Текст книги "Fable of Happiness Book One"

Автор книги: Pepper winters

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 16 страниц)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

WHEN THE DOOR OPENED, I knew something had changed.

There was no lust in his eyes. No food in his hands. No challenge or dominance in the way he stepped over the threshold.

There was only acceptance, grim determination, and a coldness that slinked through the air and settled like frost upon my skin.

“Get up.” He waved his hand as if through sheer will he could levitate me to my feet.

I sucked in a breath at the emptiness in his tone. His long hair hung damply to his shoulders. His bare feet were dusty and smudged, while his slacks were stained with pollen and wherever else he’d been. His chest was naked, revealing glistening sweat and the undeniable scent of a male who’d been physically active.

Pushing to my feet, I dropped my gaze to his hands. One looked bruised with a fresh scab that’d barely stopped bleeding. On instinct, I stepped toward him. “What happened to your hand?”

He grunted and backed up. “Doesn’t matter.” Stepping aside, he pointed at the open door. “Ladies first.”

Undiluted fear injected into my veins. “Where...where are you taking me?”

His forehead furrowed, and he shook his head as if his patience regarding me had run out. “You wanted sunlight. I’m giving you sunlight.”

I didn’t move. “You’re taking me to a bedroom upstairs?”

He swallowed, his throat moving with sinew and power. “No.”

“To the library?”

“No.”

“To the living room?”

“No.” Crossing his arms, his nostrils flared. “Move. We’re running out of time.”

Goosebumps prickled and stayed on high alert as his biceps bunched. He attempted to look unruffled and unaffected, but he’d forgotten I could read him well. And beneath his masked deception lurked the truth. The jumpy adrenaline. The twitchy need to get whatever this was over and done with.

He hasn’t asked for a sexual favor. He hasn’t given me the option to serve and survive another day.

More ice layered the frost already on my skin.

He’s finished with this.

With me.

How I knew, I didn’t fully understand. Was it in the torment in his eyes? Was it in the tension in his body? He’d changed, and there was no hint of the man who’d fed me, almost kissed me, and sometimes showed a heartbreakingly vulnerable pain buried deep within.

This man was locked and chained. His silvery scars seemed to shimmer in the light, bringing forth persecution instead of pleasure.

I backed against the wall. “On second thought, I’ll stay. Tomorrow, once you’ve gotten some sleep, perhaps—”

“Not tomorrow. Today.” He snapped his fingers. “Come.” Striding toward me, he bared his teeth. “You only have two choices. Walk out of here by your own free will or be dragged out by your hair.”

I froze. My eyes tangled with his, searching, seeking, desperately trying to understand where our little deal had gone wrong. “Did I do something to offend you?”

He chuckled blackly. “Of course. Your very presence offends me.”

I flinched. “Yet you came quite happily by my hand...and my mouth.”

His eyes turned dark; his brow lowered. “Two mistakes I’m about to rectify.”

“I’m not a mistake. I’m real. I’m human. I have a heartbeat. A home. A family!”

“And I used to have those things.” He shrugged. “Didn’t stop bad things from happening to me.” Reaching out, he grabbed my wrist.

I snatched it out of his hold. “Don’t touch me.”

“Then do as I say.” Stepping away, he pointed at the door again. “Move.”

I moved.

If only to give myself time to figure out what the hell had happened.

Keep him talking.

As I stepped from the cell, my back crawled as he followed on my heels. Glancing over my shoulder, I asked, “Where did you go before? I was prepared to do what you asked. I ate the food you gave me and I’m grateful. I’m grateful enough that I would’ve pleasured you—”

“Enough.” He winced and worked out his bruised and bleeding hand.

“What happened?”

He scowled. “I was reminded of something.”

“Of what?”

“Of why I like to live alone.”

“No one should live alone. I live alone, and it sucks.”

He looked up, catching my stare. “I should. I did. And I will again.”

My heart lurched. “What does that mean?”

He didn’t reply, waiting for me to scale the steps before pointing down the hallway to the kitchen. My knees quaked as I went where he directed. Common sense told me it’d only been a few days since I’d entered this house, but somehow, it felt as if a year had gone by. As if the kitchen was an old friend and the threshold was a hug from the last piece of safety I’d ever know.

“Get outside.” His anger pushed me forward.

As my socked feet stepped from inside to out and daisies crushed beneath my soles, the scrape of metal on stone ripped my head around.

Oh, shit.

“Hey...wait.” I held up my hands, backing away as fast as I could. “Please. You said you wouldn’t. You agreed.”

He hefted the heavy shovel in his hands. “I agreed to a day-by-day basis. Yesterday, it pleased me to keep you alive. Today, it does not.” The tonelessness of his voice petrified me.

It was as if he’d buried every part of himself that made him care. He looked trapped. Utterly, horribly trapped and controlled by things he couldn’t break free of.

Even now, even when faced with my murderer, I suffered a pang of sympathy.

I spread my arms as if to embrace him—cruelty and confusion and all. “You want to be alone again? Okay. Fine, I’ll leave. Right now. You’ll never have to see me or anyone else again.”

“You’re determined. I’ll give you that.” He squeezed his eyes closed as if my voice physically hurt him. “But you’re not leaving. Not by your method, at least.” Opening his gaze, he pointed the shovel in my face. “Now, walk. Get away from my house.”

My heart tripped over itself in panic. “Please...whatever your name is. Please, don’t do this.” God, why hadn’t I pushed for his name? Why didn’t I try harder to connect with him? He needed connection. He needed something.

He needs help.

“Walk.” Striding toward me, he pushed the edge of the shovel into my chest. “Enjoy the sun. Look upon my valley. Don’t spend your last moments begging.”

Tears sprang to my eyes as he pushed my shoulder to spin me around, then shoved me forward.

I stumbled but didn’t fall.

The blade of the shovel bit into my shoulder blades, marching me ahead.

I had no choice.

I let him push me to my death.

Think!

Don’t let him do this!

I sniffed back tears and shoved away panic, embracing the clearheadedness of certainty. This time, I didn’t doubt that he would kill me. Passion didn’t direct this. Rage didn’t conduct his actions.

This was him, drowning beneath madness, and I wouldn’t be able to negotiate or plead. Sex wouldn’t change his mind. Conversation would most likely make him snap.

It’s over, Gem.

I balled my hands.

It’s not over.

Not yet.

My mind whirled with options.

Self-defense classes shook off cobwebs and shot back into memory. I’d been good. I’d been strong. If I could tackle him and take him by surprise, I might earn enough time to run.

Looking past the swaying fields of grass, beyond the trees ringing the clearing of the house, I focused on the cliff face. The same cliff I’d stupidly descended into this nightmare.

If I can get to that, I can vanish.

I doubted he could climb, and even if he could, he wouldn’t have the stamina that I’d built up over the years, nor the swiftness that came from training a body to have muscles where others only had weaknesses.

My index fingers could hold my entire body weight. My foot could anchor me on a precipice with just my toes. If it took every ounce of effort and every trick I could muster, I would commit because this was my life.

And I’m not willing to give it up.

The house grew smaller behind us. The river became louder the closer we went. Late afternoon sunshine beat down upon us, its heat welcome but also mocking. Sweat beaded on my spine and slicked between my breasts, my pulse whizzing with adrenaline.

This was my last chance. My boots were still in the bathroom from where he’d carried me after my shower. The borrowed sweater and slacks I wore were more suited for a decadent dinner instead of rock climbing away from a monster.

I had no supplies, no PLB, nothing but my eagerness to return home and get as far away from this valley as possible.

And that’s enough.

It has to be.

Shadows fell over us as he pushed me into a thicket of trees. Deeper and deeper, the sounds of wildlife slowly faded the farther from sunlight we went.

Only once we reached a patch of earth where nothing grew—no trees, no flowers, not even a dandelion—did he drop the shovel from my shoulder blades and growl, “Stop.”

I stopped.

I sucked in a breath.

I turned to face him.

Bracing myself, I let viciousness overcome me. I wasn’t naturally a fighter. I didn’t like arguments and preferred to swallow my opinions instead of getting into a debate. However, this time, I would break every bone in his body if it meant he’d stop threatening me.

Tenacity made me try to appeal to him one last time. “Listen to me. Know me. I’ve told you once, and I’ll tell you again. My name is Gemma Ashford. I have a baby brother who I adore, and we lost our father a few years ago. My mother doesn’t understand me, and I struggle to find genuine friends. I live alone in a house I love, but I sometimes get so lonely I would rather get lost in a national park than sit by myself for another night. That’s how I found you. I followed a ribboned track that looked aged and afraid and just as lonely as me.”

“Quiet.” He pinched the bridge of his nose before tossing me the shovel and pointing at the ground. “Dig.”

I caught it, wrapping shaking fingers around the wooden handle. “I get loneliness, you know. I know what it’s like to create habits that don’t work around others. I know how hard it is to let someone in because you think, once you do, that the loneliness will be a thousand times worse when they’re gone.”

“You don’t know a goddamn thing about me!”

“You’re right.” I nodded, clinging to the shovel. “I don’t. But I could...if you told me. If you stopped being such a bastard and saw that, despite how you’ve treated me, regardless of your abuse, I’m still open to understanding.”

He marched into me, his hand swooping toward my throat.

I didn’t let him get purchase. Not a third time. He would not be strangling me today. Dancing backward, I held up the shovel as a weapon. “Give me your name.”

“I don’t have a name.” He crouched into a predator stance. A hunter ready to pounce. “I suggest you dig. Now.”

I shoved back hair that’d swung forward and stuck to my cheek. “You expect me to dig my own grave?”

“I expect you to do what you’re told.”

“And if I don’t?”

His lips spread into a thin grimace. “Then I guess I’ll be the one digging.”

I looked down at my feet. At the barren land and the aura of death. “Is that what this place is? A tomb for whoever used to live in that house with you?”

He stiffened. “You think me capable of killing everyone I come into contact with?”

“Absolutely.”

He cocked his head. “If you’re so sure of what I am, then why are you still trying to talk to me? Why are you still being nice?” He raked both hands through his hair, swiping the long wildness behind his ears. “You say you’re lonely. You try to use your own experiences to convince me to open up to you. But what you’re not following is, I have nothing to confess. I have nothing I want to share with you—mentally or physically. I like being alone. I like silence because silence is safe. And you?” He laughed icily, unable to hide the pain lying beneath. Pain that took my breath away. “You fuck all of that up. I have no silence. I have no safety. And I’m done.”

He sprung.

Instinct took over.

I parried to the side and raised the shovel.

Bowling into me, he tried to tackle me to the earth. If I hadn’t refreshed myself on self-defense moves, I would’ve fallen and been his before I hit the ground. Instead, I let muscle memory take over.

I rolled with him.

I kicked out my leg and struck his thigh, sending him collapsing onto his back. His hands reached for my throat, throwing his whole weight at me. My hands clutched the shovel. In a sharp twist, I wrapped my legs around his torso and spun upward instead of letting him pin me into the dirt.

He didn’t get my throat, but he did snatch my arms.

That connection sent shockwaves through both of us.

My legs spasmed around his waist.

Electricity struck us as if a lightning bolt had shot from the sun.

For a second, everything stopped.

Nothing else mattered.

Only shock and lust and pain.

So much fucking pain.

We were a collision.

A disturbed, confused, broken demolishment of everything that we’d been before this.

This.

Oh, God.

What is this?

Shock widened his eyes, mirroring mine. We quaked as we paused in our fight. Our bodies trembled as if we hummed at the same bone-breaking frequency. His heart pounded into mine, drilling its way into my chest, trying to understand what the hell was happening.

Black desire drenched him as his hands turned hot against my skin, digging into my biceps as the icy madness left his stare, unable to hide the complex depth he hid.

My core went wet.

My heart went wild.

I wanted him as much as I wanted to be free.

Apologies once again glowed in his dark gaze. Awe and fascination, interest and fear all morphed together and painted his face with the truth.

Each flicker of emotion sliced and diced me. It corrupted my mind from hurting him to helping him. Helping the man intending to kill me.

Gem!

Stop it!

His hips rocked up, sending more blood-scorching currents through me. I matched his rock, sitting heavier on him, disgusted with myself that I could fight him but not me.

A hoarse groan escaped him.

I sucked in a breath.

For a split second, his lips parted, and his hands came up to cup my face. His thumbs traced my cheekbones with the most exquisite reverence and care. His eyes dropped to my lips. His throat worked as he swallowed. The tightness in his body melted into need.

And it affected me.

Even in a grief-filled forest after being marched by my killer, my body reacted.

My breasts swelled, my heart kicked, and my traitorously wet core clenched with vicious hunger.

His hand swept from my cheeks to my nape. He pulled me down, down to his mouth.

I folded over him.

I licked my lips, every part of me tingling, thankful, hopeful that this was the moment where I saved both of us. Where he finally gave in to accepting something existed between us. Something neither of us was looking for nor wanted, but something that couldn’t be denied.

I want him.

And that scrambled my mind because how, why, what was I thinking?

You’re not.

You’re in shock.

It’s time to go, Gem.

Power siphoned down my arms. The handle of the shovel grew heavy, coaxing me to use it.

Do it.

Do it now.

This is your last chance!

His mouth grazed mine.

My heart lurched in a way it had never lurched before. Ripping free from arteries, kicking away veins as if they were ropes holding it within me, ready to commit treason by choosing him.

The horror that I could want someone who’d treated me so cruelly made common sense rush back like a tsunami.

No way!

Joshua. Home. Normalcy.

I have to go.

I can’t do this.

I refused to be swayed by sex and stupidity.

His breath drugged me as his fingers tightened around the back of my neck, tugging me the final distance to kiss me deep.

And that was it.

If he wouldn’t end this...

I will.

I would never be able to live with myself if I didn’t.

He sighed as his eyes turned soft and trusting. Drunk on our proximity, his shields shattered, his pain nullified.

I’m sorry.

Wrenching backward, I broke his hold and swung my arms up. The metal of the shovel glinted, sharp and ready to strike.

My swiftness took him by surprise as desire fogged his reactions. He blinked as if he couldn’t compute that the first moment of connection was the moment where all connections died.

“What—” He struggled to push himself up.

I had a precious second to choose him or me.

Live or die.

I choose me.

Swinging the shovel, I brought it down.

I whacked the blade against his head.

The clang vibrated through my arms. The heavy thud made my stomach turn over with nausea.

And...it was over.

His body went instantly lax beneath mine. His arms splayed sideways, his palms facing upward, his eyes drifting closed with a groan.

I scrambled off him and stood on shaking legs. My belly tried to retch as I looked down.

Oh, God, what have I done?

Blood trickled from his forehead where I’d struck. His lips stayed parted, still glistening from his tongue. His scruff and long hair made him seem adopted by the wilderness. Leaves trying to blanket him, shadows doing their best to claim him.

I stared and stared, waiting for some sign he was alive.

Nothing.

Throwing the shovel away, I ducked to cup his cheek.

Don’t!

Don’t you dare be like those stupid girls in movies. You’ve just thrown away your weapon. Do not waste this opportunity.

Run!

I froze with indecision.

I’d wanted this. I’d waited for this exact moment. Yet now that it’d arrived, I felt sick with guilt. Something had happened between us, no matter how much I could argue. Something that shouldn’t have happened between two strangers who’d met when they shouldn’t.

I didn’t belong in his world, and there was no way in hell he would fit in mine.

He was going to kill you, Gem!

My hands balled.

I nodded with determination.

It was him or me.

I did the right thing.

But if I left him here alone, he might die. If he’s not dead already. I might’ve caused brain damage. I would be sentencing him to an excruciating end, lying alone in a forest unconscious.

He groaned, his legs twitching.

See, he’s not dead.

He’s coming to.

RUN!

His bruised hand opened and closed; his eyes squeezed together as he twitched.

He’s fine, see? SEE?

Josh popped into my head. My adorable baby brother who would never forgive me for wasting this escape. I owed it to him to return. I owed it to my mother, to me, to the blessed luck I’d enjoyed all my life.

Time to go.

Drinking in one last look of the man who’d made my body sing all while he’d twisted my mind, I imprinted him.

The wild hair, the muscular chest, the thousands of silvery scars. The pain, the shame, the history that’d carved him from a boy into this hard-edged desperately lonely creature.

My heart broke for him.

My body wept for him.

My socked feet backed away.

And then, I turned and bolted.

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I HALF RAN, HALF STUMBLED.

I saw double and crashed to my knees. Shaking my head, I snarled at my messed-up vision, demanding it to sort its shit out. Thankfully, the queasiness and vertigo faded a little, giving me a few precious moments to charge ahead, following the tracks of my prey.

When I touched my forehead, my fingertips came away streaked with blood.

She’d struck me.

She’d made me bleed.

She’d left me for dead.

She’ll pay.

I ran faster.

I didn’t know how much of a head start she had or how long I’d been out. The sun’s location hadn’t changed much by the time I’d blinked back the wash of achy blackness and come to. It couldn’t have been that long. Then again, it’d been long enough to ensure her presence in my valley was gone. She’d left behind an emptiness, a cavern that threatened to keep expanding until it swallowed me whole.

That almost kiss.

It’d been...electrifying. Confounding.

The most dangerous and painful thing I’d ever done.

Ever felt.

And look how it ended.

Once again, violence had been wielded against me. Pain had been given when all I’d offered was pleasure.

They’re all the same.

No one can be trusted.

Swaying, I caught a tree branch and kept running.

Anger gave me speed. Betrayal gave me power.

She couldn’t escape.

That isn’t how this story ends.

Shadows enveloped me as I reached the base of the cliff. Her tracks had been easy to follow. Her goal had been swiftness not sneakiness, leaving behind broken twigs, crushed grass, and a pathway that blazed with her direction.

Skidding to a halt, I spied something colorful and abandoned in the undergrowth. Kicking it with my bare foot, it rolled away, water oozing from a crack in the side. Was that hers? A water bottle that she’d left behind in her rush to escape, or had others been so close to my valley and I’d never noticed?

Pure fear shot down my spine.

The thought of others finding me. Of her telling society about me.

It can’t happen.

I couldn’t go back. I couldn’t endure that again. I would rather die.

Find her!

Ignoring my pounding headache, I began to climb.

Grabbing a branch, I stepped onto a plant-spotted rock, taking the first step out of my valley for the first time since I’d been brought here.

My muscles seized, and I almost fell backward. The thought of leaving? Of willingly stepping out of this sanctuary? It made the lump on my forehead ache in time with my galloping heart.

You have to leave. You have to catch her.

Forcing myself to do what was necessary, I reached for another branch and hauled myself up. I focused on the task of climbing toward the dying sun. I didn’t look at the canopy of leaves above me. I didn’t look at the river down below. I kept my attention firmly on my next handhold, next foot placement, and far away from the knowledge that men weren’t supposed to scale mountains.

One false move and I’d fall.

I’d most likely break something.

If I survived the plummet, I probably wouldn’t have the strength to gather enough supplies for the winter. I’d starve.

Focus.

Get her back and then worry about other things.

My breath came heavy as I climbed higher and higher. Occasionally, I’d see evidence of her path. A scuff on a rock. A crushed flower.

Birds suddenly squawked above me, spooking into a flock and circling something at the top of the cliff.

Her.

So her head start hadn’t been that great, after all.

Clinging to a boulder, I skirted around it until I found a helpful tree. I was approximately halfway up, and she was already at the top. If she had the stamina to run, she could put some serious distance between us.

She’s in socks. She’s probably not used to running without shoes. You’ll catch her easily.

Ignoring the fury unfurling inside me, I stayed focused and scaled the rest of the cliff. The closer I got to the top, the harder I found it to contain my anger.

She was the cause of all my problems, yet had she said she was sorry? Had she genuinely showed dismay at fucking up my world?

No.

She’d only been fearful of her own hide. Her apologies had been all about her. The way she’d looked at me in the forest when our lips had been so fucking close to touching, I’d believed...I thought.

Doesn’t matter.

She was a liar and a thief. She’d snuck into my home, pretended to talk to me, then stolen the precious sanity I had left.

She was worse than all the guests I’d had to entertain combined.

The worst because she’d made me feel.

Made me hope.

For some reason, a lump existed in my chest as well as on my forehead. As if she’d struck my heart as well as my skull with the shovel.

I hate her.

My fingers burned with the need to wrap around her little throat and finish this.

Her attempt at running was selfish and ill-advised. She thought she could outrun me? She thought this was over between us?

Only I had the power to decide that. And she would understand precisely how over it was when I got my hands on her.

I grunted and climbed faster.

Up, up, up.

It took longer than I wanted, slipping on rocks and scaling gangly trees. The godforsaken cliff grew steeper, harder, and my head kept swimming from her well-aimed attack. The world tipped and swayed, making bile roil and my mouth clamp tight.

By the time I crawled over the ledge and dug my fingers into dirt instead of stone, sweat poured down my back.

I was thirsty and angry, and adrenaline turned my body into a shaking mess.

My head continued to throb with agony from her strike. The ground wobbled beneath me, whispering how good it would feel to lie down...just for a second. To let go of this chase, to close my eyes, and let all of it be swept away.

Hell no!

This wasn’t the end.

This wasn’t how she left me.

When I wiped my face free from sweat, my palm came away red. Blood still dripped down my forehead, tracing my nose, staining my lips. Smearing the crimson on my dirty slacks, I ensured I’d never wear them again. They’d been soiled enough.

Just like me.

Clouds gathered rapidly above my head as I followed her tracks, thick and oppressive. A few minutes later, a loud crack of thunder boxed my eardrums, a friendly warning before a deluge of water tipped over the world.

Rain splattered on everything and everywhere, drenching me within seconds.

Her trail!

The tiny hints of her path, the hidden clues of her presence—they would all be washed away.

Run!

Throwing myself forward, I ignored the storm, my sickness, and the everlasting seduction from when she’d been on top of me. When she’d rocked over me. When she’d looked just as intoxicated as me.

None of that mattered.

The only thing that did matter was killing her before she got free.

My run switched to a sprint.

Find her.

OceanofPDF.com