Page 49 of Stolen

“You! I said I would never forget that smell. Did you—did you bathe them? Then kill them?”

“I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about,” Chance held his chin up.

“Marissa. Brittany. Kelly. Justine. Lauren. Lovely. Harper. Trisha. Rena. Camryn.” SynTanner recited the names of the ten women who were murdered without cause. As he called the names, he looked at Chance. The man was fuming, shaking with rage.

“Shut your mouth!” Chance shouted.

“Admit it! You killed them! I would know that stench anywhere! All their bodies smelled of that bath water! Is that what you’re planning? Bathing Blossom in that shit and then stabbing her in the heart?!” SynTanner yelled.

“THEY DESERVED IT!!” Chance screamed. “I gave them all my love! I treated them like queens! All I asked was that they be committed to me, that they show me their love to. But did they? NO! They didn’t deserve to have a beating heart because they couldn’t love anyone but themselves! So yeah, I stabbed those bitches until their hearts stopped pumping.” Chance’s laugh was deranged.

“Even after the heartache I continued to live my life. And who should I find? Blossom. Oh, so pretty and sweet. She was worthy of my love and she was the perfect woman. Until she fucked you and ruined it all! And she’s gonna pay for it with her life! But first, I’m gonna sample her fucking body because it’s what I wanted from the moment I saw her. And say whatever you want SynTanner, no one’s going to fucking prosecute me for shit! Hell, your own chief won’t even put the squeeze on me because he’s afraid. I run this fucking town! You hear me?!” Chance grabbed both of Blossom’s wrists and fought her down to the floor. He began to fumble with the button on his pants, laughing maniacally. Blossom kicked and fought at him.

SynTanner palmed his knife and stabbed one of the men in their leg, then quickly removed the knife and stabbed the second man. They both went down and SynTanner stabbed the both of them repeatedly in the leg and thighs to make sure they weren’t getting back up. When they were heaps on the floor, SynTanner began to crawl towards Blossom, willing his pained body to cooperate.

“I don’t fucking think so! You’re gonna lay there and you’re going to fucking watch!” Chance screamed. He picked up his gun and pointed it at Lisa. She began to scream behind her bound mouth, the sounds muffled.

“NO!” SynTanner screamed. The gun went off, echoing loudly off the walls in the basement. Lisa’s muffled screams stopped immediately. SynTanner laid there frozen, his eyes wide as saucers in his head. Blood gushed from Lisa’s head where the bullet pierced right between her eyes. Blood. Death. Bodies. Gore. Massacre. SynTanner could take his eyes off Lisa as memories began to flood him again. Lisa’s lifeless eyes were staring right at him, tears still tumbling from them.

“No. No,” he whispered. “What did I do?!” Chance was laughing as he gripped Blossom’s neck.

“A man always knows his enemy and I know exactly what puts you out of commission. Can’t stand the sound of a gunshot? PTSD?” Chance threw his head back and laughed.

“SynTanner! Baby!” Blossom called out to him but she knew he was hurting. He couldn’t even take his eyes off of Lisa. Blossom kneed Chance in the stomach, trying to get him away from her. He was persistent and he tried to dominate her, pinning her to the ground. Crawling backwards, Blossom felt around on the ground for anything she could use. There was nothing.

“Fight baby! You have to fight it!” Blossom screamed at him. SynTanner covered his ears with his hands, most likely hearing the screams of his past. Blossom had enough. Her man needed her. She got her hand free from Chance and balled her fist up. She punched him hard in the throat. Chance choked and coughed out, rolling off her. Blossom scrambled to her feet. For added measure she stomped on his dick before rushing to SynTanner. She skidded on her knees in front of him.

“Tanner—baby look at me.” SynTanner slowly looked at her.

“It’s not your fault,” she insisted. Before she could say anything else, her neck snapped back at Chance dragged her by the hair.

“Come back the fuck here,” he gritted. Blossom looked at SynTanner. Their eyes met at the same time, burning with tenacity. She could see his inner struggle, the emotional pain he was trying to overcome.

“I’m yours SynTanner. Because of all the things you can do to make me happy. Only you.” He blinked, breaking their eye contact for a moment. Slowly, he reached for the gun in his ankle holster. Blossom held back tears as she watched his hand shake as he held his gun up.

“I mean what I said,” he whispered. “I’ll shoot him for hurting you.” SynTanner trained his gun on Chance’s back. Closing his eyes, he consumed his brain with images of Blossom. The way she smiled, laughed, hell even when she made that pout to appear angry but she was just too damn adorable. That’s all SynTanner wanted to spend his days seeing. That’s how his life was going to turn for the better. It was funny. She’d been the one stolen away, yet; she was the one saving him. SynTanner smiled. When he opened his eyes, his hand was no longer shaking. Eyes as steely as his will, he pressed his trigger, sending a bullet directly into the back of Chance Lore.