I suddenly felt a body slam into mine. “One for the road,” Ryder growled. Before I could answer, his mouth met mine. It was quick, and it was rough, but his tongue exploring my mouth felt divine and made me wonder what it would be like to have Ryder’s affections for real and not for show.
“See you at lunch, B,” he said into my mouth before pulling away too soon. And then I noticed Chace and Christina just across the hall.
“That was kinda hot and romantic in an I’m-gonna-rip-your-clothes-off sort of way,” someone said from behind me, echoing my thoughts exactly. Spinning around, I turned to see Indie standing awkwardly. Her mouth turned up into a half smile. She hadn’t spoken to me since the road trip from hell ended and Chace and Christina made their relationship official. Why was she talking to me now?
“Yeah, well, that’s Ryder.” I shrugged and entered the classroom, taking my usual seat in the middle, wondering what the hell she wanted. She was one of Christina’s friends. As I was pulling out my books and pens, the seat beside me suddenly became occupied. I glanced up to see who had decided to sit by me all of a sudden, as I had been a loner all of the previous week. I was surprised to see Indie smiling uncomfortably at me.
“Umm?” I raised an eyebrow at her, unsure of what to say.
“I’m sorry. I should never have stopped talking to you. What they did was harsh, and I hate what they’ve become. I miss you being a friend. I hope you can forgive me,” she said in a rush, fidgeting with her bangles. I knew I shouldn’t forgive her so quickly for dumping our friendship so easily when there was a rift between Chace and Christina and me, but it had to be hard for her, too. You couldn’t remain neutral when there were fights between friends. There’s always a side to choose. I knew it was also partly my fault for shutting myself off. I missed having friends. I didn’t like being a loner. I had no one but Ryder, and that wasn’t even real. It was sad and pathetic, really.
“I’ve missed you, too.” I smiled at her and laughed when her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. She squealed and threw her arms around me in a bone-crushing hug. It was sweet.
“I’m so sorry. So sorry. So, so, so, so sorry,” she repeated over and over again.
“It’s okay. I understand. Just forget it.” I smiled and pulled out the novel we were studying. Wuthering Heights again. It seemed like the education board couldn’t think of anything better when it came to classic literature.
“So you and Ryder, huh? Tell me everything.” Uh-oh. I wasn’t anticipating having to answer questions about my relationship with Ryder. It was the first time anyone had truly wanted to know. Not just for the gossip mill.
“Uh, well…” I trailed off, trying to think of what to say.
“How long have you been together?” Oh, that was easy; we’d agreed that two or three weeks sounded believable.
“A couple of weeks.” Her eyebrows nearly flew off her head. I suppressed the urge to laugh at her stunned face.
“Ryder’s had a girlfriend for a couple of weeks? Wow! How did you meet?” she whispered in disbelief, giving me a look that was almost awe and maybe a little pity. Everyone knew Ryder didn’t date girls. He was the player. The heartbreaker. I knew the girls at school would be jealous that he was mine, but they were also probably waiting for the moment his bad boy reputation took full effect and he cheated on me or something. Kind of hard to do when the whole relationship was fake. But I wouldn’t let it worry me.
“Meet? We’ve gone to school together for years.”
“You know what I mean. We’ve never really been friends with him or anything.”
She was right, sort of. We had run in different circles the past couple of years—me being in Chace’s circle and Ryder in his own solo circle surrounded by girls. He didn’t have friends at this school either, so I guessed we were loners together. The only difference was that he had friends outside school, whereas I just had my wacky mother and the Romanovs. And now Ryder. Maybe. I thought I had Ryder. He was helping me, after all.
“He came into work one day. We got talking and had lunch, and then it kinda became a regular thing. Next thing I knew, we were together. It sort of just happened.” I wasn’t lying completely; I was just omitting the truth. I didn’t want to get into the details of how or why Ryder had picked me up from the beach that day, so I didn’t mention it.
“Wow. So he helped you get over your heartbreak?”
I flinched at that question. Was it that obvious I was heartbroken? I guessed it was. I mean, I did freak out and run from the school when Chace broke up with me in front of everyone, and I was a crying mess for weeks after the road trip ended. But Ryder was helping, so I decided to be truthful.
“Oh, I’m sorry. That was insensitive.” She looked mortified.
“It’s okay. Yeah, if it weren’t for Ryder, I’d be a mess. He makes things better. Makes me forget about Chace.” It was true. He had helped. Even though I was stupidly still in love with Chace, it didn’t hurt as much when Ryder was around. He made things easier.
“So it’s love then?” Love? Uhm, no.
“Uhm, no. It’s way too soon for that, Indie. I care about him a lot, but I’m not ready to love anyone again. Look what happened last time.”
“That’s true, but I think Ryder is different. It’s obvious how much he cares about you. I don’t think he’d ever hurt you like Chace.” Of course I knew he wouldn’t hurt me like Chace. We weren’t even really together, but I couldn’t tell Indie that. Ryder was just a fantastic actor with an incredible knack for making me feel better.
“You don’t know that. No one does.” The teacher cleared her throat and sent us a pointed look that told us to be quiet and read our books. I raised my book to hide my face and started reading. Indie didn’t notice. In fact, her book was still on the desk unopened. I wasn’t even sure she had the right book out, to be honest.
“No, I don’t, but I know what I see. And the way I see Ryder look at you, particularly out there in the hall just before class, that dude’s got it bad.”
No, he didn’t. He just wanted revenge on Chace as badly as I did, if not more. But I didn’t tell her that, either. Instead, I shrugged and returned to my book, ending our conversation. I tried to concentrate on what I was reading, but my mind kept running away from me and imagining all these different scenarios where Ryder did care about me and our relationship was real.
We could have fun. We had a lot in common. But Ryder had never been the commitment type, and he wasn’t my type. Correction—he wasn’t my type before Chace. But I was a different person since Chace and Christina got together. Was I Ryder’s kind of girl? I didn’t think so. In fact, I knew I wasn’t. I wasn’t one of those girls who threw themselves at him or dropped their panties if he so much as looked in their direction. I wasn’t easy. This was just payback for something I didn’t understand but hoped to one day, when he trusted me enough to tell me.
Chapter Eleven