Page 57 of Breaking You Open

“Aargh!” Eric drops the knife and falls backward onto the bed.

In a flurry of motion, I grasp the knife from the floor and launch myself onto the bed to straddle Eric.

“No!” he yells and puts his arms up as I slice the knife in the air in front of him, trying to get at him anywhere I can.

Something dark and furious has taken hold of me, and instead of Eric’s dark eyes, I see Aaron’s; instead of Eric’s thin-lipped, gaping mouth, I see Aaron’s. Adrenaline-fueled speed allows me to evade Eric’s defense, and the knife cuts through his skin like butter, slicing him open, and blood spurts from his forearms and the sides of his hands. Eric wails like an injured dog when I reach his chest too.

“Sparrow.”

Louis’s voice—Louis’s calm, safe voice—speaks behind me, but I can barely hear him. I’m screaming and crying at the same time as I slice away at Eric, and Eric can do nothing else but try to protect himself with his arms over his head as I hack away at his skin. He thrashes and wriggles but seems to have forgotten the use of his legs from the shock.

“Sparrow, stop.” Strong arms close around my waist and lift me away. I’m floating in the air for a second before my feet land on the floor, and a gentle hand pries the knife from my fist.

Blood. So much blood.

Eric is half-panting, half-sobbing. His arms are covered in slashes, and he’s still protecting himself—still holding his bloody arms up as if I’ll have another go at him.

Louis wrenches Eric’s arms down on the bed and points the knife to his throat.

“What’s the matter?” he says in a calm, dangerous voice. “Seems to me like you want to die.”

“No. No!” Eric shakes his head, voice frantic and broken.

“Why else would you break in here and attack my Sparrow?”

“We wanted to…wanted to teach you a lesson,” Eric whispers, licking his dry lips. “You didn’t have to beat me up that bad.”

“It’s my job to beat up senseless little assholes like you.”

“Wasn’t fair. I couldn’t move for weeks.”

“Didn’t think you deserved it?” Louis says. “You caused the death of that girl, and now that you’ve hurt my Sparrow, you deserve worse than a beating, don’t you think?”

“Him?” Eric sneers, casting me a glare. “He’s fucking insane. Evil little freak.”

Louis raises the knife, higher and higher as if charging the force behind it. My breath catches in my throat. Is he really going to do it?

Eric screams and lashes his hands up in front of his face in protection. “No, please!”

It all happens in a split second, and in that precious moment, I feel high on the adrenaline surging in my veins.

Louis pauses, knife hovering scant inches above Eric’s trembling hands.

“You’re going to leave our home now,” he says. “I don’t ever want to see your faces in this town again. Get as far away from Springvale as possible, got it? Or else, I think you know what will happen.”

“Tyler,” Eric sobs. “What did you do to Tyler?”

“Splash some cold water in his face, and he’ll wake up. Probably.”

Eric rises slowly from the bed and limps over to Tyler, who’s lying on the floor in the living room. Eric bends down and slaps his cheek. Tyler jolts to life, and they disappear from whence they came, tails between their legs.

I let go of a shudder. Then another. I’m shaking as if I’ve been out in the cold for hours.

Louis sets the knife down on the bedside table and turns to me. “Sorry. Did that get you scared?”

My mouth opens, but no sound comes out. I swallow a load of spit and try again. “No.”

Itdidget me scared, but seeing Louis like that and taking the knife to Eric, it…It wasn’t scary; it was exhilarating, thrilling, arousing. Got me all hot and shaky. For once, I got to hurt someone—someone bad—without getting hurt myself. And Louis…Louis protected me. He avenged me from Eric’s insult and scared the living shit out of him, as he deserved. Didn’t he deserve worse than that though? And deep down, I wish it wasn’t Eric who broke in. I wish it was Aaron. Wish it was Aaron I slashed with the knife. Wish it was Aaron I got the chance to do worse things with…Who Louis would do worse things with…

---