“I am,” he responds. There’s a sheen of sweat on his toned upper body. His muscles are lean, but they’re peaks and valleys of smooth tanned skin. The sweatpants he’s wearing hang low on his tapered waist. The smooth line of V muscles points toward his groin.

A thin smattering of hair sits just below his belly button, along with a tattoo. The script font trails from left to right with the words Perfectly Flawed in dark ink. I can’t tear my eyes away from the boy I recognize, who’s turned into a man over the years.

“What are you doing here?” he asks, toweling his chest as he regards me with a penetrating stare. I open my mouth, but I can’t find the words. He’s meant to be helping me with the dance competition, but all I want to do is leap into his arms. Work doesn’t mean anything at this moment. “Butterfly?”

“I-I…” Clearing my throat, I try again. “I needed to talk to you about the choreography.”

He nods, throwing the towel over one bare shoulder. There’s a slight limp when he steps toward me and I don’t miss the flinch on his handsome face. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he bites out. “I’ll be at the school in an hour. I needed some time on my own. Get the kids ready for class and I’ll take it from there.”

“Ryder, you can’t just walk in—”

“Do you want my help or not?” His tone is harsh, ragged, but there’s anger that drips from each word.

“What happened to you?” I shake my head as I voice the words.

“I grew up, Piper. I’m no longer the boy you had a crush on,” he bites back in a tone I don’t recognize. He’s right, he’s not the boy I remember. He’s far from it. At this moment, he’s a very angry man and there are ghosts in his eyes. Guilt perhaps.

“I can see you’ve turned into an asshole. You know, Ryder, with all that bravado you used to carry around, I don’t see any of it now. What happened? Did some girl break your heart in LA? Huh?” I can’t help myself. I’m prodding a sleeping bear and I know I’m only going to get bitten.

“Get out!” The demand he spits at me booms through the space like a foghorn, and when I meet those eyes I used to get lost in, I no longer recognize the person before me. The boy I fell in love with is gone, and he’s been replaced by a shell of the man he once was.

“Fuck you, Ryder Kingsley!” My words seem to shock him, as if I’d slapped him. “You’re a pathetic asshole. Whatever happened to you does not give you the right to talk to me like that.”

I spin on my heel, not bothering to stop when he calls to me. My name on his lips grips my heart, and the tether that’s always been there threatens to pull me back. It makes me want to turn around and run back to him, but I don’t.

Instead, I walk to the door and leave him in the godforsaken warehouse.

It’s only when I slip into the driver’s seat of my car that I blink, allowing the tears to fall. It’s been a long while since I cried, really cried. My body wracks with silent sobs as I try to pull in air between the sadness that’s taken over me.

The click of my door has my gaze snapping up to find Ryder standing at my car. The guilt painted on his expression is clear. There’s something in his eyes, hidden to the world, but only visible to me, pure agony.

“Get out of the car.” His voice is low, demanding. But I’m far too angry with him just to allow him to talk to me like that.

“Leave me alone, Ryder. I can’t do this with you.” Even though I’m twenty, he still makes me feel like the silly teenage girl who crushed on him all her life. It’s stupid. I shouldn’t let him get to me, but I can’t stop my heart from thudding when he reaches into the car, his strong hand gripping my arm and pulling me from the seat.

“I said, get out of the car,” he bites out, shoving my door closed and pressing me against the vehicle. “I’ve got so much darkness that seems to follow me around like a fucking storm, Piper.” His words caress my skin, his hands holding my hips in place. His body is flush against mine, holding me in place.

I lift my gaze to meet his to see what he’s hiding, but as much as I implore with a mere glance, I don’t find the answers and he doesn’t give them away. He’s always been closed off. Even though my brother would get him drunk and take him to parties, I knew the real Ryder. The one who hid in the shadows because he was seen as a kid with no future.

“I can’t drag you into my fucked up existence,” he finally tells me. Allowing his pain to drip from every word, he crushes my heart with just that sentence alone.

“I’ve been in your fucked up existence for far longer than you believe, Ryder. I can’t stop myself from loving you.” My confession shouldn’t be a problem. It shouldn’t have him staring at me in shock.

“How can you love me, Piper?”

“I just never stopped,” I inform him. And that’s when I see them, the walls he’s built up over the years he’s been away. They’re crumbling, and when he looks at me again, I see the agony that’s so blatantly shining in his eyes.

“I’m not the same boy, not anymore. I’m not even a man.”