Better Than Revenge [Unedited - 2012 Version]

Chapter Eighteen

Better Than Revenge 

Chapter 18

All of the aerobics and yoga in the world couldn’t have gotten me away from Christian. Sure, they kept me in shape, but clearly they weren’t very helpful when it came to a situation like this. They didn’t keep me in well enough shape to run away from Christian Ryder for very long. He was in much better shape than I was and he caught me pretty easily.

I gave him a run for his money, though. That was only because of the multiple turns I took and the places I could crawl through, but still. It counted for something. I managed to avoid him for around five minutes before he finally caught me. 

I was just about to crawl into a small space when he grabbed onto me. “Oh, no you don’t,” he said, stopping me in my tracks.   

I tried to wriggle out of his grip but I failed miserably. “Let go of me, Christian! Or I’ll scream rape.” 

Instead of at least loosening his grip, he had the nerve to tighten it. “Not until we talk.” 

“We have nothing to talk about.” I knew this was a total lie but I didn’t feel like discussing this with him. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be very pleasant. 

He pulled me up on my feet, never loosening his grip on me. “You know that’s not true.”

I rolled my eyes and sighed. “Fine. Talk.” 

“First, I have a question for you,” he announced, dragging me over to his trailer. 

“That counts as talking, smart one.” I dragged my feet and resisted, making his job harder.

Finally, he got tired of it and just stopped walking. 

“Do you still think I was exaggerating?” he demanded angrily, getting right down to business. “Do you still think I was overreacting? Do you realize what you did?” 

“Well…” I trailed off momentarily. “I do still think you were being a little too dramatic. I know it’s the drama geek in you, but come on. It felt like I was in a bad teen movie and you were the annoying blonde cheerleader.” 

“I wasn’t being dramatic,” he snapped, and his grip tightened slightly.  

“You kind of were.” 

“So you still think what you didn’t wasn’t that bad?” he asked incredulously. 

“Of course I do,” I replied calmly. I decided I had had enough of his stupid death grip and used my twisting maneuver on him. I caught him off guard, which was probably the only reason it worked. Christian was ten times stronger than Frank. I had gotten lucky. 

“Godammit,” he cursed, rubbing his arm. “Don’t do that!” 

“Don’t grab onto me like that, then,” I shot back. 

“There was no other way to get you to stop running,” he snapped angrily, “and I needed to talk to you.” 

“Well, I’m talking to you now, aren’t I?” 

“Yeah,” he replied darkly. “I can’t say I’m really happy about it, though.” 

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. What is it that you wanted to hear from me, anyway? Do you want to know where I stand concerning this whole little situation?” 

Christian waved a hand at me with a sigh. “Sure.” 

“Then fine,” I said, giving him the evil eye. “I don’t feel bad about this at all and I don’t think that what I did was as awful as you’re making it out to be. And you want to know why?”