I saw the mattresses and stacked pillows.
I saw the card table covered with bottles and cans of soda. And there was Rider’s phone, on that table.
I saw the TV that wasn’t turned on.
I saw the couch.
And my heart stopped and then dropped. Dropped like the stars falling out of the sky. My lips parted on a soft inhale. I’d found Rider. He was asleep, his head resting against the back of the couch. He wasn’t alone.
My bag slipped down my shoulder and hit the floor with a thud.
Paige was there, curled up on the couch beside him.
Chapter 32
The sound of my bag hitting the floor didn’t wake them. Paige stirred, though. She curled in more, pressing into Rider’s side. Seeing that was like taking a punch to the stomach.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
For what felt like the hundredth time in twenty-four hours, I was absolutely dumbstruck, and my brain had a hard time catching up to what was happening.
I opened my mouth, but a sinking feeling cut me off as I stared at the two. Then my gaze cut to the table, to where Rider’s phone sat. He hadn’t answered any of my texts or calls. I’d believed it was because he was with Hector, and he was here, at home, but he wasn’t with Hector. The punched-in-the-stomach sensation increased.
The guy’s words from downstairs came back to me. It’s a little crowded up there. Now I knew what he’d meant. Oh my God. Pain lit up my chest, and it felt so very real. Like my chest had been cracked right open.
As horrible as it was, I wasn’t thinking about Jayden in that moment. I was thinking about the time Rider and I had spent together before we’d walked outside. How he’d held me. How he’d kissed me. Touched me. What he’d admitted to me.
And now he was here with her, asleep together?
I had to get out of there.
Picking up my bag, I wheeled around. I crept down the stairs, wincing each time the floorboards creaked. I had to get out of there before Rider woke up, because I...I couldn’t deal with that right now.
Quietly closing the attic door behind me, all I could focus on was getting out of there and then? I didn’t know. I couldn’t go home. Not yet. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I’d made it halfway down the hall when a door opened.
Hector walked out, scrubbing a hand through his hair. His body jerked when he spotted me. “Hey,” he said, voice thick as he dropped his hand. “I didn’t know you were here.”
I glanced behind me and then refocused on Hector as I shut down the whirlwind of raw emotion swirling inside me. “I...um, I stopped to check on Rider—and on you. I am so sorry about...about Jayden.”
“Me, too.” His bloodshot eyes closed briefly. “The messed-up thing? I’m not—I’m not surprised, you know? Even after what happened with our cousin, I’m not surprised. He was making changes. Getting a job with me, but...but it was too late. He got in deep with people you just don’t screw around with. I just thought... I don’t even know what I thought.”
I didn’t know what to say and I didn’t think there was anything I could say.
“He...” Hector’s shoulders slumped. “He didn’t deserve that. I don’t care how much money he owed.”
“No,” I whispered, and I thought about the day in the garage and what Rider had said to Jayden. You’re going to get yourself killed. Oh, God, Rider had been right. “He didn’t.”
He lifted a hand and scrubbed his fingers through his messy hair. “I don’t...I don’t even believe the police will get them—the ones who got Jayden.”
“They have to.” My chest squeezed. I refused to believe anything else. “They will.”
Hector nodded and the act looked like it took a lot of effort. “My abuelita is asleep. She’s... They’ve got her sedated.”
I still didn’t have the right words, but innately I knew that this was one of the moments where there were none. Only action mattered in times like these, I realized. It was why I’d come over to comfort Rider. To just be there for him.
Except he’d obviously already had someone comforting him.
Stepping forward, I did the only thing I really could. I wrapped my arms around Hector and squeezed. He stiffened at first and then a sigh shuddered out of him. He folded his arms around me.
“Thank you,” he whispered in a hoarse voice.
I nodded as I drew back.
Hector blinked rapidly several times. “So, um...” He cleared his throat. “You see Rider?”
A twisty motion in my chest threatened to steal my breath. “He’s asleep. I...I didn’t want to wake him.”
“What? We can wake him. You came all the—”
“No. It’s okay.” I started to pass him. “I’ll call him later.”
“But—”
“It’s no problem.” I forced a smile as I stopped, facing him. “I’m...thinking of you.”