Page 216 of Deviant

“You’re right. They can’t make us do anything we don’t want to. Fuck them and their rules.”

I crane my head back and look him in the eye.

“So, what do we do? Run? Spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders, knowing that, sooner or later, they will come for us?”

Elias smiles tenderly at me, the dried blood on his face a total contrast to his loving gaze.

“Do you trust me, Roe?”

“With my life,” I’m quick to say.

His eyes soften further with so much love in their depths that it takes my breath away.

“Good. Because I trust you with mine. I fucking love you, Roe. So fucking much.”

“I love you too,” I reply, a fist wrapping around my heart and giving it a good squeeze.

“They really put us through the wringer, didn’t they? But they can’t take that away from us. They can’t take away what we feel for each other. What we have is real and those fuckers can never taint that. Not with their games. Not with their manipulation. They can never destroy what we have. Remember that.”

“I know that, Elias” I choke, his words making me emotional.

“Good.” He says, his tense muscles relaxing.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that we still have to come up with a plan. One where we both walk out of this nightmare alive.”

“I have one.”

“You do?”

He nods.

“What is it?” I ask anxiously, needing to hear every detail of his plan.

“First, see if there is anything we can use as a weapon next to that damn woodchipper, will you?”

“Okay.”

But before he releases his grip around me, he bends down and gives me the sweetest, most passionate kiss he’s ever given me.

“What was that for?” I ask breathlessly.

“Just needed to kiss you. One more time.” He smiles, but I become troubled when the smile doesn’t reach his eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, my sweet doe-eyed girl. I’ve never been better,” he proclaims, before kissing my temple.

He then releases me from his embrace, asking me to complete the task of finding a weapon we can use to defend ourselves with. I’m kind of pissed at myself that we didn’t bring with us the weapons we had fromThe Hunt.But Elias said we wouldn’t need them where we were going.

I guess he changed his mind.

I turn my back to Elias and head over to the woodchipper, but unfortunately, after a quick inspection, I don’t find anything that could be used as a weapon. I’m about to tell Elias just that, when I hear him call out my name.

“Roe?”

“Yes?” I spin around only to find Elias too close to the cliff’s edge, taking his watch off his wrist and the small camera pinned at his shirt, throwing them both to the ground.

“Don’t forget that I love you. That you are the love of my life. Promise me that you’ll never forget that.”

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