Thoroughly Screwed

By Bettie Zyx

Stacy has three problems: two paramours and a corporate thug all hunting her down. Seeped in intrigue and with her partner-in-crime dead, she needs help. But if her erstwhile lovers catch her, she can’t protect them from the terrible forces that want her secrets at any cost.

Which they do.

Can they battle the collision of forces controlling their world, threatening to tear them apart?

Jeremy and Kevin are brothers who have a problem. Their chaos-creating cutie keeps escaping them, but this time they have intel on their side...She's madly in love with both of them. The good news is that together, they can fix their world. The great news is that if they maneuver right, she'll stay. The bad news is that a small army is after her. That, and it doesn't look good for two men to be hiding an injured woman until she agrees to marry them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bettie Zyx
• Release date: Dec 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005711955

Bettie Zyx

Zyx is an alien trapped in human form. She was a revolutionary on her home planet and got caught finally when jay-walking through a canal. Sentenced to study the human race in preparation for a future invasion, she spends most of her time trying to bolster Earth’s planetary defense systems and frequently transmits lewd, crude, and socially unacceptable messages back to her planet of origin, most recently the image of a human artificially inseminating a large ungulate. Suffice it to say, the human race in general finds her to be odd, eccentric, weird, and quirky. While she loves her adopted home, Zyx can’t help but worry that the overall intelligence of the human race goes as: (average_intelligence)^(1/number_of_individuals).

Book preview

Thoroughly Screwed

Bettie Zyx (http://bettiezyx.wordpress.com)

A Stanner Series Book

Stacy has three problems: two paramours and a corporate thug all hunting her down. Seeped in intrigue and with her partner-in-crime dead, she needs help. But if her erstwhile lovers catch her, she can’t protect them from the terrible forces that want her secrets at any cost.

Which they do.

Can they battle the collision of forces controlling their world, threatening to tear them apart?

Thoroughly Screwed

ISBN-13 9781005094669

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Thoroughly Screwed Copyright © 2013, Bettie Zyx aka I’m-your-Huckleberry

Edited by Bettie Zyx

Cover art by Bettie Zyx {original photo from: Eagle nebula pillars.jpg; the material was created for NASA by Space Telescope Science Institute under Contract NAS5-26555 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eagle_nebula_pillars.jpg}

Electronic book publication May 2013

With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the author, Bettie Zyx, [e-mail]

Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the author’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

Thoroughly Screwed Table of Contents

Chapter – Breach

Chapter – Reunions

Chapter - Out of the closet and into the fire

Chapter - Escape and Collapse

Chapter – Homecoming

Chapter - Engorging Mystery

Chapter – Strategizing

Chapter – Hosanna

Chapter - Mea Culpa

Chapter - Stir Crazy

Chapter - Earned Response

Chapter - Sexually Transferred Devices

Chapter - Satisfactory Punishments

Chapter - Data Darkness

Chapter – NothingToSeeHere

Chapter – Rush

Chapter - Prey V Predator

Chapter - Old Times

Chapter - Open Declarations

Chapter - House Arrest

Chapter – Home

Chapter – Epilogue

Next Generation Preview: Fugitive Bounties

Chapter - Breach



Pain lanced up his fist, but Jeremy expected that. The blood that started flowing from Stephen's smarmy face made him feel pleasure, primitive raw pleasure. More of that. Jeremy swung again. But something tugged on his arm. He stumbled to the side with the momentum. He knew exactly what it was. Without turning his head, he growled at his younger brother, Kevin, Let me go.

Kevin held on and turned to Stephen, coldly snapping out the command, Go. Now.

Off to the side, Stephen's girlfriend twitched in response, and Kevin's dark eyes raised from Stephen's form on the floor to stare at her pensively. She stood next to the entertainment projector, tense and shocked.

Jeremy didn't look at her; besides the fact his asshole-roommate, a.k.a. her-asshole-boyfriend, was due several more slugs, he just couldn't face her without melting into the floor in embarrassment, Goddess, Stacy, you were never supposed to see that. But he kept her in his peripherals, There's no telling what she's going to do. Stacy's luscious cascade of red hair was the only warning most people got of her mercurial temperament.

Stephen, you ass, she said taking a tentative step towards Jeremy, What did you expect?! To make everyone feel a tad AWKWARD?! Mission accomplished!

Jeremy swallowed as the knot in his stomach loosened, Oh, thank Goddess.

Stephen shoved himself up from the ground and grabbed Stacy's elbow with a snarl, Come on, big mouth. She stumbled as she was yanked.

Jeremy's fury arced to Kevin. He jumped to her other side tugging on her free elbow and stabilizing her, Stay, beautiful.

Stacy's brow furrowed with her wide eyes flashing her inner turmoil. She backed up towards Jeremy, pulling away from Kevin who let her go. Staunching his nose, Stephen didn't let go and squeezed her arm yelling, You stay, and we're through!

Oh, please Goddess, Jeremy held his breath.

Stacy sucked in her breath from pain. Lifting her face to Stephen, she narrowed her eyes while speaking low, Stephen. Let. me. go.

Nodding fractionally towards the door, Jeremy glanced at Kevin who blinked in acknowledgment: until Stacy ordered them to stop, they were going to beat the shit out of Stephen. Kevin moved between them and the door. Jeremy remained where he was with Stacy in his reach.

I'm NOT leaving with you. Then she straightened her arm in front of Stephen's chest and swung it up between them effectively breaking his grip on her.

As she jumped back towards Jeremy, dodging Stephen’s attempted grab, Kevin seized the opportunity. He jerked Stephen's wrist behind his back, leveraging his arm into a reverse twist hold, threatening to break the asshole's elbow and dislocate his shoulder if he tried to break free. With Stephen yelling curses at all of them, Kevin dragged him out of the apartment.

When the room settled into momentary silence, relief flooded Jeremy; despite everything that had just happened, Stacy wasn't running away from him. She wouldn't have known his interest at all, if Stephen hadn't broken into Jeremy's computer to show her. She was looking at him. He was going to have to look at her in the eyes sooner or later. Okay, here we go, he shifted his gaze from the door Kevin was just entering to her gold-iris eyes, Stacy…

Her eyes flashed and her lips hitched fractionally upward into a suppressed smile breaking his train of thought. Jeremy, she said pausing to choose her words carefully, You could tell most of them weren't natural red-heads from the pubic hair.

The sound of the elevating lift outside announced Stephen's temporary departure. Stacy closed the distance to Jeremy, stood on tip toe, and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Closing his eyes, he held her lithe form and inhaled her sweet aroma. Then she was releasing him, and he did the same but fractionally slower.

Then she turned to Kevin to repeat the procedure. Thanks, guys, she murmured into the air around Kevin's ear.

As she moved towards the door, the brothers looked at each other, Dammit! Where are you going? Kevin asked turning to follow her.

School, she sighed picking up her backpack off the galley table, I need to debug a program. Then she opened the door and glanced at each of them before calling, Love y'all! as the door slid shut behind her. Her facial expression was forced.

With the door closed, Kevin braced his hands on either side of the frame muttering, She was shaking when she hugged me.

She’s hiding something. Jeremy took a deep breath and grumbled, I noticed that, too.

Γ• ••

Chapter - Reunions

Stacy didn't notice him until she brushed a thick lock of her red hair behind her ear. She was talking to her supervisor and good friend, Brenda, who somehow was both sporting a huge grin and looking worried about the story she was hearing.

Look, Brenda, everybody had lights on. I needed to get across the alley without being visible, Stacy said with depressed exasperation. Only by keeping active, creating unexpected problems for horrible people, had she managed to keep her depression at bay. Then she happened to catch him in her newly-exposed peripherals.

Jeremy. Her body tensed and warmed involuntarily, and she struggled to limit her reaction to simple impassivity. Her constant emotional friends, grief and loss, fled with the unexpected sight of him. Then her heart reminded her of the last time she saw him, Oh, Goddess, what is he doing here? The annual IT party was the last place she would expect to see Jeremy’s warm, solid presence; his frighteningly prescient brother, Kevin, on the other hand, had once worked with them. He hadn't been invited, though. She double checked.

While Stacy wasn't paying attention, Brenda was talking, ...I can totally see why you did it. The hand-crank part of it was genius, but I'm worried about the attention your little joke may have gained.

Stacy blinked a few times and refocused on Brenda's face, I hear what you're saying, What in the hell are you trying to tell me?

Brenda grasped Stacy's forearm and smiled in relief, Good. No more pranks then. I just want to make sure you stay out of trouble for a bit. Glancing around the activity room, she sighed, Looks like it’s time to refill my drink.

Stacy smiled back at her fondly and said, I'll swing by you later then, lady.

Taking a deep breath, Stacy kept her customary broken-smile affixed and turned in the direction Brenda was heading. Scanning the room by changing her focus to her peripherals, she spotted Jeremy. There he is. Jeremy was in conversation, if standing there while someone talks at you counts as conversation. I need to take a moment to think. Brushing the wayward lock back behind her ear as she tried to think of what to do next, she caught his eye. Too late, better acknowledge. She nodded at him. There. Her emotional turbulence couldn’t do more.

He didn't nod back, narrowing his eyes at her instead. It wasn’t a rejection; he was actually not letting her look away. Intent was staring her down. After an awkward, pregnant pause he turned his attention to glance away in the distance towards the conference room’s door. Someone was entering. Released from his hard hazel gaze, Stacy reacted by turning her head to look in the same direction and avoid renewing the contact. She cringed, broke out into a sweat, and fought the urge to chew on one of her thumb nails. Why do I feel like fleeing to the kitchen? Or maybe outside. Or maybe to the shuttle port. But no, that went against the lamination. No. I should hold my own territory.