The Protector

THIRTY-FOUR

I slammed through the door of the bright, state of the art locker room, savoring the way the wall of stainless steel lockers slammed shut one by one as I glared at them. I felt the sizzle in my eyes intensify as I sauntered menacingly towards the back of the room. He must pay for the way he hurt Julian. 

I turned the corner and walked into the expansive open shower room where Kyler stood, the hot water trailing over his bare shoulders and down his naked body. Thankfully, a half wall hit him just below his hips and concealed everything below his waist. My anger momentarily stalled by the sight of him engulfed in the steam, but resumed when I noticed the red water flowing down the drain. 

My anger flared thinking of his fists making a bloody pulp of Julian's face. Kyler noticed me and smirked, shutting the water off immediately. A Healer stood next to him holding a towel, her cheeks bright pink, and he reached his long muscular arm out for it. She hurriedly turned her back to him as he slowly wrapped it loosely around his hips. Our eyes stayed locked on each other as he leaned against the half wall and cracked his own rib back into place. His eyes still looked a shade too dark, and off somehow.

"Leave us," Kyler said to the small brown haired Healer, without glancing in her direction. She bowed once before she made a beeline for the door. She must have sensed the electricity in the air, waiting to electrocute us both. After I heard the door shut securely and I knew we were alone, I finally unleashed myself on him.

"How dare you!!" I screamed at him, unsure about which part of the situation caused the majority of my anger. Was it Julian's beating, Kyler's relationship with Alana, or his absence for three months?

"Calm down," he said dismissively as he walked from the shower area to his locker that was twice the size of everyone else's.

"Calm down?" I shrieked hysterically into his back as he pulled his shirt over his wet skin. "You abandoned me three months ago and just beat my boyfriend unconscious!"

"Abandoned you?" He turned, his dark eyes amused. "How could I have abandoned you? We weren't together. I wasn't your Protector," he smirked and my anger immediately melted.

"What?" I shook my head, not understanding the words coming from his beautiful mouth. He dropped the towel from around his waist, his eyes never leaving mine, and pulled his tight black boxer briefs up his legs and around his ripped abs.

"I didn't abandon you, Perry. We were never dating. You weren't my girlfriend," he said matter-of-factly. He grabbed his towel and dried his blonde hair until it stuck out in a million different directions. My stomach dropped, mortified.

"How can you possibly say that? You know we had something incredible. Something special. We could feel each other," I insisted, knowing it wasn't all in my head.

"Oh yeah, the feeling thing. That's one of your special talents. There was nothing between us. I'm sure you and Julian can do that too," Kyler said with a sarcastic smile as he pulled his jeans from his locker.

"Yes, but it's not the same," I stammered. "I can see through his eyes, recalling his memories, but I can't feel every square inch of him, and he certainly can't feel me. Not like you did," I muttered, knowing I sounded crazy and desperate, but I couldn't help it. It was one thing if Kyler didn't want to be with me, but to pretend what we shared was nothing was unbearable. He sighed as he threaded each leg into his dark denim jeans.

"What we had may have been fun at times, but it was completely inappropriate."

"Fun?" I spat and felt as though my eyes might bulge right out of my head. "That's all it was to you? Kyler, I felt like I was going to die when you disappeared. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't eat. I felt like a part of me was missing." I was embarrassed at my vulnerability as the words left my lips and his eyes confirmed my feeling when he looked back at me blandly.

"Don't be so dramatic. Besides, it couldn't have been that bad if you've already moved on to someone else," he said with a roll of his eyes, the words stinging my soul.

"Julian helped me get over you," I stated calmly, trying to convince both of us this was true.

"Oh, I'm sure he helped you quite a bit. Look, it was never a secret I was engaged. I'm sorry if I led you on," he said with a shrug. My eyes stared daggers into his.

"You broke off your engagement to be with me! How can you stand there and pretend we were only a fun fling, and you're sorry for leading me on?!" I screamed again, pulling at my hair. I wanted to slap him, or shake some sense into him, or kiss him and remind him of what we once had.

"Based on your current mental state, it was probably best that it was just a fun fling," he said as he placed his hands on his hips, his frustration mounting. "What is it you need to hear from me, because obviously you aren't getting it." My stomach sank from the malice in his voice, a hardness I had never heard from him before. "Do you need to hear I don't love you? That I love Alana instead?" I tore my eyes away from him and stared at the floor. "Do you need me to tell you I chose her and I only kissed you because my stupid selfish dick told me to?" I swallowed against the bile in my throat as the white tile floor blurred from the tears swimming in my eyes. "Because it's the truth. You were nothing more than a disgusting phase to me, Perry," he snarled, and my eyes snapped back up to him as my hand rose and slapped his freshly healed cheek hard.

"You're disgusting," I screamed, batting my eyelashes to keep my tears at bay. If that was truly how he felt, that I was a phase, he didn't get to see me cry. "I never want to talk to or see you ever again," I said, choking on the words because the thought of that truth broke my heart far worse than his words had. I turned on my heel to leave, the first tear falling before I could stop it. His large fingers lashed out and encircled my wrist, twirling me back to face him. My cheeks were wet, but my eyes desperately searched his eyes for any sign of the man who had stolen my heart, the man who made me feel like life was worth living. I pushed myself out to feel him but there was nothing there. Absolutely no sign of what he was or what we had.

"Thanks for letting me go," he said sarcastically with a laugh, ripping his hand from my wrist to run it through his wet hair. I glared at him with disdain one last time before I turned around, sobbing, and he didn't stop me.