Returned by Keeley Smith Read Free Book Online Page A

never do that again. She felt the tight pinch as her nails embedded themselves within her palm. Her body was responding before her brain had caught up. A bubble of sick rose into her mouth, she swallowed it and concentrated on not passing out. She couldn’t judge how much more her body could take. There had to be a reason as to why she felt this kind of pain in his presence? There had to be some explanation? She had never disliked someone so intensely without actually knowing their last name.
                  She took a deep breath in an attempt to stop herself from whimpering. The jagged wisps of his hair flew in all directions, his eyes glared fiercely at her, his Cupid’s bow mouth was set in a thin line. She walked closer to him, this wasn’t easy with the unsteadiness of her legs.
                  He remained glued to the spot. The closer she stepped towards him the more defined his features became. She caught a slight flicker of something in his eyes, was that fear she saw? He'd quickly replaced it with his irritating lopsided smile. She stopped so that their feet were almost touching.
    “Look, Jack c-c-come on, she could cast a spell on you,” one of the boys behind him stuttered.
    They were both backing away together. Laughter danced around her. Well, at least the wind was happy. And that wasn't a sentence she thought would ever cross her mind.
    “We really need to stop meeting like this,” he sneered, the grin on his face was easy, carefree. “So, you think you can push me and get away with it.” Jack edged closer still.  
    Her smile widened. He seriously thought she'd pushed him, that thought alone was absurd. She could barely lift her own weight let alone push him that distance.
    “Go on then, do it again if you dare, or is witchy witch scared,” he said, taunting her.
                  Before she was able to respond, his movements blurred. One minute he was stood sneering at her, the next he was doubled over. Her lip screamed and she felt the sting in her eyes. One of the chuckle brothers grabbed Jack pulling him up. Jack leaned on his friend but still managed to look up at her with that idiotic smile in place. Sweat was beading down his face giving it a sickly blue glisten. His eyes seemed to roll into the back of his head like he was losing his grip on consciousness. She could see him fighting the grip as he pulled away from his friends and stalked towards her with his left arm wrapped protectively around his stomach.
    “I had been warned about this but I’m stronger than you,” he hissed.
    Shock snatched away her ability to speak. Warned about what? He had the explanation she craved. The pain in her stomach shifted from bearable to extreme in seconds. Her abs contracted sinking inwards, rippling, pulling backwards. She felt the urge to growl at him. The sky that had been clear blue on this crisp autumn morning was now overcome with bulbous midnight black clouds. She shivered, one hell of a storm was brewing. Jack didn’t acknowledge the darkening sky.
                  Focusing on her own pain, she pulled and grasped it feeling the power build. She didn't have a clue what she was going to do. A crack of thunder protested, roaring across the dark sky. The ground shuddered beneath her feet. Neither of them outwardly acknowledged this change in the weather. The rain didn’t come. He smiled, dimples deepened in his cheeks and then something hit her, hard.
                  In the blink of an eye her feet flew from beneath her and the world rotated. She couldn’t keep track of her body’s position, one moment she could see the large bruises in the sky and then the next she was looking at the road. It felt like a lifetime but it could have only been mere seconds. The ground smashed into her battered body, her hands flew out scraping across the hard tarmac. She coughed forcing her paralysed lungs to function again. She looked at her hand and found