Ryder and Parker rush out of the station and over to Vanessa’s house in record time. Hopping off the bike, they rush to the door and start pounding on it. She answers, appearing fine but annoyed.

“Why the hell would you bring her here?” she sneers.

“Are you okay? Have you noticed anything suspicious?” Ryder is looking her up and down as though she might burst out bleeding any second.

“Besides you coming by out of concern for me after weeks of icing me out, and bringing her? No, nothing else out of the ordinary is going on.”

“Calm your tits. We’re just making sure you don’t die,” Parker snaps, shocking them all. Just because she doesn’t want her dead doesn’t mean she wouldn’t mind inflicting some bodily harm herself.

“Screw you, you stupid bitch,” Vanessa screams as she lunges forward and grabbing Parker’s hair.

“Let go!” Parker cries, rolling Vanessa on the ground in front of her front step. Vanessa makes a sound as she comes into contact with the ground underneath Parker, but she refuses to let go. Shifting her weight, she’s able to roll them over to take the upper hand.

Ryder reaches down and grabs Vanessa by the wrists to force her to release Parker’s hair. “Let her go.”

Vanessa pushes herself out of Ryder’s hold and turns to face him as she adjusts her shirt. “Why would you bring her here? Are you really that spiteful?”

“Because we’re worried about you.”

“Oh, yeah? Now you’re worried about me? That’s rich, Ryder,” she spits at him before pushing her hands against his chest to move him a step back. “You’re worried about me after weeks of ignoring me and pretending I no longer exist? You stopped spending any of your time with me once she came back to town, but now you’re worried about me?”

“It’s not her fault, Vanessa. It really doesn’t have anything to do with her.”

Parker stands off to the side as she brushes dirt off of her pants. Vanessa looks over at her with disgust. “Doesn’t it?”

“Leave me out of your relationship drama, okay? I didn’t come here for this. I came here to make sure my brother didn’t kill you.”

Vanessa ignores her and glares at Ryder. “I could never convince you to commit. I could never compare to your precious Parker, even though I came first. I gave you so much more than she ever could. I was there when everyone else abandoned you. I was there when she abandoned you! And yet, you throw me aside like a piece of trash.”

Parker lunges at Vanessa before Ryder has a chance to react. She tackles her to the ground and throws a punch before Ryder rips her off of Vanessa. “You home wrecking whore! You didn’t think I saw you? You were always around, watching and waiting. You were biding your time until there was even the smallest crack for you to step in and make everything crumble! You’re the reason I abandoned him. Don’t even pretend like you are just some Good Samaritan stepping in to help him heal.”

“Stop it! Both of you!”

Parker moves to grab Vanessa again, but Ryder has a strong grip around her waist. She continues to struggle, and he lifts her and throws her over his shoulder. “Put me down!”

“She started it,” Vanessa says.

“What are you? Five?” Parker continues to struggle against Ryder.

“Says the girl thrown over the shoulder of a grown man because she can’t control her temper.”

“And you’re still a jealous bitch. You were always jealous. You stole him away, and you caused the biggest betrayal I can never get over!”

Ryder goes still as her words sink in. The biggest betrayal she can never get over. His reaction gives Parker the perfect opportunity to get free. He turns to her and looks in her eyes. “Give me a minute to talk to her, okay? I need to talk to her alone, or we’re never going to get anywhere.”

“Seriously?” She steps back as though he had just reached out and smacked her.

“Looks like I win again,” Vanessa goads.

“Congratulations. You win at a game I don’t want a play, and you get a prize I only thought I wanted. Turns out, I was wrong. On so many levels. I made the mistake thinking he has changed.”

“Parker-“

“No, you wanted a minute. You get an endless amount of them.” Turning around, she starts to walk away.

Ryder watches until she’s out of sight and turns back to Vanessa. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to you, so I’m going to tell you to be extra vigilant. You’re on the short list of people we think Kane may come after. Don’t do anything stupid. Don’t open the door after dark, and don’t leave alone. If you hear a noise that sounds suspicious, call 9-1-1. If you think something weird is going on, call 9-1-1. Got it?”

“Stranger danger is real,” she mocks.

“I’m going to have Sam assign a twenty-four-seven detail to your place just in case.”

“No.”

“Vanessa.”

“No, I’m not going to be watched like a hawk. I can take care of myself.”

“I’m worried he’ll hurt you. I have a bad feeling.”

“Wanna come inside? I can make you feel better.”

“And now we’re done, V. This thing with us is over. It’s not because of Parker; it’s because of me. You don’t deserve to come in second best, and be a warm body while I hold out for something else. You deserve someone who will love you for you. This is for you just as much as it is for me. But if you ever touch her again, I will make your life miserable. I won’t hit a woman, but I can make things very complicated for you from now on. Got it?”

“Got it,” she says icily before heading inside and slamming the door.

After jogging for an hour, Parker realizes the sun is beginning to set. She’s still fuming from the confrontation at Vanessa’s house, and she can’t help but want to rush into his house. The image of the two of them naked in the bed the once shared still haunts her, and she knows she needs to let it go. She’s engaged to another man who is waiting for her back in their apartment, but she can’t. And running hasn’t done anything to calm her.

She starts up the stairs and Paige cuts her off. “You need to go to Ryder’s.”

“No, I really don’t.”

“He came looking for you. Three times. He’s going to keep coming over here. Just talk to him.”

“Why?” Parker sighs. “What good can talking do us?”

“Because something is happening, and you are only going to make yourself angrier and crazier if you can’t go over there and yell at him. I know you. You’ll build it up so much more in your head, and then you’ll explode. Probably at the wrong person.”

“I don’t want to see him. The thought of him makes me sick.”

“You’re going to have to eventually. Don’t run away from this. Not this time,” Paige says.

Fine,” she says and turns back down the stairs. Without knocking, she walks right into the house she used to think of as her own.

“I know, Ma. I will.” Ryder turns around in shock to see Parker standing there. “I gotta go. I’ll call you later.”

As he hangs up, Parker completely forgets her anger. “Your mom?”

“Yeah, I’ve been talking to her,” he says running a hand through his long hair. “She’s been helping me with my sobriety. I guess you could call her my sponsor.”

“You’re building a relationship with her.”

“I guess so,” he shrugs.

“Now I feel like an ass barging in.”

“Still mad?”

“I don’t know,” she sighs.

“You caught me by surprise at V’s house.”

“Me too,” she laughs without humor. “I didn’t realize I still held all that resentment.”

“Did you mean what you said?”

“Probably. Which part?”

“The betrayal you can’t get over?”

“Maybe.”

“Parker, I don’t know what to say. I can tell you I’m sorry a million times, but I don’t think it’s doing any good. But you have to know, I would give anything to be able to go back in time and change everything. Everything.”

“It’s fine. It’s in the past. We can’t change it, and it’s over.”

“It’s not over, kid. Never has been for me. And based on how you bit back at Vanessa, it’s not over for you either.”

“I’m engaged.”

“I know.”

“It has to be over.”

“All I want is for you to be happy. I need you to be happy if I have any hope of finding happiness one day.”

“I can’t believe you,” she whispers.

“Why?”

“You chose alcohol over me time and time again. You never came after me. When I didn’t come back, you didn’t even try. And then you turned to her. You chose her over me. Again. I was never enough for you.”

“That’s not true,” he argues.

She leans against the now closed front door. “Isn’t it? You never fought for me. You never came after me. You never called me. You just let me go. How am I supposed to believe anything you say, especially when you say it’s never been over for you? It was over for you that night.”

“Baby, I was a moron, okay? I was the world’s biggest moron. I felt like the only thing I had left to hang onto was my pride. I wish to God I never had done that. I should’ve gone after you.”

“This isn’t how it was supposed to be,” she whispers as tears fall down her face. Sliding down the wall, she hugs her knees to her chest. “This isn’t how we were supposed to end. We never got to truly start.”

“What can I do?”

“Nothing.” She takes a deep breath. “I just have to get over it. I thought I had, but I was lying to myself.”

“Get it out. Yell at me. Hit me.”

“No.”

“Please? You need to do this. It’ll make you feel better.”

“No, it’ll make me feel worse. Anything I do or say will hurt you. And when you get hurt, you drink. I’m not going to do that to you.”

“You don’t need to protect me, kid.”

“Don’t call me kid. It has too many good memories associated with it, and I’d like to hold onto those, please.”

“Baby,” Ryder says falling to his knees in front of her. “What can I do?”

“Nothing. It won’t help anyway.”

“Why not? You have no idea how cathartic is to yell at someone. Get all the feelings off your chest.”

“Yelling at Vanessa just made it all worse. And I know it won’t work because nothing makes me feel better.”

Ryder’s heart breaks as her tears continue to flow. “Please, baby? Talk to me then. Tell me what’s going on in your mind.”

“When I saw you with Vanessa, it tore my heart apart. I couldn’t breathe. I felt like I was dying. I wanted to die.”

Ryder’s chest feels heavy. “We were only there to make sure she was safe.”

“Not then. The night you threw an engagement ring at me. And then, when you never came after me, it broke me. I was broken. I’m still broken. Without you, I had no one. I mean, how was I supposed to come back here to Sam or Paige and not see you? And I knew seeing you would break me further, if it was even possible. Especially if you were okay, because I sure as hell wasn’t.”

“I wasn’t okay.”

Parker shakes her head. “I actually wished Kane would’ve been successful when he came after me. That he had killed me in the parking lot that night.”

“Don’t say that,” Ryder pleads. “Please, don’t ever say that.”

“At the time, it seemed like it would’ve been better. I wouldn’t have had to go through any of the stuff I did. I wouldn’t have been betrayed by my best friend. I wouldn’t have lost my parents. I would’ve never had you to lose, so I wouldn’t have felt like dying for an entire year.”

“Parker-“

“I also knew it was my own fault. I depended on you too much. I wasn’t enough, and you filled the void with things that hurt you. When it all went down, I had no hope of coming out okay. No one was there.”

“Why didn’t you call me? Yell at me? Tell me what an idiot I was?” Ryder cries.

“Mason told me not to. He was scared you would go off the deep end when you fully realized what you did. He was supposed to tell you when you were in the right headspace. I guess he never felt you were.”

Ryder punches the wall, his fist breaking through the drywall. “I’m so stupid! I let the best thing to ever happen to me walk away, and I never did a damn thing to try and stop you. I let my pride get in my own way, and I made you feel like you weren’t enough. I made you feel like it would’ve been better had you never fallen in love with me. I can’t believe how stupid I am.”

“We need to find a way to deal with all of this if we have any hope of being okay. I don’t want to hate you, and I don’t want you to hate me,” Parker says.

“You can’t leave until we get there, Park. I can’t bear to have you hate me anymore, and there’s nothing you could do to make me hate you.”