Page 44 of Anarchy Chained: Alpha Thomas

I open them. His face is handsome. Slight scruff on his jaw and chin. Dark eyes flashing with mischievousness. Corners of his lips upturned in a smile. “Thomas?” I ask, unsure, but yet still very, very sure who this man is.

“No.” He laughs, shaking his head. “I’m Sullivan, sweet Sadie. But shhhhhh.” He chuckles through his whisper. “Don’t tell him about me. He doesn’t like me. If you tell him, Sadie, he will go insane!”

The last word comes out as an evil laugh. He stops. Smiles down at me. “He can’t help you anyway. When I’m in charge, I’m in charge.” He laughs again. “But the important thing now, Sadie, is that we’re a team. We can be a team. Just the three of us.”

“The three of us?” I ask, feeling sick at what he’s saying.

“You. Me. And Thomas. Do you know what they call that in comic books?” More sinister chuckling.

I shake my head. Not at his question, which makes no sense to me at all, but at… everything. No. This is not happening.

Red and white letters flash across my field of vision.

THIS. IS. HAPPENING.

“They call it a power trio. He wants to get revenge.” Thomas—Sullivan—whoever this insane freak is—waves a hand in the air like that doesn’t matter. “We can get his silly revenge. Why not? But Sadie,” he says, slipping his hand between my legs once again as he leans down to press his soft lips against mine. “We could get so much more. You and I?” he says, pointing to me, then himself. “We could rule the world.”

I should know better by now. I should know better than to take my eyes off his hands. Because another needle stabs me in the neck. This is different than the last thing he gave me. It’s the thing he uses to put me to sleep. I feel the sting in my veins. I feel it hit my heart. Thump, thump, thump, thump. And then it’s in my bloodstream.

My eyes get heavy, even as he continues to kiss me.

I might kiss him back, I’m not sure. I’d like to think I don’t, but I’m not sure.

“Don’t tell him about me, sweet Sadie. Because if you think he’s insane now…” Sullivan laughs. “Just wait until he finds out I’m back in control without his permission.”

I sit straight up when I wake. Just like last time. “Holy fucking shit!”

“Sadie?” Thomas calls from the other room.

I’m on the bed again.

Where the fuck does that freak take me when he gives me the drugs? Not the bedroom. It’s not the bedroom. I was not on a bed. I was on like… a table. Something hard.

“Sadie?” Thomas calls, sterner now.

“What?” I call back. Habit, maybe. Or just still responding to the commands his crazy alter-ego was feeding me in my… real-life nightmare.

Good God. What’s happening?

“I didn’t want to drug you but you were crazy. Talking shit about hearing voices. I think you’re going insane.”

He says it so matter-of-factly I want to laugh.

I’m the only one who faces reality. I’m the only thing standing between good and evil right now.

Does he really think that?

I need to get the fuck out of here. I mean, maybe he’s right. Maybe wherever it was I came from was a pretty dark place. But he is the insane one.

Split personality? Is that even a real thing?

“We need to come up with a plan,” Thomas says from the doorway. He’s got no shirt on and his jeans are low on his hips, showing off the cut muscles of his abdomen.

“No,” I say, swinging my legs over the bed. “I’m leaving.”

“There’s something wrong with you.”

“Something wrong with me?” I huff, mind blown.