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“I … I …” I squeeze my eyes shut. Ryker is immediately at my side. The panic starts to flood my veins. My breaths becoming harder to take in.
“Zo, breathe.” Ryker rubs my leg and tries to get me to come out of the panic attack. “You both need to leave,” he tells his brothers.
“Look, Ryker, we’re not trying to be assholes, but we needed to ask her. You know we do,” Asher argues as his brows pull together. He runs his hands over his face as he lets out a sigh.
Ryker shoots up. “Really? Because right now I see her on the floor in a state of panic over this bullshit accusation. Does this honestly look like she did something? Are you two looking at her?”
“Ry, man, we had—”
“Just go,” Ryker growls.
My vision is completely distorted by my tears. My heart hurts, and my head is pounding. My entire body feels like it’s been run over.
“Zo, sweetheart, it’s gonna be okay. I swear.” Ryker puts his thumb and finger on my chin and pulls my face to look at him. He leans in and kisses me. “I’ll figure out what’s going on. None of this makes sense, but I’ll get to the bottom of it.” He drags his knuckles over my cheeks to wipe away the tears.
I work to steady my breathing, and I close my eyes. “But you believe me, right? Please, tell me you believe me.”
“Yeah, Zo. I believe you.” The way Ryker says it doesn’t sound very convincing. “Come on. It’s early, but it’s morning. You need to get ready for your shift. Go shower and get dressed. I’ll make something for us to eat.”
Ryker holds out his hand, and I latch onto it. He pulls me up, bringing me crashing into him. My arms encase him, and I hold onto him like he could be pulled away at any second. The part of me that wants to run? That’s the one that is speaking the loudest right now. The side that’s telling me that he will eventually stop seeing the truth. He will give in to the lies.
Removing myself from his grip, I walk out of the kitchen and down the hall to my bedroom. I head back to the bathroom and turn on the shower. I look into the mirror not knowing who is staring back at me anymore. Tired, shadowed eyes stare back at me. I run my hands over my face; I don’t even what’s going on anymore, nor what’s real.
My body aches, and my head feels like it weighs a ton. Between the incessant pounding that’s going on inside of my head and the stiffness in my neck, I’m completely surprised I can even keep my head up at all. I step in the shower and stand under the hot water. With everything in me, I close my eyes to hold back the tears. My body shakes, and soon, my legs give out. I drop down to the bottom of the shower and curl myself up in a ball, letting the water drench me.
It’s Mitch. All of this is his doing. I know it. Who else could it be?
Eventually, the water runs cold, and I pull myself up off the floor. I get out of the shower and wrap a towel around my body before putting one around my hair. I next drag myself out of the bathroom and walk over into the bedroom I was using before Ryker and I started sleeping together. I don’t even have to worry about moving my clothes into his room; I’m sure I will be out on my own soon if this bullshit keeps up.
I throw on my uniform for the diner, which is a red-striped carhop dress, and I head into the kitchen and sit down at the island. I’m greeted by eggs and bacon.
I move the food around on my plate, not interested.
“Not hungry?”
I look up and see Ryker staring at me. I shake my head. “Not really.”
“Hm. Yeah, it’s been a hell of a past few days.” Ryker sounds like he’s mulling over something. I don’t really want to know what that ‘something’ is, so I look back down at my food without replying.
This is probably where things end for us. Where he pulls away from me. Where I end up being more trouble than I’m worth. I shake my head and try to regain myself.
“You okay?” Ryker extends a hand out to touch me, but I slide off the stool, putting some distance between us, and place my dish in the sink.
“Fine.” I walk past him, giving him a small smile and heading to the front door.
“Zo.” He comes over and grabs me by the waist. Ryker pulls me in close to him and whispers, “You’re safe with me. I promise you. We’ll figure out what the fuck is going on around here.”
“But your family—”
He cuts me off, “Fuck what my family thinks right now. They’ll see the truth too.”
Before I can respond, he presses his lips to mine. His tongue sweeps over my bottom lip, and I part my lips in response. Our tongues collide, and I let out a moan.
Ryker backs me up against the door, our breathing growing heavier. One of his hands runs up my body, sparking little fires with every touch. He stops when it reaches the side of my face, and his thumb caresses my cheek.
“Mm. I so want to spend all day tasting you, ravishing you. Showing you how much you mean to me.” He pauses and bites his lip. “I’ve got an idea. How about tonight, after you’re off work, we go have a picnic at the lake?” He kisses along my jawline, making his way over to my earlobe. He nibbles on my ear, sending a shockwave through my body.
“That … sounds … good,” I say between breaths.