Chapter Fifty-One

Ryder

I took the elevator to her floor and walked up and down the hall. I couldn't bring myself to knock on the door. I couldn't open myself up like that even though I knew I should.

I stopped in front of her door and was trying to muster the courage to knock when the door opened. Annette was coming out and didn't look up. She ran square into me.

“Oh, sorry,” she apologized. Then she did a double-take. “Oh, it's you. About time,” she mumbled and sidestepped me. “Make it right, asshole,” she said over her shoulder as she walked away.

I didn't say anything, but I reached out to stop the door before it closed all the way. I could hear Amy talking.

“We just have to get him to listen. It's hard to look between the lines sometimes,” Amy was saying.

“I looked between them when all those pictures showed up online with him covered in women. I mean what am I supposed to think right now?” Zoey replied.

“You love him, and sometimes love is blind, but sometimes it makes you crazy, too,” Amy said.

“I just want him to believe in me, to trust me.”

“Once he knows what really happened, he will.”

“I still can’t believe you punched him,” Zoey said to Amy.

“Well, men don’t get to kiss women without their permission…at least, that one sure as hell doesn’t.”

I felt like the biggest asshole on the planet as they continued to talk. I had overreacted and it probably had to do a lot with the fact that I was hyped from the fight, but that was a shitty excuse. My behavior was only because seeing another man with his hands on her had made me see red. I wouldn't have heard anything anyone had said at that point. I was a bull raging and that was it.

I listened for another minute, and then stepped visibly into the room. Zoey turned to look at me and her face didn't change. She didn't greet me or smile at me. She just watched me.

“Ryder,” Amy acknowledged me as she stood from her seat at the table. “I'll give you guys a few.” She walked into the bedroom and closed the door.

“Are you sober?” Zoey asked and looked down at her fidgeting hands.

“Yeah.” I walked a little closer. I wanted to hug her, but I knew that we needed to talk this out first.

“I don't even know where to start,” she said as she looked up at me with those beautifully sad eyes.

“I'll start.”

“No, I need to explain,” she started.

“You don’t. I heard you guys talking and I need to apologize for my behavior and for not believing in us, in you.” I took a few more steps into the room.

“Ryder…”

“I know. I fucking know. I can't believe this shit is even happening,” I said and then dropped to my knees in front of her. “I want to fix this, I need to fix this.”

“Then why run away?” she asked.

“I didn't know what to do. I was destroyed and I just needed to get away from all of it. I didn't see you after that. You didn't try to find me. And—”

“Tristan made sure I had no access to you.” Her voice rose an octave. “But that's been handled. He’s dealing with the wrath of Amy.”

“I don't know what happened,” I said. “I just lost it. I thought of a million different excuses for what I did, but none of them are good enough. I just need this to be okay.”

“I was so worried about you. You dropped off the face of the planet. If those women hadn't been posting pictures everywhere, I would have never found you,” she said.

“Women?” I had no clue what she was talking about.

“At the bar.”

“Ohhhh. I vaguely remember them…and their excessive photo taking. They were trying hard to get me to go with them, but I didn't. I passed out in the parking lot while I was trying to take a leak, though.”

She laughed.

“You passed out with your dick out?”

“Yeah, I'm not real proud of that but I was a wreck.”

“I know the feeling,” she whispered.

I reached out and cupped her face. “Can we get through this?”

“I hope so, but Ryder, we have to talk to each other. We both have this habit of overreacting and jumping to conclusions, and it has to stop if we’re going to have any kind of future.”

“You’re right. But I have never wanted anything more than you. Whatever we have to do, I'm willing to do it.”

Her hand covered mine and she leaned into it. “Ryder, I love you and that will never change, but you not even being willing to listen to me or consider that there was more to some stranger’s story, well, that really hurt.”

“I know, and I’m sorry, but seeing that man with his hands on you tore me in half. My heart shattered.”

“I'm sorry about that, and I wish I could change it, but I am with you and have been with you since that night I met you. You know me. You have to know that I would never do anything to hurt you. I should have told you that he had contacted me. I told him to stop and he did. And then to be safe I blocked his number. How was I to know that he was planning all of this? He didn't even want me when we dated. How could I have guessed he’d do something like this?”

“Like I told you before, you’ll always be mine, even when you don't think you are. I love you, Zoey.” I leaned in and kissed her softly before pulling her to me. My world shifted and everything was right the moment I felt her body against mine. I heard her sniffle, so I lifted her chin with my finger. “Please, don’t cry, love.”

“I was so scared this was over. I didn't want to believe it, but it sure seemed that way.”

I squeezed her against me and kissed the tip of her nose. “We can do this. It isn't going to be easy. But I believe in us.”