Page 34 of One (The Towns Syndicate #2)

Ally

C hristmas Town was so quiet right after the holidays. We always had a rush of people a few days after Christmas, but after that we were pretty quiet till after New Year’s. I enjoyed the quiet calm that came, and there was always plenty of snow.

This year the silence and the calm drove me crazy.

If it weren’t for the damn dog Boogie and King had given me, I would have died of boredom.

Taking care of the dog had me thinking of my monsters all the time.

The first two days I hated the dog, but he kept me company when I felt the loneliest, and lately my nightmares hadn’t been too bad with Zero around.

I don’t know if it was the dog or my brain that sometimes made me feel like Boogie and King were with me at night.

When I would wake up alone, it only made me ache for them more, and I swore sometimes I could still smell them on my sheets.

I woke up every day with a note from one of them. One of the damn triplets or Roman left it for me at my door every day. Some were short and sweet, like they missed waking up next to me, or the sounds I made when I came on their cock or how I always sighed when they slept with me.

The note from yesterday made me cry like a baby.

Ally,

I don’t want to be like the men who locked you up.

My fear of losing you overrides everything, but all it did was make me just like them.

I clipped your wings instead of giving you the lift you needed to fly.

I became what I've always hated, and whether you forgive me or not, I will never forgive myself.

Boogie

Zero licked away my tears as I contemplated for the hundredth time whether to forgive them or not, or whether this pain was worth it or not.

“Noelle?” A knock on my door broke my thoughts.

“Yeah?” I called out

Maverick peeked her head through the door.

“You ok?” she asked, as I sat up from my bed that I had yet to vacate for the day.

“Yup, just catching up on sleep,” I said as Zero growled at her.

Maverick growled back at the dog, and they stared at each other until Zero deemed her safe and came back to me. I shook my head because every triplet did this, and it made me wonder if they were raised by wolves.

“It’s one,” she stated, sitting on the edge of the bed. “It’s not like you to lay in bed for so long.”

I shrugged. “Not much to do today. Plus, I went out to let Zero do his business twice already.”

“The guys and I have some Halloween business to attend to this evening,” she said.

“I remember,” I said. “Roman will keep me safe. He’s got those men whipped into shape and Mars has tripled my security. Plus, I know you will have to leave some day.”

I really hated that they had to leave, but they weren’t mine to keep. There were a few days that I contemplated telling Boogie and King that I would forgive them if I could have the triplets stay with me, but I didn’t want to do that to the triplets either, they would go stir-crazy here.

“I wish we didn’t have to leave,” she murmured. “I do love Christmas Town.”

“Yeah, but you guys aren't meant to be here,” I said. “Christmas is too tame for you guys. You need the thrill of a hit and all of that crap.”

She chuckled. “It’s nice to be here sometimes, not to be the death dealers everyone thinks we are.”

I raised my brows at her. “Oh, shut up, you know you love it.”

“She is lying, she loves it,” Ruger said at the door. “We all do.”

“What she means is that it's a nice change of pace to be here with you,” Winchester said, walking past Ruger. “We still love the hunt, blood and killing.”

I shook my head as Zero went to Winchester immediately. They had a weird relationship. I swear I even saw Winchester bite his ear once.

“It’s in our nature,” Ruger agreed, sitting on the bed, eyeing Zero like he was a bomb about to go off. “But sometimes we like just existing without the expectation of killing. Plus, Maverick and Winchester like fucking Lance.”

I laughed. “I fucking knew it.”

“Traitor.” Maverick threw a pillow at him.

“Was it not common knowledge you were both fucking him?” Ruger growled.

“Oh, I think it was, but I never got it confirmed,” I grinned at Ruger.

Winchester shrugged. “He’s cute and I like his whole innocence thing he has going on, plus it was hot seeing Maverick dominate him.”

“And he’s such a good boy.” Maverick grinned.

I laughed because I was going to tease Lance so much for this.

“So, is sharing a common thing for you guys?” I asked curiously.

“Sometimes, it’s easier for us,” Winchester said, looking over at Ruger.

Was that longing?

“We don’t do well when we all go our separate ways,” Maverick said, glancing at Ruger too.

“Oh, so?—”

“Did you know when Boogie and King first got together, King had to lock Boogie away to save him from himself,” Winchester said, knocking me speechless, making me forget my earlier question.

Maverick sighed, glaring at Winchester. “Great delivery, dude.” She punched his arm.

“When Boogie and King first met, it was a rough first couple of years. Boogie wasn’t a talker and was afraid of everything.

The poor guy was traumatized, which was the least of his worries, but just as they thought he was getting better, he had a psychotic break. ”

My heart pounded fast as I took in the story. I always craved to hear bits of their past, too afraid to ask.

“They saw one of the regulars who would use Boogie, and without thinking, Boogie grabbed him, and killed him in front of too many people,” Maverick said.

“Something snapped in Boogie, and he was thirsty for revenge. King tried to satiate that thirst, but Boogie was out of control. He wasn’t just killing the men who wronged him.

He killed their families and innocent people who didn’t deserve to die. ”

Maverick looked lost in a memory as she stopped talking.

“King had to stop the bloodshed before he was caught, so he threatened to lock him up. They fought and argued until King was able to show Boogie his destruction after he had to confine him,” Ruger sighed.

“That’s where we come in. Our fathers were part of Boogie's past, but Boogie wasn’t the only one who was freed when he killed them, he freed us too. ”

“I guess you could say we were a part of his rehabilitation,” Winchester said, continuing the story.

“We were teenagers when it all happened. King placed us in a group home he funded. It was at the time he started working at Halloween Town. We became a little infatuated with Boogie, and we would visit him since he stayed at the home with us, and then one day he left with King.”

“So we broke out of the group home and followed.” Maverick grinned. “Boogie knew King would be pissed, so he kept us a secret, housed us, trained us, and sent us to school. Before we knew it, King was sending us on hits.”

“We owe everything to Boogie,” Winchester said.

“He freed us,” Ruger said.

“Saved us from a life that would have killed us,” Maverick sighed. “I mean we owe both of them, we just like to give King a hard time. He saved Boogie, who saved us.”

My lip trembled as I studied them.

“We know what they did was fucked up, and we didn’t tell you this to change your mind, but to offer you a different perspective,” Ruger said standing up.

“King and Boogie have lived through hell and anything positive in life that they have had, they’ve fought so hard for.

It’s not surprising that they thought hiding you was the best course of action. ”

“They’ll always just be broken boys who the world failed.” Winchester bit his lip. “It’s amazing they have found each other, and even more amazing they found you and that you loved them despite their flaws.”

“The world is a shitty place,” Maverick said, standing up and stretching. “Love is not meant for monsters like us, but sometimes someone sees past our bullshit, and loves us anyways, and it’s the only way we get to live without losing ourselves.”

“They have each other. They don’t need me,” I said, trying not to sound petulant.

“You can survive in the darkness, but once you've seen the light, why would you ever not choose to see?” Ruger asked, making me blush.

“How do I trust them again?” I sniffed. “Loving them isn’t the hard part. I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving them, but how do I know this won’t happen again.”

“How do you ever know anything won’t ever happen?” Ruger asked. “They could lie, cheat or do any number of things. You won’t ever know it. You have to either let it go and trust or decide it's not worth all the worrying and let it go.”

“We could just threaten to castrate them next time,” Maverick said. “That’s always a good motivator.”

I smiled. “Then I’ll always wonder if they love me more than they love their junk.”

“Or they love being inside you more,” Winchester said, crawling towards me and hugging me.

“You could always just choose us,” Maverick said, hugging us.

“We’d treat you right,” Ruger said, completing our circle. “We’d never let anything happen to you.”

The sincerity in his voice made me pause, but before I could look at his face, they enveloped me in their hug that eventually made us fall back onto Ruger.

I laughed as I tried to get up, but they kept me close and preoccupied until they had to leave.

Watching them ride their bikes away had me feeling like this was the last time they were going to be here and something monumental was about to happen.

“Noelle?” Lance knocked on my office door two days after the triplets had left, and still hadn’t returned.

“What’s up?” I called out.

The door opened as I waited for him to say something.

We had been pretty miserable since we had heard they weren’t coming back.

Now that I knew he had a thing with Maverick and Winchester, I wondered how close they had gotten.

He didn't look bad, but sometimes I saw him staring off into the distance with a sad expression.

I looked up when he didn’t say anything. “Yes?”

“The mayor has issued a Thanksgiving,” he stated, looking a little too serious.

“What the hell is that?” I grew a little nervous.

“It’s something she hasn’t called since King and Boogie took over Halloween Town.” Roman stepped into the room.

“Fuck.” I sighed. “Do we have any idea why she would call one?”

“My guess would be that you were kidnapped, and she heard Boogie and King had a hand in it,” Roman said, coming into my office and sitting down.

“Any other ideas? If that’s the case, she’s going to kill them,” I said, trying to formulate a plan to save them.

“Maybe she just wants to check in?” Lance came in and sat next to Roman.

Roman looked at him like he was crazy. He shook his head.

“If she just wanted to check in, she would have stopped by,” Roman said confidently. “Something big is going to happen and I’m positive it has to do with Boogie and King. There’s a reason the triplets aren’t here with us. Maybe Boogie and King caught wind of her intentions.”

“Can you call them or call Mars?” He gave me a look that I pretended not to see. “If they are targets, what are our options?”

“Do we really want to say it out loud?” Lance looked nervous.

“I won’t let her kill them, so what is our other option?” I stood up, feeling adrenaline hit me.

“We either run, or we take care of her.” Roman stood up too.

“This is suicide,” Lance muttered. “We might be killed. Actually, we will be killed.”

“I can’t—” I didn’t want to think of what might happen if we tried to intervene with the Mayor. “I can’t let them die.”

“We can plead our case and try a more diplomatic approach,” Lance suggested.

Roman snorted. “We could try, but I don’t think she is going to give us a chance. I heard she is a shoot-first-ask-questions-later kind of person.”

“Fuck, well let’s call King and Boogie and the triplets and see if we can figure out a plan before we have to see her,” I said. “How long do we have?”

“Two hours before we have to be there.” Lance said, and my heart dropped.

“Fuck.”