Page 60 of Torment

“I know,” he repeated.

I scrubbed my hand across my face and sniffed back another set of pointless tears. “I’ll never forgive you.”

He stared down at me, his expression still unreadable. “Good.”

I glared at him, sick of the barely-there answers. “I can’t believe I used to love you,” I hissed.

I regretted it as soon as I said it. Mason’s face clouded, and he stepped down to me and pulled me upright. “Leave now and take back your life before I change my mind.”

The dark look in his eyes made rationality return to me with a sickening jolt.

No sane person would turn down freedom in these circumstances. As soon as I was back in civilization, I would feel better. I would be able to cope. I needed to fight this unfathomable urge to stay, and I needed to get the hell away from Mason right now.

With that realization, I turned and fled. As I started the car a moment later, I still half-expected it to explode and blow me to smithereens, but nothing happened except the purr of the engine. With shaking hands, I steered it to the right and slowly headed down the driveway, watching Mason in the rearview mirror.

He stood on the porch, watching me go. For some reason a tiny part of me wished he would chase me down like he would have if I tried to leave him just a few days ago, but he remained motionless. I gritted my teeth and drove on until he was nothing but a speck in the distance behind me.

And just like that, I was finally free.

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