“You want me to put this old bitch out of her misery?” Hangman sounded a little too enthusiastic for his part in the plan.
I eyed Bryce as I thought it over. His shoulder’s slumped and shook as his past finally caught up with him.
“It’s not her fault. It’s none of their faults,” he cried and it made me physically ill to see a grown man reduced to such a pathetic sobbing mess.
“Not yet, Hang. I think Bryce is willing to play ball,” I smirked as I looked down at his bat that he let slip from his fingers, clattering loudly off the wooden laminate floor. He ran his palm over his face, trying desperately to calm himself.
I slipped my cell into my back pocket and used my shirt to wipe my fingerprints from the knife before dropping it to the floor and kicking it toward him. He looked at me in confusion, hesitating before bending down to pick it up.
“You have two minutes to make your peace with God and beg for his forgiveness, because you won’t be getting mine.” My eyes narrowed as another sob wracked his large frame. “Remember to cut vertically. We wouldn’t want you living long enough to hurt anyone else.”
He dropped to his knees. The monster that terrorized so many was reduced to a fucking baby, begging for mercy. His words were incoherent as he pressed the blade to one of his wrists. As blood sprang from around the wound I pulled my phone back out of my pocket and called Hangman. “It’s begun.” I slid it back into my jeans and sank down to eye level, wanting my face to be the last thing he saw before he faded out into nothingness.
“Don’t be a pussy. Press harder. If I have to do it for you, I won’t be gentle. I’ve heard all about the joy you get from inflicting pain,” I watched the blade sink lower as he dragged it up his wrists a few inches. “Now the other.”
Trig stepped beside me and I glanced up at him. He held a bottle of aspirin and a beer. “Trig brought you some parting gifts.” I took the pills from his hand and dumped a pile into my palm while trigger cracked open the beer. “Take these and wash it down with this. It will make this go a little faster, not that I want this to be easier for you. I just don’t want to have to look at your face for any longer than necessary.”
“For the pain?” Bryce held out his bloodied palm as I dumped the pills into his hand. He dropped them into his outh and washed it down greedily with the beer. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. These will thin your blood and make you die faster,” I laughed as I shook my head. “Now finish cutting the other wrist.”
Bryce’s tears were back, running down his face. He wiped them away in an attempt to hide his fear but he only managed to smear blood across his face.
“I’ll be out here reviewing the evidence,” Trig patted me on the shoulder and disappeared toward the living room.
I sank down onto the floor and rested my back against the hallway wall. As the knife pressed into Bryce’s wrist, blood poured from the wound. “You hit an artery. Thank fucking God.” I ran my hand through my hair, banging the back of my head off the wall, lightly.
“She wrote about you all the time, you know,” His voice was like nails on a chalkboard, “in her diary.”
“She had a diary?” My eyes cut to Bryce who was sobbing in his pool of blood. “Dad burned it after she died.”
“Now why would he burn her diary?” I wanted to punch him in the mouth, make him choke on his teeth so he couldn’t talk, but it was important that this looked like a suicide.
He shook his head, his cries growing louder and I knew it was because she had confessed what he’d done.
“How many more girls were there?” I asked, not wanting to know the answer.
“None, I swear.” Bryce wiped his hand under his nose, his white shirt now vibrant red. He leaned his head against the wall.
“That computer background isn’t Ella or Katie and I know all about the timeshare.”
“That fucking bitch can’t keep her mouth shut,” he mumbled and I began to clench and unclench my fists as every muscle in my body begged to hit him.
“Don’t talk about Ella like that or I will make sure your death is as slow and as painful as humanly possible. I’ll bury your body in a shallow ditch if you fucking piss me off.”
He sighed, his body sagging against the wall opposite of mine, his words slurring. “Five,” he confessed as he looked down at his bloodied arms before his eyes met mine and a hint of a smile played on his lips. “But Ella was my favorite.”
“Shut the fuck up, Bryce.”
“When she was pregnant, she would cry and beg for me not to hurt that baby. My baby. So I would force her to lie on her stomach.”
Next thing I remember I was on my back, several feet from Bryce as Phantom stood over me, his head shaking as Trigger pressed against my chest, my old wounds burning under my skin. My face was damp with tears as I thought of the suffering Ella endured at the hands of this monster.
“He wants you to kill him so he doesn’t have to suffer and you get caught. Think it through, Ryder.” It was the first time I could remember Phantom saying my name since we left Silver Lake. I took a few more ragged breathes before I nodded and Trig released his hold on me. I sat up, looking at the sad, bloodied excuse for a human before me. “Is that what you want, Bryce? Huh? Since we’re sharing secrets, I have a few of my own.”
“What’s that?” his head bobbed and his eyes were hooded as he struggled to focus on me. “You also will be implicated in the death of Ella’s dad. The night I shot him, your father’s whereabouts are accounted for, but his gun and you have no alibi. Ella and I will live long happy lives with our daughter Macie. No one will miss you. No one will cry over you.”
“You…,” Bryce mumbled. “You murdered her father?”
“No, asshole. You did.” I smiled as his eyes closed and I pushed to my feet. He’s bleeding out pretty heavy now. It won’t be too much longer,” I tried not to think of how long Katie laid in the woods, suffering and alone. Without anything to thin her blood it could have taken hours for her to die. “It’s been about a half hour. Let’s finish this up so I can go home to my family.”
I walked around Trig and Phantom to the living room, sitting down on the couch as I waited for the life to finish draining from Bryce.
“It’s over. You want me to make the call to Hang?” Phantom was in front of me now, trying to pull me from my thoughts. “No. Let him rot,” I sneered and Phantom patted my shoulder as they walked around me toward the front door.
* *
Janel disappeared into a bottle of liquor and was forced to live after losing everyone. That was enough of a punishment for me and Ella.
After taking a few months off to recover, we began to play local gigs again, occasionally traveling to visit the family of the other guys. But with Macie in Head Start, my family couldn’t always travel with us. Luckily, my mom was always eager to babysit Macie whenever she got the chance.
Now that I had a family to take care of, I had to decide whether or not I wanted music to be my career or get a full-time job with a reliable paycheck. I decided we could do both. Ryder Bentley was now the proud owner of Get Bent, the hottest new club in Orlando. We play there live every week as well as a few other up-and-coming local bands. There was even a story about my club and the changing of the music industry in Rolling Stone.
I was better at controlling my anger now, but Ella was still able to bring out my darker side, enjoying that monster she fell in love with.
“Get on the fucking bike, El. I’m not going to let you get hurt.” I tried to hide my frustration, but my patience was running thin. She didn’t trust me.
“I’m scared.” Her voice wavered as she broke eye contact, looking over my black motorcycle.
“Of me or the bike?” I cocked my head to the side, and her eyes narrowed. I could see her stubbornness begin to surface. She had too much pride. I was going to win this battle.
“Fine.” She snatched the helmet from my hand. “Go slow,” she ordered as she slid it over her head and str
apped it in place. I rolled my eyes as I threw my leg over the bike and waited for her to join me.
She gripped on to my shirt as she climbed on behind me. I grabbed her arms and pulled them around my waist, her chest pushed against my back.
“You’re going to go slow, right?” She spoke into my ear as I started the bike.
“Not a chance in hell.”
“Then I’m getting off!” she yelled as she pulled back, but I grabbed her wrist and held it against my stomach.
“You want to get off, Ella, I can get you off.” I pulled out before she could respond, causing her to tighten her hold on me.
I couldn’t stop smiling, knowing that the rush of fear would turn her on and later we’d fight and fuck, and I would get to hold her and love her. Fucked-up people take pleasure in fucked-up things. Ella was used to being afraid. She was used to having to fight. She loved challenging my need to control, and she knew she no longer had anything to fear, because the meanest fucking monster was hers. She’d tamed the beast and given me a reason to live. We weren’t anywhere near perfect, but we fit perfectly together.
The End
Pretty Little Things
Teresa Mummert
Copyright © 2014 Teresa Mummert
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 1491291419
ISBN 13: 978-1491291412
All things truly wicked start from innocence.
—Ernest Hemingway
Prologue
I was young enough not to understand that my life was different. Colin became the one person I could count on to protect me. He suffered for the both of us by carrying the burden of our secret.
We were the lucky few who got a chance to start over. A fake family, a new home, and a pretty little life built on lies. But while our lives continued to intertwine, we were put on very different paths. Now it was only a matter of time before they’d collide, and the beast behind the beauty would be exposed.
Chapter 1—Annie
I knocked on the office door that sat ajar. Colin sat at his desk, his suit jacket off and sleeves rolled up, exposing the large cross tattoo on his forearm. He stared at his laptop screen. His dark hair was disheveled, and a day’s worth of stubble shadowed his jawline. Beside his laptop was a black gun that was always within reach.
“Busy,” he snapped angrily, not bothering to glance in my direction as I glared at him.
“Good. I’ll stay out of your way. Don’t wait up.” I turned to hurry down the flight of stairs toward the second floor, but he called after me before I could make my getaway.
“Wait. Where the hell are you going?”
I rolled my eyes and groaned like a child as I slowly traipsed back to his office and pushed the door open. “Out with some friends.” His eyes ran up and down my body before he shook his head in disapproval, and his gaze dropped back to the computer screen.
“Not dressed like that. Go change.”
“You don’t get to tell me what to wear. I’m seventeen, and you’re not my father.” I folded my arms over my chest as my eyes narrowed, ready for a fight.
With a sigh he pushed back his chair and slowly stood to his full six feet in height, making me feel impossibly small. He rounded the desk as he pulled up his zipper. That’s when I noticed the mass of blond hair on the girl kneeling behind his desk. Gross. He came to a stop in front of me, forcing me to tilt my head back. It was challenging to glare at someone from this angle and still look menacing.
“Change your outfit, or you’re not leaving.”
“Watch me.” I pivoted on my toes, my long blond curls hitting him in the chest. Two muscular arms banded around my waist, pulling my feet from the ground as he held me against him from behind.
“Annie, I’m a very fucking busy man,” he growled next to my ear. “Do not pull this bullshit tonight. This is not a fucking game. Change your clothes, or I will lock you in your room. Do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal,” I bit out between clenched teeth as he lowered me to the ground. To say Colin was overprotective of me was an understatement, but he was equally annoyed by my presence, which made dealing with him a constant game of Russian roulette.
“Asshole. You messed up my hair,” I muttered as I made my way down to the second floor and into my bedroom. I slammed the door loud enough to rattle the walls, but I knew he probably didn’t even hear it upstairs. That was one of the perks of living in such a large house. I glanced at my reflection in the full-length antique mirror across the room, running my finger under my lower lip to fix my smudged gloss. My hair was pale blond and curled perfectly down my back. I wore a low-cut purple V-neck T-shirt that hugged my curves and made my green eyes pop, paired with cutoff jean shorts that probably cost more than the average person’s weeklong vacation. Well hidden and disguised was the credulous little girl that I used to be when we came to live in Connor’s house.
I pulled off my shirt and tossed it on the ground as I stepped inside my walk-in closet. Pulling out a sensible white eyelet dress that covered anything Colin would find offensive, I cursed under my breath. I slid my shorts down over my hips and kicked them off against the wall as a knock came at my door.
“Go away,” I yelled, and I heard the deep rumble of his laugh as he slowly opened the door and stepped inside my room. He had his hands shoved in his pockets as he looked me over in matching black bra and panties trimmed with delicate lace.
“I’m sorry. I have enough on my plate right now. With Connor sick, I have to pick up his work slack. I can’t be worried about you running around town looking like…” He gestured with his hands, and for the first time since I could remember, Colin was at a loss for words as he took me in.
“I’m just hanging out with some friends. You guys want me to blend in; this was me blending in. No one at school dresses like this.” I tossed my hands in the air, hating that at only nineteen, he felt he could tell me what to do. He was taking his role as my pretend brother a little too far.
The loud clacking of heels on the wooden floor caught his attention, and he turned around to face the girl whose head had been bobbing under the desk.
“I’ll just be a minute, and then we can leave. You mind grabbing my keys from the office?”
“Sure.” She smiled sweetly, her lips coated with a fresh layer of red, before disappearing up the stairs to the third floor. Colin turned his attention back to me, his jaw clenched in frustration.
“First of all, you wear uniforms at school. Second, you’re a Blakely now. You need to dress the part. This is a very small town, and people talk. We’ve spent years trying to blend in, and now you want to walk around looking like a whore just to prove you’re what? A grown-up?” His voice rose with every word, as did my temper. I crossed the room in large strides and poked my finger against his hard chest, but he didn’t budge from the doorway, and the shadows from my darkened room made the chiseled contours of his face even more menacing.
“You don’t seem to have a problem with the women you fuck dressing like whores. Why do I have to dress like a librarian?”
His hand was in my hair, fisting and tugging back ever so slightly, my chin tilted up toward his face, which was now only an inch from mine.
“If you don’t dress like a lady, I will stop treating you like one, and that will be more fun for me than it is for you, I promise.” He swallowed hard, and my lips parted in shock as I struggled to keep my breathing under control. It wasn’t a threat—it was a warning.
The hammering of my heart in my ears blocked out the sound of heels on hardwood, and it wasn’t until the head-under-desk girl gasped, “Colin?” that we noticed her presence.
“Sorry, sweetheart. Just teaching my little sister here a lesson on being a lady.” His body blocked her view of his hold on me as his eyes drifted to my chest. Then he pressed a kiss to my forehead, and his long fingers untangled from my hair. “Now I’ve messed up your hair,” he whispered with a smirk.
“I’ll be back.” He stepped away from me, and
I watched in shock as his perfect smile fell into place. He wrapped his arm around the girl, and they descended the stairs to the first floor. I leaned out of my bedroom doorway just as he glanced over his shoulder at me and winked.
I slammed my bedroom door hard and grabbed the white dress I had chosen, cursing under my breath as I pulled it over my head and ran my fingers through my now-knotted hair.
I hurried down the flight of stairs and out the front door, stopping as my eyes caught sight of Colin, his body pressed against the desk girl, pinning her against the side of his car as his mouth moved along her neck.
I hurried down the steps and turned right, away from him. The property spanned miles and was bordered by a six-foot privacy fence, but through the woods, there was a place where a few boards were missing. That was where I was headed. Barefoot and angry, I stomped my way through the trees, hurrying before Colin spotted where I was going.
When I reached the fence, I slipped between the missing slats and into Jacob’s waiting arms. He smelled of smoke, weed, and sin. His hands slid around my lower back and began to creep down to my ass as he pressed his lips against mine. His body was thin but muscular like a swimmer. He was the only person in this town who didn’t treat me like I was a fragile ornament whose only purpose was for decoration.
“You taste so good,” he mumbled against my lips. I ran my hand over his dark hair, which was now long enough to always look like he’d just rolled out of bed. He pressed his lips against my forehead and pulled back to look at me.
“Why are you dressed like a librarian?” His chocolate eyes were barely open under the weight of the drugs he’d consumed, and his lips twisted into a smile.
“Like you need to bother asking.” I rolled my eyes, instantly infuriated all over again at being treated like a helpless child.
“I wish you’d let me talk to that asshole.”
I took a step back and shook my head. Jacob and I had been seeing each other for three months, but no one else knew of our secret encounters.
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