Men In Control (Smith Brothers Complete Series)

by Brenda Ford

  I’m woozy, but I’ve been this way for hours. Or at least it seems that way. It’s dark outside anyway and I’m sure I remember someone saying something about midnight at some point, but I don’t know if I just imagined it. I feel a bit like I might be going crazy with all of this blood loss. It mustn’t be too bad a wound, nothing inside of me must be seriously damaged, but it’s still painful as all hell. I still want it to get looked at.

  “Hospital,” I rasp out for what feels like the hundredth time. “I need to go to the hospital.”

  “Oh honey, you aren’t going anywhere. Not until you agree to be with me for good.”

  Urgh, this is stupid. “Okay, sure, whatever you want. I will be with you. Just get me to a doctor.”

  “Oh sure. You’re going to be with me. I believe you.” I can practically hear the eye roll in her voice. “Do you think that I’m stupid or something? Do you think that I have come here for your lies?”

  “Lies? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not lying. I’m just…”

  “Just feeding me what I want to hear because you want to get out of here. I know what you’re up.”

  “Maria, I really think he does need to go to the hospital,” Tami jumps in to my defense. “Look at him. If you keep him here like this for much longer, he will end up dead. Then where will that leave you?”

  “You shut the fuck up, bitch.” Woah. Maria’s tone completely changes as she speaks to Tami. “Haven’t I already told you that you have done enough? You nearly took my arm off charging past me.”

  “You had just stabbed Brad! You can’t honestly stand there and pretend to give a shit about this man when you seem to want him dead. I sure as shit wouldn’t treat someone that I loved this way.”

  “So, you’re telling me that you love Brad now?” Maria sneers. “You love my man. Well, that is just pathetic, honey because that son of a bitch has always belonged to me. Sure, I might have had to wait around until he is ready for commitment, but if that time has come then I will take him. Not you. You are one hell of a basic bitch. He deserves a goddess. Someone who would actually look good on his arm. I couldn’t believe it when Tawny showed me a picture of you as she gave me your number to start the torment. I couldn’t stop laughing.”

  Fuck, this is bad, it’s really bad. I just wish that I had more strength to sort it out. I want to really tell Maria what I think of her and all of this right now. I think that she deserves to know how I really feel about her, even though I don’t think I have been very discrete about that, but it’s like I have no blood in my brain to help me.

  “I actually might call Tawny and the gang around here now,” Maria continues. “They want some serious revenge on you. Who knows, they might even want to cut a bitch up. That could be fun, couldn’t it? Get some more DNA on this knife before I toss it away? Getting rid of any evidence.”

  “The cops will get you.” I’m proud of the way Tami doesn’t seem to want to back down. But I’m scared for her too. I really don’t know which way this will go. Since she’s already shoved that blade in to me, I can see that she is capable of anything. “It doesn’t matter what you do, they will get you.”

  “Please, you think this is my first rodeo? I know how to get away with whatever I want.”

  “So, you really can’t care enough about Brad then, if you’ve done this for another man.”

  “Will you just shut the fuck up, bitch? You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t know me at all, so don’t go judging my life. Brad is mine. I tried to warn you away from him before, but you wouldn’t listen…” She did? Why the hell did Tami not tell me about that? “So, now you need to pay for it. And I’m going to make you pay. You will realize that you should have kept away from my man.”

  “Not your man,” I spit out angrily… not that any emotion comes through. “Not yours ever.”

  “What did you say, Brad?” Maria snaps. “Not mine? Are you still spinning that bullshit? Look, I’m all for playing hard to get, it’s a lot of fun. But it’s getting old now, isn’t it? Let’s just call a spade a spade and get it together already. Me and you are destiny, aren’t we? We’re meant to be together.”

  This is nuts, isn’t it? She really has lost her damn mind. She’s unhinged and I’m sure that Tawny and the others have been feeding her enough bullshit to swell these thoughts in her mind. I am definitely getting rid of them now. All of them, anyone who has anything to do with this, they are all gone.

  “Maria, this is between me and you,” I rasp with all of the strength that I can manage. “Not Tami. Just let her go already. Let her get out of here. She isn’t going to do anything to get in the way of us.”

  “That bitch is only getting out of this place in a body bag.”

  “Don’t say things like that. That’s really stupid. Just let her go. Tami isn’t involved…”

  “Tami is too fucking involved and that is exactly the problem. She is in our way, Brad, and I’m trying to figure out the best way to dispose of her. Me and you are going to have to get rid of her body, aren’t we?”

  I really hope that she doesn’t mean this. I really hope this doesn’t get worse than it already is. “Maria, please stop it. Don’t say things like this. You and that knife are scaring me right now.”

  “Good, because they should be. You and your whore.”

  “Tami isn’t a whore, Maria. She’s just a girl. Someone who met a guy…”

  “My guy,” she cries out loudly, really feeling the need to emphasize this point. “My man. She had no right to go after you, did she? She had no right to go anywhere near you at all.”

  Something snaps inside of me. I can hardly keep it together any longer. It’s too intense for me now. She isn’t responding to me trying to be nice to her so I’m going to have to try a different tactic.

  “I went near her, Maria. I chased Tami like I haven’t ever chased after anyone before.” A strength begins to burst through me. One that comes from a place of sheer rage. “I wanted her desperately. So, I’m the one who did all of the seducing. The only person to blame here is me. I mean, you know what I’m like.”

  “Yeah, I do,” Maria snaps back. “That’s why I’m confused that you aren’t done with her yet.”

  “Urgh, because I’m falling for her, that’s why. I’ve been falling for her ever since I first met her properly. That’s why I did all of the chasing. Because she is the one for me. Not you.”

  I lean up and watch Maria’s face change. She narrows her eyes angrily at me, hating me for doing this to her, disagreeing with her in front of Tami, disregarding her feelings. But what am I supposed to do? Nothing else will get through to her. I need to make her understand that she’s acting crazy some way or another.

  Then she twists around, and a horribly loud slapping sound fills the room. I half expect a sense of pain to radiate through me, but it isn’t me that she’s hit. It’s Tami. Her body falls backwards, knocking against the wall.

  “See what I will do to anyone that gets in the way of me and you?”

  “Tami isn’t in the way of me and you,” I yell back. “You are in the way of us. You and this behavior. You really think that anyone would want to be with someone who acts this way?”

  Maria’s hands fly on to her hips. She looks completely brazen, like she doesn’t give a shit about anything that I have just said. “You think that anyone wants to be with a man whore, like you?” she sneers. “I have stayed and waited through everything when I really didn’t have to. Then you treat me like this?”

  “I haven’t treated you like anything. I have just kept well out of your way.”

  Maria doesn’t take well to this. She slaps Tami loudly again, which lifts me from the ground. I can’t just sit here and let Tami get hurt, it doesn’t matter what sort of state I am in. The wound screams at me as I move, but I push through it and lurch myself at Maria. Unfortunately, she hasn’t been stabbed so her wits are far more in control than mine, so she moves rapidly. The only thing behind h
er is a table which my head slams against.

  “Fuck!” I yell out as the pain shoots all the way through me. “Fucking hell. That’s… shit, argh!”

  A blackness threatens to come for me. I can feel it shrouding me and itching to come for me, but I refuse to let it in. I can’t. The moment that takes me, I’m fucked and so is Tami. I care much more about her life than mine. Every time my eyes threaten to close, I prize them back open. I fight every instinct inside of me.

  “You’re a fucking idiot, Brad!” Maria screams. “Why are you trying to fight this? Why are you acting like me and you aren’t destiny? What is your problem? No other woman would do this for you. No one else would fight so hard to be with you. I love you. I have shown that I love you over and over again. Has Tami? No, of course not. She hasn’t been on the scene long enough for that. She doesn’t know you like I do.”

  This is ridiculous. Tami knows me better than any other woman but I’m too weary to argue this. I barely have enough energy to even breathe, never mind anything else. I just can’t do it anymore. Everything is ebbing away from my body. I don’t have a damn thing left to give. Maria is getting just what she wants from me… silence. Giving up. Handing all of the control over to her to let her do whatever the hell she wants.

  Please be safe, Tami, I think desperately. Please don’t let her hurt you.

  “Tami, you wouldn’t act this way for Brad, would you?” Maria continues. “You wouldn’t do all of this to prove to Brad that you love him as much as I do, would you?”

  “No, of course not. But that’s because I’m not an animal. I would act in a normal way, just like everyone else. People don’t do this sort of thing. People don’t stab those that they love. People don’t lock those that they care about away. They don’t threaten the lives of those who are in their life. This is just something else.”

  A guttural growl flies out of Maria’s mouth. I really do think that this might be the final straw. She has snapped and I’m too screwed over to help her. I can’t do anything. Sounds surround me, ones that chill me to the bone and I honestly can’t do anything. I’m stuck here, helpless and hopeless as my world crashes down around me.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Tami

  Maria has become a wild animal. She’s feral as all hell as she comes towards me and she smacks me. There’s such an intense hate in her gaze, like I am the source of all her issues. She doesn’t seem to understand that it’s her. She has created all of this mess for herself. Over a guy who really doesn’t want her. How mental is that?

  As my body hits the wall hard, the hopelessness overcomes me. I don’t know how the hell I ended up in this mess, and I sure as fuck don’t know how we’re going to get out of it. I stare at Brad, desperately wishing that I could do something to help him, but Maria just won’t let me. She’s determined to finish me off.

  I can’t help but wonder if I would have still gone anywhere near Brad if I knew that it was going to end up like this. Would I have wanted this if I knew that it was going to be a constant drama? It really has been never ending. None stop bullshit ever since we first hooked up. It’s been crazy. My time with Daniel was so straight forward, so tame, so simple until he ended up cheating on me. I never felt this roller coaster, this up and down wave of never quite knowing what was going to happen next. I suppose it wasn’t better though, but I do kinda wish that me and Brad could have something a little calmer so we can just be us.

  I don’t know if he can see me. His vision is probably a bit blurry because of the blood loss. But I need to say it anyway. I need him to at least know that my feelings for him are stronger than anything. “I love you, Brad.”

  “I just saw that,” Maria groans. “Honestly, you two are pathetic. The worst. Love. That’s absolutely crazy. You can’t know anything about love. You haven’t been in his life long enough. And it’s pointless anyway. Don’t you see? Loving this man only turns you into me. He won’t ever love you back.”

  “Then why do you want him so much? Why not just let him go?” I demand. “What is the point of risking your life for him if he isn’t ever going to be able to give you what you want? That’s pointless, Maria.”

  For a second, it seems like Maria might actually be listening to me. I think my words might be sinking in. I really hope that she is starting to see just a little bit of sense in all of this. It will only take me one moment of her eyes widening to the truth for us to shut her down and get out of here. A warm hope blooms through me. I even step forwards as if I might just run away from this, or maybe charge at her or something.

  “You wouldn’t understand,” she snaps back, her expression turning to one of madness. “You don’t know what it’s like to see the man that you love give everything to someone else. Imagine that you really do love Brad and you have to watching him fall in love with another person. Can you even think of that?”

  To be fair, that does cause some pain in my chest. It would be difficult to see Brad in love with someone else. But that still doesn’t mean that I would want to hurt that person. I would just be sad.

  All of a sudden, a stinging sound hits. My right cheek this time. Last time when she slammed me against the wall, it was the left, so now the red hot agony radiates around me. This smack makes me angry. She can’t keep abusing me like this just because the guy she likes doesn’t feel the same way about her.

  “Fuck you, Maria,” I spit out. “You’re a fucking bitch. This is ridiculous.”

  I slide to the ground and scoot across the floor until I am near enough to Brad for him to reach for my hand. I can already tell that there isn’t even a scrap of energy left in his body. This asshole is killing him. She would rather him be dead than with me. I squeeze his hand, trying to reassure him, but there isn’t anything coming back the other way. He would definitely want to reassure me if he could.

  He’s really losing too much blood now. I need to act soon. My eyes scan around the room and soon find my cell phone still on the floor where I dropped it earlier on. I had almost forgotten that existed! My pulse speeds up. I don’t get any sense of hope this time, but I know if I can get hold of it, we have a chance. I squeeze Brad’s hands a couple more times, hearing Maria’s tone droning above me. If I move too quickly, she will get suspicious and probably go for it before me, so I need to be extremely careful. I need to make sure she’s distracted by something else. I wonder if Brad will be able to help me with that.

  “You okay?” I breathe out leaning close to him. “Are you able to help?”

  “Huh?” He blinks a couple of times, clearly not really in the room. “What?”

  “What are you two bitches whispering about?” Maria snaps, letting me know that I’m definitely going to be alone with this one. Brad isn’t in a good way anyway and Maria is sharp. “If you have something to talk about then why don’t you share it with me, huh? I would like to know what’s so important.”

  She glares at me and I stare right back. Since she isn’t going to back down then I won’t either. I ever so slowly rise to my feet, letting go of Brad regretfully as I do, and I step closer to Maria. She stiffens, not knowing what way I’m going to go with this, which is good because I haven’t got a clue either. I just know that I need to do something to distract her for long enough for me to grab my cell phone.

  “Maria. This is my apartment,” I tell her firmly. “And I never invited you here. This has gone on for long enough now, it’s time for this to end. You need to get the hell out of here.”

  She tips her head back and laughs nastily. “Oh yeah, because the chick with the knife is going to listen to you. Sure. Nice try, you stupid slut. Honestly, did you really think that was going to work out for you?”

  I dart down quickly, acting as if I’m going to go for the knife which is probably what she thinks I’m going to do. Then as she swings it back to make sure I can’t get hold of it. As she does this, I dive under her arm and slide on the ground towards my cell phone. My fingers out stretched grab on to it, but as the wind
is knocked from my body, I can’t do anything with it right away. I need to sort myself out first.

  My stomach aches, my body hurts, the weariness is really getting to me now. This has been going on for far too long. I don’t even know how long. It’s ridiculous really. I should have gotten her out of here ages ago.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Maria screams. “Are you kidding me right now? What the hell are you doing? You must have lost your damn mind. Coming at me like that. Like you don’t think I will stab you too. I didn’t stab Brad to kill him because he’s going to be with me after all of this, but you… well, you I don’t give a shit about. I wouldn’t even be worried about going to jail to get rid of you.”

  I really think she might mean this which is terrifying. But I have my phone now, so this is something. I try to turn over to see where she is, but I don’t get to see anything. A pain smacks hard against my head. This time it doesn’t feel like a hand. She has hit me with something. Something hard, it hurts like hell.

  “Argh, fuck,” I yell out as she hits me again and then a third time. She’s going to keep on hitting me until I’m out cold. Thank goodness I still have the ability to think fast enough to know what to do for the best. I lay my head back and slide my eyes closed, acting like I’ve been knocked out. It’s scary because I can’t see where my next attack is coming from but it’s the only way, I have a chance of getting her to stop.

  My heart beats hard. It thumps so powerfully against my chest I fear it might explode, but it does the trick and she steps away from me. I hear her footsteps go towards Brad then she begins murmuring to him. I don’t know what her words are, she’s saying it so I definitely cannot hear, but that doesn’t bother me. I’m not interested in anything that she has to say anymore. I peek ever so slightly and see that she has her back to me, which means that I don’t have long. I pull my cell phone up to where I can see it better… blinking through the blurring which has come from the smacks around the head, and I type out what I can as quickly as I can. There’s no chance I can explain the whole situation. I will just have to get the main details out.