“Excuse me!” I snapped when he wouldn’t get out of my way.
The man didn’t respond. He just stood there staring down on me with eyes I couldn’t see.
“Pardon me!” I tried again.
When he refused to move I shoved him, but to my utter surprise, the man didn’t move more than an inch backward. What in God’s name? Was the man on drugs, steroids, or was there a bodybuilder hidden beneath the baggy clothing? That scared me more than it should have. Something about the giant of a man wasn’t right. How I knew that was a mystery to me, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt that something about this person wasn’t as it should be. Scared and intimidated, I started to back away from him into the bathroom.
Luckily for me, Kyran chose that moment to show up. Angered by the presence of the unknown person trying to intimidate me, Kyran grabbed the man by his arm and pulled him away from me with surprising ease. While the man didn’t move when I shoved him, Kyran only grabbed the man’s arm and yanked on it slightly, and he managed to dislodge him from the bathroom’s door. Was I that puny?
“You got a problem?” Kyran roared.
The man shook his head.
“He-he didn’t hurt…me.” I was shaking and my voice came out as a whisper.
“Get the hell away from her!” Kyran snapped at the man.
The man stepped back, finally. After a few seconds, he turned and marched out the glass doors of the diner’s entrance without looking back.
“Are you okay?” Kyran asked, concerned.
“Yeah, I’m fine. He didn’t hurt me, just scared me.” Kyran hugged me to him.
An alarmed waitress walked over to us.
“Do you want me to call the police?” She had her cell phone already in hand.
“No! No! I’m okay.” My first time out on a date and I end up having to call the police? No, that would just scare my parents and worry them more than what they already were.
“It’s okay. I’m taking her home now.”
“Are you sure?” the waitress asked.
“Yes, we’re sure. But thanks anyway,” Kyran said as politely as possible.
Once we stepped outside, I couldn’t help but search the parking lot for the giant man that had scared the living daylights out of me. Kyran, however, didn’t seem as concerned as I was because he casually walked me over to his car without glancing anywhere in particular. His arm was wrapped snuggly around my shoulders and that brought some comfort to me. I felt that if the man came back, Kyran would be able to protect me. We climbed inside his very exotic looking Corvette, closed the doors, and locked them.
“So, ah…where did you get this fancy looking car?” I asked once I’d buckled my seat belt. I was hoping to forget the incident in the diner completely.
“It’s not mine. It belongs to my oldest brother.”
I took quick note of the interior. Everything was immaculate. “Gage can afford a car like this?”
“No, not Gage. I have another older brother. His name is Marquis”
My eyes widened in surprise. “How many of you are there?”
“Six in total. Marquis is the oldest and he’s married to Simone.”
“Doesn’t it get crowded living with that many people?” I shared a home with less people and sometimes it got frustrating.
“Sometimes, but we’re all used to it. The only one I actually have a problem with most times is Alexis.”
“Why?”
“He’s very hard to deal with sometimes. And I find that his little remarks can become annoying.”
“Annoying?” I didn’t mean to sound so surprised.
“You seem to like my brother.” Was it me or was there a hint of jealousy there?
“I haven’t been around him much, but whenever he’s around…I don’t know…I guess his personality is very alive, so to speak.” An image of Alexis’ smiling face came to mind. “He’s very…” Appealing? Yes. A bad ass flirt? Definitely. Drop dead gorgeous just like his twin? Hell yeah! Of course, I couldn’t tell Kyran that. “He’s very amusing, charismatic, and charming.”
“If you say so.”
“So unlike you.”
“That’s very true. Alexis and I are nothing alike except when it comes to physical appearance.”
“I agree with that.”
Kyran seemed annoyed with my comment. “Alexis likes the attention, I don’t,” he added quickly. “I don’t care for people drooling all over me.”
“Yeah, I can tell.” One would think that with a face like his, he’d be used to it by now.
“But I can be amusing,” he scoffed. “And very annoying, too.”
Were we in the beginnings of another argument again?
“Don’t forget charming.”
For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why I said that. But the man had an unnerving ability to annoy me with any little thing he said. My stupid comment must have hit home because he gave me a look that made me cringe a little.
“I can be charming too, want to see?”
I couldn’t tell just by looking whether or not he was being serious. His expression revealed nothing at all. Should I call his bluff? His eyes did that thing where they changed colors again. Had I not been so incredibly distracted by him, I would have been freaked out by that.
“Fine, show me what you got.” Okay, I did it. I called his bluff.
The moment the words came out of my mouth he veered off the road and parked. He didn’t turn the car off, which relieved me for some reason. My heart pounded so hard against my chest I thought he could actually hear it. Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of allowing him to see how nervous and afraid I was, I lifted my chin up high and looked him square in the eye. His eyes were hard and soft, revealing much and nothing at all.
Kyran unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned forward toward me. I immediately knew he intended to kiss me, so I didn’t move away. I waited for what seemed hours for him to get close enough for our lips to finally touch. The minute his lips brushed against mine, I felt the same electrifying sensation I’d experienced earlier. For a while, he planted kisses on my cheeks, jaw, and on the corners of my mouth, but avoided my lips. He was teasing me, and God help me, I wanted to beg him to kiss my lips. And I came close to doing so. However, after a few minutes of torturing my senses, his lips finally descended on mine. The kiss was incredibly sweet and gentle, not at all what I’d expected. I actually anticipated the kiss to be hard, unpleasant, and harsh. But it was the total opposite of that.
A minute or two later he tore his lips from mine and said, “How’s that?” His breath tickled my left ear, forced a shiver out of me.
“Good…” It was hard for me to speak. “Very…good.”
He turned his attention from my left earlobe to my neck, planting kisses down the length of it until he reached my shoulder. Shifting slightly in his seat, he then turned his attention back to my waiting and eager mouth. After what seemed an eternity, his lips finally captured mine in an all-consuming kiss that sucked the air straight out of my lungs. I couldn’t help the moan that escaped my mouth when he deepened the kiss. I knew he heard me but I didn’t care. His tongue kept darting in and out of my mouth over and over again, mimicking the act of lovemaking. How incredibly erotic the simple act of kissing was in a moment like that.
Just as I was about to lift my hands to fist them in his long hair, he pulled back. His breathing was harsh, and so was mine. Kyran curled his hands on the steering wheel, rested his head on it, and closed his eyes. It took me a moment to realize that he seemed to be in pain.
“Are you okay?” I asked as I saw him lean his body forward in a gesture much like he’d done a few days ago during class.
“Yes…I just need a moment.” His pain-filled voice startled me.
“Is something wrong?”
“Yes,” he whispered.
“Is it something relating to your condition? Do you need help?” I worried he was having some kind of seizure or episode. I couldn’t truly pe
rceive that there was more involved than what I could see.
“Condition?” He sounded confused, and in pain.
I wanted to touch him but I wasn’t sure that was a good idea. “Alexis told me you have some kind of condition…”
He lifted his head to look at me. His eyes were blazing and I wasn’t sure why.
“Alexis has a big mouth.” He managed to bring his breathing somewhat under control and sat up straight in the driver’s seat. “And to answer your question, no. What I have you can’t help me with.” His eyes focused forward again, he turned on the headlights. “It’s not something you can catch, so don’t worry about it.”
“That’s not why I asked. I thought you were having some kind of reaction or something.”
“Oui! I was having some kind of reaction, all right, but it had nothing to do with my condition.”
“Oh.” I don’t think I had ever blushed as much as I did at that moment.
After a few minutes of waiting in silence, Kyran buckled up again and started for my house. He didn’t look or speak to me again until we arrived at our destination. He parked near the driveway but didn’t turn off the car. He did, however, turn off the headlights and unbuckled his seatbelt. I turned to look at him and he did the same. By then he was looking much better; there was no sign he was feeling sick, so I let out a sigh of relief and waited for him to say something.
“Can I borrow your cell phone for a moment?”
“Sure.” I handed him my cell and he played with it for a short while, leaving me wondering what he was doing. I thought he wanted to make a phone call, but judging by the amount of time he spent on it I doubted that’s what he wanted it for. After several long seconds, he handed it back to me.
“What did you—”
“You’ll see.” And that’s when he leaned forward to kiss me once again. The kiss, however short, left me breathless and wanting more. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow.”
He got out of the car to open the passenger side door for me. Before I made it to the front porch of the house, he took my hand in his and pressed his lips to mine one last time before marching back to his car and climbing in.
He drove off as soon as I closed the front door behind me.
The excitement of the night didn’t wear off even after I’d taken a shower, put on my pajamas, and curled up in bed. Kyran was wonderful, like a dream come true. As a matter of fact he was too good to be true. He wasn’t perfect, of course. He had his moments, but his differences added to the mystery that was Kyran Rousseau.
The only thing I regretted about our date was the strange encounter with the even stranger man that decided to give me a good spook for no reason. I was pretty sure I didn’t know the guy. I mean, in a town as small as Wolf Creek Hollow, you practically get to know everyone over the course of the years and I was confident I hadn’t ever seen that man before, even though all I caught of his face was a slight glimpse of his lips and jawline and nothing else.
The sound of my phone jingling startled me out of my thoughts. Since it was a ringtone I didn’t recognize, I picked it up and flipped it open immediately.
Every person in my list of contacts had a specific ringtone assigned to them that both identified and matched them somehow. This tone was new so I didn’t pick up on the song right away. But after a few seconds of memory searching, I realized that it was from the band Kyran and I’d just seen.
“So this is what you did to my phone.”
“You don’t like it?” his voice sounded even sexier over the phone.
“Yes, I do.”
He chuckled softly. “Good.”
“What’s the name of that song? The one you established as your personal ringtone?”
“‘Save Me From Myself’.”
“You know what?”
“What?”
“I think that band of yours is fast becoming my new favorite band.”
“Good. We’ll have more excuses to go out, then.”
“Excuses? Sounds kind of trivial.”
“All right, maybe excuse wasn’t an appropriate term. How about reasons?”
“That sounds better.”
“Good. Bonne nuit, ma belle.”
“Pardon?”
“It means good night my beautiful in French.”
Since he couldn’t see me, I grinned like an idiot. “Thank you, Kyran. Good night, and thanks for everything. You were wonderful tonight.”
“Aren’t I always wonderful?”
“Not always.”
“Sounds like I’ll have to make it up to you then.”
“Sounds like a challenge.”
“Yes. It will be.”
With that, I flipped my phone shut and drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The second I climbed inside Tracy’s car I fully expected her to bombard me with questions, but as it turned out, Claire, Bobby, and Tracy were too busy discussing something they had read in the newspaper. I hadn’t even closed the door to the passenger side when Claire tossed a newspaper at me. I caught it just before it landed on my lap.
“Look at this and tell me what you think.” The headline read something about a celebrity.
“Um… Claire, I don’t really care much for celebrity gossip.”
“That’s not it. Turn the newspaper around.” She turned in her seat to look at me then frowned. I did as instructed.
The headline was written in big, black, bold letters: TOWN PUZZLED BY COW MAULINGS.
What the devil? I read the information printed below and sucked in my breath when I realized the attack had occurred near my house. Four cows were found badly mauled by an unknown animal and the entire community was terrified. The cows had been partially eaten and no physical evidence was found at the scene to provide clues as to what species of animal could have done it. Police speculated it could have been any of three suspects—a bobcat, cougar, or black bear.
Dumbfounded, I shoved the newspaper back into Claire’s waiting hands. She waited for me to say something but I was momentarily stunned into silence by the grotesque images racing through my head. The picture in the newspaper left little to the imagination. Judging by what was left of the cows, I could tell they’d suffered a very violent death. Then another image popped into my mind, the one of the beast I’d seen at my house, and I imagined it devouring those defenseless animals. Nausea rocketed through my stomach with such force I honestly thought I’d lose my breakfast in the back seat of Tracy’s car.
“What’s wrong, Marjie? You’re as pale as a ghost,” Bobby so nicely pointed out.
“I’m fine. I just…I don’t think breakfast was a good idea today, that’s all.” I croaked out as I tried to fight off the nausea slowly assailing me.
“So?” Claire was still waiting for me to say something.
What on earth did she want me to say? “So…what?”
“What do you think about the story?”
“I think it is nothing but a big exaggeration.” Bobby pointed at the newspaper.
“Bobby, nobody is asking your opinion.”
Bobby ignored Tracy’s comment. “It could have been that someone was hungry and decided to have a very raw steak.” He chuckled at his own joke. “And was too damn cheap to go buy one at a restaurant.” He smiled.
“Bobby. For once, don’t say exactly what you’re thinking, please,” I warned him. Just thinking about it all made the nausea even worse.
“Well, it could be. I mean, do you know how many weirdoes are out there? A lot.”
“Yeah, and you’re one of them,” Tracy snapped.
“Am not!” He sounded like a ten-year-old. “Think about it, they probably like their meat rare, dripping with blood, hardly cooked and—”
“Bobby! I’m about to ruin your outfit,” I screamed.
He shut up immediately. If he kept painting a clearer image, I wouldn’t be able to hold down the bile threatening to rise from my stomach.
“You girls ar
e no fun.” If I hadn’t been sick to my stomach I would have probably laughed at Bobby’s pouting. He had such a comical face sometimes.
“So, ah, in the interest of changing the subject, Marjie, how was your date last night?”
I should have known Tracy wouldn’t shut up about that for long. Now Claire and Bobby both would know about my date with Kyran.
The second she heard the word date Claire’s eyes widened to the size of golf balls. “What’s this about a date?”
“Thanks a lot, Tracy.” I slapped Tracy’s arm.
She jumped up a little. “They were going to find out sooner or later.”
“You don’t want us to know?” Claire sounded hurt, although I knew she really wasn’t.
“No, it’s not that. I just didn’t want everyone to know so soon.”
“Who did you go out with?” she asked, grinning from ear to ear.
“Kyran Rousseau.” Of course, she already knew it, but she wanted to hear me say it.
“Oh my gosh!” she squealed. “Where did you go?”
“Rock concert at Luther’s Café.”
“Oh, Marjie’s really crushing on the Rousseau guy.”
I hated that my friends knew me like the backs of their hands.
“What? Why? Am I missing something here?” Bobby was totally lost, as always.
“Pay attention to the conversation and stop texting. Who’re you texting, anyway?”
“Miguel,” he said. “Come on, why do you say that Marjie really likes this guy?”
“She went to a rock concert with him.”
“So?” Bobby’s face scrunched up. “What’s the big deal?”
“Marjie doesn’t like rock music.”
I do now, I thought with a smile.
“Ah, I get it now.” Bobby grinned.
“So, how was it, Marjie?” Tracy asked rather impatiently.
“Well, it was…” I smiled. A smile so bright it should have been an answer all by itself. “Great. What else can I say?”
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