Page 106 of Breaking Sanity
The words that split my heart into two were “you are a beautiful person, Alley. Just not good enough to live for.” He left me the engagement ring he had originally bought for Jean before he caught her in bed with his other childhood best friend.
“Hey sweets!” Dave’s voice comes from my other side causing me to jump into a laughing Benji. I fall on my ass staring up at all three while using both feet to kick myself backwards and away from them.
“NO, NO, NO,” I start to scream.
“Alley,” Baron shouts again and this time he gets in my face.
They retreat to behind the bookcases and under the couch. The room snaps back into perfect view as I am being hoisted back onto the couch.
“What the fuck did you give me,” I yell.
“Little Devil, breathe.” My eyes snap to Gunner. He is sitting on the coffee table. Avoiding his wide eyes, I look around the room. Nik is standing by the door; Vaughn is leaned up against the center of the desk with Shadow and Eagle on either side. Baron is hovering above me, eyes frantically scanning mine. I swear worry flashes behind the forest green, but it disappears so quickly that I could be just wishful thinking.
“What the fuck did you give me,” I repeat more calmly.
“You try to avoid answering the questions or lie and your skeletons will come for you,” he answers, backing away.
“I didn’t say shit though.”
“That is what I found odd,” Baron says, tilting his head to the side. “Now speak for Annie.”
“What do you mean you found it odd?” I go back to yelling.
“Alley!” Gunner gets my attention. “Annie’s story.”
Fuck, right this is for Annie. I jump to my feet and start to pace to clear my mind, but I don’t hear Raven or Ember’s voice, so I am on my own. I start to count my steps and take deep breaths. My hands are cuffed behind my back so I will have to live without being able to pull on my hair to keep me grounded. All in all, this is really going to fucking suck.
“Annie was set up,” I start. “Melanie didn’t want just Nik, she wanted you as well, but you were focused on Annie. I wouldn’t say it was in a good way. Carson just wanted all you back as one unit. So, they joined forces and brought two guys from Alpha team, that piece of shit Logan from Bravo, and the coward from Delta. The four guards wanted it to be like the old times before y’all took over.”
“Why would they do anything for Mel,” Vaughn asks.
“She was fucking all of them,” Nik adds.
“Exactly and they wanted in on the “action” with all of us, instead of this game of 1940’s psych ward you have going on. So, Melanie convinced Annie that she had a way to get rid of you for good. Of course, the guards promised tohelp and if anything went sideways, they’d cover for her. It was all perfect minus one thing.”
“I was showering, not sleeping,” Vaughn says with a questioning look.
“But they all seriously thought you would be sleeping because of Carson and Mel. Carson knew your routine and must’ve told Mel. In turn, she gave Annie false information hoping that she would be caught and killed. You know, if I can’t have you, no one can. That type of thing. Carson, on the other hand, knew that you wouldn’t kill her but he wanted Annie to give up the guards. Get them out of the way in hopes that it would lead to you getting rid of all the guards. When she didn’t, he raped her after you were done mutilating her to keep her from exposing the truth.”
“Carson wouldn’t fucking do that!” Vaughn grabs me by my shirt and hauls me off the ground to make us face to face.
“Get your hands off her, Vaughn” Gunner growls, getting to his feet.
“Your slut here is fucking lying! You, brother, are to fucking blinded by her golden pussy to see it.” Vaughn tosses me aside to get in Gunner’s face.
Unfortunately for me, I hit the side of the coffee table before I’m back on the floor, next to the couch. Pain radiates through me, making it nearly impossible to rock myself back and forth to help get myself back up. Ditching that idea, I use my legs to push myself to the couch. The friction from the rough rug is seriously causing some major rug burn along with digging the tight cuffs into my wrists. But that is an injury to address later. Right now, I need to get up. Using the couch to help me, I get into a sitting position before all hell breaks loose.
It’s only a split second from when my eyes meet Gunner’s exposing my physical pain, to when he lunges at Vaughn. They have been at each other’s throats for a while. Seeing Vaughn lay hands on me pushed Gunner over the edge, I guess. Good thing he hasn’t seen the other times Vaughn has.
Gunner punches him hard enough that Vaughn’s entire body snaps to the side. He tries to regain his balance when Gunner spartan kicks him into Baron’s desk. The sound of wood grating against wood fills the room along with their grunting and flesh bouncing off flesh. Vaughn rips his knife from his holster in an attempt to stab him but Gunner is too quick. He knocks it out of his hand, nearly hitting mein the process. It lodges itself into the cushion right by Annie’s trembling hand.
“For fucks sake, ENOUGH,” Nik barks separating the two. “I don’t know about Carson, but I do know she is right about Mel and the guards.”
“Bring them in here and let’s find out.” Vaughn spits blood onto the oak wood floors making Baron clench his fist and scrunch his nose in disgust.
“You kind of can’t,” I say, using the couch to help me get to my feet.
“And why is that?”
