Imdalind 01 - Kiss of Fire

monotonous chuckle sounded right behind me.
    I flipped around, backing myself away from Ryland’s large figure as he towered over me. It was no use; I had only moved three feet before his big hand wrapped around my ankle, pulling me out of the closet. The carpet rubbed against my back, grabbing my shirt and pulling it up to my bra-line. I tried to move it down, while desperately trying to keep my mark hidden. Why, of all days, did I not cover it with a Band-Aid?
    Ryland had already dragged me back into the sitting area. His long legs straddled me as he looked down, his bright, blue eyes blazing.
    “Thought you could get away from me, did you?”
    “You stole my stock of guns, you menace! You wouldn’t shoot a defenseless girl, would you?” I batted my eyelashes at him in a foolish, and useless, attempt to distract him.
    “Your womanly wiles are no match for me,” he laughed like a loud monotone villain as he pulled a bright, orange gun from behind his back. I cringed as he soaked me with stream after stream of freezing cold water. I sputtered and fought as he moved to crouch closer to me, his body prohibiting mine from getting away.
    “Mercy!” I screeched from behind a curtain of water. “Mercy!”
    Ryland chuckled and wiped the water that was dripping from my face with the palm of his hand.
    “That was mean, Ry. You moved my guns.”
    “Yeah, sorry about that.” His voice seemed sincere but he still hovered above me, biting his lip. He stayed there, above me, our eyes locking a bit too long. I felt my heart pulse; I wasn’t ready yet.
    “Can I get up now,” I asked, pulling my shirt back down to cover my exposed stomach.
    “Yeah,” Ryland moved away from me, and a moment later one of his white, fluffy towels landed on my face.
    I sat up and began to wipe and blot at my face and clothes in an attempt to dry off. I moved my now damp hair around my ear, making sure everything that needed to be covered, was.
    “Where’s the sweater I gave you?” he asked as he fiddled with the large entertainment center.
    “I had to leave it in Ilyan’s car last night, so my mom wouldn’t flip.”
    Ryland jumped and took a frantic step toward me. The look on his face froze me in place on the floor.
    “Who?” he roared.
    “Wyn’s brother,” I said.
    Ryland relaxed a bit, but something still seemed off.
    “He’s a jerk, Ry. Like the epitome of a jerk older brother.” I offered him the first explanation I could think of. Even though his reaction didn’t fit with the protective crush theory I was going with.
    Ryland studied me for a minute, his chest puffed and froze in what?… fear?... anger? I couldn’t place it. Finally, he turned away from me, back to the entertainment center, and I made my way to the couch where a large chili cheeseburger sat waiting for me on the coffee table.
    “Sorry, about that,” Ryland said, his back still to me as he slid a DVD into the player. “I thought you were talking about someone else.”
    “It’s okay, Ry. Don’t worry about it.”
    Ryland sat beside me as the movie started, pulling his large burger onto his lap. The title of the movie came up in bloody, red letters right before scary music kicked in and the camera panned over a lake.
    “The Evil Dead? How scary is this? You know I don’t do scary, Ryland.”
    “I think it’s more like over-the-top scary.”
    I still looked at him skeptically as some lady from the 70s began to sing a song.
    “It’s supposed to be funny.”
    “Okay, but if it gets too scary, we’re turning it off.”
    Ryland nodded at me and went back to the movie.
    It was too scary; I didn’t even finish my burger. To anyone else, it wouldn’t have been that frightening; I was just a chicken. I wasn’t even sure what was going on. There was something about a book made out of human skin, and everyone kept turning into demons and trying to attack each other. And there was blood, lots of fake watery blood. By about halfway through, I ended up plastered next to Ryland, his arm wrapped around me as I kept hiding my face in the collar of his yellow polo shirt.
    “It’s over,” Ryland crooned, his hand rubbing my back.
    “That was cruel, Ry. You made me watch the entire thing.” I didn’t even want to move my head from his chest.
    “Well, you didn’t ask me to turn it off.” My head vibrated as a deep chuckle moved through him.
    I couldn’t give a decent rebuttal; he was right; I hadn’t asked him to turn it off. I just sighed and