Page 101 of Split You Open

I tore her world apart, not to be romantic like Santi suggests, but to feed an iniquitous, malevolent being that she created in me.

It was greedy.

It coveted.

It plotted and schemed.

I fed that thing inside of me, little by little, giving in to some of those ideas it showed me. I’d hoped that by working together, this thing would finally give me some reprieve. For years, I thought I’d been split in half; me and it.

Turns out, this darker part of me has been me the whole time.

Now that I’ve accepted its presence, I can see this is exactly what I’ve wanted: to be Blair’s. To have her in ways I was afraid of before. Consequences be damned, including what this will mean when I have to face Anchor again way down the line. I’m all in. I’ll make this up to her. Somehow, I’ll hunt down Dixie and kill the threat he is to her and I’ll find Anchor. Then I’ll help her build a real life here.

Whatever she wants, it’s hers—as long as she’s mine.

There’s a faint tremor rushing through me as the sharp pain of her branding turns dull now that the cutting is finally done. The only thing more acute than the new, bleeding cuts in my flesh is how sickeningly pleased I am to finally give in to my darkest temptation.

It’s the possession in her voice.

The way she’s claimed me.

There’s nothing hotter than this—Blair letting go of her inhibitions and morals. This is who she really is. And her darkness calls to mine. I groan as my hips flex. I want to throw her to the ground and fuck into her until there’s a permanent imprint of my cock embedded inside her pussy.

There’s no going back now. She’s let out my darkness and it’s seeking to answer hers.

Blair glances down at her work. “Let’s make sure it doesn’t get infected.”

She gets to work cleaning up the blood running down my chest. Then she starts to stitch them. They aren’t pretty stitches. No, that would be too kind. If the depth of the cuts didn’t guarantee scarring, the stitches most certainly will. These are jagged and ugly—just like the darker sides of both of us. When she’s done, she bandages the letters. The tape to keep the gauze down gets trapped in my chest hair, and I have a sinking suspicion Blair knows that as she really tapes me up good.

Great, something to look forward to when I try to rip all this off.

She tosses the roll of tape and extra gauze down when she’s done and looks back at me. The emptiness is still there in her eyes and that concerns me. Blair reaches up and cups my cheek gingerly. Without a word, she leans forward and kisses my mouth, gag and all.

With a sigh, Blair pulls away and climbs off my lap. The minute she’s no longer wrapped around me, I balk. What the fuck? She’s going to leave me hanging? After all of that?

Doesn’t she understand that I get it? I’ve fucked up. I can admit that now. I want to make this better. I want to chase that emptiness out of her eyes.

Blair bends down to pick up the shirt she arrived in and slips it on.

“The next time I see you one of two things needs to happen,” she drawls without looking at me. “You can either stop being a coward and kill me yourself instead of letting Dixie have all the fun so this is no longer dragged out for all of us, or…” Her head lifts to meet my eyes. “You’ll fuck me with that look of madness in your eyes right now. You got two choices, pick which one feels the most right for you, got it?”

With that, she heads for the door.

Wait.

No.

She can’t just leave me here, not after all of this!

“Blair!” I try to call out but she ignores me as she walks over to the secret door and opens it just enough for her to slip through.

“You guys can help him up to his room. We’re done chatting. Wes?”

“Here, baby girl.”

“I’m spending the night with you.”

Rhett and Santi slip into the room, eyeing me up with curiosity. Humiliation burns in my cheeks as they both grin down at me.