Snippet Saturday: The Cutting Room Floor

Snippet Saturday’s running late today because I’ve had a small mishap with having no power. So today I’m posting from someone else’s wireless from a yard sale, which is an adventure in and of itself. (Also, I’m under a tent and it’s raining.)

Having gotten that out of the way, today’s theme is deleted scenes. This scene is from Sanctuary Lost, and it’s one that we wrote during revisions to expand a little on the heroine’s relationship with her sister, but in the end it didn’t add as much as we wanted it to. So it hit the cutting room floor.

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Brynn dragged a comb through her hair and watched as Abby methodically folded her clothing and tucked it into the duffel bag she’d brought from Keith’s house. Joe had stepped outside with the alphas under the guise of giving Abby and Brynn privacy to get ready for bed, but she had no doubt they were standing on the front porch having another one of those low-voiced, serious discussions that always broke off whenever she strayed too close.

The comb hit a snarl, and she winced as she untangled it. “Can you hear what they’re saying?”

“Yes.” Abby spared her a short glance. “They’re talking about Alan Matthews.”

Ice flooded her veins. Brynn shivered and wrapped the heavy comforter more tightly around her body. “So I guess it was too much to hope he’d die of an infection or pneumonia or terminal assholishness.”

“No,” Abby said flatly. “No, not him. That would be too easy.”

Terrifying to think that surviving what Abby had done to him would be considered easy. Then again, Abby’s injuries had already healed. Brynn’s bruises and superficial scratches would linger for days, a constant reminder that she was out of her league.

And not just to me. It was bad enough that Abby’s gaze kept lingering on the bandage Joe had taped to Brynn’s arm, but she’d caught him giving her that same worried look more than once. From Dylan and Keith it was annoying but tolerable, but the last thing she wanted was for Joe to join the ranks of her self-proclaimed big brothers.

When she spoke again, Abby’s voice was hoarse. “I’m sorry I got you into this, brat.”

Brynn’s fingers clenched around the comb, and the teeth dug into her palm. “Abby, don’t be stupid.”

“Sure, Brynn.” Despite her agreement, Abby stared down at the duffel. “You weren’t supposed to come back to the house. You were supposed to stay here.”

“I couldn’t. I couldn’t just sit here and wait.”

“You have to listen to us, or you’re going to wind up dead.” Abby’s words and tone were matter-of-fact, almost detached. “You have to.”

She opened her mouth to inform her sister that she’d already come up with a solution, but closed it again and rethought her angle of attack. “What if that’s the whole point? They know you’ll walk into anything for me. How do you know they’re not hoping you’ll send me running off blindly into the woods to huddle in a cabin by myself? What would I do if they came here while you two were off being Rambo and Xena?”

“Even if they did, they’d bring you back to me.” Abby cinched the bag and dropped to the bed beside it. “They wouldn’t kill you unless I was there to watch it.”

It was chilling to have her worth so clearly defined. Brynn fought another shudder and closed her eyes. “Keith will be back tomorrow, right?”

“Yes. But I think you should stay here with Joe, even after Keith comes home.”

As appealing as the thought was—and oh my God, is it appealing—she had a hard time imagining Abby would approve of the illicit fantasies Brynn’s proximity to Joe conjured. Because she thinks you’re still twelve.

Brynn had to clear her throat, and she still didn’t sound as casual as she would have liked. “Why do you think I need to stay here?”

“Because Joe can protect you.” Abby stared at the floor. “And…because they wouldn’t kill you unless I was there to watch it.”

“Oh.” The reminder neatly killed any thoughts of flirting and naughty touching. Brynn pulled her hair over her shoulder and started to rebraid it. “If you’re sitting over there thinking about how my miserable life is your fault, I’m going to make you go stay with Dylan. The two of you can moan about how you ruin everything you touch together. I bet it’ll be a blast.”

Abby rose with a soft, angry growl. “Make fun of me if you want. Just listen next time.”

Brynn yanked at the hair band around her wrist so hard it snapped and left a stinging welt on her skin. She released her braid and tried not to yell something immature. Calm and reasonable was the only way to combat Abby’s conviction that her little sister was too young to make decisions on her own. “I’m sorry, Abby. I’m not making fun of you. But it’s not your fault that Matthews is a nut job. Sometimes you just have to let assholes be responsible for their own shit.”

“That used to be easier,” Abby said quietly.

“Liar.” Brynn tossed the broken elastic at her sister. “Sorry, Ab. You can’t blame your universal responsibility on the werewolf thing. You’re talking to me here.”

The corner of Abby’s mouth ticked up. “Fine, it used to be easier to pretend.”

“Well, you need to get over it either way.” Without another hair band, she had no choice but to shake her hair loose. She’d deal with the mess of tangles in the morning. “We’ll figure things out when Keith gets home, right? I mean, that’s what Sam and Gavin said. That we’d all sit down and talk it out.”

“That’s the plan.” Abby sighed softly. “I should go out and tell them we’re okay.” Her eyes met Brynn’s, and she tilted her head. “Are we?”

Brynn didn’t even know if she was lying when she managed a smile and replied, “We’re okay.”

Likewise, Abby didn’t really look like she believed her. “Yeah.”

“We will be, then. Is that better? Tell them that.”

Her sister hesitated with her hand on the doorframe. “Brynn, I don’t think it matters what we say.” Then she left.

Brynn shivered and settled back against the pillows, determined to pretend that her sister’s words were the result of exhaustion and fear, not hopelessness. Abby could be stubborn, obnoxious, a little close-minded—at least where her baby sister was concerned—and she was always cautious. But never in her life had Brynn seen hopelessness in her eyes.

You have now.

The thought was more chilling than the attack had been.

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Want more outtakes? Check out our fellow Snippet Saturday participants! Cynthia Eden, Victoria Janssen, Lauren Dane, Leah Braemel, McKenna Jeffries, Moira Rogers, Sylvia Day, Vivian Arend, Mark Henry, Shelley Munro, Jaci Burton, Mandy Roth, Eliza Gayle