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“Stop fucking judging me!”

“It’s a stupid show!”

“It’s misunderstood!”

“It was supposed to be a three-hour tour. Why the hell did they need all that fucking luggage?”

Shayne glared at Finn as he pointed towards his bedroom door. “I told ye never to bring that up again!”

“It’s a stupid show,” Finn muttered with a shrug before he disappeared.

“Yer dead to me, ye bastard!” Shayne yelled after the confused bastard.

It was a great show, damn it!

“How are they supposed to make banana cream pies on a deserted island without milk, flour, or butter?” Declean demanded from the comfort of Shayne’s bed.

Shayne didn’t bother answering him as he flipped Declean off and stormed out of his bedroom. As he walked down the hallway towards Tristan’s bedroom, he cursed Declean and his precious Food Channel to hell and back. Thanks to that betraying bastard, he now had a craving for banana cream pie and no way to get his hands on one.

“Sorry, lad,” Quinn said with a shrug as he appeared in front of Tristan’s door.

“Still?” Shayne asked, not quite believing what he was hearing.

“Aye,” Quinn said, chuckling. “Seems the lad really missed her.”

“Oh, come on! It’s been two days!”

Quinn simply shrugged as he gestured for Shayne to turn around and leave. Snorting in disgust, Shayne moved to pound on Tristan’s door. Two days with Marty was more than enough, especially since he was bored.

“Think again, lad,” Quinn said, grabbing him.

One second, he was raising his hand to pound on Tristan’s door, and the next, he was standing in the middle of the foyer. It took him a minute before he realized what his brother did to him.

“No fucking way…”

“I’m embarrassed for ye, lad,” Aidan said in a mock whisper as he appeared to Shayne’s right.

“Aye, he just manhandled ye like ye were his bitch or something,” Finn said, shaking his head in disgust. “Are ye really gonna take that, lad?”

This couldn’t be said enough, being human fucking sucked.

He went from being able to go and do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, to being completely dependent on his brothers for everything. It grated in the worst possible way. He couldn’t remember a time when he hadn’t pulled his own weight. Even in his cursed form, he’d taken care of himself, protected himself and Tristan. He’d had a use, but now…

Now, he was completely useless.

His brothers protected him from spirits and fucked him over for their own entertainment. The little brother that he’d been sworn to protect and care for now took care of him. Tristan gave him shelter, food, clothes, and supported him like he was some fucking child instead of a full-grown man.

He hated it.

He hated this whole fucked-up situation. He’d been raised to believe that taking charity was wrong. Unless a man was dead or dying, he should be taking care of himself and his family. If he’d been back in his own time, he would have simply picked up a sword and sold his services to the highest bidder and provided for himself. Beyond playing video games and surfing the internet, he had no modern-day skills that he could use.

Hell, he couldn’t even drive a car, didn’t have a trade, and at least once a day, he forgot that he couldn’t simply walk through doors and walls and gave his jackass brothers something to laugh their asses off about.

If his brothers didn’t need him to help with the curse, he would have walked head-on into traffic and gladly welcomed the curse back. As much as they pissed him off, he loved them. They were his family. For them, he’d put up with the annoying soulmate that he’d rather throttle than fu-

“Looks like the fun’s about to start,” Finn suddenly announced with an eager smile that actually made Shayne nervous.

“Aye,” Quinn said, chuckling, “someone better go get Tadgh and Liam.”

“I’m on it!” he heard Aidan shout from the upstairs hallway.

Before he could ask what was going on, the doorbell was ringing and the bastards that loved to torment him were trying to yank his shirt off. After a short struggle, they had his shirt off and were shoving him towards the front door.

“What the fuck are ye doing?” Shayne shouted, wondering when the bullshit would end.

“Make sure to smile, lad,” Quinn said, giving him another push towards the door.

“Aye, it would probably be for the best if ye stopped grinding yer teeth,” Finn pointed out with a shooing gesture towards the door.

“And ye should probably stop clenching yer fists like that,” Aidan said as he popped back into the room.

His stomach dropped as realization hit and when it did, all he wanted to do was to make a run for it. When he took a step back to do just that, he found his only exit blocked by Liam and Tristan.

“Just flex a little muscle and you’re in, big guy,” Tristan said with a wink and a chuckle that had him narrowing his eyes on the traitorous bastard as he was once again dragged back towards the door.

As he was shoved out the door, Shayne decided that there was perhaps a slight chance that he’d gone a tad overboard with screwing Tristan over for his own entertainment over the years. When he was thrown into the woman that fate had trapped him with, he decided that payback truly was a bitch.

* * *

Thank you for reading Black Heart I hope that you enjoyed reading Tristan and Marty’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it. I truly appreciate the time that you took to read their story. If you have a moment and want to spread the word about Black Heart , I would truly appreciate it. Thank you!