Chapter 42: Hulking Dilemma

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The sound of leather hammering plastic echoed through the empty gym like explosions from a gun. Sweat splattered on the ground as Ryan mutilated the punching bag with his fists. All the anger he hid from everyone else pounded against the plastic. A red haze bordered his vision but he held onto consciousness. Today control threaten to pack it's bags and leave Ryan's mind.


The metal chain that held the bag to the ceiling groaned in the turbulence of his wrath. Pictures of his little brother danced through his mind; pictures of him playing, of him sleeping, of him laughing, of him lying under the big screen TV.

The chain snapped and the punching bag launched across the room like a cannon ball. Bits of ceiling and dust rained down onto the floor.

Ryan growled.

Great, he thought. I'm destroying the mansion. He sighed and hopped over to the red mass lying in defeat on the floor. From one of the seams protruded white stuffing, but the chain still clung to the metal loops at the top. He eased onto the ground and stared at his still broken foot. It burned and throbbed and he wished that he had listened to what the professor said about staying off of it. Ryan looked up at the sound of the double doors
opening.

As Hope glided in her pink smile diminished.


"Ryan, are you okay?" She asked kneeling down beside him. Ryan shoved the hair off of his forehead and pushed the air from his mouth. "Just a little frustrated," he said.


"Just a little?" Hope asked looking at the hole in the ceiling.


"No, in fact, I'm livid." He pushed himself up with his hurt foot suspend in the air and sat on a nearby bench. "Today just...I don't know, for lack of a better word the world sucks today."


Hope rolled an exercise ball up beside the bench and rubbed Ryan's purple toes. At this he could not help but grin. The simple gesture showed him that some good, some compassion still existed in the world.


"So why does today suck babe?" Hope asked.


The brown eyes did not meet hers but stared off into space. "Three years ago today, my family was slaughtered..."


The muscles in his jaw tensed and the skin on his knuckles turned white as he clenched the sides of the bench. The red haze bordered his vision again and he breathed in deeply. He sighed and shook his head. "I hate him, God forgive me I hate him."


Hope's heart jumped a little faster. Ryan was the nicest guy she ever met, but his power and anger scared her. She knew he had every reason in the world to be angry but still... The question always lingered in her mind; What if he lost control?

The consequences would be disastrous. On the Internet she had found pictures of Paul Dorsey after Ryan lost his control the first time. He looked like he had been thrown from a roof. That kind of anger backed up by that kind of power was dangerous.

Hope felt guilty for being so frightened but she could not help it.

She felt like Betty Ross with the Hulk. But then, when he smiled at her... How could someone with so much love and compassion in his heart have so much anger? Her thought patterns broke as his tan hand closed around hers. She looked up into his big eyes.


"I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't be so angry but-"


Hope cut him off with a kiss. He was a magnet to her. She could not help but loose herself in those eyes, in that smile, in his kiss. He controlled his anger now, and maybe that zeal could roll out into love for her. She wished it with all her heart. Without knowing it she slid her hands up his arm to his shoulders, then wrapped her arms around his neck. So warm, so strong. She laughed inwardly at his kisses, sort of timid, but intense. The first time she had kissed him he tensed so much that she thought he had gone into shock.


Her hands slid down his chest but he grabbed them. "Slow down Hope," he said with a smile.


"Sorry," Hope said. "I guess I got a little carried away."

The bench creaked as Ryan rose to one foot. He bent down and kissed her head. "I care about you way too much to hurt you like that." Ryan reached for his crutches and left the gym.

Hope sat staring at the floor for a few moments.

Rejection?

Was he saying I don't care? Hope wondered.

She tried to push the thoughts aside, but they nudged her brain all the more. She did not want to have sex with anyone but her husband, but at the moment her mind had left
her. All she could see was Ryan's soft brown eyes. All she could feel were his strong arms.

How could he think that I don't care?