Page 27 of Break You

“Good. Another step. I’m enjoying this.”

She clearly wasn’t—just as it was meant to be.

You’ll find me in time, but you can’t tie me down.

Singularly I sound like half of a frown.

This time she muttered the words over and over to herself under her breath, working through possible options.

“Hostage?”

I smiled to myself. That was actually a really good guess. Wrong, but clever. I could see where her thinking was going.

“How very appropriate for this situation, but you couldn’t be more wrong. Get walking.”

“Please. Can’t we just talk about this? I don’t know what you want, but I’m sure we can work something out.”

“You talk too much. Besides, we are talking. Well, I’m talking. You’re walking. Speaking of which, stop trying to distract me. Take another fucking step.”

She edged forward again. The distress was evident in her entire body—the way she held her head, the tension in her neck and shoulders, the way her legs shook with every step.

“This has been way more fun than I thought it would be. You’re horrible at riddles. Last one.”

I am the beginning of the end, the end of every place.

I am the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space.

I watched as a tear rolled slowly down her cheek under the blindfold, followed by a matching one on the other side. Her shoulders shook silently. I didn’t hurry her this time, instead watching her react as the enormity and finality of the situation affected her more. Soon her whole body was quivering, racked with silent tears.

“D… death?” Her voice was so quiet it was almost inaudible, carried away by the breeze.

“Another poignantly incorrect answer. So wrong, yet so scarily right. And the best thing about your death is that it’s going to look like a tragic suicide.”

“Please don’t do this. Please.”

“Five wrong answers. Time to walk the plank. Any last words you want to say so I can ignore them?”

“Yeah. Fuck off and die.”

I had to admire her balls—they were bigger than most dudes’.

“Noted. Now take the fucking step, and your own advice, while I decide whether you left a note or not.”

“What if I don’t take the step?”

“I’ll just push you, so you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

“Not really. This way, at least I’ll know I didn’t go down without a fight, and so will you.”

“Who cares?”

“I do.”

With those words she lashed out with her foot, kicking me square in the nuts. It hurt like holy hell, and as I bent forward in shock, she lashed out again, this time balling her bound hands, and punching my head. It didn’t hurt much, just had me surprised at her tenacity if anything. She was totally badass.

As the thought crossed my mind, she continued her assault, stomping down hard and crushing my toes with one foot, before kicking out at my shins again with the other. The heavy soles of her ugly lace-up work shoes were made of hard molded plastic, and even with my black jeans as a barrier, I was pretty sure she’d scraped off a layer of skin.

As much as I admired her fighting instinct, and skills, I wasn’t about to let her continue to inflict damage.

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