I had never let myself truly dwell on what had happened between Ryder and Nix before Ryder ended up in the hospital until now. I hadn’t wanted to remember the agony of leaving Ryder. How impossible it had been to abandon him while he’d been in the hospital barely recovering from the most intense fight of his life.
But now that I thought about it, Ryder, for reasons still not explained to me, had almost putNixin the hospital.
I was sure that whatever supernatural power he’d used a year ago could keep Nix and his goons away from him today.
Why had I convinced myself I needed to be here?
Oh, god. I was such an idiot!
Ryder ended that song and moved onto the next. This time his eyes never drifted my direction. He never turned his focus to me again. His words rang out into the air and wrapped around my heart like a wire barb.
I couldn’t do this.
I had to get out of here.
I would fly straight back to Tortola and I would never leave the island again.Never. I would spend the rest of my life as a waitress in Fleur’s café. And spend all of my other time with my feet in the ocean. I didn’t care about Olympus or the war between gods or my mother or Ryder or Honor or anybody.
Okay, some of that was a lie.
But the important thing was just getting home.Now.
I pushed through people that had filtered in behind me and practically ran for the door. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Tears wet my cheeks and my breathing stuck in my throat.
“Ivy?”
I jumped back just as someone stepped in my path. Cute, turquoise wedge sandals blurred in front of me. I blinked back tears to find the sandals belonged to tanned legs, white shorts and a bright orange flowy tank top.
Kenna Lee.
“Ivy, are you all right?” she asked in a gentled voice.
I wiped a rogue tear away with the back of my hand and nodded. “I’m fine,” I lied.
“I knew you were here the second I heard that song,” she told me over the loud music. I wished she wouldn’t shout those damning words. “I’ve heard them practice it. I just didn’t think they would ever play it live.”
I shrugged. “I mean… it might not even be about me.”
I looked away from her incredulous expression. Okay, obviously it was about me.
“Do you want to go to the bathroom?” she asked. “We usually do this in there.”
I found myself smiling. “It’s good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too,” she replied and she sounded sincere. I finally found the courage to meet her probing gaze. “You just disappeared. Nobody knew where you went and Ryder… Well, you heard the song. He didn’t take it very well. I don’t know if you heard or not, but he was in an accident. He was in the hospital for a while. It was kind of touch and go for a bit and-”
“I heard,” I assured her.
Which turned out to be a mistake.
Her sympathetic expression flashed with accusation. “You knew he was in the hospital and you didn’t come back?”
I cleared my throat and tried as best as I could to hold my shattering heart together. “I, uh, I thought it would be better if I stayed away.”
“Did you even ask Ryder what he wanted? I mean, Ivy, he was really broken up about you leaving. He missed a ton of school and Hayden told me he was thinking about hiring a private detective to find you. Ryder was out of his mind when you left. I mean… even now, I don’t know if he’s any better, but he did manage to graduate, by like the skin of his teeth.”
Each word hit me like a physical blow. I just wanted her to shut up and let me escape. I couldn’t take this anymore.
I left to protect him.
