Forever Enigmatic

Chapter 25

IT WAS EXTREMELY COLD when Sierra opened her eyes, hours later. Her body was tangled with Kyle's as they shared the comforter on top of his car. She shivered, trying to separate herself from him. His arms only held her tighter, so she stopped fighting it.

The darkness had faded into nothing. Light poured from between tree branches, hitting Sierra and Kyle in odd spots. That didn't stop the cold from dominating that early morning. Her breaths still came out in puffs in front of her, and she wondered how they managed to sleep in such temperatures.

Kyle let out a soft sigh and brought her closer to him. It was as if she was his personal teddy bear or something. Her cheeks burned at the thought. He wouldn't think of her like that. He was probably cold and her body heat took that away. It wasn't a big deal.

But her heart was beating erratically anyway.

She stared at his features without feeling his intense stare on her. Without his orbs in view, he looked soft. His angular face didn't look as intimidating. His straight lashes rested on the tops of his cheeks, forming a slight shadow. His lips were slightly ajar, letting out soft snores every once in a while.

For the first time ever, she found him cute, endearing even. She was sure that would be long gone once he woke up. His stare was the one that transformed him into a tough guy. It was a stare that left everyone speechless, or at least slightly uncomfortable about what he was thinking or what he could do. He looked like a terrifying man, and, most of the times, acted like it too.

Her eyes started drooping again, so she got comfortable on Kyle's side when the crunch of leaves startled her. This time she sat up against Kyle's strong arms. He whined in his sleep, but she didn't care.

She rubbed at her eyes and looked around the woods. When nothing seemed out of the ordinary, she frowned. She heard the crunches again and whipped her head to the side. Her heart started beating hard again, but this time for a different reason.

A twig broke way too close for comfort. She swallowed the lump in her throat and turned to Kyle's sleeping figure. His arms seemed to be looking for her as he felt around. If she wasn't so terrified, maybe she would have blushed at the thought of him wanting her close to him.

However, that wasn't the case.

The bustling continued, so she shook Kyle's shoulder. He jolted awake with a surprised "huh?" When he focused on her face, he grew solemn.

"What happened?"

In response, more crunches were heard from the side. Sierra bit the inside of her cheek and scooted closer to Kyle, hoping to be safer with him.

Kyle tensed up, and, much to her dismay, slid off the top of his car. Sierra wanted to suggest they leave, they had the car right there, but Kyle decided it was fine to go into the woods to investigate.

The trees around her seemed to sway about.

"Kyle," Sierra called out, trying to keep her voice low. "Please, let's go."

"Relax, I'm just checking."

"Checking is how you get yourself killed. Please, Kyle, let's get out of here," she pleaded. Kyle turned to her. By then, he was a couple of feet deeper into the forest of trees. Sierra hoped nothing would pop out to give them a splendid surprise.

He checked for a few more minutes, which gave Sierra a great deal of anxiety. She wanted to leave that spot immediately. From what she understood, he liked to go there many times, so if he was confused about something, then that meant something bad was going to happen. If something bad was going to happen to him, she wouldn't know what to do.