Page 44 of His Big Bad Stick

… too late…

He’s inches from me, staring down at me.

He’s taller than ever and I’m just as short as I was all those years ago.

He smells like a wooded version of hell.

The smell of the trees and dirt mixing with the smell of his sleepy clothes and the faintness of his just woke up breath.

Do something, Abrielle! Do something! For once!

Colver is my evil shroud. The awful voice that sounds like reason.

I do step back. Just one step.

I lift my left hand and swallow hard.

“You want to know something, Colver? This is what this means to me…”

I grab the diamond ring and twist and pull at it.

My hands are shaking as the ring moves slowly off my finger.

I feel an instant sense of freedom hit me.

I curl my hand around the ring and I look around.

I smile.

“This…”

I wind up and throw the diamond ring as hard as I can.

There’s maybe a split second where I see it glisten and then it’s gone.

“That’s what I think!” I cry out. “Fuck you!”

I lift my middle fingers and smile. Tears tease my eyes and I don’t even care.

Believe me, I know taking the diamond ring off doesn’t change reality. The ring was more about perception than feeling and purpose.

I turn back around and Colver is as close as before.

“There,” I say.

“Throwing a ring isn’t exactly…” Colver stops and growls. I see the wheels turning. The man without a soul. The man without a care. The evil man… who always managed to secretly and silently protect me…

Colver’s hands suddenly grab my hips.

And I mean grab.

A fierce, bear-paw-like grab.

Harder than any man has grabbed me.

He pulls me closer, which isn’t much. My body touches his.

He lifts me right up, to my toes and then… off the ground.

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