did his very best to make it possible. Or at least he had until today. Suddenly, he was teasing instead of mocking; smiling at her like he wanted her to smile back. It was so much harder to hate him when he was being playful.

  She really wished he’d stop it.

  Considering the fact people apparently preyed on his looks, she was doing her best not to stare at him, but it was difficult when he was so damn gorgeous and flirty.

  She forced her eyes away from Marrok’s brilliant smile and focused on Benji, again. The poor guy was terrified, his body shaking in fear. The whole plan would fall apart if he couldn’t do his part.

  “Benji, I believe in you.” She gripped his shoulders and tried to exude confidence. “When you walk out there, what are you going to think to yourself?”

  “I can do this?” He guessed.

  “Again.”

  “I can do this.” He repeated in a slightly louder voice.

  “One more time.”

  “I can do this.”

  “Yes, you can!” She gave him a helpful shove towards the door. “Go get ‘em, tiger.”

  “He can’t do this.” Avenant said sourly as Benji teetered towards the front office. “No way in hell will anyone believe he’s Ramona.”

  The disguise was a little harder to pull off with a bridge ogre than it had been with Esmeralda and Scarlett. Ez could give Benji Ramona’s size and shape, but he was still a lumbering blue giant underneath the glamour. He walked with a heavy stride, there was no telling what he might blurt out in panic if he was questioned, and he was nervously munching on a clipboard.

  Still, he could find them a boat. Scarlett couldn’t think of another way to get them all across the lake and, without crossing the lake, she had no idea how they were going to escape.

  Beside her, Esmeralda watched Benji approach the security door that kept the prisoners out of the WUB Club’s foyer. The witch was now disguised at Benji. At this rate, poor Ez would have no idea what she was supposed to look like by the end of the day. “I hope I got everything right on his hair.” She muttered to herself.

  Benji clomped his way to the security door and swiped Ramona’s ID badge in front of the lock. He held Ramona’s keycard like it was trying to escape his grasp, his fingers visibly trembling.

  “You can do it, Benji!” Drusilla called loudly, still bleary from the drugs.

  Scarlett winced at her sister’s volume, as everyone else made desperate “Shhhh!” sounds.

  Benji cringed at the delirious support. When the door buzzed open, he trooped out into the front office, looking like he was headed for the gallows. The dwarf guard behind the check-in desk glanced up as “Ramona” passed by. He gave a disinterested nod in Benji’s direction and then went back to texting on his phone.

  That was it.

  No sirens. No interrogation. No flying monkeys swooping down.

  Benji blinked like he couldn’t believe the disguise was actually working. Still braced for the other shoe to drop, he just stood there for moment, waiting to get caught. When no one came rushing in with stun guns, he finally looked over his shoulder at the rest of them. From the blank expression on his face, Scarlett surmised that he’d never imagined getting this far and now he’d forgotten what he was supposed to do next.

  Scarlett made desperate a “go, go, go!” motion with her hand, waving him towards the outside door.

  Benji jolted out of his frozen shock. “Right!” He mouthed. Nodding vigorously, he all but ran out the door and towards the parking lot. The outside door swung shut behind him as he disappeared into the sunlight, fleeing the hospital.

  He was free.

  There was a moment of stunned silence as the other six digested his success.

  “Holy shit.” Marrok slowly shook his head. “That was amazing, Red.” His mouth curved like he was proud of her and he looked at Avenant. “I told you Letty would pull it off. You owe me five gold coins, ya prick.”

  She’d done it! Her plan had worked. At least, this part of it.

  Scarlett bent over, her hands on her knees, and tried to remember how to breathe.

  Later that night, Benji would return with a boat. They’d sneak out through the library and meet him at the lakeshore. Fifteen minutes later, she’d been in the Enchanted Forest, headed for her grandmother’s house and redemption. It was all going to work…

  So long as Benji actually came back to the prison now that he was finally unshackled from its bleak walls. Which he totally would. She was sure of it.

  “We’ll never see that ogre, again.” Rumpelstiltskin predicted with a sigh.

  Chapter Seven

  Wolves are bred to fight and fuck.

  I always bear that in mind, because it’s pointless to try and deal with them like they’re thinking beings.

  They are just beautiful animals.

  Psychiatric case notes of Dr. Ramona Fae

  Scarlett measured the window with a string of several dozen uncooked noodles. “So, if each ziti is approximately an inch, we should all be able to fit through these windows with no problem.” She looked over at Marrok. “That was another reason it had to be Benji who went to get the boat. No way would an eight foot bridge ogre squeeze out a window. He might’ve gotten stranded in here.”

  Marrok nodded like he gave a shit whether or not Benji came with them. “That was definitely a concern of mine.” He deadpanned.

  Thanks to Dr. White’s seduction mandate, he and Letty were alone in the library, although it was hard to see the mildewing interior as a particularly romantic setting. The mostly empty shelves were tipped at odd angles, only two light bulbs worked in the entire large room, and the steady dripping sound of water was coming from somewhere overhead. He was fairly sure the Good folk only called it a “library” to taunt the inmates. It was no wonder the place was deserted.

  But, on the other hand, there was definitely an upside to being the only two people in the space, regardless of how rank it was. Marrok tipped his head to admire his True Love’s posterior as she balanced on a chair.

  Thank God she was back in her own body again. He’d missed it.

  “So now the only problem is how we get the window open.” Still standing on the seat of the chair, she dropped the skein of yard and freezer bag full of pasta to the floor and turned her attention to the lock. “Damn it, everything else here is a rusty mess, but of course this would be brand new.” She turned to look at him. “Can you pick it?”

  “Yeah, but it wouldn’t stop the alarm from going off.” He nodded to the wires attached to the frame.

  Scarlett frowned at it, her expression thoughtful. “Breaking the glass would make too much noise. Maybe we could cut it.”

  “The craft room has safety scissors.” Marrok suggested helpfully.

 
It was so gratifying to have those blue eyes glaring at him, again. The color was a magic all its own. He was definitely going to veto any more body switch plans.

  “Are you going to help or not?” She demanded.

  He endeavored to look innocent. “I am helping.” He moved behind her and “helpfully” laid a hand on her “EVIL” t-shirt. “Here let me steady you.” His palm slipped under the hem of her top and his thumb brushed the soft skin of her lower back.

  She batted him away.

  Marrok chuckled, delighted with the girl. In the most perverse way possible, he liked that she was so prickly. His looks didn’t matter to her, at all. He never even had to try with most women, but Letty was so hard to impress.

  Unless your name was Charming, anyway.

  His smile faded. “Are you in love with that prince?” He demanded before he could stop himself.

  “What?” She shot him a distracted frown and climbed down from the chair. “Is it really so hard for you to concentrate and take this seriously?”

  “Red, you wouldn’t believe how seriously I’m taking this.”

  The more he thought about the situation, the more complications Marrok saw in being bound to this girl. Damn if he wasn’t growing… attached to the little do-Gooder, though. He’d be keeping his True Love no matter what, but he was starting to want to keep Letty.

  “As a matter of fact, I don’t believe you’re taking it seriously.” She adjusted the t-shirt back into place and poked a finger into his chest. “This escape has to go off perfectly. Any mistakes will get us caught and tossed in the dungeon. Is that what you want?”

  Her lecturing tone completely turned him on. “No, I want something different.”

  Scarlett missed the seduction in his tone. Against the odds, the woman was turning out to be one hell of a criminal mastermind. But, she clearly couldn’t decipher Marrok’s blindingly obvious hints that he wanted to ravish her.

  “I wish I knew more about how Trevelyan pulled off his escape.” She continued, her very sexy brain consumed with unsexy thoughts. “Ez says you two shared a cell.”

  Well, that brought down the mood…

  “Back when my counts of Badness were in the single digits, Trevelyan and I were locked up together.” Marrok allowed. “By the time he left, we weren’t exactly friends.” He delivered that massive understatement in a calm tone, but Scarlett still squinted over at him.

  “There’s a difference between ‘not being friends’ and being ‘mortal enemies.’” She pointed out suspiciously. “Why am I guessing you two were the later?”

  “Because you’re a not-so-evil genius?” He shook his head. “Seriously, investigating Trevelyan won’t help us get out of here. Trust me.”

  “He didn’t tell you anything?”

  “Nothing helpful. Unless you need a rundown of insults and death threats to use against me. He was screaming those pretty loud on that last day.”

  She made a face. “It’s like you try to make everyone hate you. It’s the only explanation.”

  “Sad part is I don’t have to try that hard.”

  She sighed in resignation. “So, what did you do to piss off the dragon?”

  No sense in lying. “I didn’t help him escape.”

  Her eyebrows drew together. “Trevelyan wanted you to escape with him?”

  “Yep.”

  “And you refused?

  “Yep.”

  “Why?”

  “I was getting out in ten months.” Wolfball season ensured that Marrok got paroled every spring, no matter his sentence. “Didn’t seem worth the risk.”

  “Right now, you only have six months left and you’ve agreed to come with me.”

  He shrugged. “With you, it’s always worth the risk.”

  Scarlett frowned at him in confusion.

  It amazed Marrok that he was the only one who noticed how pretty this girl was. Her relentless demands and shiny hair created such an appealing package. It just went to show that people would believe whatever you told them. Tell them that the naked emperor guy from a couple kingdoms over was wearing clothes and everyone agrees. Tell them that Scarlett was the ugly stepsister and that’s what they saw.

  People were idiots.

  Marrok shifted closer to her, smiling as her eyes went wide in surprise.

  Letty was so out of her league that she didn’t even notice he’d cornered her, until her back hit the window sill. Whatever Prince Useless did with his royal days, it must have been edited for television material. Charming certainly hadn’t taught this girl very much. Marrok could’ve had Letty’s pants off in less than a second and she was completely oblivious to the danger.

  “What are you doing?” Scarlett blinked, still not getting it. “Is this part of the pretend seduction thing?”

  “Yep.” Marrok lied. He could see her pulse hammering in her neck as he dipped his head even closer to hers. “Just play along.” He advised quietly. “Otherwise you’ll give us away.”

  “To who?” She sounded out of breath. “We’re the only ones in here.”

  He made his voice grave. “Spies are everywhere, baby.”

  “What?” She gazed up at him, looking baffled and distrustful and sexy as hell. “I don’t think that…” His lips brushed against hers and she trailed off with a gasp.

  God, he’d never heard anything hotter.

  Marrok’s hand coming up to touch her jaw, making sure she couldn’t slip away. Not that she was trying to move. In fact, Scarlett was so befuddled that she froze for a beat. He sensed the gears in her clever little mind whirring, trying to figure out what had just happened. Allowing her to think too much would be a very bad idea. The last thing he wanted was Letty talking herself out of this before he’d gotten a chance to convince her.

  Luckily, he could be pretty damn convincing.

  Marrok suckled her lower lip and she jolted. “That’s it.” He whispered. “Let me in, baby.” His mouth opened against hers, seeking entrance… and she hesitantly responded.

  Scarlett softened against him, her lips parting. She’d tried to hold out, but she wasn’t immune to him. Thank God. Marrok was on fire for her. He must have been out of his mind to ever think he’d prefer some aggressive she-wolf to this girl in bed. Nothing could feel better than the slow melting of her tension. He felt her lean closer to him. Her hand came up to rest on his shoulder and Marrok groaned, deepening the kiss.

  Christ, she was sweet.

  True Loves were usually sexually attracted to each other. God knew, Marrok had wanted to rip Letty’s clothes off from the moment they’d met. But, she was a Good folk. It had been impossible to know for sure that she’d feel the same way. Except, now she was kissing him back, and her body was pressing against his, and Marrok knew he could make her want him.

  Triumph filled him.

  Marrok had waited so long to find his True Love, he’d thought she’d never arrive. To have her in his arms was better than he’d ever imagined. He lifted her up so Letty was sitting on the windowsill, his mouth never leaving hers. His fingers tangled in her flame colored hair and he stepped between her legs. While she was off balance, he was going to race forward as far as she’d let him. That would make it easier to lure her even farther along the next time.

  Strategy was all part and parcel of being a Baddie.

  She drew in a surprised breath as she felt the hard length of his arousal pressing up against her. Marrok managed a soothing sound, even as his free hand found her hip. He tugged her closer and she gave a small whimper that made him see stars. Holy shit, was this girl perfect. The addictive little sounds she made and the way she smelled and the feel of her skin.

  Why the fuck had he ever questioned having Letty as his True Love? No one else would ever do now that he’d tasted her. This woman was…

  Marrok’s predatory instincts suddenly lit-up.

  Someone else had entered the library. He knew without even turning around that it was Dower, one of the other wolves locked up in the WUB Club. On
e his old team mates from Wolfball.

  Shit.

  Marrok pulled away from Scarlett, irritated that he couldn’t take the time to admire her flushed face and dazed eyes. “Hold that thought, Red.” He lifted her down from the windowsill, and smoothed a hand over her hair. “I gotta take care of something, real quick.”

  Her flustered gaze weren’t meeting his. She looked completely astonished and he could already tell she was going to do her best to deny everything. “I don’t know what just happened,” she blurted out, “but it was a mistake and…” She stopped short, finally spotting Dower over Marrok’s shoulder.

  Marrok arched a brow at her. “Told ya. Spies.” He turned to see the other wolf moving closer, blocking the exit.

  Dower was a large, bearded scumbag with a long list of gruesome crimes. The guy was hyper-focused on being Big Wolf on Campus and he randomly hated Marrok.

  Well, maybe not “randomly.”

  Marrok never did play well with others. He’d showed Dower up at Wolfball countless times, put his head through a TV camera, and may have been responsible for the jagged scar on Dow’s forearm where his hand had been reattached. It was hard to keep track. The “game” was usually kill or be killed, so all the wolves inflicted life threatening violence on each other just to survive the rounds. Half the time, it was impossible to know who was who out there. No one cared about sides. It just about survival.

  Marrok surreptitiously moved his body so he was between the other man and Letty. “First time in the library, Dow? I never took you for a reader.”

  That wasn’t technically true. Dower wasn’t an idiot, which made him all the more dangerous. The guy had shaggy black hair and a pair of unsettling ice blue eyes that saw far too much. He was as big as Marrok, in their human forms. Unlike Marrok, though, he was eager to team up with other players, on and off the field. He usually traveled in a pack. Marrok didn’t sense anyone else lurking, but they wouldn’t be far behind Dower.