by T. R. Graves
Chapter 26
Abominations
Carlie
"Carlie, what's wrong?" he asked, grabbing me by the shoulders.
As soon as I got over the shock of freefalling and then not hitting the ground, I realized Jayden had saved me, that his hands were on me. I jerked away from him.
"What's wrong with me?" My laugh was sardonic. "What's wrong with me… you have the nerve to ask?"
Every muscle in Jayden's face contorted from worried concern to frowning irritation. "Yes. That's what I asked."
"Could it have anything to do with the fact that you've been manipulating and using me? You knew I liked you, and you used that against me. I won't ever let you do that to me again. Not ever. Now get out of my way," I said, pushing past him, which wasn't nearly as simple as it sounded.
He was so hard and muscular that I might as well have been pushing aside a carved marble statue. He didn't budge.
"I'm not going anywhere until the two of us talk. We can do it here, or we can find someplace a little more private. That's your choice, but we are going to talk," he assured me.
I shrugged. "I'm going for a run. Do whatever you want."
With that, I took off. The one thing I needed to do was build up my stamina. My earlier pretend run was nothing more than a brisk walk. What I really needed was to run away from all of this. To run away from all of these people. Those last few days of recovery had done nothing for making me stronger. I felt weaker than ever. Training would be the only way to get my body back into shape. And to forget.
