He Pushed Me Into the Void, So This Time I Said No novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: Day One Again
Lacey wakes on the patch where she died, declines Brett's bond in front of the chat, and watches him send the same request to Dee with forty-five seconds on the clock.
On the ninth day, my fiancé put his warm hand flat between my shoulder blades and shoved me off our territory.
His whole team watched me go.
My stepsister laughed.
She was wearing my coat.
I fell through the black for a long time, screaming for the man who pushed me, and something brushed my wrist on the way down.
I never found out what.
Then I opened my eyes, and it was the first morning again.
[Welcome, player. 100,000 players are in your zone. Protection ends in 7 days.]
The same blue panel hung in front of my face, in the survival game called Frostfall.
The same white sun burned overhead.
Under my bare feet was the same six-by-six patch of cracked dirt, hanging in an ocean of nothing.
I had counted every crack in it for eight days, and I had died standing on the edge of it.
I dropped to my knees and pressed both palms flat against the ground.
It was hot and rough and real.
I breathed in, and the air did not turn to knives on the way down.
I was alive.
Brett's ring was still on my left hand, so I worked it off my finger and flicked it into the void.
It fell without a sound.
The chat feed was already scrolling beside the panel.
SkyDragon: [Anybody know where the food is?? I can cook anything if someone finds me something to cook!]
A player: [lol we all woke up with a hoe and a bad attitude]
Far off in the black, other pale patches hung in rows, each with a tiny figure on it.
The one nearest mine had stayed empty for nine days last time.
Now a man stood on it, tall and still, and he was not typing anything.
Then a new line dropped into the feed, and I stopped breathing for a second.
BrettMaddox: [Lacey? Baby, where are you? Bond with me. I've got us covered. I swear I'll keep you safe.]
The last time I read that, I cried with relief.
I thought it meant he loved me.
What it meant was a Bond Contract, and a Bond Contract merged our territories and our inventories and gave him control of both.
For eight days I crafted, fished and froze my fingers raw so Brett and his little team could stay warm.
On Day 9, Kelsey logged in and read the contract's last line out loud.
If a bonded partner dies, every asset and talent goes to the one who is still alive.
Including mine.
I pulled up my stats with a shaking hand.
[Player: Lacey Ormond]
[Strength 1 | Agility 1 | Endurance 1 | Magic 7 | Luck 4]
[Talent: Hearthfire (F-Rank). Anything you ignite burns longer and hotter. Spend Ember Points to fill an item with lasting warmth.]
F-Rank was the lowest tier in the game.
Last time the chat called it a joke, and Brett called it cute.
Then the sun went out on Day 7, and at sixty below zero my cute little talent was the only fire that never died.
They did not keep me alive because they loved me.
They kept me alive as a battery.
When Kelsey saw how the contract worked, I stopped being useful alive, because my death would hand Brett everything.
A red box popped open over the chat.
[BrettMaddox has sent you a Bond Request. Accept? Yes / No.]
[Time remaining: 60 seconds.]
He had posted it publicly, so the whole zone could watch.
A player: [omg a couple in the apocalypse?? goals]
BrettMaddox: [She's shy lol. Come on, babe. I'll carry the food and the cold, you just stand next to me.]
He sounded so kind, and my stats were bad.
Strength 1. I could barely lift the starter hoe.
But I had something he did not.
I knew the slime ooze everyone was dumping into the void today would sell for a hundred logs a lump by Day 6.
I knew which nights the monsters crawled up out of the black.
And I knew exactly which smile Brett wore when he was lying.
The timer ticked down.
My finger hovered over the screen.
Eight years of loving him pulled at my hand, and I hated that it did.
Then I felt his palm again, warm and gentle between my shoulder blades, right before the shove.
I tapped No.
I opened public chat and typed with my own fingers for the first time in this life.
LaceyOrmond: [No. Take your promise to Kelsey. She'll believe it.]
The feed exploded.
A player: [wait who is Kelsey 👀]
NoMoreBadLuck: [Good call.]
A private message hit my inbox a second later.
BrettMaddox: [You can't last alone. You'll be begging me by Day 3.]
I smiled, and it felt like the first real thing my face had done in two lives.
Last time I lasted nine days.
This time I was going to watch him beg.
Then a second red box opened over the chat, and I stopped smiling.
[BrettMaddox has sent SkyDragon a Bond Request. Accept? Yes / No.]
[Time remaining: 60 seconds.]
BrettMaddox: [Hey SkyDragon, I've got a team, a plan and a warm spot. Want protection?]
SkyDragon: [Well, hon, I'm starving and I've got a hoe. Where do I sign?]
The clock was running, and I had no proof except my own death.
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend