Oh, had he been talking to me this whole time? While I had I just been ogling him like an idiot? And did he just sayhe’d spank me?
“Uhh, sorry, what did you say?”
He frowns before answering, “I said, what were you thinking? You almost got yourself killed back there. Were you really trying to pet a caledon?”
“A caledon?”
“Yes, that creature you were trying to pet like a puppy, it was a caledon. Now tell me, what were you thinking?”
“I… I didn’t know it was dangerous. I thought maybe I could ride it.” I shrug, realizing how stupid that sounds now. At the time, it seemed like a good way to get to the village, but in hindsight, it had been pretty dumb.
“Ride it?” He stares at me, bewildered. “You wanted to… ride it?” And now he’s looking at me like I’m stupid.
“I didn’t know it was dangerous, I’m not from around here. I’ve never seen a bullicorn before.”
“Bullicorn?” He frowns at me.
“Yeah, you know, a mix between a bull and a unicorn?”
I can’t read the expression on his face now, and he drops his eyes to look at his hands on my waist. He lets go suddenly, as if I’ve burned him, and takes a quick step backwards.
“What were you doing out there alone? Where are your men?”
“Oh, well, after I fell down the mountain, I figured I’d walk to the village and meet them there.”
He rubs his fingers into his forehead, as if he’s getting a headache. “Did you just say… you fell down the mountain?”
“Umm … yes?”
He drops his hands as his eyes roam over me.
“And what exactly were you doing that caused you to do that?”
Did he think I did it on purpose? “I was just looking down at the valley and the forest. After the avalanche trapped us inside the mountain, we spent the past daystuck in there, and I was excited to get out. I mean, I’ve only been in this realm for a couple of days, but I was surrounded by just snow and ice for most of it.”
He stares at me blankly for all of three seconds before placing his hands on his hip and dropping his head back and staring at the sky.
“Why me?” he sighs.
“Why you, what?”
“Why do I always seem to meet the crazy ones?”
I recoil at his words, placing my hand over my heart.Why do his words hurt so much?There’s nothing wrong with being a little… crazy. But then I remember the last time somebody had called me that, and I try not to relive my emotions from it.
I’m sure he didn’t mean it like they did.
Losing my twin brother at sixteen, that sucked. Losing my parents to a car accident at age eighteen was horrible. In the span of a couple of years, I had lost my entire family. The only person I had left was Ria.
I started throwing myself into more extreme sports and hobbies. The adrenaline somehow making the pain go away, even if just for a short while. I knew it probably wasn’t the healthiest way to cope, but I figured it was better than drugs or alcohol.
It was a few months after my parents had died that I made a few new friends on a skydiving excursion. Mike had been pretty flirtatious and asked me to hang out with him and his friends afterwards. We had a fire on the beach and sat around all night talking until the sun came up. It was so much fun… until it wasn’t.
I’m not sure what caused me to say it, maybe the lack of sleep, or the adrenaline rush, or finally thinking that I was feeling something again other than pain. But when Mike suggested we keep the party going, I may have suggested that we should elope. I mean, I was just kidding, but it was like a switch flipped in him. He and his friends started laughing at me, calling me bat shit crazy. He said that the whole night meant nothing to him, he was justtrying to get laid.
I barely knew the guy and I don’t know why it hurt so much, even now, ten years later, I still remember that day with such pain. Something about him calling me crazy after spending such a great night together, it just got to me.
So now, standing here staring at my handsome savior, I had to remind myself that he wasn’t Mike.
