by Janice Ross
Rory was giving Bash a serious ass whooping, and I couldn’t be left out of the battle. With each pull, I drew closer, though it never completely gave way. Erika continued to stare, even though she didn’t run for the gun. Her body contracted with each punch or kick Rory handed out to that twisted bastard, Bash.
When the door shot open, I shifted focus to see the next threat. Can’t say I wasn’t relieved to see Shayna’s friend, Emma, step over sprawled-out feet, a thick wooden block in her hand. Erika raced in the direction of the gun.
“Get the gun,” I yelled out. “Over there.” As the last set of words flew out of my mouth, Shayna jumped into the room. She didn’t head for the gun or even to me. My girl threw herself at Erika. The two of them landed on the ground, yanking and mushing each other in the face.
Moments later, we stood in front of Bash and Erika. His face was bloody and swollen; while her hair was scattered around her head. They were both kneeling in the center of the room. Her eyes shifted from one to the other to the other.
“Tell them about the money,” Erika bawled. Her face was messy with dirt from the concrete and bloody from a mass of scratches.
“The stolen money,” Bash screamed. “This is about nothing else, besides the money!”
“What money?” Rory rushed to grab for the gun, pulled back his hand and was about a second from smashing down on Bash’s face. I held onto his forearm.
“Let it go.” I didn’t know how these two had come up with this or even figured this out. But I was tired of holding back. I turned my head to the side to find Shayna gazing at me. She needed this, I needed this, the whole damn room needed this.
“When did you find out?” Rory asked them. He pulled away from all of us. His fingers dove into his hair; he yanked.
“After the first time we met Erika,” Bash stated, grinning.
I felt a bubbling in my gut. The electricity traveled over every inch of me. Next thing I knew, my fist connected with his jaw. He caved to the floor. Turning to Erika I asked, “You’ve been screwing him for how long?”
“The whole time we’ve been together.”
“And before?”
“What do you think?”
“Dirty!” The wind nearly got knocked out of me; I was pissed. Yeah, it was tough to realize your ex-girl was with someone else the whole time she was with you. Yeah, it was harder to know it was someone you called a friend. But above all, it was devastating because I gave up on Shayna for Erika, only to end up with Shayna in the end. Shit, I hoped to God that was it for me. I wanted to see her and be certain she wasn’t ready to bolt. I caught a glimpse of Shayna from the corner of my eyes.
“About three months.” Erika snatched me back when she said the words in a steady, crystal clear tone.
My insides churned. I’d always had my doubts, but this was beyond ridiculous. Every thought, every movement replayed in my mind. I studied Erika, then turned for Shayna. She was pressed in the corner. I felt her sadness, that connection remained prevalent.
“Did you at least use protection?” Shayna held a mortified gaze.
“I don’t believe Lucas planned on staying with me because he always did,” Erika spat.
“For the entire rel—”
“What does this have to do with anything?” Bash struggled with his face still pressed to the ground.
“You know what?” Rory had been standing on the other side of the room. Emma's arms were wrapped around him. When he started over to us, she pulled at him. Her hands went up to his jaw; she shifted his face to meet hers.
“No one wants to talk about this, but I’d like to know.” Shayna approached me. “Did you kill someone?”
“No.” For a second there, I doubted if this was my Shayna assuming something so horrible about me. Considering the circumstances, however, I brushed it off. “Hell no,” I repeated.
“You might as well have gutted him, you bastard,” Erika began under her breath. Her gaze roamed over me, passed to Rory and finally to Shayna. “They stole money that was meant for my old boyfriend ,” Erika’s voice screeched. “The money you found wasn’t yours to take. Everyone knows, everyone knows now.”
“That short bastard wasn’t your boyfriend. You were running game on me all along.” I took a step closer. I had this sick urge to run down all of her dirty, shady dealings for the sake of revenge.
“But you fell for it. Didn’t you?” Her lips curled in this devious sort of way. “That’s the problem with you assholes, a girl can screw you over . . . literally.” She winked.
I wanted more of this whole convoluted background, but with Shayna only feet away, I wasn’t about to let Erika ruin my best chance of happiness. I lost everyone and everything when I was abandoned. Sure as hell wasn’t about to let it happen now. Not like this. So I fessed up. “We knew the money—”
“There was no we, it was my tip!” Rory roared over top all other conversations. “Lucas is my damn brother; he needed to catch a break. He’d seen enough suffering. Your sneaky ass,” he paused to point at Bash, “couldn’t be trusted.” His fingers collapsed inward, forming a fist. Stooping down, he gripped Bash’s black hair and was so damn close to knocking the shit out of him.
“So you can justify this, because you had a rough life? Bullshit!” Erika screamed. “That was Vince’s way out.”
“Who’s Vince?” I asked.
“Tony’s brother.”
“You’re one twisted bitch.” The taste of disgust and hate, just thinking about me with Erika made me sick inside out.
“His boss beat him to death.”
“How do you play into this?” I asked Bash.
He answered as honestly as I expected him to. “I was in it for the money. From day one, when she told me you guys had found all that and hadn’t put me on, I was in from then.”
“So you let this ride out for years, Bash?” Rory shouted. “And you set up a bitch on your friend?” The room vibrated as he just about exploded. The one thing that seemed to keep him together was Emma. She remained at his side, whispering in his ear and sustaining the madness with gentle strokes.
“And I don’t regret a minute of it .” Erika ripped out the words. She swayed between sobbing and laughing. “No, I don’t. Vince was the love of my life.” Everyone could see she was vulnerable then.
Shayna took the opportunity to jump from the wall to Erika. At first, everyone looked on, stunned.
—————
SHAYNA
I’VE NEVER BEEN a fighter. Never had a reason to go that far. I was raised to turn the other cheek. But then I learned to run like hell. Lucas being taken in this way, that pissed me the hell off. He secured his hand around my waist and needed much of his strength to get me off Erika.
“No . . .no . . .” As tears raced down my face, to the point of blurring my opponent, I continued to swing my arms and feet. “I hate you!” I cried into his chest, when he pulled me into his chest. “Let me go!” I pounded at him.
“Shay, no, baby. We’re gonna get over this.” His right palm cupped my face. He directed my lips to his. “Calm down,” he mumbled, sending a stream of hot breezes between my lips.
“You mean—” I couldn’t finish my sentence. A lump formed in my throat. I always knew Lucas had a past, but this was too much. Shit, it wasn’t even a misunderstanding. His entire life revolved around dirty money. Even my house was tied up in it.
“That was a different time, a different life.” As the explanation came out, his head dipped. He couldn’t look at me.
“But that’s what gave you the edge up in your business.” I spun out of his path.
He reached for my face. I snatched away, aware of what his touch could do. His eyes pleaded for me to understand. I didn’t know if I was capable of getting over this. Never expected the perfect man, just the perfect one for me. And that man needed to be anything but Van-like.
“The money wasn’t legitimately yours.”
“Let me explain—”
“No! Pl
ease, Lucas, don’t manipulate things.”
“You realize I was younger then, right?”
“Yeah, not by much either, and you’re still living off the dirty money.”
“So you want me to give it up? If that’s the case, I can do away with that portion of it or, or—”
“You were alright with life before me. I just can’t be a part of this.”
“This what? Honestly, Shay, you’re all self-righteous and shit. Haven’t you ever made a mistake, a decision that came back and kicked your ass?”
“I’m human.”
“So what is it about my situation that makes you willing to walk away from what we’ve got going? Damn, or what we could have?”
Yeah, I was a hypocrite. Considering the Bash and Erika vendetta against Lucas, I had every right to be self-serving.
~
Nearly four hours later—after the cops had collected the guys we’d knocked out that had been standing guard, and the conniving duo—Lucas and Rory sat at one end of the bar. We were downstairs, in the lobby of a Ritz Carlton. Every few seconds I’d look across at Lucas’s pleading eyes. He had a knot at the side of his head. I fluctuated between longing to soothe him and needing to bolt out of sight. I loved him like he was an extension of the woman I could finally rest in and be. And for that reason, he scared me to death. We were both imperfect. Not that anyone could claim perfection, but this love brewing down within me was unstoppable.
Could I ever forget I’d fallen in love with him? Walk away and allow the memories to keep me company for the rest of my life?
“You’re such a hypocrite.” Emma wrapped her fingers around my upper arm. She yanked me back to reality. Her pupils carried a thick layer of moisture, like she would burst out in tears at any minute.
“What’s the problem with leaving?” It wasn’t a question for her, as much as it was me trying to convince myself that we needed to run. Whereas her tears hung on for dear life, I let go. The love I felt for Lucas was unbelievably strong. It broke my heart to know that I couldn’t keep it. But I had to let him go. “He’s a time bomb waiting to explode.”
“You have a past too, so don’t judge him. Hell, Shay, I have a friggin’ past.”
“But you’re my friend.”
“He’s your man. How can you say you love him, then even consider running away from him? That guy would go through hell and back, if it meant you’d be safe.” Emma spun out of view, then passed the back of her hand across her face.
I’m not saying this wasn’t about Lucas or me. Emma must’ve known the repercussions of staying here, where drama lived. Erika had indicated everyone knew about Rory and Lucas. Who the hell was everyone? I studied Emma's sad eyes; this was highly unusual for her. That thing I sensed between Emma and Rory was more powerful than anything she might’ve endured in the past, though so sudden.
“I know enough about your past, but I think you’ll need to sit down with Rory. Explain things. Let him know everything; I mean every jacked-up thing that’s happened in your life.” The tables finally turned. Imagine that, I ended up giving my best friend relationship advice. Considering neither of us were really any good at romantic stuff and this whole guy thing, I didn’t know what to expect. And just as I found myself convincing Emma to open up to Rory, I knew I’d do the same with Lucas . . . eventually.
—————
SHAYNA
NOT ONLY HAD I fallen asleep in Lucas’s arms, I woke up there too. He held onto me as if I were the ultimate, the better part of him. I lay quietly in his embrace, while the sound of his light snore formed the perfect lullaby.
When did things suddenly turn around for me?
Since when did I deserve to be happy?
I couldn’t help but feel like this was the calm before the storm. Maybe one day I’d wake up and there would be a helluva disaster, something that would come at me for being naive enough to believe I’d ever achieve the desired happily ever after.
I snaked out from his embrace. Lucas’s eyelids flashed open. Leaning forward, I kissed him sweetly.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“Nothing. I gotta run to the bathroom.” My palm paused over his heart. The steady beat gave me chills.
He’s real, Shay.
But how? This amazing guy with an incredible aura to offset the diminishing light had somehow seen something in me. He expressed a love for me that I never thought was possible. For me? Seriously? I didn’t do anything to deserve happiness, yet it found me. But how? And even with his issues, I saw clearer. The future shined a bit more.
I never imagined I’d ever be truly happy. God, was someone playing a trick on me? Over the course of a few days, we’d gone from this incredible friendship to an amazing love. Our souls were no longer fighting against the light. We were free to be happy, free to live . . . free to just be.
In a way, it was too much to take in. I fled for the bathroom. The sobs came all at once, with a flush of fresh tears. Nothing else was capable of frightening me as much as this newfound love of mine. I loved Lucas in a way I could never explain. My heart would one day explode because each second of his tender love and each moment in his presence only grew in intensity. There was no uncertainty with Lucas, and that scared the crap out of me.
“Shay.” His voice swirled around me. I barely had enough time to grab a hand towel and shelter my face. That was minor because the tears had swarmed down over me—all of me. My cries were still loud; possibly the reason he’d sought me out. “Come here.”
The little towel fell to the floor.
“I need to feel you. All of you. That includes what’s up here.” He placed two fingers to my temples. “I promise, I’m not letting anything come near you. No drama. No pain. No hurt.”
“You can’t promise that.”
“Why not? Shay, this is over with.”
“Lucas.” I blew out his name, gave my back, and walked to the far end of the bathroom. “I come with my own set of drama. I ran away from home after graduation. My dad had just died and my mom channeled her anger over things to me.”
“Shay—”
“No. Please, let me finish.” After cupping my face for a couple of seconds I let things go. “I fell in with a club owner. He wasn’t my boyfriend or anything like that.”
“What kinda club?”
“After hours.” I searched out his reaction.
Nothing.
“One day some horrible shit went down. I saw something I shouldn’t have, Emma kicked his ass and we had to run from Florida.” By the time I ended my sentence, I could’ve collapsed and died. As much as I’d fought to hold it all in, letting go felt changed me. I felt free. No longer was I loaded with terrible secrets I was too afraid to utter. And this was only the start. Soon enough, everything will need to be said. “After all of these years, I’m still trying to wrap my mind around what happened back then.
Lucas appeared right next to me, as a structure of strength to help me sustain this life. “Shayna, why didn’t you tell me all of this? My drama, your drama means nothing.”
“But—”
“But nothing.”
“Yes! I was ready to condemn you for Erika and the money—”
“You said her name.” He chuckled, then brushed his lips to mine. “We both messed up. Our old shit, even the more recent shit. But we’re here, right now.”
I understood his meaning. We were here, now as one. “Start over fresh, like the day outside of Nora Lee’s.” I smiled, sniffled and slid my lips in.
“Yeah. Like complete strangers?” Lucas’s voice dropped low. I followed his lead.
“Almost,” I mumbled to the center of his chest. Along the carved depth, I nibbled lower and lower. He was beyond perfect, far greater than exceptional and truly, infinitely mine.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
——————————
Thank you for taking the time to read Taunted Souls. I hope you enjoyed Lucas and Shayna’s twisted love story. Also, you will see
some of these characters again in Love & Tragedy 2.
I’ve also included the opening chapters for Love & Tragedy, in case you’re curious.

Be sure to sign up to Janice Ross’s newsletter to receive updates & a FREE, exclusive short story...ONLY available to subscribers!
Receive your FREE book HERE!
SAMPLE

-LOVE & TRAGEDY-
PROLOGUE
—————
The Calm Before the Storm
—————
MADISON
“YOU SMELL AMAZING!” Tipping up on my toes, I leaned my cheek against Caleb Michaels’s sexy pink lips.
My eyelashes drifted down as the kiss sent shockwaves throughout my body. It was heavenly, yet tinged with a special blend of wickedness.
Ummm...
I savored the bold scent of Creed Aventus and inhaled so deeply that the room swayed as I got ready to fight the electricity drawing me to my childhood crush. I could barely look at him, the way my heartbeat pounded at my chest. I felt weak and full of life, desperate and bold. He was everything I’d ever wanted but completely off limits.
His mouth slanted to the right. Kind of made me think of the younger version I’d fell for years ago.
“You look amazing,” Caleb said as I was forced out of my daydreaming. “You never disappoint,” he added as a tease. His tongue caressed the compliment.
I started to reach for his hand, right at the wrist, where a wild arm tattoo called out my name, but I decided to resist. Instead, I rested my right palm on his left side chest, along the outline of tight muscles, packed beneath a white cotton button down. It was a way of pledging my love to him and seeking his in return. My heart rate sped up as the vibrations penetrated every inch of me. I paused, smiled and strained to not overdo the reaction. From the corner of my eyes, I saw a sly sort of grin creep across his tempting, pink lips. In return, I had no choice but to lick mine.