Shattering Me

4~ the Awkward Apologies

Kyle's smile was sheepish and a bit embarrassed since he was in the process of ringing the bell for a fourth time in as many seconds. The young man wasn't impressive to say the least. Now that Ryan could see him more clearly in the light of day, he could see where he'd made a mistake before. The boy was tall and had a firm jawline which made him appear more masculine along with the clothes he wore. On closer look, however, Kyle was painfully thin and emasculate. It was no wonder his ribs cracked so easily when Ryan restrained him.

"Hi," he said awkwardly.

"Hey...it's Kyle, right?" he asked as if he didn't already know.

"Yeah. Sorry to-"

"Hello!" Julie had gotten impatient waiting for her friend to return and finish her story. So, she came up behind Ryan and strung an arm over his shoulder while smiling at the new visitor.

"Um, hello. I am, um, sorry if I'm interrupting anything. I just wanted to say thank you for saving my life the other night. I was in kind of a bad position, and I know that kind of thing must be pretty uncomfortable to get involved with. So, I asked the police chief for your address. I hope that's okay with you, Mr. Krag." Ryan cringed internally.

"You can call me Ryan. I was actually planning on checking in with you soon, so it's not a problem. I'm glad I could help, if I did.

"I'd actually like to apologize for breaking your- for injuring you."

Kyle let out a nervous laugh and ran a casual hand through his dark brown hair. His eyes flicked up to Ryan's face for just a second before roaming back to the side of the house he'd been staring at for the entire encounter. "Yeah, it's cool. I heard that the Krags were something else, so I guess I got to see that for myself."

Again, there was a cringe in Ryan's gut after hearing his family name used that way. It wasn't painful or even too uncomfortable, but it was there nonetheless. The first thing people learned about him when they heard his last name was that he was strong and possibly dangerous. The sons of Krag were powerhouses of the natural world.

Kyle wasn't usually so nervous around new people, but Ryan was just something else entirely. His skin was far darker than any of the islanders, yet his eyes were like bright amber pearls sparkling with electricity. Then there was the way Ryan's muscles seemed to be trying to rip his shirt apart with every move the guy made. It wasn't impossible to look at him at all, but it made Kyle uncomfortable in too many ways to deal with.

Of course, getting a better look at the guy who broke him up was the main reason he got in a taxi and drove all the way out there that afternoon. Chief Taluka had already given him Ryan's phone number and there was nothing that said he had to come in person.

It quickly became something that he regretted as he stood awkwardly in the doorway with nothing left to say. He started backing away casually and said, "I better go. You know how hard it can be to get a taxi around this time."

Just as he turned to make a very rushed exit, Ryan's arm gripped his shoulder. The man was faster than he looked and the distance that previously separated them vanished. "Let me drive you," he said.

Kyle genuinely wanted to refuse, but could not find the bravado to speak up at the moment. His sides still ached like all hell from the last time the man touched him, and he'd subconsciously become more submissive as a result. He simply nodded and followed Ryan to the car. Julie watched the whole exchange with annoyance pouring from every curve of her figure. Her story would just have to wait.

--------------------------------------the Unwelcome Intruders-------------------------------

Most people weren't aware of exactly how much wealth flowed through the Hawaiian Islands. Tourists from all over the world viewed the area as a prime place to spend money.

It was because of this fact, that a drug trafficking organization like the Helix was able to thrive. They were just the run of the mill thugs that you could find on any random street alley, but more elusive. Supported by the massive wealth of the islands, the Helix were fast and efficient. They were harsh and merciless. They were all you could look for in a dangerous criminal...and more.

After testing their patience for weeks, Kyle was lucky he chose to leave home when he did. If he hadn't, the men that were waiting for a chance to cleanly search the house would have entered with or without him inside.

Every member of the Helix had the title of advocate, but most were nothing more than designer grunts. Dressed in pitch black polo shirts with a strange white spiral pattern covering the left side of their torso and slim dark gray track pants, they jumped the tall fence bordering the Cane estate.

Helix's advocates always moved in squads of three, with one woman serving as a lookout for the other two.

The house wasn't entirely empty of course, but the only staff still working in the home were fairly old and easy to deal with. A couple of sweet cleaning ladies that stuck around to take after the young Cane even after the accident.

The advocates crept in from the back of the house and entered with a swift crack against the kitchen window. That is the thing about break-ins. If someone hears a loud sound somewhere in the distance they will pause to listen, but if it doesn't happen again they often disregard it entirely. The advocates, however, only needed to break one window.

One of the men was tall and had pale skin while the other was a little under six feet and had a noticeably fake tan. They signaled quietly after entering the house and began hunting down the staff. They found one cleaning lady in the deceased parents' bedroom. She'd been gazing at the picture shelf and dusting longingly out of habit and didn't even get a chance to turn around and see the Helix before she was smashed in the back of her head and pushed into a closet. Then they found the other old woman in the servant's bathroom. The poor grandmother had drifted off to sleep long before the spiral-clad criminals snuffed her out with clorophorm for good measure and left her in the bath tub.

Now that they had free reign to roam the enormous house, the Helix invaders began tearing it apart. They ripped floorboards from the ground and toppled shelves off the walls. Ripped apart canvases, tore open pillows, and decimated anything that could be used to conceal a hiding place. The smaller of the two even went as far as leaping up into the air and ripping a suspiciously large chandelier from the roof of the dining room.

"This shit isn't here," pale face swore after over an hour of extensive searching. "The Canes wouldn't be dumb enough to hide the formula in any of the normal places. We'll never find it like this," he grunted.

They descended back to the ground floor living room and promptly resumed tearing open pieces of furniture. "Then we have no choice. We torch the place and find the kid. If he's dead then we won't even need it."

It was a work of pure irony, that Ryan's car pulled into the Cane driveway at that exact moment...