Nate chuckled as he walked by. “He probably just realized this is his walk of death.”
Ava slapped Nate on the arm and focused back on me. My heart was pounding and I was positive my face had drained of all color.
“Ryder? Is everything okay? You don’t look so good. Do you feel all right?”
I searched her face before looking into her eyes. She looked so content even though there was a hint of worry in there. Her face had a glow to it and I knew it was because of the night we shared together. I felt the same way, and I’d give anything to go back to the little stone house and make love to her all day.
Suddenly becoming acutely aware of my heart pounding in my chest and every breath I took, I let what I thought sink in.
I love her.
Those three words had never made an appearance in my head before like this.
My stomach fluttered like the pansy ass I was, but I didn’t care. Everything about this felt right. I’d never experienced this feeling before and it had to be love.
Shouldn’t I be scared shitless? Running away would seem like the normal reaction I would think, but all I wanted to do was pull Ava into my arms and tell her how I felt.
Unfortunately, my mouth agreed to do just that before my brain caught up to what my heart was telling my body to do.
“I love you.”
Her eyes widened in shock before pooling with tears. She looked confused, yet she smiled the most breathtaking smile ever.
“What did you say?” she whispered.
Nate came rushing up to me and grabbed me by the shoulders, bumping Ava out of the way. “What in the hell did you just say?” He shook his head as he looked at me with dazed look. “You uttered the three words. You. Uttered. The. Three. Words! Take it back! Take it back before it’s too late!”
Spinning to Ava, Nate pointed to her. “What did you do to my brother?”
“Me?” she said as she looked between us.
Much to my regret, I stood there still in a state of shock that I had blurted out how I felt about Ava. That wasn’t going to give me any swooning points, that’s for sure.
“What makes you think I did something?” Ava asked.
Nate turned back to me and slapped me across the face, breaking me out of the trance I was in.
Ava gasped as I yelled, “What in the fuck, dude? You hit me!”
“Snap out of it, Ryder! You can’t be in love for fucks sake. You just slept with her. You hardly know each other.”
Ava pushed Nate out of the way and stood in front of me. “Ryder,” she choked out. “Did you … um … did you mean what you said?”
My mouth opened to speak, but nothing would come out. “I … um … I … ahh …”
“It’s the magical * effect. That’s what this is. I’ve seen plenty of good men go down because of it.”
Snapping my head over to Nate, I narrowed my eyes at him as Ava continued to wait for my answer. Pinning him with a glare, I said, “You’re such an asshole, Nate.”
“Tell me I’m lying. You can’t even answer her right now. It’s the classic symptom.”
Closing my eyes, I tried to get my thoughts together as Nate continued to run his mouth. When I opened my eyes, I looked back to Ava only to see her eyes filling with doubt.
Oh shit.
“Ava, I—”
“There y’all are!” Liza called out as she walked hand in hand with Walker up to us. Lifting my head, my eyes caught Walker’s and I could see the big brother protectiveness coming out loud and clear.
“Ava, dad is looking everywhere for you. When you and Ryder didn’t show up for breakfast, the steam was practically coming from his head,” Walker said as he shot daggers at me.
“Thanks,” Ava said as she turned and started walking away from me.
“Wait, Ava!” I called out as she grabbed Liza and began walking quickly back toward the house.
Walker walked up to me and put his hand on my chest as Nate said, “Oh hell. Here we go. First comes the brother, then it will be the best friend Jase, and the grand finale … the dad.”
If Nate were a few feet closer, I would have punched him just to shut him up.
Walker’s jaw tensed as he asked, “What did you do to my sister?”
“I didn’t do anything!”
Nate laughed. “Bull shit he didn’t. He told her he loved her! Can you believe that shit?”
Walker’s eyes softened as he searched my face. “You love my sister?”
“No!” I shouted.
Walker pulled his head back in surprise. “I mean, yes! I mean … fuck I don’t know what I mean! I just blurted it out. I … I don’t know why I said it.” My hands pushed through my hair as I let out a frustrated sigh. “No, I do know why I said it. It’s just … I was so overcome with these stupid emotions and I didn’t want to say it like that.”
Before I knew it, Walker was laughing his ass off. Laughing so much he had tears. Nate and I stood there and stared at him.
“Why is he laughing?” Nate asked in a whispered voice.
With a shrug of my shoulders, I replied, “I have no idea, but I’d much rather him be laughing than looking at me like he wants to kill me.”
Lifting his hand, Walker said, “Wait … oh man. Give me a second.”