Fractured Fairy Tales (12 page)

George interrupted Gregory’s rant, “She has done nothing wrong, big brother, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t speak to her in that tone.” George’s own tone was calm, but the threat lay just below the surface.

Wanting to de-escalate the situation, I made my feelings known to everyone, including myself. “I want nothing but good things for all of you. As far as George, well, I think I love him.”

I couldn’t believe what I had just said.
I love him? Really? So soon? Impossible? Is it impossible? How do I know?
Thoughts tumbled through my mind, but were stopped in their tracks as George leaned forward and pulled me to him, his tongue dancing with mine in another sizzling kiss.

He pulled back and grinned, before looking at his brothers and pulling me into his lap. “Guess that makes you one of us now!”

Bryan seemed as happy as George, but Gregory took one look at us and stalked from the room.

I couldn’t help it, and in the face of Bryan’s enthusiasm, I smiled back. George kissed me again, and I could feel his desire rising as the kiss deepened. Bryan cleared his throat, but we were so lost in the kiss that he finally gave up and left as well. George picked me up, my legs wrapping around his waist of their own accord, and carried me upstairs. I directed him between breaths, and when next our mouths separated, I was lying on my bed staring into George’s lust filled eyes.





Waking from my short nap, I smiled and kissed George’s swollen lips. “I bet your brothers heard every bit of that. I wasn’t exactly quiet.” I felt the crimson creeping on to my cheeks, giving away my sense of modesty.

“They know better than to be close enough to hear anything they shouldn’t,” George reassured me, his deep timbre and naked chest warming my blood again.

I knew there were things that I should be worried about, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. “What are we going to do?” I asked aloud, not really expecting an answer.

“I am going to do everything to make you happy. I want you to have everything you have ever wanted.” George stared deep into my eyes as he continued, and professed his love, as I had so bluntly earlier in front of his brothers.

The woman in me gave a sigh, and my heart felt too full. I wanted to hold him so tightly that we became one person, never to be separated again. “We should probably get downstairs. Who knows what your brothers are getting in to,” I regretfully admitted.

We both dressed and kissed long and deep one last time before leaving the confines of my bedroom and heading downstairs. I walked into the kitchen and gasped. Food from the cabinets and refrigerator was strewn on my counters, and Gregory and Bryan were stuffing their faces with food from bowls.

“I hope you found what you were looking for,” I grumbled as I began picking up and putting away the food.

“Well, we had to sort through all of your healthy shit to find the real food,” Bryan mumbled between bites of what looked like oatmeal. He had the biggest bowl I had in the cupboards, and was scarfing down the steaming oats.

“So sorry my selection wasn’t to your liking,” my mood immediately soured. I loved George, but his older brother got on my last nerve.

“He’s just grouchy, ignore him. Thank you for your hospitality and your kindness,” Gregory smiled, bits of oat stuck in his front teeth.

I couldn’t help but smile. While Bryan pissed me off, Gregory was endearing himself to me with his adorable demeanor. He was the youngest of the three, and obviously the most gentle.

George stood behind me and nipped at my ear, laughing as the blush rose up my neck. “Stop that,” I whispered, squeezing from between his body and the counter to finish cleaning. I didn’t know what the next day would hold, but my worries over being discovered with the painting had faded away as I became caught up in the world of three men—one whom I couldn’t imagine another day without.





After spending the remainder of the day with the brothers three, George and I bid the men farewell and left them at my house to head out for a dinner alone. I had chosen the local seafood restaurant, and my stomach growled constantly on the drive, making George laugh every time.

“You would think you never ate, if you listened to what your stomach had to say!”

I lightly smacked him on the arm. “It’s just been a long day, and I’m used to eating dinner earlier than this.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were hungry earlier?” He looked at me and I saw concern in his deep blue eyes.

“We were a bit, um, occupied.” I blushed. He knew exactly what we were doing, for the second time that day, so I didn’t feel the need to elaborate. He snorted and chuckled, earning himself another smack on the arm.

Finally, twenty minutes later, we pulled into the mostly empty parking lot. The Friday evening rush had come and gone by the time we arrived, so there was no wait for a table. The staff all seemed tired and thankful that the evening was winding down as they cleaned their stations and counted their tips.

We ordered and talked until our food arrived. “So where do we go from here?” I spoke between bites of the most delicious shrimp and potatoes I had ever eaten.

Before he could answer, his phone let out a shrill ring, and he reached into his pocket and answered, holding up his finger for me to wait for my answer.

“Yes. Yes. What? I understand. We’ll be there as soon as we can.” He hung up, but I could tell the situation was a bad one just by the look on his face.

“What’s wrong, George?” My nerves began to fray and some part of me knew that the news would not be something I wanted to hear.

“We have to go. I’ll tell you in the car,” he raised his hand and called over the waitress, demanding our check and gathered his things, slapping the money on the table when the bill was presented. “Come on, I’m sorry, but we have to go.”

I stood and followed him, without question and without finishing my meal, until we were safely in the car. Then I demanded answers. “Okay, now what the hell is going on? You’re worrying me.”

“Gregory is in trouble. He’s at your house, but he’s in bad shape. Bryan called.” He sped through traffic, weaving in and out of cars and forcing me to grip the oh-shit handle with more force than I was comfortable.

“Slow down before we get in an accident and don’t make it there at all,” I pleaded.

He looked over and nodded before letting up on the throttle.

After what was merely minutes, but felt like hours, we pulled up at my house. George jumped from the car, barely remembering to turn off the engine, even if he did leave the keys in the ignition for me to grab. I followed him through the side door and into the kitchen, where a macabre scene met my eyes. I gasped and almost fainted at the sight of so much blood.

Gregory lay in a heap on the tile, a trail of blood from the door to his position. His head was bleeding profusely, as was a deep wound in his side that looked like some sort of stab wound. His hair was matted with crimson and dried in patches, and his eyes were purple and swollen almost completely shut. He still managed a smile at the sound of my voice and raised one scratched up arm to hold my hand.

“What the hell happened?” George was clearly angry and overwhelmed with emotion, so I simply waited for Bryan’s answer and sat holding Gregory’s hand. “Why haven’t you taken him to the hospital? Where were you when this happened?” The questions came in rapid succession, giving Bryan no time to answer in between.

“Hold on so I can answer,” Bryan barked. “He went to Don’s. I don’t know what happened because I was eating dinner and didn’t know where he had gone. He’s a grown ass man, and I wasn’t watching him.” Bryan took a breath and then continued, his eyes flashing in anger. “I didn’t take him to the hospital because he begged me not to. We can’t afford a police report, and he was smart enough to know that.”

I knew why they couldn’t afford a police report and didn’t want to ask any questions. I sat, brushing the blood encrusted hair from Gregory’s forehead while trying to comfort him on the hard, cold tile floor.

“Why the hell would he go to Don’s? I was supposed to meet with the bastard tomorrow, not Gregory!” I didn’t understand what George was talking about, but I got the distinct feeling that Don was not a man I ever wanted to meet under any circumstances.

Gregory tried to speak, only managing to mumble some unintelligible words and grumbles, but it calmed the other two brothers down, and he smiled up in my direction. No doubt that he couldn’t actually see me through his swollen and beaten eyelids.

“Okay, well, we need to get him some medical attention,” I interrupted. “I have a first aid kit upstairs in the bathroom.” Bryan left immediately without a cross word to get the kit, which surprised me. I murmured encouragement to Gregory as we waited for his brother to come back.

“Thank you,” emotion clogged George’s voice as he stared at me sprawled on the kitchen floor, his little brother’s head in my lap. I smiled back at him as Bryan entered the kitchen and thrust the first aid kit at me.

I pulled out the gauze, steri-strips, and alcohol wipes and began to clean and dress Gregory’s head wound. For the stab wound, I had to direct Bryan to my sewing kit and hope that nothing internal was damaged as I sewed his wound closed.

After dressing his wounds and cutting his blood soaked shirt from Gregory’s body, George and Bryan carried him to the guest room upstairs to rest and returned to the living room, where I waited for an explanation.





“Tell me who Don is, and why he almost killed your brother,” I began as soon as George and Bryan sat down. I wanted answers. In a matter of days, my life had gone from boring and predictable to the exact opposite.
I’ll think about that later.
I snapped myself from my thoughts and focused on what Bryan was saying.

“Don is the local drug lord. We needed money in a bad way, and took out a loan from the wrong person. Our next payment was due yesterday.” Bryan stated it matter-of-factly, as if it were the most normal thing in the world to know a drug lord, much less be involved with him.

I felt my mouth hanging agape and closed it. “Wait, so he beat the crap out of Gregory over a payment that is a day late? Doesn’t he give you a grace period?” I knew the question was a stupid one the moment it left my mouth.
How the hell am I supposed to know the ins and outs of dealings with a drug lord?

Bryan grunted and rolled his eyes as George gently answered my question. “No, he prefers his payments a day early. I don’t know why Gregory went to Don’s, but if we don’t pay him tomorrow, we’ll have more to worry about.” He scrubbed his hands down his face before continuing. I could tell he was tired, and he looked as if he had aged years over the few hours since the restaurant. “I am so sorry that I brought this to your doorstep.”

I walked to him and sat on his lap, placing a kiss on his cheek. “I don’t blame you, and I will take you with whatever baggage you have. I love you, and we will figure this out,” I promised. I didn’t know how we would figure it out, but I knew I was in it for the long haul.
I will do anything for this man,
I thought with clarity as I laid my head against his shoulder.

“Unless your girlfriend, here, has thousands of dollars to hand over, I have a plan to get the money we owe Don,” Bryan offered, if a bit cynically.

“Well, then, let’s hear it,” I cut George off from whatever he had planned to say.
Take that, Bryan. I am here to stay.

Bryan seemed taken aback at my acceptance of everything, but continued. “There is a huge shipment of diamonds that comes in once a month to the biggest jewelry store in Chicago. Tomorrow is the monthly delivery day, and I have an inside track on where they are kept.”

The three of us sat in silence. I was thinking over his plan. I had never even imagined having the conversation we were having, and definitely never considered committing a crime. I had always been a law-abiding citizen.
Hell, I even recycle and pick up litter from my yard.

“I think it will work, but I don’t want Goldie anywhere near it,” George finally broke the silence. “She’s done enough.”

I started to argue, but he placed his finger over my lips to stop me. “Listen, love. If anything goes south, I want you as far away from me as possible. I couldn’t bear to hurt you in any way.” My heart melted as my brain screamed and rebelled at the idea of anything happening to him.

I was lost in my thoughts as George and Bryan continued talking about the plan and the inside man, but still listened, gleaning as much information as I could. I knew George wouldn’t allow me to be a part of the plan, but I was going to be damned if I simply sat on the sidelines. I wanted to at least know what my love would be doing, so I could prepare to help in any way I could if things went wrong.

An hour later, we were headed up to bed, our last night together before the heist that would be risky at best. I loved him as if it was the last time I would ever have him in my bed.
It very well might be the last time,
a small voice spoke in my mind before I dismissed it.



