Claiming Candy

by Faye, Madison

  We pull her into us, Roarke on one side, me other the other. She’s trembling, shaking, shivering, and gasping for air. Her eyes are squeezed shut, likes she’s not ready for reality yet. We let her be, stroking her skin, kissing her neck, her cheeks, until finals, she takes a breath, and her eyes open.

  “Fuck, we missed you.”

  The words tumble from my lips, and I watch as hers twist into a smile.

  “I missed you too,” she whispers back.

  “So fucking much, baby,” Roarke groans, kissing her.

  She moans softly into his mouth, turning and doing the same to me as her lips melt to mine.

  “Now? Is it time?”

  I nod, smiling. “Yeah.”

  Now it's time for part two of our little plan.

  8

  Candice

  I want to be there forever, laying between them. But we have a job to do. And it can’t wait. Because it’s all led to this moment, right now.

  All of it.

  “A virgin, huh?”

  I blush as Roarke rolls his eyes.

  “Seriously?”

  “What? Too much? I mean aside from you two I am.”

  Jensen chuckles. “Yeah, but I think we’ve both been inside you enough times to deflower you a half million times.”

  “What, you said you wanted to role play more.” I roll my eyes at him. “You really gonna give me shit for that, mister ‘escaped mental institute convict’?”

  He grins, and Roarke laughs.

  “You liked that, huh? Cost us a bundle to get that hacker kid to put up that fake news site. I think it was a nice touch though.”

  “I think Laurel downstairs about peed her pants.”

  Jensen grins. “Then it worked perfectly.”

  I smile, turning and kissing him slowly.

  How about a story? How about the story of five people who grew up together in the same shit neighborhood, in the same shit mining town. With the same types of shit parents. Five kids who came from nothing, and found each other. Five friends who became a family, who helped each other do everything a real family normally does.

  Five people who all found love in ways they never expected to.

  Roarke, Jensen, the twins—Evan and Ellen—and me.

  Like I said, we came from nothing. We had families that either left, ignored, or in Roarke’s case, flat-out abused them. It happened piecemeal but slowly, we came together. Roarke moved in with Jensen and his mom after his dad finally got locked up, after years of beating on Roarke. Then Jensen’s mom took off for good with one of her junky boyfriends, and it was just the two of them. When my dad died after years getting poisoned down in the mine, it was Jensen and Roarke who lived down the street who took me in. Both older than me by a few years, and both fiercely protective of me.

  We grew close. We grew really close, and then, we realized it was love. Even if we knew it shouldn’t be. Or couldn’t be. And maybe normally, for most people, it couldn’t. But it worked for us.

  Then there’s Evan and Ella. Their mom had passed years before, and when their dad ran off, well, they became part of our little family too. They were also older than me, but smart as whips. Ellen especially. So while I was finishing school, and while Jensen and Roarke were working, supporting all of us, the twins applied to colleges.

  And they made it. They got in. To Anderson University. Right here.

  But, this place is what it is, and they were marked the second they landed. The poor kids. The trash. The “handout” students getting full rides. They didn’t have the cool cars, or any car, for that matter. They didn’t have the nice new clothes. But they tried. Evan went out for the football team and made it. And Ellen, poor Ellen, made the mistake of joining Sigma.

  She also got shoved into one of these fundraiser auctions. A year ago, actually. And she also didn’t want to go on a real date. She also said no. But, they didn’t listen to her.

  They didn’t…well, not that. Almost, but not. There were four of them—four frat boys including Thad, Melissa’s boyfriend. They bundled Ellen off to a room, feeding her drinks. They took her clothes off, and they took fucking pictures of her. And it would have been worse, except by that point, Evan found out what was happening and barged in. He got some good hits in, but, four on one is no match for anyone. Thad and his asshole pals beat the ever loving shit out of our friend.

  Evan, who was like a brother to me, to Roarke, to Jensen.

  The fight stopped the assault, though. Too many witness after that kind of scene, I guess. But after that, they were done at Anderson University. And things got dark.

  Evan spent months in the hospital, recuperating. And Ellen? Well, there’d been a spark there before, and it went out that night. She just got quieter. Darker. She curled up somewhere inside of herself.

  They robbed her of that. They took that light from her, and from Evan.

  …And a year later, they’re about to pay for that.

  Big time.

  It’s taken a year. A year of planning, plotting, and working our asses off. It took me busting my butt and getting into school, here at Anderson. It took me swallowing my hatred for them all and joining the same sorority.

  Because it wasn’t just the boys. Oh no. Melissa was part of the whole damn thing. In fact, she filmed it. Well, I know she did, but the authorities who were finally pressured into looking into the whole thing apparently never found them.

  But I know where they are.

  Why tonight? Why pick this night of all nights to get back at the scumbags who hurt two people we love? No, it's not symbolic. It’s not that we picked the anniversary of the horrible attack on Ellen and Evan like some sort of bookend. It’s that tonight, taking what we’re going to take is going to hurt them more.

  You see, tonight’s been a banner year for the auctions. I ran the numbers from the side of the stage while Laurel was reading about fake convicts escaping from the mental wing. Melissa pulled in two-hundred-thousand dollars tonight. Let that sink in. Like I said, this school and the pampered assholes who go here are loaded. But, that’s not all.

  See, Melissa and Thad have also been hosting poker night at both the sorority and at Thad’s fraternity. And I know from snooping that they haven’t made a bank run in two months.

  Low end, that’s another four-hundred-thousand dollars.

  Oh, and it gets better.

  So, Melissa likes cocaine. A lot. And so does Thad, of course. They like it so much, in fact, that they buy in bulk and sell it at parties. All of that money, plus the hard drives with the video Melissa took of Ellen’s assault and Evan’s beating that never got found—it’s all in a little safe under the floorboards beneath Melissa’s fucking bed. The bed in that little queen-of-the-castle bedroom of hers directly above the “honeymoon suite” we’re in now. The one that’s only accessible by a single staircase.

  By now, word has spread. By now, I’m sure everyone thinks I’ve just been savaged by two crazy maniacs. And, I kind of have. But quite willingly, I promise you. It’s been too long, and we…well, we get a little into it. See, I couldn’t see my two men while I was at school. So it’s been three long months without them.

  Until tonight, when it all came rushing out.

  We could have just robbed the sorority. That was actually the first plan—to just smash in, steal their money and those tapes for evidence and get out. But, where’s the fun in that? The whole thing with the deranged maniacs, and then kicking Kelly out? Well, that’ll bring Melissa. I think I heard her once or twice outside the door, actually. And by now, she’s brought Thad, too.

  Good.

  They can be here. They can watch when we take what we take that will destroy their lives. Evan and Ellen are survivors. But, this is going to make sure of it.

  Jensen and Roarke spring from the bed, pulling clothes on, and I regretfully start to do the same.

  “You know, I liked those panties,” I grumble.

  Jensen chuckles. “I think we’ll be able to afford new
panties, baby.”

  “Yeah, well, you better.”

  She laughs, pulling me close and kissing me.

  “I’ll buy you all the panties you want, angel.”

  “Or,” Roarke growls, coming up behind me. “We just don’t, and you go without them? Always?”

  Jensen nods. “I’m in favor of that.”

  “You would be,” I grin.

  “Damn right.”

  Roarke sighs. “Okay, we doing this?”

  I grit my teeth. “Absolutely.”

  “Game face, angel,” Roarke nods as he and Jensen yank their masks back on.

  Jensen wraps his arm around my neck. It’s not tight, and I’m leading him, but it looks rough, like he’s got me in this headlock.

  “Now,” he whispers.

  And I scream. Loudly—this horrible, bloodcurdling scream like something out of a slasher movie. I almost laugh as I hear gasps from the other side of the door, but I keep it together.

  Oh, they’re all out there, alright.

  Roarke half rips the door off its hinges when he yanks it open, and suddenly, we’re facing Melissa, Thad, Kelly, and a few of the guys from Thad’s frat.

  “The fuck is going on in—”

  Thad’s eyes go wide as Roarke brandishes a wicked looking knife.

  “Upstairs, dipshit,” he hisses at the frat douchebag. “Now.”

  “Hang on,” Thad scowls. “Look, there’s nothing up—”

  Roarke sinks a fist into his gut, doubling him over as he turns to Melissa.

  “Upstairs,” he hisses. “Right the fuck now.”

  “It’s…” She stumbles, her face white. “It’s just my room up there.”

  “We know.”

  Roarke turns, menacing me with the knife. “Do it or she’s in trouble.”

  Melissa swallows, her eyes darting to me before she turns back to Roarke.

  “She—take her.”

  I stare at the head of the sorority, and I hear Jensen mutter “give me a break” under his mask.

  “That’s some cold shit, lady,” Roarke growls at Melissa before he smiles wickedly. “Oh, and we already have taken her. You wanna be next?”

  Melissa pales even more, whipping her head back and forth. “The room…it’s up those stairs. But there’s nothing in there!”

  She calls after us as they start to drag me away, but they ignore her, the three of us moving for the staircase and stumbling up it.

  “There’s nothing up there!” she screeches again, panic in her voice as she runs after us.

  “I’m calling the cops assholes!” Thad roars.

  “Go ahead,” Jensen spits back.

  Thad doesn’t move. He pales too.

  Oh, they’re getting it. They’re starting to understand that the shit is about to hit the fan here.

  “Hey, hang on.”

  Thad starts to run up the stairs after us.

  “What are you—”

  Jensen’s boot has Melissa’s bedroom door smashing off its hinges, and we all go piling in. They push me aside, and when they go for Melissa’s bed, she shrieks as they lift it and shove it over. Roarke’s knife slips under the seam in the carpet, lifting it easily before Jensen’s boot comes into play again, smashing in the thin wooden door under it. They scrabble, tossing the wreckage away before they bend and lift, muscles rippling as they both yank the mid-sized safe out of the floor and heft it to its side.

  “Wait, you can’t…” Melissa’s shaking, her eyes wide and her whole face pale.

  “Combination,” Jensen growls. “Now.”

  She numbly shakes her head. “No, no way—”

  Roarke is up and across the room in a quarter second, slamming Thad into the wall and then shoving the blade against his neck.

  “Twenty-seven, thirty-eight, six!” the douchebag sobs out.

  Jensen turns back to the safe, spinning the dial until there’s an audible click.

  Bingo.

  He cranks the heavy metal door open, and pauses.

  “Holy fuck,” he whispers, his brow arching. But whatever’s surprised him, he shakes it off. He pulls out the mesh sacks he’s had tucked in his jacket and starts to stuff them with giant stacks of money.

  “You can’t just steal my money!”

  Roarke bristles, tugging the mask up over his face just enough to show Melissa his hardened grin.

  “Don't worry, sweetheart. We’re not just taking the money.”

  Jensen coughs, yanking out two little black hard drives from the safe. And when her eyes drift over, Melissa’s whole face goes white.

  “She—she made me!” Thad bellows in a panicked voice. “It was all her idea!”

  “Shut up, Thad!” Melissa screeches back. “Okay, I’m calling the cops.”

  “Don’t bother.”

  Jensen stands, shoulders heaving, and I know there’s rage behind that mask.

  “We’ll call them for you.” He nods at Roarke, and then turns to me. “Let’s go.”

  They grab me, hauling me up as I scream. This is part of it, that they kidnap me away from here. It’s my exit strategy from this place. See, I’m registered under a fake name at the University anyways, since it was all just going to be for one semester. In fact, I’m already registered back at the state school near where we’re setting up a house.

  It’s small, but it’s cozy, and it’s on a ton of land. Plus, it’s near the hospital for Evan, and it’s got a lot of space for Ellen’s painting, which she loves. And lots of privacy, for the three of us.

  And that's all we need.

  “Let’s go, Candy,” Roarke growls loudly. “You’re gonna be our little treat for the road on the way to Mexico.”

  “Melissa!” I shriek, putting on my best panicked face. But she just looks at me, her face pale.

  “I—I…”

  “Do something!”

  I’m just hamming it up now. Hopefully, this gives her nightmares later. But even if it doesn’t, I know jail will.

  We move fast, stumbling down the stairs to the top floor of the sorority house and then down the hallway, tumbling into the elevator. I gasp as the doors close, adrenaline pumping through me.

  “Did we just… Did we just do that?”

  Roarke nods, panting. “Hell yeah we did. How much? Those bags look bigger than I thought they’d be.”

  Jensen snorts. “Fuck, man. A lot. Way fucking more than we thought.”

  The doors open and we’re out, out the side door, out to their truck parked behind the big old house. I sit between them, the engine roars, and suddenly, I turn, mashing my lips to Jensen, and then to Roarke behind the wheel.

  “We did it.”

  “We were always going to.”

  “You two…you know you guys pulled that off so—”

  “No, angel,” Jensen shakes his head. “That was all you. We wore masks and just played tough for one night. You were the superstar. You were the fucking superhero back there. You put in months with those assholes. I—” He shakes his head. “I couldn’t have done that.”

  “I’d have beaten some heads in months ago,” Roarke mutters, taking the truck out onto the road.

  “I did it for Evan, and Ellen. I did it for us.”

  “Now it's over,” Jensen says quietly. “And now, we won, angel.”

  He kisses me again, and I lean over and kiss Roarke’s cheek as he accelerates down the road, away from the sorority.

  “Let’s go home.”

  Epilogue

  Home is where the heart is. I know that. I could go anywhere with them and it’d be “home.” A home needs warmth.

  And love.

  And family.

  And now, we’ve got that all.

  The house is modest, but nice—out in the country about two hours from the city. It’s close enough for Evan to go to his physical therapy, and close enough for the therapist who comes and visits Ellen once a week.

  And she’s doing so much better.

  At first, seeing her atta
ckers on the news, we thought it’d be bad for her—that she’d relapse and go for drugs again, or shut us away. But we didn’t have to worry at all, because it was like opening the shutters to a dark room and letting the sun in for her.

  We sent the hard drives anonymously to the detective who’d looked into her case before. And now, he had a case.

  A big one.

  It was all on there. Thad and his buddies trying to spike Ellen’s drink. Melissa gleefully helping to take pictures of her. Really awful stuff. But they got even more from the cell phone video Melissa had been dumb enough to keep on that hard drive. They got Thad and those other assholes beating up Evan, of course, since that was part of the same recording. But, apparently, Melissa’s stupidity didn’t stop there.

  …She’d taken videos of all kinds of stuff. Drug deals, and selling it, and her and Thad bragging about the auctions and about “getting him and his frat brothers some action” from them. There were bits on there of Melissa and him buying test scores. Hell, they had a dean of the college on tape buying drugs from them and then getting head from Kelly, in exchange for A’s.

  …Needless to say, it was quite the scandal, and pretty soon, a Federal investigation opened on that whole horrible place.

  Good.

  But when they dragged Thad and his buddies and Melissa out of that frat house on the news, and Ellen was there watching? Well, she just smiled. And then she’d started laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” Roarke had growled. She’d always been like a sister to him and Jensen, and after all of this, they were even more protective of her.

  But Ellen had just smiled.

  “He’s a pretty guy. Thad, I mean.”

  Jensen frowned. “And?”

  “And prison is not going to be fun for him.”

  Yeah, the Ellen we knew was already on the way back.

  And so, the five of us have our family back. Oh, and the money? Well, Jensen wasn’t kidding. Not by a mile. The money was way more than we ever thought it would be.

  We’d planned for five-hundred-thousand—maybe a little more if we were lucky. Well, we were beyond lucky. It shows just how serious of a drug trade Melissa and Thad were a part of that we’d underestimated. Because it turns out, between the auctions, and the grade buying, and the drugs, and all that shit, Melissa was sitting on a staggering four million dollars in her fucking sorority house bedroom.