Page 3 of Until Death Parts Us (Dysfunctional)

CHAPTER THREE

QUIN

We get up before the sun is fully in the sky. Robert and Kas decided to start their trek earlier in the day, so I’m packing his bag full of essentials while he puts on layer after layer of clothing.

“I haven’t seen anyone else out here,” Kas says, sitting down to put on his boots.

“Just Anna.”

“Right. Think she’ll be a problem?”

“Not one we can’t handle.”

I zip up his bag and place it by the door. “Okay, you should be good to go. I’ll start on the same trail an hour after you leave. If you happen to deviate, try to text me. Service is spotty, so who knows?”

“I’ll find you if I need to,” he says with a wink. “You told Anna you were going to hang out with her today. What if she ends up looking for you? Or wants to join you on the hike?”

I shake my head. “Don’t worry about that.”

“All right. Well, I’ll see you soon,” he says, lifting the bag from the floor and slinging it over his shoulder.

Once the door closes, I pick up the rest of the sandwich I was eating earlier and finish it in two bites. After I get dressed, I peek through the window and spot Anna’s RV still in its place.

Outside, I light up a cigarette and glance at my watch. When I look up, Anna’s opening the door of her RV and walking out.

She freezes for only a second when she sees me, but descends the three steps and smiles while lifting her hand.

I repeat the gesture and start walking over. She keeps her eyes on me as she lights up a cigarette.

“Hey, neighbor,” she greets. “I was about to come over.”

“Oh, yeah?” I question and she nods. “Well, I was coming to see if you happen to have any trash bags.”

“Uhh, yeah. I have some “How many do you need?”

“A few,” I say with a shrug. “I thought we bought more but I can’t find any.”

She takes a drag. “I’ll grab ‘em for you in just a minute.”

“Thanks.” I offer her a smile. “So, how long are you staying around here?”

“Not much longer. I was hoping to see the northern lights, but maybe I need to go somewhere else to find them.”

I nod. “Yeah, I think I’m ready to get out of here. Some place with a little more life.”

“It is eerily quiet out here.” She drops her cigarette into the snow. “Want to come in while I look for the bags?”

“Sure,” I say, stubbing out the cigarette on the bottom of my boot before pocketing the butt in my jacket.

The inside of her RV is about the same size as ours, but more dated. She heads to the kitchen area and starts digging through cabinets as I remain near the door.

“Not a bad space,” I tell her.

She looks up and lets her eyes move around the area. “Yeah. It’s not luxurious, but it could be worse. I tried to pretty it up.”

“After you stole it?” I ask with a quirk of my lips.

She snorts. “Right.” After several more seconds of her rifling through drawers, she says, “So.”

“Uh-oh.”

Anna laughs. “What?”

“You had a tone.”

“It’s nothing bad. Well, I don’t know. Maybe it is. I was just gonna say, I might’ve caught a glimpse inside your RV last night.”

“Oh?”

She avoids looking at me, finding another cabinet to search inside. “He’s not your brother, is he?”

“No, he’s not,” I reply simply.

“Oh okay,” she replies, sounding a little relieved. “Oh, here they are,” she says, yanking them from the cabinet where they appear to be wedged between other boxes. “Oh, fuck.”

She drops the box and clutches her arm with her hand.

“You okay?” I ask, walking toward her.

“Something cut my arm. I’ll be fine.”

Anna stands up, her fingers still squeezing her forearm. “Anyway, well, I’m glad to find out you two aren’t related, because…” She lets the sentence dangle, her eyes widening and brows lifting as if to say, yikes.

“Yes, well, you watched,” I say with a slight smirk.

Her cheeks turn pink before she pivots away to reach for some paper towels.

“Some things are just shocking.”

I watch as the paper towel turns red with her blood.

“Let me see your arm. What did you cut it on?”

She hisses, her face contorted as she peels the paper towel away. “I don’t know. That fucking man has who knows what in that cabinet.”

I take her arm in my hand and watch as the blood pours out of a two-inch gash, dripping down the sides. My heart rate spikes, and I wipe away a stream with my thumb, smearing the color against her pale skin. Fuck.

With a deep breath, I step away to inspect the cabinet while she gathers more paper towels.

“I don’t have a fucking first aid kit in here.”

Carefully, I remove items from the cabinet, trying to find what could’ve cut her. I don’t particularly care, but I need to be away from her blood. It’s been too long since I’ve felt the warmth of it on my skin as I watch the life drain from someone’s eyes.

We’ve been waiting for this trip, and Kaspian is out now trying to secure someone for me. I like to stick to a plan, but we’re in here alone with nobody else around, and she’s fucking teasing me and luring me in with each drop of blood that escapes her flesh.

Anna is slamming cabinets, muttering about finding a Band-Aid, while I try to breathe through my need to rip that cut open even more and let the blood gush like a waterfall.

When I dislodge a small toolbox, papers and trash flutter to the ground.

“I’m gonna get an actual towel,” she says, walking to the other side of the RV.

I find the reason she has the cut when I spot a blade sticking through the side of a cardboard box. Opening it, I find a box cutter that wasn’t properly stored, the edge still sharp. I reach in and grab it, drawing the slider down to hide the blade, and then I bend down to pick up the papers.

I barely give them a cursory glance, only noting a couple of names as well as the name of a mechanic shop.

“Do you have a first aid kit?” Anna asks, panic in her voice and a black towel against her arm. “It’s not stopping. I’m not sure what to do. I have to find…I need a hospital or something.”

“We’re far from any of those,” I tell her, holding up the blade. “Found the culprit. The blade was sticking out.”

“I’m gonna kill him,” she mutters. “So, do you have anything?”

“I have a first aid kit, but I can’t promise I know what I’m doing.”

I don’t tell her that I’ve had to stitch Kaspian up before, or that I meticulously watched videos about how to clean and close wounds in case anything happens to him again. She doesn’t need to know the things I do.

She huffs, pulling the towel away and tossing it on the couch. “That’s fine. It’ll have to do until I can get somewhere else.”

Snatching her phone from the couch cushion, she types out a message and then looks at me.

“All right. Come on.”

We trek across the snow until we get to the door of my RV. I realize I brought the box cutter with me, so I place it on the table next to my phone and then get the first aid kit.

Anna sits on the couch, blood visible on the fingers still pressed against the wound, and she bounces one leg in anticipation.

I wet a cloth and eye the blade. I could just do it. Open her up even more and relish in the blood. Sure, it wasn’t planned, but who is going to find out? Kas will understand. I think. He might be pissed about me doing it without him, but it’s not like he hasn’t gone off-track before.

I walk over and kneel in front of her. She offers me her arm so I can wipe it clean, reaching out with her other hand to squeeze my shoulder as she grimaces.

The door flies open, and Kaspian blows in with panic on his face. “Quin, Quin!”

He stops short when he sees us, his eyes taking in the scene. “Why is there blood outside? And where is your phone?”

“She hurt herself.” My brows furrow. “Why are you here?”

He’s staring at Anna with wild eyes, and he’s breathing heavily—like he ran all the way here. Suddenly, I’m worried about what might’ve happened.

“Where’s…Robert?” Anna asks, a weird look on her face.

Before I can open my mouth to say anything, Kaspian lunges forward, swiping the box cutter from the table and quickly revealing the blade. In mere seconds, he’s positioned next to Anna and pressing the sharp edge right against her neck.