Page 36 of Split You Open

That’s how long it’s been since Blair took off.

I was confident that when my godchild came to Gnarly Pines there wouldn’t be a day that would go by that I didn’t get to revel in her presence. Somehow that’s all gone to shit. For a few weeks, I had a taste of what it was like to simply have her. She was mine… Well, as mine as I could allow her to be.

Then it all went up in a ball of flames.

But I’m close. So fucking close to getting Blair back I can nearly taste it.

And with Blair, I get to Rhett. He shouldn’t be out here, risking getting caught by the authorities any more than Blair should be out here facing an enemy with unlimited resources.

The SUV in front of me swerves hard. It begins to tip over but manages to get all four wheels back onto the dirt road before accelerating forward up the steep incline.

I don’t see the need for the swerve before it’s too late.

The front end of my trunk dips down into a large muddy ditch. I lurch forward, my chest slamming into the steering wheel. It knocks the breath from my lungs and my ribs scream in protest. Straightening, I try to back out of the ditch, but my tires only kick up mud.

“Fuck!”

Rather than mess around, I grab my rifle from the passenger seat, fling open my door, and give chase on foot.

My heart races as the first sounds of gunfire pepper the air.

They’ve found Blair and Rhett.

“Goddamnit!”

Despite having a tracker in Blair, I’ve been a step behind her and the men after her since they took off that night in Caddawalk. I’ve managed to stop an attempted hit on them twice but between having to refuel, eat, and get a few hours of sleep here and there, I’ve been failing to catch up.

Now Blair and Rhett are less than a mile away.

I have to get to them.

The gunfire grows more intense the closer I get. My booted feet sink into the mud, slowing me down. I shift gears and dart into the trees. There, the mud turns to dirt, the water sucked up by the roots of the vegetation, making the ground easier to run on.

There’s a scream.

Then another.

My heart seizes as I sprint toward the sounds of agony. I know I’m close when a stray bullet slams into a tree trunk that I run by. Another flies over my head. There’s another scream that’s choked off.

Is it Blair?

Rhett?

No. It can’t be.

I push away the idea that either of them could be hurt. Blair’s trained for shit like this. She’ll be able to hold her own. Rhett might not be used to the extreme threat constantly coming for him, but he’s ruthless and I know him—he won’t go down without a fight.

A minute later, I burst out onto the dirt road again. This time with my rifle raised and ready.

I take down one man immediately. Poised on top of the SUV with his back facing me, he doesn’t see his death coming. My attention swings to another man creeping up behind a large camper van.

Before I can get a shot off, a gun goes off and the man’s head snaps to the side before he collapses onto the ground.

I spare a glance from where the shot came but it’s wooded in that direction. It could’ve been Rhett or Blair. I don’t know and I don’t have time to check it out as another man emerges from one of the three SUVs.

My bullet slams into their skull, straight between the eyes.

Another man steps out from the trees to my left. I whip my gun in that direction but then I see her. Blair emerges right behind him. She jumps up onto his back, covers his mouth with one hand and then stabs a blade three times into his chest so fast her arm is nearly a blur. To finish the job, she slashes the blade across the man’s neck.