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Tears slide down my cheeks as I stand naked and exposed in front of Remy and blood trickles down my inner thigh.

He squats down and wipes the blood from my leg, pressing his hand over my wound softly until the bleeding stops. My body vibrates as soon as his hand makes contact, and I let out a moan. I’m not sure what’s causing the wetness anymore, but his fingers are dangerously close to places no one’s ever touched before.

He abruptly pulls off and places something in my hand while his other remains firm on my hip, his fingers caressing me.

“Promise me something?” he says as he presses his forehead to mine. “The next time anyone touches you like Billy and Clyde did, you take this knife, stick it in their flesh, and twist. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

“Yeah,” I breathe, glancing at the knife in my shaking hand, the sharp end pointed at him. I examine it for a moment, admiring how close he was to slicing Billy’s neck with it and how vulnerable he just made himself to me. “I understand.”

His lips brush against mine again. “Get dressed and go home, and whatever you do, don’t let her see you. If she sees you, it’s over.”

I twist my brows together. “Who?”

“Talia’s coming home soon, little lamb. Trust me, it’s better if she doesn’t know you exist.” He vanishes into the night, leaving me naked, breathless, and very confused.

TOMMY

Ipull up on Didi’s dark, creepy street and turn off the engine a block away. Bax is beside me, staring out into the switchgrass and the darkness that surrounds the edge of town. This is the type of place society forgets about. Where it’s so isolated, it’s not even considered part of a town, and the stars don’t even seem to shine.

I get chills thinking about this house, or the fact that my girlfriend lives here with her psycho mama.

I’ve been musing on Remy’s words since our fight at the movie about finally letting me have Talia. I can’t stop thinking about my father, re-reading that newspaper article I found in his office about his high school sweetheart. Daniel Jenkins was Talia’s high school sweetheart, too, and we all know how that turned out. After years of pining over Talia, Remy is now offering her to me, and I don’t know if I want her.

Didi needs me now.

My palms are still sweaty thinking about it, how it all suddenly makes sense. All the missing people in Kinsmen were someone’s sweetheart. All the missing people, every twenty years or so, when the next generation comes of age…and Shadowface makes his triumphant return.

I pause, silently staring down the dusty road toward the Old Sheffield Place, and consider my next move. I need to have a conversation with Didi’s mama and send her a clear message.

Didi belongs to us now.

Remy went to watch over Didi, keeping her distracted so she wouldn’t come home to this. Since Remy told me he wanted her last night, it’s pointless to fight him. I’ll share her if I must. He’s going to take her belt off, and I’m going to scare the shit out of her mama and make her give me the key. She needs to fully understand that she is no longer in control of her daughter. It’s the symbolism of the key that matters most.

“Dude,” Bax whispers. “This place gives me the creeps, man.”

“It will be fine,” I assure him.

My testosterone levels are raging today. I’ve been wound so tight, I could snap. Although, it may be because I’ve been snorting coke since Remy gave me some the other night.

Bax is watching me, his hair hanging loose. “Dude, are you sure about this? If you get caught and your dad finds out, you’re screwed.”

I take a bump of it now, then reach into the back seat and grab my bag of supplies, which includes my knife. The only thing I can focus on is freeing Didi from that belt—the thought of which has had my dick hard for days.

“I don’t give a shit what my old man thinks anymore. He’s been lying to me my entire life.”

Bax lifts his arms up in feigned innocence. “Okay. Okay,” he drawls. “This just seems like a lot of effort for some pussy, man.”

Glancing over at him, my jaw twitches. “Didi’s not just some pussy. I think I’m in love with her, man.”

He chuckles. “They are all just pussy, dude. Pussy number one, pussy number two…it don’t matter. They are all beautiful.”

“Dude, you need to quit the weed, man. Your thoughts are all jumbled.”

Fire flares in my peripheral.

“Nah,” he says, taking a huge toke, sucking it in deep before coughing out a plume of smoke. “Hippy till the day I die.” He hands it to me. “Want some weed, man? It makes everything better.”

I frown but grab it and take an even bigger hit before I put it out in my car ashtray. The weed goes right to my head, which hasn’t been right for weeks now.