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“First a fight, then suspension, and now a girl’s sleeping in your bed. What in the world, Ryder? Forget tomorrow, you’re telling us everything. Right now.”

Ryder sighed and pressed his thumbs against his temples. “The fight and suspension have nothing to do with the girl.”

Folding her arms, his mother arched an eyebrow. “Oh, really? So Kiera knows all about this…this Grace girl sleeping over with you then?”

“Kiera,” Ryder growled with a bitter curl to his upper lip, “is the reason for my fight and suspension. She cheated on me with Todd. And I caught her…in the act.”

The announcement stunned his parents speechless long enough for Ryder to continue. “And Grace has nothing to do with any of that. She came here because she needed help. So, I’m helping her.”

“Helping her with what?” his father recovered from his surprise quickly enough to ask.

Ryder clamped his lips tightly together.

/> “Well?” his mom demanded.

Scowling, he shifted an uncomfortable step backward and ducked his head. “I can’t say.”

“Oh, yes, you can. You’ll tell us everything. Right now.”

“I think it’s about time you pull out those big green eyes of yours,” I suggested dryly from behind him.

I thought Ryder would throw me a dirty look or tell me this was not the time to make jokes, but instead, he threw back his head and laughed, the same melodic laugh that had hooked me the first moment I’d met him. From that point on, I knew I could deal with whatever happened when my mom arrived—that was, until my mom actually did arrive.

The Yates’s doorbell rang, and my mood dropped flat. My hands went clammy and my throat bone dry as my breathing grew choppy.

Mom did not look happy when Mrs. Yates swept open the door. Not that I expected her to be all sunshine and roses with a big encompassing hug and exclamation of, “I’m just happy you’re okay; that’s all that matters.”

But honestly, from the look on her face, I could see she was going to skip the whole “why” portion of our conversation and dive right to the outraged tirade.

Thank goodness, Ryder’s mom waylaid the tirade, probably diffusing it altogether. Even as she ushered both Mom and Barry inside, she was already apologizing.

“Mrs. Struder, I am so very sorry about this. I had no idea your daughter was here. I hope you believe me when I say I never, never would’ve allowed such a thing to happen under my roof if I’d known what was going on. And Ryder is usually such a good boy. He’s never done anything like this.”

My mom looked skeptical as she sent a pointed scowl toward Ryder’s swollen and bruised face. Mrs. Yates paused, glancing toward him as well. She flushed lightly when she took in his injuries.

“Well, okay, he got into his first fight at school this week,” she allowed with a guilty cringe. “But we grounded him and—”

Letting out a gasp of outrage, she rounded fully toward her son and set her hands on her hips. “Oh, my God. You broke your grounding.”

Ryder rolled his eyes. “Yeah, like I would’ve been allowed to have a girl stay the night if I wasn’t grounded. Seriously, Mom. That’s why you’re mad?”

Beginning to tap her foot against the floor with a growing fury, Ryder’s mom frowned like a pro. Heck, I even found myself slinking a step away from her.

“This is not the time to make smart aleck comments, young man. What has gotten into you lately? First we receive a call from the school, telling us you’ve gotten into a fight…with your best friend.”

“Ex-best friend,” Ryder muttered.

Mrs. Yates narrowed her eyes. “Then you get out-of-school suspension. And now, now we find some girl in your bed! A girl we’ve never even met.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t in bed with her.” Turning to my mom, Ryder seemed to want to make it perfectly clear that, “I was sleeping clear across the room…on the couch. You can ask my mom; that’s how she found us.”

“That doesn’t excuse the fact you had a guest in your room, of the opposite gender, without our permission while you were grounded,” his dad growled, entering the conversation.

Ryder glanced from one parent to the other, looking more irritated than he did rueful. “You know, I’m not really the issue here. We’ll all here because Grace is here. This is about her.”

My mouth fell open as I gasped. But what a traitor, shoving all the attention toward me.

It worked too.