How to Tame a Cat (ManxMan)

Chapter Thirty: Forced Together - Part One

~Chapter Thirty: Forced Together~

Apparently, no such reason exists.

I regret to admit that Cameron was right about more than one thing yesterday. I cannot keep ignoring the issue, because I am stuck in the cab of a truck with said issue on a three hour drive to the city of Cheyenne in Wyoming. The first hour, I pretended to be asleep, though I doubt Ryland believed my acting, since I would grimace every time we went over a bump in the road or slowed down suddenly because of traffic.

Halfway through the second hour, I gave up and turned my attention to the rapidly-changing scenery on the other side of the window. The tension in the cab is steadily growing, which is something I have been ignoring. Or, rather, trying to ignore.

As the tension continues to build, I find myself becoming more fidgety and irritable, though the latter is directed more at myself for being affected by the silence. I glance at the GPS navigation system on his dashboard, and grimace when I realize that we still have a long way to go before we reach the city. Or any city. Everywhere I look, there are just trees and mountains and a hell of a lot of grass. And with the sun on the verge of setting, it will soon only be a bunch of dark smudges.

"Fine, I get it. You're angry," I growl, breaking the silence for the first time since I got into the truck. Ryland takes his eyes off the road for a moment to meet my gaze, but I refuse to look him in the eye, keeping my gaze firmly fixed on the world outside my window, and he returns his attention to highway. "Go ahead and rant, or whatever it is you do."

"There's nothing I can say that would express how I am feeling right now," Ryland says, with a touch of ice in his accented voice. I glance over at him, suddenly a little nervous. It is completely understandable that he would be angry, but I was expecting him to shout, not address me with cold fury.

I slide down in my seat, feeling conflicted. What I did was necessary to keep myself from control of the situation, but I feel bad for making him suffer because of my problems. It might be his fault for choosing me as his mate, but he is a good person and deserves someone who would be good to him, someone better than me.

That thought sends a tendril of jealousy into my heart, as well as a ping of sadness that resonates through my entire body. It is stupid, and I know it is only the frenzy that is making me feel these emotions, but that does not change the fact that I am feeling them. And that it hurts.

When Ryland does not add anything onto his statement, I shift uneasily in my seat. What am I supposed to say to that? 'Oh, that's good?'

"So, in other words, you're angry?" I offer up, trying to fill the silence and hopefully lead him to start a conversation. Or a rant.

Since he is clearly clenching his teeth, I would have to say that I am getting pretty close. "For lack of a better word, yes," he forces out, turning his head to look at me. Caught unaware, I accidentally meet his gaze and see a number of raw emotions in his eyes. But the one that catches my attention the most is the hurt reflecting there.

Shit...

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" I try, though I know it does very little in ways of repairing our previous relationship. Not that I should want to repair it. If I let him remain angry, maybe he will give up and leave me be during the our last weekend. "I just needed some time to think."

Ryland turns his attention back to the road, but something about his expression looks softer than a moment ago. Maybe it is because he stopped grinding his teeth. "If you needed space, amore mio, you could have said so over the phone, not left me to figure it out on my own," he says, his voice still gruff.