Kiss of Fire (Imdalind, #1)(29)

I sat, just looking at the tops of the houses and the small field where the freshmen were playing soccer. Before long, the fear of being stalked and the anger at the tension between Wyn and me came back and I sank down a bit.

I wanted someone to talk to. I needed to figure out what was going on, what I was supposed to do. I needed Ry. I needed his strong arms around me and his soothing voice telling me it was okay. I knew I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t indulge myself.

I reached into the pocket where I kept my phone, surprised when my fingertips brushed instead against something small and round.

I pulled it out, expecting to find a wrapper, but instead found the small purple marble in my hand. It rolled around my palm as the wind tugged at it. Watching it shine against the flickers of light clicked something together in my brain. The man, the bead, my dad.

My dad had referred me to a cult, and the cult had obviously found me.





Eight


For the second time in a week, I woke to the sound of Ryland’s knock echoing through my tiny apartment. I fought the urge to yell when I looked at the clock, 5:15 a.m. My alarm wasn’t set to go off for another forty-five minutes. I rolled out of bed and landed hard on the floor.

“I’m coming,” I said loud enough for him to hear me.

“About time,” I heard his happy voice yell back. Great, he’s wide awake.

I crawled toward the door, grabbing a sweater I had discarded last night and threw it on to cover the light-weight cami I wore. I continued to crawl until I reached the front door where I pulled myself upright and threw the door open.

“It’s five in the morning, Ry,” I yawned, my hair falling around my face.

“Yeah, sorry about that.” He ran his big hand through his dark curls, looking away from me. “I was just worried about you.”

“You were worried about me?” My voice sounded more hostile than I had meant it to.

“Yes, Jos.” He looked down, his eyes smoldering and I felt my heart sputter. “Why aren’t you wearing my necklace?” He reached out and trailed the tip of his finger against my neck, his touch leaving a shivering trail behind it.

I grasped toward my collar bone, shocked to find the fine silver chain missing. “It must have fallen off while I slept.” I looked back toward my room, as if just expecting to see it sitting on the fold of my comforter.

“Why don’t you go get it? I’ll get breakfast ready.” He smiled and held up a bag full of greasy doughnuts. I couldn’t help but smile at the look on his face; he was so adorable. I let him in before turning to retrieve the necklace from within the mass of pillows and blankets that was my bed. The necklace lay warm in my hand, as if I had been lying on it all night.

“See, not lost.” I walked up behind Ryland as he searched for plates in the kitchen.

“Good.” He took the necklace from my hands and went to put it around my neck again. I moved my hair for him, so as not to reveal my mark. For a split second, I almost didn’t. I almost wanted him to see it, to see what he would do. That risk was too much for me, though, so I kept it hidden.

“Please don’t take it off, okay?” he pleaded, his deep blue eyes boring into me.

“You act like I’m going to go hock it and buy a car.” I laughed at the thought, but he didn’t. My laughter died off as I sat the milk and some glasses on the table.

“Relax, Ryland, it’s not like I could, even if I tried.”

Ryland looked at me menacingly from beneath his long lashes.

“I couldn’t, could I?”

He chuckled at me.

“I could?”

“More than likely, but please don’t, Joclyn,” he pleaded, coming to kneel in front of me and gathering my hands in his. His hands were warm and soft; the warmth radiated up my arms and through my body in a comforting way that enveloped me.

“Please don’t, Jos. Don’t take it off, don’t sell it, don’t lose it, don’t give it away. Think of it as a piece of me,” he said and looked down at our interlocked hands. “You know I am leaving the country soon, and it may be a while until I see you again. I may… I may never see you again. Please keep it close. That way I will always know you are safe.”

He lifted his head to look at me, and I was shocked to see his eyes brimming with threatening tears. He lifted our hands together and placed them over the necklace, right next to my heart.

“Promise me, Joclyn, please.”

I didn’t know how to react. Was this goodbye? I didn’t think I could handle anymore. It had been a week, one week since my birthday, and everything had flipped upside down. Ryland’s thumb began to caress the back of my hand that he held against my chest, waiting for an answer. The action sent my heart and stomach tangoing through my body in pure pleasure.

“I promise,” I exhaled, hoping that this wasn’t goodbye. Not already. It couldn’t be; there were still four weeks until graduation.

Almost as soon as the words left my lips, my mom’s bedroom door creaked open and Ryland left my side, sitting back in his own chair before my mom could even exit her room.

“Why, Ryland,” her voice was laced with parental venom, “was that your knock I heard at such an ungodly hour this morning?” She wrapped her robe around her as she made her way to the kitchen in search of a coffee mug.