“I should have said no,” I whispered, my fingertips digging down into the rocks and dirt. “Why didn’t I say no?”
“Willow, what the fuck are you doing?”
My head snapped up. Logan towered over me, the breadth of him providing a nice respite from the brutal sun. Despite every inch of me screaming in protest, I managed to pull myself up, sitting back on my heels. “I feel sick,” I said hoarsely.
Logan leveled me with a scathing glare. “Are you fucking kidding me—you feel sick? Jesus, Willow, we have no idea what happened to that horde—what if it’s still down here? Do you want to get trapped down here like—” Logan abruptly stopped speaking. Lips pressed together, nostrils flaring, he looked away.
“Like Luke,” I whispered.
Turning back to me, his blue eyes blazed with disdain. “Get up,” he said sharply. “Let’s go.”
Limp and listless, I merely stared up at him.
“Get up, Willow,” he seethed. “Get the fuck up!”
“Logan, I feel sick. My leg, I think it’s—”
“I don’t give a shit how you feel!” he roared. Cursing, he roughly fumbled with the buckles on his pack before heaving it away. “Luke is gone, you selfish bitch! He’s fucking gone, and you know what? That’s on you! Do you hear me, Willow? You fucking did this!”
Logan ran his fingers through his already messy hair, further disheveling it. “He wouldn’t’ve been out here if it weren’t for you! He would have stayed in the house like I’d told him to!” Logan’s fist swung at the air. “He would have fucking listened if it weren’t for you!”
“And now you’re gonna sit here and whine about feeling sick when Luke is… when Luke is… ” Voice cracking, he trailed off and spun away.
My chin trembled and my eyes blurred. I’d been waiting for this—Logan’s inevitable explosion. I’d expected it days ago when he’d first arrived to find Lucas gone. Of course, I’d known Logan would blame me; he blamed me for everything. What I hadn’t expected was just how bad his condemnation would feel.
“He just disappeared,” I whispered brokenly. “He just… disappeared.”
Logan’s gaze swung back to me, red-faced, his bloodshot eyes wide with rage. “People don’t just disappear! Something happens to them!Someonehappens to them!”
Pain lanced my insides. My chest heaved, a dry sob erupting from deep within. Somehow, maybe aided by the torment gnawing away at me, I forced myself to stand. Dizzy and in pain, I waited untilthe world stopped swimming, and then began limping toward the cliff.
“What are you doing?” Logan demanded.
I said nothing, and I didn’t dare glance back. Without Lucas, there was nothing here for me—Logan had just made that abundantly clear. Grabbing hold of a long root jutting out from the rocky wall, I called upon every bit of strength I possessed and hauled myself up.
“Willow, what the fuck are you doing?”
My next step crumbled beneath my foot and I slipped back down to the ground, pain radiating up and down my left leg. Fighting back a whimper, I grabbed the root once more. “I’m fucking leaving!” I cried out.
“Leaving?” Logan taunted. “But I thought you felt sick.”
Another step crumbled beneath my weight and again I slid down the wall, slapping it in frustration before collapsing against it.
Behind me, Logan began to laugh—a deep, maniacal rumble that beat at me harder than hands ever could. Still holding tightly to the root, I turned to face him. “Stop it!” I hoarsely demanded. “Stop fucking laughing!”
“Oh, this is too much,” he sneered. “Where exactly are you going to go, Willow? Better yet, how will you get there? Your sense of direction is shit, and you can’t go more than two days withoutfucking everything up.”
I took a trembling step toward him, my body aching from head to toe, the pain in my leg causing my eyes to water.Logan watched my approach; no longer laughing, his biceps bulged, his fingers twitching. He looked as if he might want to break something. Like he might want to breakme.Good. I’d finally had enough of him, too.
“Do it,” I rasped, raising my chin. “Go ahead and hit me.”
Logan went noticeably still, the hateful look on his face shifting into one of surprise.
I shook my head tightly. “No, you don’t get to play dumb! I know you hate me. I know you’ve always hated me. So do it—hit me!”
Logan,damn him, began to turn away.
“No!” I screamed, my grief and fury rebuilding anew—a tsunami of emotions that crashed over me and sent me hurtling toward him.
