Page 40 of Unrivaled Love
With a glass of water in hand, I head out to the patio. Another scan confirms Bryson isn’t here either. I would have heard him yell if he found my other prank. Or maybe he passed out cold from the fear.
Guilt causes me to leave my book and water and head inside to double check he didn’t hit his head or something. I want to drive him away, not to the grave.
A quick peek confirms the bed is still made and I don’t see him anywhere so I’m guessing he hasn’t found it yet.
“What are you doing?” He yells from behind me and I jump.
“Nothing!” I sass back at him. He won’t believe me but that doesn’t matter. It’s the truth. Technically I was simply checking to make sure he wasn’t dead.
“I don’t believe you. What did you do to my room?”
“Nothing!” Right now. I add silently as I mentally cross my fingers absolving me from the lie.
“Bullshit Jo.” He grumbles as he pushes past me into the room and starts to investigate. That brush of his chest against mine singed my nerve endings and the sparks settled in my toes causing me to rock backwards slightly.
“Whatever.” I huff out and turn back to go read. My feud with Bryson is not going to help me relax and being near him just revs me up further.
I slide the patio door shut behind me and pick up the book. I open the page and immediately slap my hand down over the next one so my eyes don’t try to read ahead.
Flora jabs her elbow up into Sigrun’s gut causing him to lurch forward. She swiftly secures the sword and drives it through his chest.
“What!” I yell and I pull my hand back from the opposite page. “Oh no, no no no.” I flip back several pages and realize that Bryson moved my bookmark a few hundred pages forward. In one sentence I learned Flora has unalived her new love interest before I even learned if they fucked or not.
I seize an inhale and I expect a fury only Flora herself could understand to wash over me. I wait for aggression to fuel me into action.
But instead, a pain so deep, a hurt I feel in my bones, consumes me. My body feels cold, my head heavy. My fingers lose their grip on the book and it falls to the floor at my feet.
Then, I sob.
This is the worst thing that could happen to me right now.
A wail escapes me and my shoulders bounce as the emotion pours out.
All I wanted was a moment to escape. To forget about my suspension. To forget about the curly haired muscular man out to make my life a living hell.
A few moments to fall into another person’s world.
And he spoiled it.
The yarn is annoying. Hiding the food was bothersome. The koolaid and ketchup are more gross than anything else.
Moving my bookmark forward?
Cruel.
“Jo? Are you okay?” Bryson asks and I just sniffle and shake my head. I curl into myself on the deck chair.
“Go away, Bryson.” I murmur but the words come out all soggy.
“Is this because of the ketchup?”
“No.”
“The koolaid?”
“No.”
“The spiders?”The what?My shoulders freeze because those eight legged monsters are the devil’s spawn. Turns out fear is the only emotion that can trump my despair. “I’m just kidding Jo, I didn’t do anything with spiders.”
