Chapter 2

The next day, the morning prayer felt incredibly awkward. The disturbing images from the previous night haunted me, and the Head Nun’s voice seemed chillingly out of place. She prayed to God as usual, as if she hadn’t defiled the prayer hall the night before. Worse, the man who had tainted our Nun also attended the prayer. I could feel his burning gaze on me, but I kept my eyes tightly closed. I thought if he were out of my sight, he would be out of my mind. But the moment the prayer ended, he came straight to me. His presence made me anxious in all the wrong ways, and I glared at him as he tried to speak to me.

As if my reaction amused him, he chuckled and turned to the Head Nun, "Head Nun, this young lady here helped me out once, and I've been searching for a way to express my gratitude, but she won't let me take her out for dinner to thank her. Maybe you can convince her". I gasped at his audacity and turned to the Head Nun, ready to decline, but it was too late. The Head Nun smiled at me and urged me to attend the dinner. With so many eyes watching us, I couldn't press the matter, so I reluctantly agreed.

For the rest of the day, though, I actively avoided bumping into him, even going as far as taking a U-turn when I saw him coming in my direction. I successfully avoided him until evening, but when the Head Nun knocked on my door to inform me that the man was waiting to take me out for dinner, I had no choice but to meet him outside the Church doors.

He was waiting for me, dressed head-to-toe in leather. He was on a bike, and behind him was a trail of other bikes and his friends. I glanced at everyone, and they were already watching me like a hawk, so I ducked my head and quietly moved closer to Mr. Ryker, who handed me a helmet. When he glanced at my clothes, he frowned.

"You can't ride the bike with that," he stated.

"I can only wear this," I deadpanned, at which he chuckled again and tapped my nose with his leather-clad finger.

"Yes, you can wear something else. I knew you'd be dressed in a gown, so I prepared some clothes for you". He motioned to one of his friends to hand me the clothes.

"I won't change," I said firmly.

"Would you rather I undress you and dress you myself, or would you go back in, dress in the clothes I brought, and come out quick? What's it going to be?" His eyes held a promise, so I cowardly nodded and changed into the clothes he had brought. It felt weird wearing anything other than my gown after becoming a nun. It didn't feel right, but I thanked Heaven that he had brought something that covered me appropriately. The only thing that bothered me was that nothing could cover my long hair.

When I came out, the man buckled the helmet for me. After he was done, I got on the bike, and that's when I felt it. The cold air brushed my face like never before. My waist-length hair instantly became a tangled mess, but I actually liked how playfully the air caressed it. I closed my eyes, enjoying the cold breeze, until I heard the bikes rumbling behind us, getting further away. Startled, I looked behind us to find the other bikes going in a different direction. Seeing us driving to a secluded part of the forest, I started thinking of the worst possible situation. The first thought that consumed me was that Mr. Ryker was taking me to the forest to silence me. After all, yesterday, I had witnessed something I shouldn't have. That was the only possibility, especially considering he was taking me through the forest just as it was getting dark.

"You have a pretty wild imagination, love," Mr. Ryker said suddenly.

With a shaky voice, I replied, "What do you mean?"

"You're shaking so hard, it's impossible not to notice your nervousness. Or are you that excited to be alone with me? What would it be?" Mr. Ryker asked. When I didn't reply, he said, "Don't worry, my love. The last thing you would have to worry about is getting hurt by me. You should be more worried about getting f—ked against these trees". Even though his statement disgusted me, it surprisingly helped me calm down a notch. With whatever confidence I could muster, I was sure he wouldn't do that without my permission.

"Hold onto me tightly; I'm going to speed up," Mr. Ryker warned, and then he sped up the bike. Left with no choice, I wrapped my arms around his waist to protect myself from falling off.

After what felt like an eternity, the forest line cleared, and we drove to the edge of a cliff. By the time we reached the cliff, it was completely dark. "Hop off, love," I did as he told me and let Ryker lead me to the cliff edge.

"You can look over your town and mine from here," Ryker pointed out the towns, so I knew which was which. As silence settled over us, I admired the sight I had never seen before. I never realized a city could look so beautiful at night when viewed from a cliff. The moon shone on the towns like God's grace, illuminating them in the most alluring way. I looked at my town, spotted my Church's steeple, and smiled softly.

"Your hair is all knotted up," Ryker said, pressing himself against me from behind and softly running his fingers through my locks. In shock, I flinched, but Ryker didn't let me move away. He held my arms and asked me to stay put as he continued to work on the knots in my hair.

"I can do that myself," I tried to get away from him again, but this time, he hugged me back and whispered, "I won't eat you, princess. At least not yet". His words made my heart leap out of my chest, and I jumped away from him. "You eat humans?!" I looked at him wide-eyed, praying to God that I wouldn't become his dinner tonight. At my reaction, Ryker looked stunned before he burst into laughter.

"I wonder..." He started as he closed the distance between us, "What would be your reaction? How you will squirm and moan as I eat you out. I bet it would be addictive". When he saw fear in my eyes, he smiled and leaned into my ear, "To answer your question, no, I don't eat humans. My version of 'eating' is what I did to your Head Nun yesterday".

"You scoundrel!" I hissed at him and pushed him away. It was another thing entirely that I couldn't move the mountain of a man in front of me.

"You look like a wild kitten when you're angry. An adorable one at that," He pinched my cheeks.

"You're unbelievable. Take me back to Church. I don't want your gratitude," I huffed at him.

"We still have to eat, cupcake," he said.

"But I don't want to eat with you," I replied, to which Ryker simply dismissed me and gave me another choice: eat with him or stay on the cliff all night. With a heavy heart, I chose dinner. He drove me to the town next to ours for dinner. Not wanting to spend any extra time with him, I ordered the first thing I saw on the menu and gulped everything down within minutes. When I looked up, I noticed Ryker hadn’t touched his dinner.

"Why are you not eating?" I urged him to eat so I could return to Church, but Ryker only smiled and said, "What to do, princess? You must wait for me to finish". He took the tiniest bite in the world, and it dawned on me that he was deliberately eating like that so he could keep me with him.

~.~