by Anita Gray
“Blaire... you with me?”
I blink up at Charlie, coming back from my thoughts.
“You know,” I say, my tone low and soft, “maybe we can put Mexico on hold for a while. Maybe we could go back to your house here and it'll be just like before when it was just us, though obviously James will be there now.” My foggy head likes to imagine life as it was. It was perfect. There was no Maksim, just Charlie and me. Just how I want it to be.
Just as it is now.
“If that's what you want, baby,” Charlie says, dropping the syringe on the tray. He wipes a few loose strands of hair back out of my face and cups my cheek.
“Really?”
He nods at me, his eyes crinkling because he's smiling. There's something about his mood tonight. He's not completely content but neither is he angry. I can't tell what's wrong with him.
“Yes...” I smile to myself regardless of his weird mood, recalling the first morning Charlie and I woke up together in my bed—when I really let myself go and allowed my feelings for him to come out. I felt so whole, like I was right where I was supposed to be.
“I miss waking up next to you.” I take Charlie's hand from my face and hold it; fiddle with his long, callous fingers. “I miss my room at your house. We can stay in my room again, right?”
“Course we can,” he says. “If youwant to go back to the house for a while so you can recover, then that's what'll happen. You want us to stay in your room, then that's where we'll be.”
I smile again, somewhat staying in my thoughts—my memories. “Maybe we'll go have dinner like you wanted to?”
“We will,” he says, his eyes glancing up and down between my eyes and my mouth. “We'll do whatever youwant to do, baby.”
Feeling tired, I rest my eyes with a sigh. Something brushes over the bandage on my wrist where Maksim’s bite mark will forever be—where my bracelet should be.
My bracelet...I hate that it's gone. It hurts that it's gone.
“You could get me another bracelet like the one you gave me before.” I open my heavy eyes to look at Charlie. “I’m sorry I lost it.”
“Now why would I buy you another one when I have this?” Pressing his foot into the floor, he lifts his hips up off the chair so he can dig through his pockets, and shows me my bracelet.
I can't even put it in words how I feel... Despite it all—the suffering and the pain, broken by the thought that James might be dead, thinking I'll never see Charlie again and killing my master—I think I'm happy, finally.
Charlie unclips the pulse reader from my finger and slips the bracelet over my right hand this time. He puts the pulse reader back on, clicks the clasp shut on my bracelet, and lifts my hand to his mouth; kisses my inner wrist, sending some intense vibes through my body.
“Maybe I'll get you the gold one to match,” he kisses my wrist again, his eyes dazzling with something raw, “and you can wear them together.”
“You will?” I say, hungry for that moment again—the moment he first gave the bracelet to me. I was beyond anxious but I just didn't understand what was going on between us. Now I do, I want all those moments again and more.
“Sure I will. Anything you want, you can have it, Blaire.”
He keeps saying things like that—whatever I want. I swear if I asked for the sun he'd go right up there and get it for me.
He glances at the monitor and I notice the beeping has slowed.
“I'm gonna inject the anesthetic now,” as soon as he says that, I'm utterly frightened. Some people don't wake up from anesthetic, and given my physical state, I'm frightened I won't make it through the operation. I'm frightened I'll be joining Maksim sooner than I have to.
“Charlie,” I blink at him with obvious fear, “if I don't wake up, you'll take care of James, won't you?”
“Hey,” he leans into me so we're eye to eye, his widening in what almost looks like anger, “don't say things like that, Blaire. You're gonna wake up. You're gonna be fine. I'll be there while you have your operation and I'll be there when you wake up, okay? Nothing bad is gonna happen.”
I swallow down my nerves, shakily nodding.
“Don't be scared, baby. You know I won't let anything happen to you.” His eyes search mine in a desperate attempt to connect to me. “The sooner the operation is done, the sooner we can leave and go home and everything will be fine. It'll be just like before except there'll be no one between us, all right?”
The idea that it will be just us is comforting.
“And then we can be together properly, right, Charlie?” It's all I want now, for us to really be an us.
I don't even need to elaborate on what I mean. He knows.
“Once you're better, yeah. Just try and stop me.” He winks at me, making my stomach roll with need for him. For us to be together.
I stare at Charlie for a while, urgently storing the image of his face in my memory for my dreams, so I can dream of nothing else but him.
“Thank you,” I whisper, just if it's too late.
“Thank you?” His eyebrows draw together, and he entwines his fingers through mine to hold my hand, causing my hand to pinch against the cannula needle. “Thank you for what?”
“You came for me.”
His eyes enlarge again. He looks insulted. “I came for you because I love you, Blaire, and I'd do it again, and again, and again.”
He loves me... I'll never tire of hearing him say that.
“You don't have to thank me for anything,” his voice comes out dark and hurt. “If anything, you should be telling me that you fucking hate me—it's my fault you're in this state.”
He kept apologizing in the car earlier too, blaming himself as James blames himself. What is it with the men in my life? One minute they're so twisted and cold, and the next they can't do enough for me.
“You shouldn't have had to do that tonight,” Charlie says, reminding me that I shot my master, “and I'm sorry for that too. I'm sorry for everything but I promise, I'll make it all up to you.”
“Tonight couldn't have gone any other way,” my lips wobble as I say that, emotional pain seeping through the cracks of my medicated numbness. “If you or anyone else ended him, I'm not sure how I would have reacted, and I don't want to hurt you, Charlie... I'd rather die.”
Sighing, Charlie cups the back of my head and draws me closer to him, so we’re mere inches from each other. He's holding the wound where someone whacked me but it doesn't matter. I want him near. His clean-musky scent... the warmth of his body... it calms my nerves.
He kisses my lips with the softest of intentions, like if he kisses any harder I might break. My heart squeezes. It's like all those times before when my chest squeezed but I now realize it was my heart all along.
“I love you, Blaire,” he says softly against my mouth before sitting back, putting too much distance between us. Reaching out for the anesthetic on the tray, he inserts the needle into the cannula attached to my hand and presses down on the syringe. My vein floods with cold, filling my bloodstream with a warm, dopy sensation that will take me in a deep slumber.
“Now close your eyes, baby, and think of something nice.”
THE END
Thanks for reading guys. I hope you've enjoyed Blaire and Charlie's story. It doesn’t end there. Part Two will be out in 2017.
If you leave a review on Amazon and Goodreads, and e-mail the link to [email protected], or post it on my facebook page/Twitter, I will send you a scene from Blaire in Charlie's POV. Please state your desired format (mobi or Epub).
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I love chatting to readers (and not just those of you who have read my book) so find me on facebook, twitter or Goodreads; Anita Gray Author -
- Tell me what you think about Blaire. Tell me what books utterly consume your mind. I've devoured my reading list so I'm in need of some advice on what to read next. My reading sugges
tion, Twist Me by Anna Zaires. It's a trilogy but has been finished so there's no waiting around for the next book. Be warned, it's not for the faint hearted but if you love Dark Erotic Romance with a bit of Action, it's for you. In my opinion, Julian Esguerra is what Christian Grey wishes he could be. (Once you've read Twist Me, you'll get my drift).
I'd like to thank everyone who helped with Blaire;
Emma,
Lisa,
Nero, who is also Blaire’s cover designer,
Desert Wolf aka Bill,
Melissa, GR,
Regine, GR,
Lisa, GR,
Melissa, GR,
Sahara, GR,
Nicole Wescott, GR,
You all know who you are, and you've each played a significant role in helping Blaire grow. Your thoughts, comments, sleepless nights and support is priceless. I'll never forget what you have all done for me.
I'd also like to thank a dear friend of mine, as Shane would call her, Pickle. You have been a huge part in the spring of Blaire, when it was a stem with no petals. Together we spent days and nights helping Blaire bloom, and now we have this, a rose in the making. I hope you enjoy. xoxo
I dedicate everything to the love of my life, Shane, and my boy, Bradder's. You're both incredibly patient with me, given I lock myself away for hours on end to write. It only makes me love you more (if that's even possible).
xoxoxo