Filed to story: The LORDS Series Free PDF by Shantel Tessier
Gunner hangs up and I go to call him back, wanting to stay on the phone with him, but my cell vibrates, alerting me of a text.
UNKNOWN: We know where your loyalty lies. Let’s see about hers.
“FUCK!”
“She’ll be okay,” Tyson says.
“Fuck. Fuck.” I fist my hands before running them through my hair. “It’s the Lords. They want to test her. Fuck!”
Tyson doesn’t seem surprised. Why would he? This is what they do. They see someone in a vulnerable position and use it against you. Only the strongest get to wear the crest. Only the ones they deem worthy get rewarded.
“One thing at a time,” Tyson speaks. “Send Gunner the address to the house.” Then he picks up his cell to make the call we need.
_______________
I’M PACING THE living room of the house with Gavin. He works for the Lords. Tyson called him to meet us here. Thankfully he was closer than we were and was already waiting for us when we arrived. Tyson stands over in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows looking out into the dark woods.
The front double doors open and I rush to them, thinking it’s Gunner with Elli but it’s Chance. I go back to pacing.
“I got the text,” he states at our silence.
I don’t have time to think about that right now. Her loyalty won’t matter if she’s already dead when Gunner arrives.
“Where do you want her?” Gunner calls out, rushing into the house with an unconscious Elli draped across his arms. A crying Sarah enters behind them.
“In the bedroom,” Gavin commands, pointing to the hallway. I hurry in front of him to lead the way for Gunner where Gavin is already set up for her.
Gunner places her on the bed and her head rolls to the side. I don’t miss the fact that she’s still dressed in her jeans and a T-shirt. Which makes me think that whatever Holland planned on doing with her wasn’t sexual. He didn’t want to fuck my little demon, he wanted to kill her.
“Elli?” I demand, grabbing her face. It’s clammy and cold, her skin is pale, lips blue. “Elli?” I shout her name, shaking her, but nothing. No response at all. It makes my chest tighten.
“What did she take?” Gavin asks, running his knuckles up and down her chest bone, but still nothing. She moves like a rag doll with his harsh movements-lifeless.
Gunner holds on to a sobbing Sarah who stares down at Elli. “I don’t know. I found her that way.”
Gavin looks at me and then to Chance who has followed as well. “What does she normally take?”
Running a hand through my hair, I say, “Uh, ecstasy, cocaine…” I try and think of everything I burned and have seen her have in the past. “She had some benzos.” Chance doesn’t know. He’s not around her enough so he stays silent.
“Fentanyl?” Gavin questions. “Opioids?” He lifts her eyelids and I get a look at her beautiful ice-blue eyes; the pupils are constricted.
“No.” I shake my head. “She wouldn’t-“
“Tyson, hand me the Narcan that’s in my bag,” he interrupts me, not believing my answer.
Tyson rips open the package and hands the nose spray to Gavin. I hold her clammy hand while he tilts her head back. Placing it into her left nostril, he pushes the plunger into her nose.
“Help me turn her over,” he orders, stepping back from the bed.
I grab her shoulder, rolling her toward me.
“Place her hands under her head.” I do as I’m told. “Tyson, bend her left knee, making it to where she can’t roll onto her stomach.”
We get her into position, and I kneel down next to the bed, staring into her eyes. They’re somewhat open, seeing nothing. The makeup she went out wearing tonight is smeared across her gorgeous face. Had she been crying? Did she try and call me? She needed me and I wasn’t there for her.
“Now what?” I ask Gavin, licking my lips nervously.
“We give it a couple of minutes. If it doesn’t seem to work, I’ve got another one.”
“You need to leave,” Tyson grabs my arm, pulling me to stand.
“What? No.” My eyes are on Elli and I see she blinks, starting to come to, and I let out a sigh of relief. “Elli-“
“Yes, Sin,” Tyson growls at me. “Chance is here. That’s who she needs.”
“No!” I snap, watching her eyes look around aimlessly. Gavin starts to talk to her, and I watch her begin to cry. Is he fucking serious?
Tyson shoves me through the bedroom door. Gunner exits with a sobbing Sarah, and he closes it behind them, shutting her in there with Gavin and Chance. “You’ve come this far. Don’t ruin it. Chance is who she needs to be with right now. Not you.” Then he turns and enters the bedroom, closing me out once more.
ELLINGTON
I WAKE ONCE again, flinching at the bright light above me. I’ve had a hard time staying awake. My eyes so heavy, my mind too foggy. Rolling onto my side, I start to shake, my body cold.
“Here.” I hear a man’s voice before a blanket is draped over me.
Lifting my heavy eyes, I see Tyson stepping back, which gives me a view of the guy standing over by a wall. I groan when I see his green eyes already on mine.
“Where am I?” I ask, ignoring him and scanning the room.
“Home.” Tyson is the one who answers.
How did I get here? Pushing myself up to a sitting position, the room spins and I bow my head, my hand applying pressure to my temple. “What…” My tongue is heavy, my throat raw. “Happened?” I feel high, but off. Everything aches.
“You went to a party and got fucked up. Like usual,” Chance growls, clearly aggravated.
“Don’t act like you care,” I mumble, not remembering much. The last thing that comes to mind is me standing in the bathroom with Holland. We did a couple lines and I started to feel different … wrong. Then everything went black.
He sighs. “If you think being a druggie will make me call off the wedding, you’re wrong.”
Of course, he won’t. That would mean luck is in my favor.
“Here’s her purse,” I hear Tyson say and I look up just as he hands my clutch over to Chance. How did he get that? It was in my car. How did I get here? Did Tyson find me? Did he bring me home?
I look over to the other man that stands in the room. He’s older. I recognize him from when the Lords brought him to our house after James was killed. He checked on me then. I remember him telling me his name is Gavin when I woke up for the first time earlier. I couldn’t keep my eyes open and fell back asleep. He promised me that I was okay. That everything would be oaky. I just needed to rest.
Chance gets my attention when he rips open my clutch and tenses while staring into it. Reaching inside, he pulls out all five pregnancy tests I took earlier and holds them up. “Celebrating?”
No. More like drowning my sorrows. I don’t answer.
He throws them across the room, hitting the wall so hard that two of their caps fall off. He walks over to me, and I straighten my spine.
“Who the fuck are you sleeping with?” he demands.
I clench my teeth, refusing to answer. I will not give up Sin. It’ll make me look stupid. Desperate. He does not deserve my loyalty, but this isn’t about him. It’s about me. He didn’t come to save me from the party. I will not spend the rest of my life with Chance paying for what Sin did to me. Some things a woman has to take to her grave. This is one of those that I will die for.
“I asked you a question,” he shouts in my face, making my headache intensify. “Huh? Who the fuck are you fucking?”