“What? No, of course—”
“Save it, Chace. You’ve done enough. Like it wasn’t already bad enough that you had to go and break up with Bailey for this little whore. But you wanted Bailey to believe Ryder was the lying, cheating scumbag. Ha! Let me guess. You and Christina were screwing each other behind Bailey’s back the whole time?”
“I would nev—” Christina tried to stand up for herself.
“Shut up, Christina. No one wants to hear you speak. No point denying it. You’ve wanted Chace forever. I know you slept together while he was with me. Just after he found out he was going to be a daddy, yeah? Before he ordered me to terminate my baby.”
I couldn’t listen to any more. It was too much to take in.
Chace was Cole’s father. Ryder was in love with me. Chace only went out with me because he wanted to hurt Ryder. Ryder was in love with me. Chace and Christina were together.
It was too much.
I spun around and pushed my way through the crowd that was still silently watching the whole thing in shock. There was something seriously wrong with Chace. Who behaved like that? But Ryder is in love with me. That thought alone almost sent my heart into cardiac arrest. How someone as beautiful and amazing as Ryder could fall in love with me was beyond my understanding, but I wasn’t going to complain.
“Bailey,” he shouted as I shoved through the doors and ran outside.
“Bailey, wait. Please?” He called after me again. I stopped moving, and he caught up with me, coming to a stop behind me.
“Please, Bailey. Don’t be mad or upset. I wanted to tell you everything. I just didn’t want to dump it all on you at once. She wasn’t supposed to come here today. She wasn’t meant to confront them like that. I’m s—”
“Shut up and kiss me, Ryder.” I turned around to face him. His eyes lit up, and his perfect pink lips spread into a wide grin before they were suddenly on mine, devouring my mouth. His long arms wrapped around my back, pulling me in close, while I threaded my fingers through his wavy hair. I needed his kisses right then like I needed air. He was the best distraction I knew of. A simple brush of his lips on me and I swear I could forget my own name.
“You’re not mad?” he said against my lips between kisses. I felt him take a step forward, causing me to step back.
“No.” It was true. While I would have preferred to find out from Ryder rather than in front of the whole school, I understood why he didn’t tell me last night.
“Good because—”
“Less talking, more kissing,” I said, pulling his lip between my teeth, making him groan.
“Bailey.” He hissed my name and lifted me by the hips. I squealed in surprise. He placed me on a cold, hard surface. I had to pull away to look around at where we were. We had somehow kissed our way into the parking lot, and I was now sitting on the front of his car with him standing between my legs.
“Am I interrupting something?” someone asked from behind Ryder as he brought his mouth to mine again.
“Yes, now piss off,” he called out before pressing his lips to mine, ignoring the person standing behind him. I heard them clear their throat and start laughing.
“Ryder, stop,” I said, pushing against his chest slightly. I couldn’t help but laugh at his expression. He looked like a child who had just dropped their ice cream cone.
“I don’t want to stop.” He pouted and stepped back, then turned to face Kenzie. “Impeccable timing you’ve got there, Kenz,” he said as he wrapped her in a hug. “You okay after that?”
“Yeah. Sorry it went down like that.”
“It’s okay. They had it coming.”
“Yeah, and I’m sorry I outed everything to Bailey like that too. I swear I didn’t realise she was there.” Kenzie apologised to Ryder and stepped around him to see me.
“I’m sorry about that, sweetheart.” She smiled at me.
“That’s okay. I’m sorry too,” I said truthfully. I was sorry for all she had been through. She seemed like a lovely person, and she shouldn’t have had to put up with everything that she had.
“It’s so good to finally meet you. You are all Ryder talks about.” She smiled at me. “Well, you and Cole. I swear you are the only two people he loves more than himself.” She laughed, causing Ryder to groan and roll his eyes. There was that “love” word again…
“Kenz, please shut up.” He hissed at his sister while he tried to pull her away from me.
“Why? I’m finally here talking to the girl you haven’t shut up about for years. I can see why you love her,” she said to him, making him smile briefly before turning his wary gaze to me. Again.
He was worried about my reaction again, whether or not I was going to freak out about him being in love with me. I wasn’t going to freak out. What girl in her right mind would freak out if Ryder was possibly in love with her? Standing there watching him with his sister and listening to her speak about her brother the way she did, I realised it.
I was in love with Ryder freaking Jones.
The intense attraction between us had been there from the start. The way he always had a calming effect on me. The way his soft touch and harsh words would send shivers up my spine. The way I was so scared to lose him to another girl or because I thought he’d be over the fake relationship once I realised I was over Chace. The way he never failed to make me smile or laugh or feel good. The way I couldn’t get him out of my head. The way I wanted to rip his clothes off all the time and the way I never wanted his lips to leave mine.
That was what love felt like.
“Well, anyway. I’d best be off. Need to go collect Cole and take him out to celebrate. Have fun, you two.” She smiled and wrapped her small arms around me in a hug before patting Ryder on the chest and walking away.
“Use protection, kids,” she called over her shoulder, making my cheeks heat up and Ryder laugh.
“So?” I said to him.
“So, that was Kenzie.” He smiled cautiously and took a step forward, placing one hand on my hip. “Sorry about her.”
“She’s nice. I like her.” I looked up at him as he dropped his forehead to mine.
“Good. Hey, let’s go somewhere,” he said. My eyelids fluttered shut, and I tilted my head back, trying to brush my lips against his. He chuckled and reached up to cup my face, holding my head in place so I couldn’t kiss him. I pouted. He was so temptingly close. Just millimetres from my lips.
“Where?” We couldn’t leave. We had school. Although I had a feeling I wouldn’t really protest too much. I knew I would willingly do whatever he wanted to do whenever he wanted to do it.
“Let’s ditch. Let’s just get away for the day. Away from the drama. Away from the crap. Just you and me. What do you say?”
“Let’s go.” I nodded and closed my eyes, waiting for him kiss me. I felt his thumb trace along my bottom lip, and suddenly it was gone, as was his hand from my hip.
“Come on, love. What are you waiting for?” He laughed when I opened my eyes and saw him opening the car door.