25
Ryder - My Girl is Hurting
Denise seems a little off today, but I don’t blame her. After what Andrew did last night, I have to say that I’m feeling a little off, too. I have a little plan in the works for how to take her mind off of it for today, but she’ll still need to figure out what to do about Andrew now too. I’m not comfortable with the thought of Denise being around him alone anymore, but even with what he did last night, I’m not sure I can convince her to have someone else around if she meets him again.
“Aiden sent me a text after you went to bed last night,” Devon says around a mouthful of pancakes. “Andrew wasn’t home by 3:00am, so he went home and went to sleep. He wants to know what you want to do now, Denise.”
Denise raises her eyebrows and her eyes go wide. She doesn’t answer right away, choosing instead to take another bite of the breakfast sandwich she selected from the assortment of breakfast options I brought. Devon and I continue with our own breakfasts, giving her time to think it over. It’s not like this is a simple situation. There must be so many things going through her head.
“I don’t even know what I can do,” she says, finally. “I need to make a list of what my options are, I guess.”
“You could try to get a restraining order against him?” I suggest. “He was pretty violent last night. I’m not sure it would work though, since it was an isolated incident.” I stop myself, shocked I didn’t think of this before. “Wait. Is it an isolated incident? Has he done anything like this before?”
“No, no, of course not. This is the first time. The only other stuff is the stuff you know about. The whispering instead of talking in front of you guys, and not liking the way I dress.”
“We weren’t being very smart last night. We should have called the police right away. Then there would have been a record of his behaviour. I think for now we just need to wait and see. Maybe he’ll come to his senses?” I shrug my shoulders. I doubt he’ll come to his senses, but you never know. He does have a kid in this scenario, after all.
“Do you really think he’d come back?” Denise drinks some of her coffee. She’s going to need to limit caffeine with a baby on the way. I might have looked up a few things about pregnancy this morning while I was waiting for our breakfast.
That’s why I ordered her a decaf at Bump & Grind. She probably wouldn’t be too happy with me if she knew that, but I had Xena use just our names to label the cups. There’s no sign of what’s in them at all.
Of course, I had to explain to Xena why I was getting Denise decaf, and even though I swore her to secrecy, I’m pretty sure that won’t last very long. I’m hoping she can wait until the party tonight, but I doubt she’ll be able to. If I know what’s good for me, I’ll confess to Denise sooner rather than later.
“I didn’t think he had it in him to do something like that in the first place,” Devon says, “so I’m probably not the best judge of whether or not he’ll be back. You should talk to Aiden. He’s always had a bad feeling about Andrew; his instincts about him were spot on.”
“That’s true,” I say to Denise. “Aiden is the reason I came straight here last night, instead of waiting for you to call. He saw you guys leave and his gut told him something was up. I almost tried to talk him out of it; told him you said you’d call when Andrew left. But he convinced me it was better to trust his gut and be wrong, than to assume everything was fine and be wrong about that. And he was right.”
“I guess I should call Aiden then.” Denise looks around for her phone.
“Maybe you should let him sleep for a bit first. And I’m sure Devon wants to get some sleep in his own bed for a while too. Your couch is big, but it’s still a couch.”
Devon looks between me and Denise. I’m trying to get rid of him, but not be too obvious about it. Hopefully, he catches on.
“Yeah,” he finally says. “I didn’t get much sleep before this asshole was jumping on me and humping my leg this morning.”
“Oh, fuck off,” I laugh. “You loved it. That’s the most action you’ve gotten in years.”
“You’re not wrong about that.” Devon grabs one of the breakfast bags. “I’m taking the rest of the pancakes and bacon with me, since you’re kicking me out.”
Well, I may not have been obvious, but that sure was. Thanks a lot, Devon. Denise just laughs.
“I’m kicking you out for your own good,” I say. “Denise might need you back here later to keep her safe. You need to be fully rested to be effective. It’s all about your health and Denise’s safety. I’m kicking you out because I care.” I give him my cheesiest, shit-eating grin, and he can’t help but laugh.
“You’re good, I’ll give you that.” He grabs his keys from the coffee table in the living room on his way to the door. “See you guys later.”
I follow him to the door and lock it behind him.
“I think it’s probably a good idea to keep that locked from now on. What do you think?”
“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking, too. I was a little pissed this morning when I thought you’d left without locking it behind you.”
I move to the couch, motioning for Denise to come with me. She sits, but not right next to me like I’d hoped she would.
“Ryder.” Denise is looking down at the floor. “Thank you for looking out for me last night. If you and Aiden hadn’t shown up, I’m not sure how far Andrew would have gone. I’ve never seen him like that. He was… it was… fuck…” She trails off, tears in her eyes again.
I slide over beside her and pull her against me.
“Shhhhh, babe, it’s OK.” She leans her head down on my shoulder. “I know that you’re surprised at what he did. Hell, I’m fucking shocked, and I didn’t date the guy for a year.” That gets a little chuckle out of her. “I can only imagine how it feels to have someone you cared about for so long have such a complete personality transformation. I never would have expected Andrew to have any fight in him at all.”
