Filed to story: The LORDS Series Free PDF by Shantel Tessier
My bedroom. I watched him leave out of my French doors to my balcony. He must have entered the same way. I never lock them. I prefer to leave them open at night and listen to the wind howl in the trees. It’s soothing.
“Are you okay, miss?” A man comes up to stand in front of me.
I look up at him through my lashes. They’re clumped together. His eyes drop to my dress and heels. I know I look like shit. They think it’s because my stepdad is dead, but it’s because I allowed his killer to fuck me with his gun. My pussy burns. I’m pretty sure I’m getting an infection. But I don’t give a fuck. It was worth it. To be fucked by the very thing that killed the man I hate? I’ll take an infection any day for the price of freedom.
“She’s fine.” Lincoln scoffs.
“She’s in shock.” My mother cries, “She hasn’t spoken since … since Linc found the body.”
I didn’t even know Lincoln was attending tonight. I wouldn’t have stayed home if I had. But that doesn’t mean anything. It was packed full of guests. And I stayed to myself. Always do.
“Let us call EMS to check her out.” The officer doesn’t wait for anyone to answer. He speaks into the radio on his shoulder and orders an ambulance.
“Why?” my mother screams, making me flinch. “Why did this happen? Again?” She’s now sobbing on her knees by the couch.
Lincoln walks up behind her and places his hands on her shoulders. “Laura …”
“He was so good to us. He loved us.” I whimper at her words, and the officer notices.
“Are you going to get sick, miss?” he asks me.
“She’s fine,” Lincoln snaps at him, but the officer doesn’t look away from me.
Am I? No. I wish I could expel every touch, every kiss, every motherfucking memory of him, but I can’t. Only death will offer me such mercy.
A new officer comes walking down the stairs and hands a pill bottle to the one who hovers over me. “Found this in the bathroom by his body.”
“What are they?”
The man lowers his voice. “Viagra.”
My body shudders. I’ve been lucky enough the past year that he’s needed help getting it up. It wasn’t as fun for him to fuck me when it had to be scheduled. A part of me-the sick part-was ashamed of myself that I no longer did it for him. The other part told her to shut the fuck up.
“Someone removed his finger,” another man states, coming down the stairs.
My mother’s shrill scream that follows the officer’s statement makes my ears ring. I had watched the mystery man cut it off. He didn’t know I was there, but I was. Stunned to silence at first. He thought I was going to talk. He has no idea how well I can keep a secret. One of those secrets is sitting across from me, holding my sobbing mother.
The front double doors fly open, and three men enter the family room in solid black three-piece suits. “That’s enough, gentlemen. We’ll take it from here.”
They’re Lords. Powerful men at the top of their food chain.
“With all due respect …”
“Get the fuck out of Mr. Roland’s house,” one commands. His voice booming over my mother’s cries
I want to correct him. This isn’t James’s house. It was my father’s, who left it to my mother in his death. But I can’t make my lips move.
“We’ve got medics on the way,” the officer who called me an ambulance argues.
Another man enters the house and the Lords gesture to him.
“We brought our own.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “Last time I’m going to say it.”
Understanding the officers are outnumbered and outpowered, they exit the house as the Lords follow Lincoln upstairs to where the body remains.
The doctor walks over to me while my mother falls onto the couch, the sobs that come out of her mouth irritating me. Did she really not know what kind of man he was? I thought she put on a show. Pretended to love him because she had to. I guess I was wrong.
That was two years ago, the last time I had to see Lincoln. But that’s not why my hand tightens on the piece of glass I’m holding. My breath quickens at the pain as the jagged edges cut into my skin.
“Why is he here?” I demand.
“Elli,” my mother scolds me. “Don’t speak that way. I’m sorry, Linc.”
“It’s quite all right. This will be an adjustment for all of us.”
“Adjustment?” I repeat the word, and my eyes drop to the diamond on her left hand. A sharpness in my chest takes away my breath. “Mom-“
“Laura, we’ve got a problem in the kitchen,” her head chef says, interrupting me.
“I’ll be right back.” She pats Lincoln’s chest and follows the man out.
He places his hands on the table across from me, wasting no time. “Hello, Elli. It’s been too long.”
“Not long enough.” I swallow, my tongue all of a sudden heavy. “Get out of this house,” I add, ignoring the way my body trembles in the chair. James may have fucked me, but he took his time getting under my skin. Making me believe that I needed him. Lincoln is not that kind of man.
He smirks. “Didn’t you see the ring, baby?” I jerk at the nickname. “Daddy’s home. And by the way you’ve been acting, I see you’ve forgotten your lessons.”
A cry escapes my lips, my body sinking further into the chair, trying to escape him.
His eyes drop to my hand, and his smirk grows. “Already bleeding for me, I see.”
Tears blur my vision, and my throat is closing, making it hard to breathe.
“When I get my hands on you, those six years with James will feel like heaven.”
I don’t walk out of the formal dining room, I run, down the hallway and through the foyer, needing to get out of this hell. I yank both front doors open and rush outside, only to run into a hard body. A yelp escapes my lips in surprise.
“Whoa.” Hands grip my upper arms, and my legs buckle, but he wraps his arms around me, making me whimper. “What the fuck happened, Elli?” I hear Sin’s voice, and I bury my face into his shirt. The familiar scent envelops me, and I begin to cry.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
SIN
SHE CLINGS TO me, and I look up over the top of her head to see Linc standing in the hallway just outside the formal dining room. He smirks at me, and my teeth grind. My arms automatically hold her tighter.
“Linc?”
“I’m coming,” he calls out to her mother, but his eyes are on Elli before disappearing.
The double meaning isn’t lost on me. “Hey?” I pull her away from me, and tears run down her face. I rub them away with my thumbs while cupping her cheek. “What happened?” I demand.
Her big eyes meet mine, and I watch fresh tears spill over her bottom lashes. A trail of black runs down her cheeks, smearing her makeup. “I can’t stay here. Not right now.” She sniffs.
I nod, grabbing her hand and walking her down the steps and over to my car. I open the passenger door, and she falls into it, fixing her dress that had ridden up.
Getting in, I start the car and pull out of the driveway and through the open gate. I feel something on my back. Wetness? Reaching around, I run my hand over my shirt. Looking at my hand, I see it’s bloody. “The fuck?” I look over at her and see her sitting ramrod straight, her hands in her lap and they’re covered in blood. “Elli? What in the fuck?” I bark. “Why are you bleeding?” Did he hurt her?