The Gamble

by Kristen Ashley

  “Are you okay?” Bitsy asked.

  No. No, I very much wasn’t okay.

  “Harry’s turned,” I whispered back, my voice slurred. “I think, Bitsy, I think I watched him murder Damon.”

  The mattress moved again, I heard her dragging her body closer to me and I knew she was lying on it with me but apparently she wasn’t shackled to the bed. Then again, Bitsy didn’t need to be tied down. Bitsy couldn’t go anywhere.

  Her hand curled on my neck and I felt her face close.

  “It’s my fault,” she whispered.

  “Bitsy –” I started to tell her she had to find a way to get me lose so I could get out of wherever we were, get away from this true, real life horror movie and get us some help but she interrupted me.

  “It is, it’s all my fault.”

  “Don’t, sweetheart, we have to –”

  I stopped this time because I heard the noise of a door opening and then light flooded the room, blinding me. Bitsy’s body jerked away from mine and we both twisted as best we could. I blinked against the light and saw Harry walking in, the lower half of a woman over his shoulder.

  Oh God, what now?

  Then I saw him dump the woman on the floor, her long, straight ebony hair flying as he did it and he did it unceremoniously, not like she was a human being but like she was a sack of sawdust. Her head cracked against the planks just as her body thudded against them. I watched in horror as her body settled, her hair slightly obscuring her beautiful face.

  Shauna.

  By the looks of her, clothes dirty and in disarray, hair greasy, she hadn’t seen the inside of a shower for awhile and I knew instinctively this was because Shauna Fontaine didn’t take off with her mantoy. Shauna Fontaine, like me, had been kidnapped by a mountain man gone bad.

  The mattress moved again and I tore my eyes from Shauna, unconscious, or worse, dead on the floor to see Bitsy pushing up on her arms.

  “Harry –”

  “It’s okay, Bits, it’s all gonna be all right,” Harry cut her off. “I got it all figured out.”

  “No you don’t, Harry. You don’t,” Bitsy told him urgently. “Listen to me…”

  She trailed off when Harry moved to her side of the bed and sat on it. He twisted his torso to her, his hand coming up to cradle her face, he leaned in close.

  “I did, honey, I listened to you. I listened,” he whispered.

  “You didn’t. This is out of hand. This is wrong. Shauna? Nina? Why –?”

  “He took away your legs,” Harry explained.

  “Yes, he did. Curt did. But Nina’s Max’s and –” Bitsy started.

  “He took away your legs,” Harry repeated. “He killed Anna. Your best friend. He fucked Shauna in your bed.” His thumb lovingly swept her cheek. “I listened, Bits, I listened to every word you said from that day I saw you in the hospital after he crippled you. I listened and I was with you all the way. He had to pay. You said it. You said it again and again and again as he fucked you and fucked you and fucked you. You didn’t want him to do that to our town, you didn’t want that big house up on the hill, you didn’t want to be queen of Gnaw Bone to his king but he didn’t care what you wanted. He never cared what you wanted. He only cared about one thing. Curt. Curt was all Curt cared about. Wakin’ up next to you and tellin’ you he loved you and then goin’ off and bangin’ Shauna, givin’ her money, makin’ you the fool as you wheeled your way through life. I listened, honey, I listened to every word you said. You were right, he had to pay.”

  “He had to pay. Curt did!” Bitsy hissed, yanking her face from his hand which stayed suspended in air for a second before he tried to touch her again but she dragged herself back so his hand dropped.

  “Bitsy, baby –”

  “No!” Bitsy snapped. “We had a plan. You take care of Curt and we play it cool. The money was untraceable. We’d been putting it aside for years, Harry, years. No one would ever know. No one.”

  Shock made every centimeter of my body lock. There it was but I couldn’t believe my ears as I lay there and stared at the hideous scene playing out in front of me.

  Harry and Bitsy had had Curt killed.

  Bitsy.

  Bitsy!

  “He hired an investigator,” Harry returned.

  “So?” Bitsy shot back. “I knew that, Harry, and I told you. The guy didn’t know anything. The game was to play it cool, you know that. No matter what, play it cool. That investigator didn’t know anything. I know because I got in Curt’s desk and read his reports. He didn’t even know we were sending the death threats! He didn’t know anything. He didn’t know shit! Then you off and kill him the same night that guy you found killed Curt. Why? Why would you do that? And this,” she threw out an arm, “Shauna? Nina? It was only supposed to be Curt. Only Curt. Why would you drag Nina into this? What’s the matter with you?”

  “Shauna was fuckin’ Curt and Max and me,” Harry retorted.

  “I know that, Harry, it was part of the fucking plan for you to look like you’d moved on from me,” Bitsy returned.

  “Jesus, Bits, I just told you she was fuckin’ me,” Harry bit out.

  “Yes, Harry, I know that. That was the plan,” Bitsy bit back.

  “God,” Harry leaned back, “you don’t even care, you don’t even care she sucked me off, that I had to fuck that cold, emotionless piece of ass to keep up this shit so no one would guess.”

  “I cared but that was the plan, Harry, we both had to sacrifice so we could have what we wanted. So we could be where we wanted to be,” Bitsy reminded him.

  “But she was tryin’ to take Curt’s money, your money,” he clipped. “She got pregnant to do it.”

  “She’s not pregnant, you idiot!” Bitsy, finally losing it, snapped. “She’s as pregnant as me. She said it because Curt always wanted a kid and obviously I couldn’t give him one so she thought she could play that but she wasn’t going to get dick. Not from Curt, he may have thought with his dick half the time but the other half wasn’t stupid, Harry and you know it. And you had to let her play you so you’d be with her when Curt was done and then no one would think a thing of it when you dumped her after I was available and you came back to me. That was the plan, Harry. We’ve been talking about it for years. That was the plan. Simple, smart, patient and cool. But no. No, you go off and murder Curt’s investigator and try to pin it on Shauna and… and… and I don’t even know what Nina’s doin’ here!”

  “Shauna wants Max,” Harry stated.

  “So?” Bitsy yelled.

  “So,” Harry leaned forward, “outside, her other asshole is lyin’ in the snow, four bullets in his chest and her finger pulled the trigger, the residue will be on her hand. She was out when I did it. She won’t remember a thing. And it’s the same gun that killed that Fitzgibbon guy.”

  I shifted my head to look down at the prone Shauna before I looked back at Harry in time for him to finish.

  “The same gun that’ll kill Nina.”

  My lungs seized and I felt the blood drain out of my face.

  “Nina?” Bitsy whispered.

  “Yeah,” Harry’s crazed eyes flicked to me then back to Bitsy, “Nina.”

  “Why?” Bitsy asked then repeated on a shout, “For God’s sake why?”

  Harry surged from the bed and I tensed as he bent at the waist, his face having gone red, his arms straight down at his sides, hands in fists and he roared, “He can’t have it all!”

  Bitsy’s upper body leaned away from him before she breathed, “What?”

  “Max!” Harry spat. “Max! Fuckin’ Max. Holden fuckin’ Maxwell with his varsity letter his freshman year and his scholarship and his mountain that everyone thinks it’s so great he kept clean when all that buildin’ was goin’ on all over the county. Max didn’t let anything touch his land. Oh no. Not Super Wonderful Holden fuckin’ Maxwell. Not him. He could have made it rich workin’ alongside Curt but he didn’t do that. Not Holden Maxwell, man of integrity. Man of strength. He had Anna and
they were always holdin’ hands, always laughin’, always tight, lookin’ at each other like the rest of the world didn’t exist. Then he lost her but he didn’t lose everything, not Max. No. After he lost her everyone thought he was even more wonderful how he stayed cool with Curt and stayed tight with you. How he manned up,” spittle flew out of Harry’s mouth on the last two words, “how he built that house for his Dad, how he kept goin’ even though everyone knew losin’ Anna rocked his world. He didn’t fall. He didn’t even falter. Not Max. Everyone thinkin’ how strong he was. How fuckin’ perfect. Then the finest piece of ass in two countries waltzes into town and before you could blink, she’s cuddlin’ up to him at The Mark, she’s in his bed, she’s makin’ out with him on the street and at The Dog and two weeks later she’s movin’ from fuckin’ England just to keep him warm at night.”

  He bent at the waist to put his face in Bitsy’s.

  “No,” he sneered, “he can’t have everything and I’m gonna make it so he doesn’t. I’m tired of havin’ nothin’ and waitin’ fuckin’ years to make your play against Curt and all the while I’m watchin’ Max have everything he wants. Every woman opens their legs for him and everyone in town thinks he shits roses. The same time, everyone in town thinks poor Harry, gettin’ played by Shauna. Poor Harry, losin’ Bitsy and pinin’ after her all these years. Poor fuckin’ Harry. Well, Bits, fuck… that. Max told me himself just this mornin’ to man up and I’ve decided I’m takin’ his advice.”

  “But Harry, Max doesn’t have everything,” Bitsy whispered.

  “Yes he does, Bits. He even has you. Even you think he shits roses,” Harry retorted.

  “You can’t –” Bitsy began.

  “I can and I can now especially because she knows everything and I’m not waitin’ ten years finally to have the only thing I ever wanted, except half of it,” his eyes dropped to her legs before slicing back to hers as I heard Bitsy gasp, “to have Max’s latest bit of pussy take it away.”

  “Harry,” Bitsy whispered, “this isn’t what we planned.”

  “No, Bitsy, it isn’t but I’m the man and I’m sick of bein’ led around my dick so I’m changin’ the fuckin’ plan.”

  “You can’t do that,” she told him and he leaned back, throwing his arms out.

  “No?” he asked then planted his fists on his hips. “Watch me.”

  “Harry!” she shouted when he started to move around the bed. “If you hurt Nina, you won’t have me,” she threatened, Harry’s body rocked to a halt and he turned on her.

  “Yeah? You gonna run away?” he asked snidely and I watched Bitsy close her eyes tight then my eyes went back to Harry when he kept speaking as he untied my ankles. “This is what people know. Shauna wanted Max. She always wanted Max. And she used that Robert guy like she used everyone else. When he became expendable, he was gone. When Nina got in the way, she was gone. Shauna’ll wake up and she won’t know shit. And all they’ll know is that she’s here with the gun that made three bodies dead and she has the residue on her hand. She fucked herself with her play on Curt, makin’ her a suspect in his murder so they’ll probably pin that on her too. But don’t worry about Shauna, Bits. She’ll make a good bitch in prison. She’ll have her shit sorted exactly as she wants it before she finishes buttoning up her orange jumpsuit.”

  Then he was finished with my ankles and started walking toward me again and I started moving on the bed, ineffectually shifting my body to get away from him, running into Bitsy as he pulled a set of keys out of his jeans pocket.

  “Don’t do this, Harry,” Bitsy whispered from behind me as he leaned toward my hands and I kept trying and failing to move away.

  “Please,” I begged, using Bitsy’s words, “don’t do this.”

  “Shut up,” he muttered.

  “Please,” I whispered, “please. You may think Max had everything his whole life but you don’t know me. I didn’t. I didn’t have everything my whole life. My Dad left me when I was a baby –”

  “Shut up,” he repeated, still working at my hands.

  I didn’t shut up. “My boyfriends cheated on me, stole from me, beat me –”

  “Shut up,” Harry said again.

  “The brother I loved, I adored him, Harry, loved him beyond anything, he had his legs blown off and couldn’t hack it so he committed suicide.”

  Harry turned to me and clipped, “Shut up!”

  I ignored him and kept going. “Today, I was happy, Harry. It was the first day in a long, long time I woke up happy.”

  My wrists were freed but before I could make a move I was being dragged from the bed.

  “Harry! Don’t!” Bitsy screamed.

  I struggled but Harry was big, he was a mountain man and he dragged and shoved me toward the door even as I twisted and pulled and tried to flee.

  “Harry! Please! Don’t do this!” Bitsy screeched from behind us.

  Calm, Nina, calm and think, sweetheart, Charlie said in my head as Harry kept control of my struggling frame and shoved me through the door into a dark hall. Keep talking, talk to him.

  Instantly, I took my brother’s advice.

  “I understand what it means. I understand how it hurts to have everyone think poor Harry because they always thought poor Nina. But now I’m happy. And I’m sorry if this hurts you but Max is what makes me happy. Please don’t take that away. Not from Max, from me.”

  He caught my wrist and yanked it behind my pack, pulling it high until it hurt so much I cried out. He positioned himself at my back and marched me forward, his lips to my ear.

  “Keep your mouth shut, Nina, or I’ll gag you again.”

  I clamped my mouth shut and clenched my teeth together to stop myself from crying out at the pain in my arm. Harry yanked me to a halt, reached beyond me, opened a door and the cold swept in as he pushed me outside.

  Okay, Nina, he’s just pulled out his gun. You need to get his gun, sweetheart, he’s holding it in his hand. You need to get it, turn it on him and shoot like Max taught you to do. You with me, Neenee Bean? Charlie said.

  I’m with you, I replied though I didn’t think I was.

  It was night, dark, we were in the mountains surrounded by pine so thick it shrouded the space and kept out the moonlight.

  You’ve only got one hand, Nina, so you’re going to have to be creative. You’re going to have to turn, very fast, very, very fast, sweetheart, and use your head. Aim at his chin and reach for the gun at the same time you have to lift up your knee, hard, honey, as hard as you can, and aim for his crotch. You got that?

  I got it, Charlie.

  Harry marched me forward and I saw the dark outline of a body in the snow and I knew it was Robert Winston, dead, in the dark, his body in the snow just like I was going to be if I didn’t get away from Harry.

  I had to get away from Harry.

  Wait for it, sweetheart. Wait for me to say the word. You get a hole in him, you go. You run as fast as you can. I’ll guide you.

  Okay.

  “Harry! Don’t do this!” I heard Bitsy shout from far away.

  Harry kept marching me, his hand at my wrist twisting my arm so high and tight, the pain shot from my shoulder all the way to my fingertips.

  “You’re hurting me, Harry,” I said quietly.

  “I told you, Nina, shut up,” Harry returned.

  “You’re going to kill me, I’m asking you to stop hurting me before you take everything from me.”

  His hand at my wrist squeezed tight but then it loosened and he moved my hand a couple of inches down my back so the pain weakened and, although it didn’t go away, it was something.

  Well done, now wait for it, Neenee Bean, Charlie whispered.

  I pulled in breath.

  We’re close, sweetheart, Charlie told me.

  I let out my breath and pulled in another.

  Now! Charlie shouted.

  I whirled at the same time pulling my head back. When I was facing Harry, I slammed it forward, my forehead connecting with Harry�
��s chin and pain exploded in my forehead but I ignored it, lifted my knee, fast and vicious, connecting with his crotch. Harry let out a startled, pained grunt, he let my wrist go and I reached for the gun, twisting it out of his hand and taking two running steps back.

  Shoot him, Nina! Charlie yelled.

  I lifted the gun and aimed it at Harry, shouting out loud to Charlie, “I can’t!”

  Do it! Charlie urged.

  Harry, one hand at his crotch, his upper body bent almost double but his head back and eyes on me started stumbling toward me.

  “Charlie,” I whispered, my hand holding the gun and trembling, “I can’t.”

  Then don’t shoot… run!

  “Bitsy,” I breathed.

  Now! Now, Nina! Run!

  I turned and ran.

  My high-heeled booted feet crunched through the snow and I heard Harry crunching after me. Pine needles whipped my face, snow flying off their limbs stinging me with pinpoints of freeze as I kept going.

  Left here, veer left. Max is coming, Charlie told me.

  Relief swept through me.

  Oh thank God.

  Keep running. Faster, sweetheart.

  I veered left and tried to run faster but slipped and slid when my high-heeled boots hit rocks, finding purchase when they hit snow-covered turf, sliding and wavering again when they hit stone. Every step I took I heard Harry’s pained grunting and his feet pounding behind me.

  I looked back, just like all the stupid heroines in the horror movies do.

  Keep going, don’t look, Charlie instructed me, just keep running.

  I looked forward just when the toe of my boot caught on something solid and then I was flying. Yes, like all the stupid heroines in horror movies do, I fell, landing with a body-rocking jolt on my hands and knees at the same time stupid, stupid, stupidly losing the gun.

  “Dammit!” I screamed.

  Keep shouting! Max will hear you! He’s close! Charlie yelled.

  But I didn’t get to shout. Instead I let out an “oof” as I tried to push to my feet and was tackled from behind by Harry. We rolled through the snow down the mountain, a tangle of arms and legs.