“Everything’s going to be alright, princess.”
Jayson pulls me to him one last time and kisses me softly.
His words and endearment reassure me. They fill me with promise. Yes, everything is going to work out. It has to. I won’t settle for anything less. The four of us - Jayson, Julien, Ryder, and I - a family, together, united. My best friends by my side which now include my boyfriend. I take a deep cleansing breath, one filled with hope. But that hope shatters when I hear a deep voice yell from behind me.
“You piece of shit!”
Chapter 7
Elizabeth
Before I can register what’s happening, Jayson’s body is torn away from mine and thrown backward. I watch in horror as Ryder tackles Jayson to the ground. They roll over in the grass a few times before Ryder gains the upper hand and pins Jayson down, right fist smashing into his face.
“You son of a bitch!”
Ryder hits Jayson again.
“You knew! You fucking knew and you stabbed me in the back!”
Another blow.
Why isn’t Jayson fighting back? What the hell is going on?
After standing like a statue, completely frozen not knowing what to do, I finally find my voice.
“Ryder, stop! Ryder, you’re hurting him!”
I run over and try to pull Ryder off of Jayson, but it’s no use. He either is not hearing me, or if he is, he doesn’t care.
I hear a car pull up the driveway, but I don’t look over to see who it is. My only concern is preventing Ryder from killing Jayson. Jayson’s cheek is red and beginning to swell and his mouth is bleeding. If I don’t do something, anything, right now, I honestly think that Ryder might put him in the hospital. So I do the only thing I can think of, and that’s to throw myself bodily onto Ryder and wrap every part of me around him. My instincts tell me that even in his uncontrollable rage, Ryder would never hurt me or cause me harm. I start to cry, begging Ryder to stop.
Like a switch being flicked, his fists still and he stiffens. With me still wrapped around him, sobbing, he stands up but doesn’t try to disengage my stranglehold on him.
My mom comes marching up the walkway to where we are, Hailey in tow, both with a look of utter shock on their faces.
“Ryder! Jayson! Elizabeth! What the hell is going on here?” she shouts at us.
I see Freda running over from their house next door.
“Ann? What’s going on? Jayson?”
Freda stops abruptly beside my mom and gasps, horrified by the scene in front of her. Her son on the ground, blood on his face, bruises starting to appear. Ryder standing over him, me wrapped around his side. If this wasn’t the worst moment in my life, it would look a bit funny.
Silence.
“I’m so sorry, Elizabeth. I’m so, so, very sorry,” Ryder chokes out.
He gently removes my hold on him, looks around in a daze, and then runs off.
“Ryder! Ryder!” I yell after him, but he’s already gone.
Ryder
I don’t think I have ever felt such rage. I want to hurt something as bad as I am hurting right now. How could he do this to me? I poured my fucking soul out to him last night. I told him my intentions. He fucking knew I was going to tell Elizabeth today how I felt about her. I knew that finally telling him and Julien my feelings toward Elizabeth would cause problems, would hurt him, but never in my life could I have imagined he would do what I saw him do.
He was fucking kissing her out on the front lawn! His arms were wrapped around her and he was kissing her.
I didn’t know where else to go. Forty minutes after fleeing from Elizabeth’s front yard, I find myself storming into my dad’s garage. He’s bending over the engine of a station wagon, checking the oil when I stomp in.
