Ravenous (Steel Brothers Saga 11) - Page 2

It was a reminder.

It was a security blanket.

Right now I needed it.

Stop.

I could walk to the kitchen. Open the refrigerator. Let the blast of cold air ease the unpleasantness from my mind.

Yes, it would be easier.

Much easier than…

I unzipped the pocket slow

ly and withdrew the sharp razor blade. I sat back down on the bed and regarded the scar on my upper thigh. It was still red, but it had healed. If I left it alone, it would eventually turn white and then gradually fade over the years.

Slowly, I lowered the blade to my flesh.

But the note caught my gaze once more. Why torture myself?

I couldn’t help it. The words called to me like a gruesome accident I couldn’t look away from, no matter how much I didn’t want to see.

Because I did want to see. My rite of self-flagellation. Words would cut deeper than any blade ever could.

So I read them once more. Imagined his low and sexy voice uttering each one.

Marjorie,

* * *

I’m leaving, and I don’t want you to pursue me. I can’t deny our physical attraction, but I have no emotional ties to you. I’ll be working on the ranch and living in the guesthouse, but I’ll stay as far away from you as I possibly can. I need to be alone now. I can’t have my attention diverted by my best friend’s little sister. I need to give everything I have to my new position and to my son and mother. I don’t need an extra distraction in my life. Nothing happened between us, and nothing more will ever happen. You are Joe’s sister, nothing more.

* * *

Bryce

Such stilted words, as if he were addressing an audience of foreign dignitaries rather than a woman he’d just made love to.

A distraction? I was only a distraction?

Joe’s sister? Nothing more?

Such coldness. No sorrow. No pleading with me to understand. Nothing but hurtful and icy words.

Thank God I hadn’t told him I loved him.

Oh, I’d been thinking it. Through all those orgasms, I’d been saying it over and over in my mind.

Once more I let the blade hover over my scarred flesh.

How easy it would be to slice into myself, allow the physical pain to overwhelm the emotional.

No. No. No.

I rose, still naked, and ran into the kitchen. The refrigerator loomed white and tall. My savior. I opened it and stood in the corner between the door and the shelves, letting the cold air waft over me.

My nipples puckered and goose bumps erupted on my skin.

Tags: Helen Hardt Steel Brothers Saga Erotic
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