Page 105 of Once Upon a Fable

She sniffed and tipped up her chin. “We’ll see.”

“I guess we will.” Stepping away from her, I uncurled my fingers from around her keys.

Instantly, her defiance switched to cajoling. “Wait. Don’t—”

“I look forward to living with you, Gemma Ashford.”

“No—!”

In a whip fast move, I cocked my arm and hurled her keys into the forest. I threw them toward the drop-off where new waterfalls splashed over rocks and debris, falling from sky to valley.

They made no noise as they disappeared.

Not a single sound as they condemned her as mine for evermore.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

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I COULDN’T MOVE.

He threw them.

He actually threw my keys away!

Eerie emptiness filled me: the iciness of shock and the hollowness of defeat.

Going home was no longer attainable. Escaping this monster had become an unsurmountable problem. A problem that included days’ worth of hiking to find populated areas of the national park. The logistical nightmare of not having enough rations, correct footwear, or emergency beacons to find my way out of this cave labyrinth was a disaster.

If I didn’t die with him, I might very well die running from him.

Him.

God, HIM!

Something snapped back into place within me, blasting away my shock, filling me with scalding brimstone.

Howdarehe?!

Joshua, my mother, my work, my house.God, my house. My lovely, lavender house that’d been waiting empty and alone since I’d left. Who would water my plants? Who would tell my online fans that I would never post another video, never hunt another climbing route, never be the girl I’d once been?

Rain fell harder, thunder rumbling in the distance, the storm regathering above us, almost as if it sensed me burning up, knowing that if it didn’t extinguish my rage I would self-combust and annihilateeverything within my path.

Him.

God, how could I hate someone so much and be so drawn to them at the same time? How could I vibrate with longing and loathing?

It was sick.

It was twisted.

I despise it!

It would be the greatest pleasure to throw him off the cliff after my keys. Yet if he touched me the way he had before, I would melt. I would fight. I would beg. I would come.

Argh!

Oblivious to my inner breakdown, he raised his face to the rainy sky and sighed. “We need to get back to Fables, but I’m done being wet.” Pointing at my Jeep—my trusty, wonderful Jeep that he should never have known existed—he commanded, “Get inside. We’ll wait it out.”