“Shit happens, babe,” he says, closing the discussion down.
I’m heading for the front door when Duke tugs me to the right and opens the sliding glass door in the hallway. I slip in, grateful that he considered the side door, thus avoiding the living room and kitchen, where most of people congregate. With his hand on my lower back, he leads me down the hallway. The door to the bedroom that was once Ryan’s and is now Alex’s is shut. Duke sandwiches me between himself and the door. Looking back at him to take the lead, he shrugs and turns the knob, and pushes the door open.
On the bed, against the far wall, perfectly centered in the room, are Alex and Ryan. They’re lying on their sides, facing each other, and Ryan has Alex’s face cupped in his hands. They’re both smiling like lovesick idiots, which makes me want to be sick on the wood floor. Ryan leans in and places a chaste kiss to her lips and says, “I love you.”
She giggles like crazy and then says it back and pulls him in for a not-so-chaste kiss. Duke told me enough of what Ryan’s done to Alex over the last few months, and while I know better than to repeat what he said, and I can’t openly admonish Ryan for his fucked up behavior, I still imagine kicking him in the balls until he can’t see straight. Fucking asshole.
Turning my head to the side, I whisper to Duke, “Make it stop.” He laughs then clears his throat loudly. Ryan looks over. His jet black hair is all messed up, and his lips are parted. He recovers quickly and narrows his eyes at me. As far as I’m concerned, this shit is payback for what he did a few weeks back, purposefully leading me in to where Duke and Dawn were fucking. My body tenses, and I fight the urge to elbow Duke in the gut. As long as I live, I don’t think I’ll ever get that image of that slut riding his cock out of my head.
“Ew,” I say, shaking my head. “I thought you were nobody’s girl.” My eyes are on Ryan as he sits up. His body is as tense as mine. Alex huffs from beside him, knowing the comment was directed at her. She looks from me to Duke and back again like she’s checking us out. I lean forward to try to create a less than obvious separation, but it does no good. He’s just so close.
“Right back at’cha,” she says with a smirk. Her head turns just enough to the right, and my stomach drops. The right side of her face has a few scratches and some minor bruising, but the left side is totally fucked up. The skin around her eye is swollen, and the bruising is a deep purple. Her lip is busted up, and she has no fewer than three large scratches. The skin is bound together by butterfly bandages. My eyes water at the sight.
“I knew you were hurt, I just didn’t know how hurt,” I whisper and cross the room. Carefully, I crawl onto the bed and cross my legs in front of me. Alex places her hands on either side of her hips and starts pulling herself up when Ryan leans over and gently hooks his arms beneath her underarms and pulls her up into a sitting position. He unhooks his arms and lets his hands skim her ribs and belly softly before he removes them.
“I’m okay,” she says and looks back at Ryan. She gives his hand a squeeze. “Really, everything’s okay.” She’s smiling and he’s scowling. But his eyes are focused on her so intently. It’s like he thinks if he keeps looking at her, he’s going to see something else that wasn’t there before. It’s just a moment, but it takes my breath away. In all the years I’ve known Ryan, he’s never looked at anything with that kind of depth—not even Ruby—and I think she’s the only person he’s ever really loved. Until now, that is.
Ryan climbs off the bed and gives Duke a head nod at the doorway.
“Sixty minutes,” Ryan says, staring at me. I can’t help but to roll my eyes at his bossy nature. Sure, he’s a Grade-A bad-ass and all, but he’s also human and he’s clearly capable of being loving toward a woman who’s not his mother.
“Gosh, you really do love her, don’t you?” I say. The glares he shoots my way is anything but pleasant.
“Yeah,” Alex says with a smile on her face. “He really does love me.” Ryan stalks out of the room with Duke following not too far behind.
“You must have bumped your head awful hard,” I say. I keep my eyes on the purple comforter beneath me and pick away at the balls of fuzz. “I can’t believe you’re with Ryan.” She reaches out and swats my arm. My eyes fly up to her face, more than a little surprised that she actually smacked me.
“There’s a lot more to him than you see,” she says, jutting her chin out. I don’t know the girl very well, but so far I like what she’s showing me. I glance over at the now empty doorway and wonder if the same can be said about Duke.
“Yeah, but aren’t you just deluding yourself into only seeing what you want to see?”
“Nah,” she says. “My mom loves him, so that tells me there’s something worth loving even during those times he’s a bastard.”