by Kris Royce
Her mother gently wiped her brow with a cool cloth and held her hair back. When she was done Anne handed her a new toothbrush. Anne was helping Tegan back to the bedroom when Thomas came in.
“It’s time you made up for me lettin’ you live here and taken care of you all these years, girl,” he said grabbing Tegan and jerking her away from her mother.
Tegan jerked her arm away.
“I am not going anywhere with you,” she told him defiantly.
Thomas backhanded her across the face so fast she never saw it coming. Then he slapped Anne when she tried to stop him from going after her. Anne cried out and fell back on the bed, cowering from the bastard when he went at her.
Tegan felt the blood running down her chin, but she was more concerned about her mother and what Thomas would do to her.
“Bitch, don’t you ever get in my way again or I will beat you so bad you won’t even know your own name. Then I will have you put in a nursing home when I am through,” Thomas told Anne as he slapped her again.
He turned just as Tegan brought down a vase on his head. Unfortunately, it didn’t knock the hardheaded bastard out. It just seemed to piss him off even more.
“You’re gonna pay for that, you little bitch,” Thomas snarled at her.
Tegan backed up a step, but Thomas advanced on her, grabbing her arm in a painful grip. He pulled her out of the room, down the stairs, and into the room where Roland and Pastor Larkin were waiting.
“Now see here, Thomas,” the pastor said when he saw the blood on Tegan’s face.
“Not another word out of you, Pastor, or did you forget who was building you that new church you have been wanting so damn bad?” Thomas told him while pointing a finger in his face.
The pastor looked away ashamed but not before he gave Tegan a look of pity.
“Now, get over here and marry them,” Thomas snarled.
Roland smirked down at her. Tegan could not believe this was happening. She stepped back, but Thomas squeezed her arm harder.
“You people are all insane. I am not marrying anybody. I am engaged to Ash Stone,” she told them.
Thomas squeezed her arm even harder until she cried out. Then he leaned down close to her ear. “Your engagement has just been broken. You will do what you are told, you little bitch, or I will make you watch while I beat the shit out of your momma. You know I will do it, too,” he whispered to her.
“No! You can’t do this to me. I won’t let you do this to me or to Momma,” Tegan said, crying.
She was stuck in a nightmare. This could not be happening to her. She could not believe the Pastor Larkin was going along with it.
“There ain’t a damn thing you can do about it,” Thomas told her with a laugh. “Here, take her so I can go get her momma. She won’t wanna miss her baby’s wedding now, would she?”
Thomas handed Tegan off to Roland, who grabbed her up and tried to kiss her. He just laughed when she turned her head and cussed at him. Surprisingly, Pastor Larkin came to her rescue.
“Now, Carson, you need to wait until after the ceremony for that. You have your whole wedding night ahead of you.”
Roland stopped trying to kiss her, but he still wouldn’t let her go.
“Do you know how long I have been waitin’ to have you? A long, long time. I tried to get Thomas to let me have you when you turned sixteen, but he wanted to wait,” he told her, which made her skin crawl.
“Doesn’t it matter that I don’t want to marry you?” Tegan asked as she struggled to get free.
He laughed. “No. It makes no difference to me whether you want to or not,” he told her.
Tegan suddenly stopped struggling when she realized it excited him. She knew he wasn’t going to listen to her anyway.
Thomas came back with her momma behind him. Her eyes were rimmed with red, and she had a fresh bruise forming on her face where Thomas must have hit her again.
“Momma,” Tegan cried out, trying to go to her.
“Get on with, Pastor. We ain’t got all day,” Thomas told the man.
“Don’t do this, Thomas. Please,” Anne begged.
“Shut up, woman. Pastor,” Thomas said as jerked her arm harder.
Anne cried out in pain and started crying.
“No, Thomas. Stop this right now,” Tegan told him before looking at the Pastor and Roland. “Are you two just gonna stand there while he hurts my mother and not do a damned thing about it? What kind of men are you?”
“You shut your damn mouth, girl, and do as you are told or you will see her get a lot more than me just holding her arm,” Thomas snarled at her.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to unite Roland Carson and Tegan Ryann...” Pastor Larkin said.
Tegan started to protest and pull away. “Stop this, stop this right now,” she said as she began to struggle again.
Roland slapped her and turned her to Thomas. “You are gonna marry me, Tegan, or this is what is going to happen to your momma,” Roland told her just as Thomas punched Anne in the face.
Tegan screamed and tried to go to her when Anne fell to the floor crying and holding her face.
Thomas turned to Tegan and pointed at her. “This is all your fault. I done told you what would happen if you didn’t do as you were told. Now get on with it, or she gets some more,” he told her.
Tegan was shaking and crying as she stood there. She was in a fucking nightmare.
“Roland, do you take Tegan Ryann as your wife, to have and to hold from this day forward?”
“I do,” he said.
“Tegan, do you take Roland Carson as your husband?”
“You better say the words girl, or she gets it again,” Thomas told her as he drew back his fist.
“No. Don’t touch her,” she told Thomas. “I…I do,” Tegan said in defeat and watched as Thomas lowered his fist. It didn’t matter. This marriage meant nothing to her. She would find a way to get away from Roland, the fucking bastard and she would find a way to get her mother away from Thomas.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife. Congratulations Roland and Tegan. Roland, now you may kiss your bride,” Larkin said.
“No,” Tegan said, struggling in his arms.
Roland gripped her chin painfully trying to kiss her. She kicked him in the shin, which made him yell out in pain.
She was too busy struggling to notice that the door had opened and the room filled with people. She was jerked away from Roland. She saw a fist fly by her and catch Roland in the face. Blood arched from his mouth and his nose, covering the pastor’s suit. Roland let go of Tegan and dropped like a sack of potatoes. Tegan turned and saw Ash. She jumped into his arms, clinging to him and cried.
“Shh, I got you,” he told her, holding her close.
“What is the meaning of this? How dare you come in here? You are too damn late, anyway. Get your damn hands off her. She is a married woman, now,” Thomas snarled at Ash.
“What?” Ash said, pulling back to look at Tegan.
He gently wiped the blood from her face and then touched the red handprint on her cheek. He tensed, and his eyes darkened with anger.
“That bastard hit you?” Ash all but growled.
“No, Ash, I mean yes. Roland did, but you already knocked him out so it doesn’t matter now,” Tegan told him.
Ash wanted to kill the man on the floor, but there were too many witnesses.
“Now, what’s this about being married?”
“Oh God. It’s true,” she said, breaking down and crying.
Ash set her down on her feet and jerked up the pastor, who was kneeling next to Roland, who was still knocked out on the floor as Tina and Marc were helping Anne up.
“You did this,” he asked the terrified pastor through clenched teeth.
“I…I had no choice, and neither did she. See,” Larkin said, sweeping his shaking hand toward Anne.
“Shut up, you damned fool,” Thomas snarled.
They all looked at Anne and could see her ble
eding and bruised face. Tina was trying to wipe the blood off with the small tissues from her purse. Samuel was there, too. He took one look at Anne’s bruised and bleeding face and laid into Thomas. Ash let go of the pastor, picked up Tegan, and moved her out of the way as the two men crashed to the floor.
Samuel beat the hell out of Thomas until the pastor mentioned something about Samuel was killing him. Only then did Ash signal to his men that had come with them. They pulled Samuel off the bleeding man. Thomas wasn’t dead or even knocked out, but he was bleeding and hurting. That didn’t stop him from running his mouth. He spit blood on the floor and started laughing, which surprised them all.
“I will see you in prison for this, Samuel Dalton, you piece of shit. That still don’t change the fact Tegan is married to Roland. I still win,” he said with a groan and spat blood on the floor, again.
Samuel tried to get to him once more, but Ash’s men held him back.
“Tegan, darlin’, are you okay?” Samuel asked her.
She looked at him and nodded with the tears still flowing.
“You don’t worry, darlin’, we will get you the best lawyer’s money can buy,” Samuel told her as Ash signaled his men to let him go.
He went to Tegan first and hugged her before Ash pulled her away. Then Samuel went to Anne and held out his arms. She didn’t hesitant to go to him.
“And you, too, Anne. You don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to,” Samuel told her softly.
“You ain’t leaving me, you bitch. I will kill you first,” Thomas yelled at Anne.
Everyone ignored his outburst.
“Ash, now would be a good time as any to tell Tegan the truth, don’t you think?” Tina said.
Tegan frowned, looking up at Ash. He gazed down at her caressing her cheek, wiping away the tears.
“Kitten, you are not married to Roland, so you have nothing to worry about.”
“What? But…”
“No buts, kitten. Remember what I told you what they tried to do to you when you were in the hospital?”
“Yes, you said they were trying to make me marry Roland,” she said with a frown.
“Yes, that’s right. Remember what Marc said about me going a little crazy and beating Roland up?”
She nodded while still frowning.
“Kitten, I couldn’t let them take you away from me, and I didn’t trust them not to try something else, like the shit they pulled today. So me, Tina, and Marc talked it over. I know now you don’t remember. Damn, this would be much easier if you did.”
“Just tell me, Ash,” Tegan said.
“Well, beating Carson wasn’t all I did. When you were in the hospital, I asked you to marry me, and you said yes. I called in a priest, and we got married with Tina and Marc as witnesses. All of us will tell you that you were awake and spoke your vows. You even signed the marriage certificate. I didn’t realize until later that you didn’t remember. That’s why I ask you to marry me again before we left the cabin. I know I should have told you, and I was going to after you married me again.”
“No, you are lying, you son of a bitch,” Thomas was saying as he tried to get up, his face red with anger.
Ash’s men grabbed him and took him outside with him, yelling the whole time.
“I ought to whip your ass for this, Stone, but my little girl might not appreciate that,” Samuel told him.
“We…we are married?” Tegan asked with wide eyes.
“Yes, kitten, we are married,” he told her.
Tegan was stunned—glad, but absolutely stunned. She was really married to Ash and not Roland. She was still trying to wrap her head around that.
“Kitten, if you want we can have the biggest fucking wedding you have ever seen. If you want to do it over again…” he was saying when Tegan put a finger to his lips to shut him up.
“Maybe we should give them a few minutes alone,” Tina told everyone.
Samuel took Anne while Ash’s men dragged out Pastor Larkin and Roland, who was coming to.
Tegan laughed, and then she jumped into Ash’s arms and hugged his neck so tight he couldn’t breathe.
“Kitten,” he choked out, and she released him to kiss him and then winced when it hurt her lip.
“I take it you’re not mad at me,” he said as she pulled away.
“God, Ash, how can you even ask me that? No, I am not mad at you. I love you. But there are some things we need to talk about, like what about that woman who was at your place?” she asked, pushing out of his arms.
He let her go, and she stepped away from him.
“Tegan, I am not going to lie to you. Long ago I did sleep with her, but that is it. She was a onetime fuck, and that is all.”
He couldn’t miss the hurt look that he saw in Tegan’s eyes when he told her that, but she needed to hear it all. He didn’t want any secrets between them. Right now he had more than a few of his own, but he was going to come clean soon.
“I was with her once a long time ago. She has stalked me ever since that one night. She was able to get in my apartment by stealing a keycard from the service desk. I sure as hell did not invite her, and I can promise you that it will never happen again. Tegan, before I met you I was no saint. I have slept with many women, but none of them meant anything to me. I have not been with anyone else but you since the first night I met you. I don’t want anyone but you.”
He could see the light return to her eyes.
“Ash, you were so mad at me the day I went with Samuel,” she said.
“I was angry with you because you put your life in danger riding that fucking motorcycle, and as I told you, I wasn’t sure Marsh didn’t have more people out searching for you. I was angry because I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
He reached and pulled her to him, unable to stand not touching her any longer. “I thought I lost you once, Tegan, and about lost my fucking mind. I can’t go through that shit again. I don’t want to lose you. Do you understand that?”
Tegan gazed up at him with wide eyes, and he felt like she finally got it, that she understood he really did love her.
“You didn’t tell me about my mother being hurt. Mind you, I know Thomas lied through his teeth just to get me here, but still, Ash, you can’t keep things from me. I probably would have called you before I left if I hadn’t been so hurt that you hadn’t told me.”
Ash let her go and ran both hands through his hair, pushing it back.
“You’re right. I didn’t tell you the fucking piece of shit called. You were still recovering, and you didn’t need his shit. I had my man check out how bad your mother was. I was told that she had been injured but that it wasn’t life threatening like he made it out to be and that she had been released, so I figured it couldn’t have been that fucking bad, not bad enough to send you home.”
Tegan nodded in understanding. “Yeah. He answered when I called her phone and told me she was on her deathbed. It scared the shit out me. I thought she was dying. I am sorry I ever doubted you, Ash.”
“I just wanted to protect you, Tegan.”
“You love me?” she asked.
“More than anything. I came after you, didn’t I?”
“Yes, you did, and thank you for that. I love you, too. What are we going to do, Ash?”
“Shut up and kiss me, Tegan.”
Tegan kissed him softly because of her lip. Ash pulled back, and with a finger under Tegan’s chin he made her look up at him.
“Let’s go home,” he told her.
She smiled and nodded. They walked outside together, and Tina pulled her into a hug. Marc patted Tegan’s back.
“Let’s get you home, okay?” Tina told her.
Again Tegan nodded.
“Are you all right, honey?” Samuel asked her.
“I am now,” she told him, giving him a weak smile before going to check on her mother.
Tegan was surprised that Thomas, Roland, and the pastor were nowhere to be seen, and she hoped Ash hadn’t killed
them or something. Then she heard Thomas yelling from the side of the house where Ash’s men were holding them.
Ash herded them all into the waiting limo after Samuel took Anne upstairs so she could grab her bags. It didn’t take her long. Ash helped load Tegan’s luggage from her rental car and put it in the limo. One of his men agreed to return the rental car for her and meet them at the airport.
Ash’s men ended up taking Roland, Thomas, and the Pastor back in the house after everyone else left. Ash’s men zip-tied Roland, Thomas, and the Pastor before leaving knowing it would take them a little while to get free.
Once in the limo no one could miss the way Samuel looked at Anne, nor could they miss the way Anne was looking at him. Tegan was just kind of embarrassed that her parents were acting like teenagers. It was all kinds of weird.
Ash silently checked out Tegan’s cheek and her lip before kissing her softly. He didn’t say anything until Anne asked if he knew a good lawyer. He had not been listening anymore. He had been in deep thought.
“I know some of the best. What kind of lawyer are you looking for?”
Ash was thinking divorce lawyer for Anne, but she surprised him by saying financial, someone who would handle inheritances and estates, someone for Tegan’s inheritance. This had everyone’s attention. Tegan just hid her face against Ash’s chest while he rubbed the back of her head.
Tina asked what she meant, and Anne explained. Tegan was asleep in Ash’s arms when Anne told them how much money and companies that Tegan owned. Ash was even shocked at the amount. He sent a quick text to Simon, who sent him one back saying that he would get right on it.
When they arrived at the airport Tegan woke. Anne saw the plane and began to protest about going to New York. Tegan changed her mind.
“Mother, there is nothing here for you anymore. This is the great escape you have been waiting for your whole life. This is your chance to finally live and be happy. Now are you going to get on that plane or are you going to stay here? Those are your choices. I love you, Momma, but I am not staying here.”