Page 14 of Monster's Madhouse
Monster loomed close, his presence heavy, his voice a growl in Reid’s ear. “She’s ours to protect. Not yours to chase. You so much as show your face again, and you’ll regret it.”
Blitz stood behind them, her heart hammering, fear and relief tangled together. She’d never seen two men look so united, so terrifying in their resolve.
Reid stumbled when Drifter finally released him, clutching his stomach, his eyes wide with fury—but he didn’t argue. He didn’t say anything, just started for his car that was parked a few houses down the road.
“You’re just going to let him go?” Josie shouted from the front porch.
“I fucking told you to stay in the house, Josie,” Drifter yelled back. Josie’s gaze drifted back to where Reid was getting into his car, and Blitz knew that something was wrong. She turned tofind Reid running toward the three of them, pointing his gun at Monster.
“Shit,” Drifter shouted. Everything seemed to speed up around them, except for the three of them. Monster and Drifter shielded her from Reid as Monster pulled the gun from its holster. He got off the first shot before Reid even knew what was happening. Blitz watched as her ex fell to the sidewalk, his red blood pooling around him.
“Is he dead?” she whispered. Neither guy answered her. They were in full-on protective mode. Drifter kept her behind his body as Monster moved in on Reid to see if he was still breathing.
“He’s dead,” Monster shouted back to them. “Josie, go call the cops,” he ordered. Drifter wrapped his arms around her, and Monster crossed the yard, holding her from behind. The three of them stood there like that for what felt like an eternity, and when the cops finally showed up, wanting to ask her a gazillion questions, neither man left her side. They were giving her the same hope that they had just days ago when they promised to protect her, but now, she wanted so much more from them than their protection. She wanted them, and somehow, some way, she was going to figure out a way to make that happen.
Drifter
Drifter walked into Monster’s office, holding up a shopping bag. “I have a plan,” he triumphantly announced. Monster groaned and laughed all at the same time as Drifter tossed the bag onto his desk. Monster pulled out the skeleton costumes that he had purchased at the Halloween store and groaned.
You know how much I hate Halloween, right?” Monster asked.
“I do, but hear me out. I’m not asking you to go trick-or-treating or anything like that. I think that this is a way that we can lure Blitz back into our lives. It’s been almost a week since her fucking ex tried to take her from us. We’ve both slept with her, so why not give her what she really wants? You and I both know how stubborn she is, and she won’t keep on seeing us individually. Hell, that was a fluke. She was scared of her stalker ex and ended up in both of our beds. Why not make this thing between the three of us permanent?”
Watching Blitz save Josie from her ex-stalker did crazy things to his heart. He wanted to pull her into his body and never let her go. He wanted to tell her how much he loved her and thathe was willing to share her with Monster, but he did none of that. All he could do for her was be there while the cops questioned her, and then she shut herself away in her room and didn’t come out unless she needed to use the bathroom or eat. She had shut them all out—even Josie, and that hurt like a son of a bitch.
“Have you changed your mind about us sharing her then?” Monster asked.
“I have,” he admitted. “How do you feel about it?” he asked. Monster didn’t even hesitate.
“I want her too, and if that’s the only way we’re going to get her stubborn ass to agree to be with us, then I’m in,” Monster admitted.
“You think that we can make this thing work with the three of us?” Drifter asked. That question had kept him up at night. He didn’t want to fuck things up with Blitz or ruin his friendship with Monster. He was the closest thing that Drifter ever had to a brother and losing him would hurt just as much as having to let Blitz go.
Monster shrugged, “We kind of have been making it work with the three of us, man,” he said. “I mean, you and I have been protecting her, and neither of us seems to be able to keep our hands to ourselves when she’s around.” He was right. The past week of not being able to touch Blitz nearly did him in. “So, what’s this plan you have to get her between us?” Monster asked.
“Oh, it’s a good one and guaranteed to work. The woman honestly loves Halloween. You should see what she and Josie did to decorate my house. I have more skeletons hanging around there than you have in your closet, or I have down at the funeral home,” Drifter said, laughing at his own joke.
“Yeah, yeah, you are very funny. Now, how about sharing the actual plan with me?” Monster grumbled.
“Well, the clubhouse is already buzzing with talk about Halloween. I mean, you see what the guys did out there,right? Strings of orange lights coiled around the bar and carved pumpkins lined up on the pool table—it’s almost embarrassing,” Drifter said.
“Yeah, you’re just jealous because you can’t decorate for Halloween at your funeral home. I mean, what would you do, put a skeleton sitting next to a casket with an actual skeleton in it?” Monster asked.
“Shut up,” Drifter said. “I wasn’t thinking about party favors and Halloween decorations, actually, just proving a point of how excited everyone seems—even Blitz.” He leaned back in his chair, boots propped on the table, cigarette burning low between his fingers as he watched Monster pace the room.
“You know that’s a nasty habit, right?” Monster asked. “You’re going to end up killing yourself smoking those fucking things and then, I’ll have Blitz all to myself.”
Drifter shot him a look and put the cigarette out. “Happy?” he drawled. “Back to the plan. You call to ask her to meet you down here before the party. Tell her that you’re having a decorating emergency and need her help. She won’t be able to say no to that. I’ll text her and ask her to run me something down from the house. She’s been cooped up there for way too long now. It’s time for her to get back to living again, and this Halloween party will be just the thing that helps her do that,” Drifter said.
“You sure about this?” Monster asked. “I mean, what if she tells us both no? What if she doesn’t want to leave the house, even for a Halloween party?”
“I’ve thought about that too,” Drifter admitted. “We’ll just go over to my place then and show her how good the three of us can be together.” God, he was hard just thinking about taking her again, and Halloween wasn’t for another twenty-four hours.
Monster stopped, his massive frame tense, but his grin wicked. “Hell yeah, I’m in for making her ours. Blitz has beenhiding away from us ever since the thing with Reid happened. It’s time that we stop letting her hide from us, man.” Monster arched a brow. “So, skeletons.”
“Think about it.” Drifter leaned forward, voice low and gravelly, the way it got when he was more wolf than man. “Halloween’s the perfect undercover scheme for what we have planned. Masks, costumes, shadows. We show up as reapers—suits of bone painted black and white. She won’t know it’s us at first. We lure her in, corner her at the party. By the time she figures it out, she’ll already be ours.”
Monster smirked, “You’re talking about hunting her down. Showing her she can’t run from what’s meant to be anymore, right?”
