Page 23 of Snowed in with the Villains

No, I’m not pining over them. Why would I do such a stupid thing? They may have lied to me, pushed me over only to catch me, kidnapped me, and changed the shape inside my body so even now, this minute, I can still feel them move inside me. Filling me up. Taking me to both heaven and pain at the same time.

My body is never going to forget them. How could it when they stretched me only to suit them, their touch, their cocks, their hands, their mouths? And my heart won’t forget them.

Wait, my heart? I don’t even know them. Well, I do; they’re crazy psychos who dragged me into their game, turned my life upside down, took my virginity, and paid me for it too. Any relationship expert will immediately say those are the worst grounds to start any kind of relationship on. Three red flags with eight packs.

My heart lurches and whispers loudly in my ear that it doesn’t care what relationship experts think or say.

It’s such a mess. I don’t know whether I’m delusional or heartbroken—it’s hard to tell the difference. I just want to hide and never come out again.

A rap on my door startles me. I have no clue who it could be.

“Ms. Jennings,” a man’s voice, strained and watery, says, as if he’s under great duress.

“My name is Pete Fischer. You may know me as The Sledge Hammer.”

I search around for a weapon and immediately take a knife from my kitchen counter.

“Ms. Jennings. I’m here to offer you my deepest apologies. If I had known who you were dating…”

What? I’m dating? Who am I dating?

“Please, Ms. Jennings, please accept my apologies. I’m on my knees before you, and I beg you to forgive me before they kill me.”

They?

Them?

Without another thought for my safety, or theirs, I jerk my door open. The first three men I see are Alex, Kai, and Eason. They’re smiling at me like idiots, and I’m sure I’m still a little mad at them.

Last I saw them was thirteen hours ago, and I swear my body wants to bow before them. It’s only then that something catches my attention, and I drop my gaze to the floor.

Oh, my god.

On his knees is a big, bulky man. There’s not a single scratch on him to indicate they must have roughed him up enough to make him this subdued, but there he was, forced into submission. Did I forget they’re all villains?

“Tell the beautiful princess how sorry you are for intruding on her life uninvited and then sending her pictures of severed limbs as a means to threaten her,” Eason says.

I’m too stunned to hear The Sledge Hammer’s apology, which seems to go on forever.

What is going on?

“Good, now tell the beautiful princess you wouldn’t dare speak to her again—no contact, no texts. Nothing. Tell her you’re unworthy to be in the same ether as she is, let alone breathe the same air she does,” Alex says.

The mafia man again does as instructed. He's slobbering in fear over his words, but he gets them out.

I still don’t understand what is happening.

“Tell the beautiful princess, Skye, it will be your absolute pleasure, an honor so deep that from now onward, no matter where you are or who you’re with, you’ll protect her name, her person, and anyone else who’s important to her to the death,” Kai delivers.

“I swear, I swear upon my heart, my family, my children, may god strike everyone I love dead if I don’t keep to my word. My family and I swear our allegiance to you, Princess Skye, until the day each of us draws our last breath,” he says, tears rolling down his face, as he lowers himself even further at my feet.

“Good, now off you fuck,” Eason says, effortlessly hauling the big man up from the floor of the corridor of my apartment building and pushing him toward the exit.

I’m still too stunned to react; minutes go by with us just staring at each other. Them, larger than life, completely obscuring mydoor, with their hands in their pockets. And me not knowing what to do.

No. I do know. They lied to me. But how do I explain them finding The Sledge Hammer, bringing him here to apologize to me, on his knees? I only mentioned one thing; that my legs were going to be chopped off by some mafia guy if I didn’t pay up. Why did they do that… for me? No. No, I tell my heart forcefully. Am I forgetting whose daughter I am?

I grasp my doorknob, ready to shut it in their faces, when Alex puts a foot out and prevents me from shutting them out.

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