~Nari~
I stirred in my sleep, but at the sense of something hard yet slightly soft and very very warm, I instantly came to. My eyes snapped opened to a person’s chest. Very much a guy’s chest actually. A guy’s chest that I just happened to be laying on. Oh, and a heavy guy’s arm that just happened to be draped over my side.
My breathing quickened from the memories crashing down on me of everything that had just transpired up to this point while taking in Mycah’s familiar woodsy scent.
“Hello, lovely.” His English accent was slick as velvet, and I knew in this very moment that I never, never ever would I get over how sexy it was. If getting kidnapped, drugged, beaten, starved, and scared half to death wasn’t enough to keep my heart from racing and head spinning, then I was confident absolutely nothing would.
But before I could respond or even register where I was, Mycah was pulled from underneath me.
“What the heck is going on here?!” Rydan roared. He had Mycah pinned against the wall. My wall. As I quickly sat up, I looked around and realized I was back at home in my bed.
“Rydan! My god is it good to see you!” I tried to stand up, to run to him, but the movement of sitting up too fast made my head pound and the room spin.
“Who the heck is this, Nari? And where have you been? I've been worried sick. If this douchebag laid a finger on you or hurt you in any way I swear…” He pushed Mycah against the wall even more forcefully. Mycah didn’t say or do anything. He didn’t even look upset. He just stared calmly at Rydan…He kind of looked amused.
“I am going to kill you,” Rydan growled in Mycah’s face.
“Rydan, stop it! He didn’t hurt me, I promise. Just let him go!” But he didn’t; he kept him locked against the wall.
“Have you been with this prick the entire time? Nari, answer me. Why haven’t you called me or at least sent me a text—anything to let me know that you were okay? I thought Ray might've…” He looked at me then, and I could see the hurt in his eyes.
“Ry, please believe me—”
“Yes, she was with me. Got a problem with that, mate?” Mycah cut me off and turned to look at me—a look that was obviously pleading with me to follow along. Wait, was I seriously not allowed to tell my best friend that I was captured and abused and that all I wanted to do was call for him? That I would have never left him hanging like that?
I opened my mouth to protest—to deny it and spill my guts about everything that had happened—but I didn’t get the chance to before Rydan full-blown punched Mycah in the face.
“Rydan! What are you doing?!” I screeched, trying desperately to stand up. Mycah retaliated by forcing Rydan back against the opposite wall, right into my bookcase, knocking the picture of my mother off onto the floor. They were grunting and heaving and being completely ridiculous, and after all that I had been through, I had enough. Grateful for the existence of adrenaline, I scrambled to my feet and ran over to them.
“Stop it! Both of you! Just stop it!” I clawed and pulled at Mycah’s arms to let Rydan go, who held onto Mycah just as firmly, trying to force him back.
“Rydan, please, just go. I’ll talk to you later, okay?” I wanted nothing more than to run into Rydan’s arms and have him hold me and tell me everything was going to be okay, but first I needed answers. I needed answers from Mycah before I could even pretend to talk to Rydan. There was no way I could explain anything to him right now. I didn’t even understand one single moment of it myself.
But at my words, the look of hurt and betrayal that crossed his face would forever haunt me. It left me speechless and reeling, wishing I could take them back and beg for forgiveness.
“You want me to go?” His voice was pained and so low, I barely heard it.
“You heard her, get out of here.” Mycah let go of him then and backed away, never taking his eyes off Rydan. He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand where Rydan had punched him.
“No, it’s just that…”
“Forget it, Nari. I get it. I understand completely.” The venomous way Rydan said those words made me know for sure that he completely did not understand. He didn’t understand one bit. I wanted to explain that I wasn’t picking Mycah over him, that I didn’t actually want him to go, I just needed to figure things out first, and I wasn’t going to be able to do that with him here.
Still, he took it the wrong way, and before another word could be said, he pushed his way past Mycah and out my room. I felt incredibly guilty and just wished he knew how much I needed him. I heard the front door of my house slam closed, and faintly wondered where Ray was?
The silence was deafening, and I slowly looked at Mycah who already stared at me, face full of concern. I slumped to the floor, feeling the weight of my prior affliction full force. My body began to tremble out of weakness, and even though it felt like I’d been sleeping for days, I knew it wasn’t near long enough.
I stared back at him for a few moments. He was gorgeous. Tall, with perfect posture, lean but very muscular, black hair in disarray and looking utterly dangerous. He came off as otherworldly, like his entire demeanor screamed foreign, exuding confidence. I could feel my blood pulsing through all my extremities as the silence continued. My eyes went to his strange tattoo, and I could finally make it out.
I was right about the scarring. I could now tell though that it was intended scarring, meant to be a design on his skin mixed in with the ink. It was beautiful and intricate and like nothing I had ever seen before.
It was small, but the detail was clear. It was a willow tree growing atop the hilt of a sword. A strange but beautiful crown swirled around the blade, and I swear for a second I saw a shimmer of midnight blue within a tiny intricate star in the middle of the crescent-moon shaped jewel of the crown.
“Mycah, please, who are you? What…are you?” I looked to my bare feet, trying to stay brave. I had to know. There was no way I could go on not knowing the answers to everything that had happened, and I worried he wasn’t going to tell me. I always jokingly thought I was crazy, but if he didn’t give me answers, I really would go insane.
“You need to rest. You are still weak,” he cajoled. My eyes shot up to his, ready to beg and plead for answers.
“No, you’ve got to be kidding. I can’t rest now. I need to know why those men took me, why they asked about you and…and…some other person.” I tried to remember what the man said, but my memories were fuzzy.
“Some other person? Who?” Mycah sounded just as confused as I was.
“I can’t remember the name. It was something I’ve never heard before. Mycah, please. You can trust me. Tell me everything. How did you do all that crazy stuff? Did you fix my sculpture? How did you put Ray to sleep and—” I started to list all of the insane things I witnessed Mycah do, remembering how he healed me, but he bent down and put a hand over my mouth to silence me.
“Shhh. You never know who may be listening,” he barely whispered. My eyes bugged out of their sockets, and I tried very hard to return them to normal as I stood up, but all this crazy was really becoming too much.
“Ray…I totally forgot about him. I haven’t heard him at all; do you think he’s here? How long have I been out? It looks like dawn, so he should be getting ready for work.” I looked around my room trying to distract myself from not only the touch of Mycah’s warm, soft hand that now lingered on my collarbone but also from the thought that Mycah might have meant more people other than Ray could be listening to us right now.
“He’s not here.” Mycah was very calm and relaxed, and for some odd reason, that unnerved me.
“What do you mean he’s not here? Where is he?” And how did Mycah know he wasn’t here?
“You’ve been unconscious for a few days, but you’re still recovering. Why don’t you rest and then later when you wake up we can go somewhere…” He stared at me intently and mouthed the words "and talk." He was really beginning to freak me out. Again.
I just nodded my h
ead and slowly, hesitantly, walked back to my bed. I knew there was no use trying to get answers now. He wasn’t going to tell me anything here, and the pounding headache I was experiencing would never allow me to argue either. He was right. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was still weak. I felt extremely exhausted and sore.
As I lay down, panic shot through me all over again. Was he going to leave me alone? What if those men came back for me? I quickly turned to face him just as he walked to my window and looked outside.
“Umm…” I sat up on my elbow, trying to figure out how to ask him to stay without sounding like a baby.
“I’m not going to leave you. Don’t worry, love,” he spoke into the window nonchalantly and put both hands in his pockets.
“It’s just…what if they come for me again? They know where I live, I shouldn’t be in the same place they got me before.” I could hear the panic in my voice, and I knew Mycah didn’t miss it either when he walked over to me and knelt down next to my bed.
He brushed my long hair behind my ear as he said, “You must trust me, Nariella. You’re safe with me. I won’t let them hurt you again. I promise you.” He spoke with such assurance that I did trust him. I didn’t know why, but I could feel that every word he said was true, and my shoulders sagged with relief as I fully lay down again.
“I’ll be right here when you wake up.” He wiped away a tear that escaped the corner of my eye with his thumb and sat on the floor next to me. I nodded my head as I closed my eyes, knowing he would be.