Snake in the Grass (Fairy Tales of a Trailer Park Queen Book 3)

by Kimbra Swain

  “He let me in,” she said.

  Dylan left early this morning for Montgomery to finish his private investigator registration because I insisted that he go. I knew he didn’t have time to let her in. “Dylan is out of town. So, you are a liar,” I responded.

  “Grace, I can be very persuasive. Perhaps you aren’t giving him what he needs, but he knew I could. I hope you don’t mind that we used your bed,” she cooed.

  “I trust him. He would never,” I replied.

  She shook her head and walked up the stairs. Following her, I feared what she intended to show me. His shirt that she wore brushed the back of her butt cheeks as she climbed the stairs. She wasn’t wearing underwear. It was the shirt he was wearing when he left the trailer this morning or at least one very similar. Her clothes made a trail from the top of the steps to the bedroom. Waltzing into our room like it was her own, she revealed the mess of the bed.

  Laying down in the middle of it, her ebony hair contrasted with the white sheets. She moaned. “It was so good to be with him again. I’m sure he missed me,” she laughed. “It’s time you moved on, Grace. Dylan and Shady Grove are mine. You were a temporary distraction.”

  The last few days I’d fought her tooth and nail. My resolve wavered as my heart pounded in my chest. A cold chill passed through me hardening my heart. All of this was too much. Staring at her writhing like a whore on my bed, I seethed in anger and disgust. Even if she was lying, seeing her there sickened me. Nausea overwhelmed my senses as my cheeks turned hot with fury. Without another word, I turned from the room. I grabbed a few things in Winnie’s room and threw them into a pink travel case she kept in the closet.

  Slowly, I lurked through the house. I felt like the ex-fiancée in a foreign world when that was the way she should have felt. Slipping the diamond ring off my finger, I laid it gently on the black marble countertop in the kitchen. The ring he had made just for us. The symbols and power in it bound us together. For me it was forever. I knew what she was, but so did he. If he did this, it wasn’t because she seduced him. It was because he wanted it. Either way, something happened here. The house smelled like sex. Musty, dank sex.

  She shadowed behind me without saying a word. I desperately wanted to get to the truck before the tears started to fall. With my back to her, I said, “You win.” A mocking laugh escaped her as I went through the garage to the truck.

  Driving at a normal speed, I took in the magnificent land and home I’d lived in for such a short time. The memories here would be good ones, except for the last few moments. I said my goodbye silently and hit the main road back to town like a bat out of hell.

  Pulling my cell phone out of my pocket, I dialed Levi.

  “What’s up, Grace?” Levi answered.

  “Levi, can you pick up Winnie at school?” I asked.

  “No, tell me what’s wrong,” he said immediately. My bard and his damn intuitive self could hear the tears although they were silent.

  “Stephanie was in the house. In the shirt he wore today, and nothing else. His clothes were all over the house, and the bed was a wreck. He didn’t go straight to Montgomery this morning,” I muttered.

  “Where are you?” he said anxiously.

  “On the way to the trailer. I picked up a few of Winnie’s favorite things from her room. We will have to get rest later. If you talk to him, tell him I left the ring on the counter,” I said.

  “Grace, this is messed up! You know he didn’t do this,” Levi said, defending Dylan once again. I wasn’t sure why he was hell bent on being on Dylan’s side.

  “Levi, I’m tired of fighting. I’m tired of politics. I’m tired of Shady Grove. If I leave, are you going with me?” I asked choking back sobs.

  “Wherever you go, I go, but you can’t leave without talking to him, even if it is to tell him to fuck himself,” Levi said, as his anger grew.

  The tears flowed freely, and my vision blurred. I concentrated to keep my eyes on the road. The wind picked up outside blowing the truck. Gripping the steering wheel, I cried to Levi, “I can’t do that. I love him too much to say it.”

  “Grace. Come to me,” he said. The command was subtle and loving. It washed over me, and all I wanted to do was to go home to my bard. There was nothing romantic in it, but I knew his loyalty was solid. Nothing could separate us. Through the command, I felt the strength of his arms that had wrestled me from attending to a dying Dylan on the steps of the courthouse last year. I craved those strong arms through the command. A safety that right now, I couldn’t find anywhere else in the world.

  Resolving to get home, I kept my eyes on the road. “I’m on my way,” I replied. My give a shit was broken, but perhaps if I got home, then it could be repaired.

  “Don’t hang up. I need to know you are safe. A storm is moving in,” he warned.

  “Okay,” I said. The wind blew the truck harder, and at the last moment, I saw the child. She stood in the middle of the road bending over to pick up a doll. I swerved hard crossing the middle line into the other lane of traffic. The wind gusted again. I lost all control as the truck exited the road on the opposite side. “Oh, no. Levi!” I screamed as the vehicle launched over the edge of the road into a drop-off. Holding the steering wheel, I continued to scream in panic. The truck barreled toward a tree. Pulling power from my tattoo, I tried to shield myself, but the impact into the tree just threw me into my icy shield doing as much damage as the tree would have. Glass shattered all around me grazing my skin in a thousand tiny cuts. My hands thrust out in front of me hit the shield, and my right wrist cracked. The bone stuck out of the skin as I bled. My chest hit the airbag with force. Gasping for breath, I searched for my cell phone.

  Weakly, I heard Levi screaming my name, “Grace! Answer me! Grace! Where are you? What happened? I’m on my way!”

  The world swirled around me. The mocking laugh from Stephanie’s lips haunted me as my chest heaved once more. My heart stopped, and my blood ran cold. I felt the power of Gloriana wash over me. No heartbeat. No blood flow. Ice in my veins.

  However, because I’d lost the will to fight, not even the power of the winter queen could sustain me. I greeted the darkness happily and the last word on my dying lips was “Winnie.”

  My body moved painfully as a distinctly male voice cussed the stormy air around us. The wind and rain whipped through the destroyed cab of the truck. Without ceremony, my body hit the wet forest floor. Still no breath nor a heartbeat, but I knew I was still alive somehow. Dragged through the forest by my left arm, I groaned in pain.

  “Shut up, wench,” the voice growled. A deep, male voice with the hint of exotic.

  “Help,” I whimpered.

  The male laughed jerking on my arm. As pain shot through my chest, darkness consumed me once again.

  “As my broken body was being dragged through the forest, my bard was taking his damn sweet time trying to find me,” Grace said.

  “Hey, you can’t tell this part. You were unconscious,” I reminded her.

  “You shut-up, Levi Rearden. This is my story, is it not?” she asked.

  She’d been telling the story while pacing the living room. I hated typing as she talked, because a lot of the times, I missed what she was saying. She hated to repeat things, but I was the bard, and she was the queen. She reminded me daily. A smile crossed my lips as I stared at her. She rolled her eyes turning her back on me. “It is your story, of course, but most of it, I’m telling it my way.”

  “What have you typed there that I can’t see?” she said pacing over to the laptop. I closed it quickly. The truth was, we’d just started recording her tales, but I had thrown in bits that I knew to be true even if she didn’t admit to it. The turquoise in her eyes flared at me.

  “It may be your story, but I’m telling it,” I said. “And the parts that you weren’t in, I get to tell from my perspective.”

  “I will jerk a knot in you so fast,” she threatened.

  I laughed at her. Grace was infuriating and beautiful
all at once. I’d come to appreciate the dangerous combination over the years. “I’m telling this part,” I leveled a powerful, but small command. She grimaced as it rolled over her.

  “Oh, you are so going to get it,” she played. I knew my limits. For now, I hadn’t reached them. “Go ahead, Dublin. Write it your way. See what happens.” I grinned from ear to ear. I actually won the argument. Nevermind that I cheated by throwing some persuasive power behind it. The truth was no matter how much power I put behind it, I was never truly convinced that she didn’t just let me get my way sometimes. Except that first night when I sang to her. That night, I won. My life depended on it. Her life depended on it. If I’d let her take me, as I so desperately wanted out of sheer hormonal desire, she would have lost herself. I would have lost myself in her, and a dangerous future it would have been for both of us. That one defining moment sealed our friendship and her complete trust in my abilities. Even then, I wasn’t completely sure of what all I could do, but I trusted her to teach me. Grace, my best friend, my Queen. The woman who ruled my life. I loved every minute of it.

  “I don’t have to have your permission now,” I smarted off to her.

  “Despite your power, Levi Rearden, you fell off the turnip truck if you think I’ll let you get away with this. Eventually, you will pay,” she threatened. I was sure that I would. I hoped that I would.

  Hearing her screams through the phone sent me into a panic. I grabbed the keys to the motorcycle and my helmet. I only had on jeans and a t-shirt. I stuffed my gun into the front of my pants where she hated. She always said I’d shoot myself doing that, so I moved it from the front to the back. She was right. I didn’t want to damage the goods, perhaps I’d need them again one day. The rain had already started to fall, but I knew something was very wrong. I had to get to her as soon as possible.

  The crunching of metal assaulted my ears through the phone, then went quiet. “Grace! Answer me! What’s happening!”

  No answer. Only silence.

  “Shit!” I yelled into the phone.

  Calming myself as I mounted the bike, I heard her faint voice once more, “Winnie.”

  Fuck!

  I dialed Dylan. No answer. I swore to God that if he did this to her after everything we’d gone through over the last few days, I’d kill him myself. I dialed Nestor.

  “Hot Tin Roof,” he answered.

  “Nestor. I was just on the phone with Grace. She wrecked. She was upset. I don’t know what happened. Stephanie was at the house. I’ve got to find her. Can you get Winnie from school?” I asked.

  “Slow down, Boy. Where is Grace?”

  “I don’t know. The truck crashed. I could hear it. She said she was on the road from Dylan’s house to the trailer. She can’t be too far out of town,” I said.

  “What’s this about Stephanie?” he asked.

  “Grace went home to get things ready for Dylan’s homecoming today. His paperwork was going to be done today. She was going to bake a cake to celebrate with him. Stephanie was there. She said Dylan and she…” my voice trailed off in anger. Fucking Dylan.

  “Alright. We can’t do anything about that right now. I’ll call the school to send Winnie home on the bus. Wait right there. I’m bringing my truck. You can’t go out in this on that bike,” he insisted.

  “I don’t have time. She could be dying,” I said desperately.

  “No, Son. She might be hurt, but she won’t die,” he said.

  “Nestor, I have to find her,” I said desperately. All I could think about was getting to her before someone else did. I focused on her to feel her like I knew that I could. She was hurt, but I didn’t know where or how badly. Damn Grace. Hang in there.

  “I’m walking out the door. Wait there,” he said, hanging up. I knew he was right, but I also knew I needed to get to her fast.

  While I waited, I walked back inside and called Troy Maynard.

  “Maynard,” he answered.

  “Troy, I was on the phone with Grace when it sounded like she had a wreck. I’m going out to find her. Can you spare any help?” I asked.

  “Yeah, sure. I can come myself. Where was she?” he asked calmly.

  “She’d left Dylan’s place and was heading here,” I said. I left out the details. He didn’t need to know. Hopefully, all of this was just a bad dream. The whole last week had been a nightmare. Why not this too?

  “Okay, I’m heading that way. Don’t get on that bike in this weather,” he said.

  “I’m not. Nestor is bringing his truck,” I said.

  “See you out there,” he said.

  Nestor’s short drive from the bar to here put him in the driveway the moment I hung up with Troy. I met him outside. “Listen to me, Levi. You be safe. She would die if something happened to you, too. If Dylan has done this, and she’s hurt, Winnie will need you. You got me?”

  “Yes, sir,” I responded as he handed me the keys.

  “You go find her,” he said. “You got something of hers?”

  “I don’t need it. I’ve felt her power flow through me when we swap power. I can track her like that,” I admitted to him. It was a secret that she and I had kept for a long time. She felt me, and I could feel her through the power we’d shared. We both agreed that no one needed to know about it. It wasn’t a secret that hid anything intimate between us or anything like that, but it very well could be construed as something that it wasn’t. It was bad enough that we both nearly orgasmed every time we did it. The last thing we needed was our significant others realizing how close we really were. Although, I was currently without a significant anything. I badly needed to get laid. Stupid fairy hormones. I was fine until I realized what it was. Awareness drove me over the edge. However, I wasn’t desperate enough to call Kady. No more Kadence Rayburn. Ever.

  Nestor didn’t seem to be surprised by this. He was damn observant and probably already knew. “Be careful,” he said as I cranked up the little pickup. Backing out of the drive, I looked at the storm clouds growing. Reaching out to feel her power, it returned to me faint and cold. Freezing like the day she died just before Christmas. I gripped the steering wheel and cussed Dylan for this bullshit. This was the worst day in the world to go to Montgomery. His selfish quest to be a private investigator after getting Grace into this Queen business in the first place pissed me off.

  I’d always wanted her to forgive him right after I met them both. They were great together, but to be honest, I wasn’t sure that Misaki’s child wasn’t his until Misaki turned out to be a Japanese demon, but that didn’t mean Dylan didn’t hit that. I’d read up on his ancestors. The stories were as promiscuous as if he were an incubus. The Phoenix were known as lechers. Dylan seemed devoted to Grace, but lately, there were too many questions. Even Kady accused him of coming on to her after she inquired about his male parts. To be honest, I was glad Grace punched her for that bullshit. I didn’t believe her when she said that Dylan came on to her one night when Grace was attending a PTA meeting at the school for Winnie. Now, I wasn’t so sure. Grace assured me that he would never do such a thing, and that Kady was being an immature brat. I hoped for Grace’s sake that she was right.

  I drove as fast as the little truck would take me. However, driving to Dylan’s place, I never saw her truck. As I approached, the drive leading to Dylan’s house I turned around heading back toward town. Troy’s cruiser approached with his lights flashing. He didn’t have his siren on, but he stopped as I drove up next to him.

  “I don’t see anything,” he said. “You sure she came this way?”

  “Yes, I need to get out of the truck. I can track her,” I said.

  “You got something I can smell?” he asked.

  “No, it’s different,” I replied. It hadn’t occurred to me that if tracking her by magic didn’t work that Troy’s werewolf senses would be our best option.

  I pulled over on the side of the road, stepping out into the rain. It was steady, but not a torrent. Concentrating on the tattoo on my shoulder, I imm
ersed myself in the memory of the touch of her cold hand on it. Feeling the power we shared well up inside me, I released it out of my hand. A wave of cold energy floated into the surrounding air. I felt it pulling me back toward town.

  “I need you to drive,” I said to him.

  “Get in,” he said. Climbing in the passenger side, I held my hand out in the rain.

  “Sorry about the rain,” I muttered.

  “Just find her,” he said.

  Concentrating on Grace in her truest form, I imagined her lovely turquoise eyes glittering with power. Long locks of platinum tresses that flowed down her back. The delicate twist in her speech patterns when she fully released the trailer park façade. All of these things flowed through my hand connecting our powers. In truth, Grace was not my patron. Gloriana was, so that’s who I was tracking. I also knew that if she were near death, that the winter queen would sustain her for as long as she could. The connection drew me to her, but as I got closer, it waned. She was dying. “Grace,” I muttered. “Please hang on.” Troy glanced at me worried. He admired Grace for taking the position that she did. He and I had talked about it around the holidays after all the craziness with the Yule Lads. He knew the restraint it took to give Amanda a reprieve that she didn’t deserve. He told me that he’d known a lot of fairy queens over the years, and none of them were like Grace. She had a heart. She claimed that she didn’t, but those of us that knew her, knew she had a heart of gold.

  We drove at least two miles when the power overwhelmed me, and I jerked on the door handle as Troy drove slowly. The door was locked. “Hold up, Levi!” he said unlocking the door. I barreled out of the door twisting to feel the connection. Walking over to the opposite side of the street, I looked down the embankment. My heart dropped.

  “Grace!” I yelled as Troy came up next to me.