Page 142 of Split You Open

Blair nods. “Alright, did you assure him everything is good?”

Ledger scoffs. “I didn’t get the chance. He told me he’s coming over tonight. That we’ll be talking face to face.”

Blair relaxes with a sigh and suddenly smiles. “Oh, that’s great!”

“Great?” Rhett repeats, his voice strained with incredulousness.

She nods. “You guys will see, Dad is amazing.”

The look on Ledger’s face tells a completely different story. Blair doesn’t seem to notice as she slips off my lap, humming happily, but Rhett does. He stares at Ledger, his face tightening with unease.

My stomach flips uncomfortably.

Fear hasn’t been a word in my vocabulary in a long time. There’s been nothing to fear. Any danger in my life came from me. I kill people for fun. But since Blair’s blown into my life, I’ve learned there’s a lot to fear. There’s loss, there’s the unknown, there’s the fear of fucking waiting for something horrible to happen…

Right now, I feel fear creeping up my spine like a spider.

Simply being in Anchor’s presence was enough for my soul to want to lean away from him. That was just within the few minutes of conversation we’d exchanged while I rang him up. What will it be like with this man under our roof?

Judging by Ledger’s hardening expression—it’s going to be rough.

Thirty

Ledger

Ican feel Wes’s gaze on my face.

It’s as obvious as the cold October air and just as frigid.

Rather than return it, my eyes scan the dark woods around us. I know Wes is waiting on me to explain what to expect when our visitor arrives but he’ll be waiting a long time.

The problem is, I don’t know what’s coming. Over the years, I’ve learned that predicting Anchor’s next move, or his mood, is impossible. You just never know what he’s going to do or say or how he’ll react. The only constant that I can rely on is that he loves his daughter and will do anything for her.

Anything.

And it’s because of the extreme lengths he’d go to that I—despite all my instincts that say otherwise—stuck it out and remained friends with Anchor after years of watching his moral compass grow askew. Someone had to watch out for Blair as Anchor moved further and further away from the light. I couldn’t be there all the time, but I tried as hard as I could to be as present as possible.

Beside the roaring campfire, Rhett is manically chopping wood. Each thunk of his axe seems to mimic the hard beating of my heart.

The others don’t know, and I can’t warn them of it, but with Anchor here—the dynamic is going to shift. They’re in danger, but if I told them that, none of them would be able to remain calm enough for me to talk some sense into Anchor.

“Hey, Wes!”

I suppress a flinch of surprise at the sound of Santi’s voice as he calls from the back porch.

Fuck, I’m too wound up. Anchor’s going to notice and get suspicious. He notices everything.

“What’s up, Santi?” Wes calls back.

“How much longer will the chicken take? Everything else is ready!”

“Give me another few minutes!”

“‘Kay!”

I turn to watch as Santi slips back inside, slamming the door shut behind him. Wes flips the chicken over on the grill and then cuts a breast to check the inside.

“A few minutes until dinner? Perfect. That should be just enough time to acquaint myself with all of these… strangers,” a familiar voice deadpans from behind me.