Yule Tied Up (Verona Falls University: Christmas Story)

10. Kirill

CHAPTER 10

Kirill

Fuck!

“Oh, my God!” Mackenzie cries.

“None of you assholes move an inch,” Fake Santa declares. “And drop the knife.”

He aims the gun at Tino, who has no choice but to toss the knife he’s been holding this whole time to one side. Tino should have stabbed the fucker the moment he’d opened the door.

What the hell is going on here?

Why the fuck did we forget our weapons? That is so screwed up.

We should have left the minute Mackenzie thought she saw someone outside, but we were all thinking the same way. None of us wanted to believe it was real. We’ve all had too much fucking trauma, and we wanted to pretend it was just her imagination, so we didn’t have our perfect little sexscapade getaway ruined.

Shit.

This motherfucker might have a shotgun, but there are three of us men against only one of him, and we are hardly weaklings. Surely, between us, we can take him down. But it’s not going to be easy without any shots being fired. We can’t risk one of us getting hurt, not all the way out here in this weather, and with no transportation.

It occurs to me that his story about the broken-down car is most likely bullshit. He got up to the cabin in the snow, which means he has a suitable vehicle parked somewhere nearby. If we can get to it, we can make the drive into town ourselves. It will be precarious on the mountain roads with the snow still falling, but I think it’s safe to say our supposedly romantic weekend at the cabin has come to an abrupt end.

“Now I’m the one calling the shots,” Fake Santa snaps. “Try anything stupid, and your pretty little whore here gets a bullet between her eyes. You ever seen what a mess a shotgun can make of a person’s head at close range? You wouldn’t want to see that, trust me.”

“What do you want?” I step forward, so I’m standing by Tino, and trying to cover Mackenzie as much as I can.

“To teach you all a lesson.”

I exchange a glance with the others. What the fuck is he talking about?

“Are you all fucking her? What a dirty little whore she is. God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Adam and Adam and Eve.”

He sneers at us in disgust, but when his gaze turns on our Duchess, it turns to real hatred. “Christmas is a time of year where we’re supposed to be celebrating Christ, not behave like you four. You people disgust me. Sinners .”

We need to get Mackenzie to a safe place, and then the three of us can take this fucker down. I wish Tino had never opened the door to him, but we didn’t know the danger, and even if we had, what other option was there? Just hide away in the cabin like cowards?

“You.” He uses the end of the shotgun to gesture at Mackenzie. “Over here.”

“No!” Dom growls, placing himself directly in front of her.

Santa’s eyes narrow. “If I have to shoot you to get to her, I will.”

Mackenzie takes hold of Dom’s arm. “It’s okay, Dom. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“You guys wanted me to be outside in the cold, so how about you get to know what that feels like?”

Is he going to throw us all out of the cabin so he can take over the space? A part of me hopes that’s all he wants.

We could try to tackle him, or find heavy logs to use as weapons, but it is too risky. I don’t want anyone hurt, especially not out here, so far from any help, but it looks like we might not have any choice.

He waves the gun again. “Come on. Outside. All of you.”

I exchange a glance with Dom and Tino. They both give me the slightest nod with a jerk of their chins. They’re thinking exactly what I am.

“Look,” Tino says, “we were willing to give you blankets and a warm drink. Can we at least put our boots and coats on?”

Fake Santa grunts. “Not sure you deserve it, but okay.”

It might take us time to get into the car. We could end up with some serious frostbite if we don’t wear something on our feet.

He keeps his gun trained on us, mainly on Mackenzie. He can tell she’s our weak spot. Any potential threat to her life means we won’t take any risks. The three of us could jump him, but, right now, he’d still manage to get a shot off. If it hits Mackenzie, she could easily die. We can’t get to the hospital easily all the way out here. Even what should be a non-life-threatening gunshot wound could end up being fatal. And a shotgun? At close range? That’s far too deadly to chance.

None of us will risk her life, no matter what. Our daughter needs her mother, and we couldn’t function without Mackenzie in our lives. Before Lucy was born, I’d have easily said none of us would have felt our lives would be worth living without her, but now we’d have to force ourselves to keep going for our daughter’s sake. That would be a special kind of torture in itself.

We all struggle into our outdoor clothes. The mood is tense, but this guy has no idea who he’s dealing with. He probably thinks we’re just four college students out here for a good time. He’s not completely wrong on that front, but what he doesn’t know is we’re easily capable of killing. And someone threatening our girl is definitely a reason to shed blood.

“Go on.” He waves the gun again. “Get out.”

We exchange glances again and all tramp out into the snow. We make sure Mackenzie is in the middle of us, so our bodies protect her. As soon as this fucker shuts the cabin door on us, I’m finding a heavy branch and I’ll kill him myself.