Chapter Thirty-seven

It wasn't what he said; it was how he said it that caused the tears to just keep flowing down my cheeks. Did he really think I would hurt him? That I would stand against him?

Sure, I wasn't that kind to him but for him to think that I would hurt him, his family, or the pack!

How could he even think of that!

I stumbled down a few stairs and landed hard into a pair of arms.

"Gee, Allie, watch your feet would you." Ryder held my weight, stopping me from tumbling down the rest of the stairs.

I managed to take a step back up, getting my balance and quickly wiping tears away.

"Can you move please?" I snuffled, staring down at the ground.

I was not ready for another run in with a Harris brother. I was still crying from the last one I faced.

"Allie. What happened?" He planted his hands on my shoulders, dipping his head turning to make eye contact with me.

"Nothing." I pushed one of his hands off. "Just let me go." I ducked under his arm and quickened my pace down the stairs.

I thought I had made it until Ryder's arm flung across the door blocking my way out.

"Allie Winters. Tell me what the hell happened?"

I locked my sorrow filled eyes with his curious ones.

"Your brother happened."

If there was a secret password to get through Ryder's blocking arm, that was it. His arm dropped to his side, and I pulled the wooden door open wildly fleeing from that house.

"Sometimes talking about it helps, especially when you're talking to me, who also thinks Zane is a jerk."

I paused on the last porch step.

"You would just agree with him." I kept my eyes forward on the gate.

"Come on." Ryder stood beside me now. "You're talking to the guy that makes the poison to kill the bond between mates. No one is hated more than me."

I tilted my head to the side to stare up at him. "Zane hates me."

"He hates the gardener as well if that makes you feel better."

Ryder's light-heartedness caused the tears to slow. He sat on the porch step and patted the ground next to him.

"I think he hates me more than the gardener."

"Maybe, but no-one, and I mean no-one, can take the top place of Zane's hate list than the June Cleaner."

"June Cleaner?"

"Mom hired a new cleaner; of course, it was in the month of…"

"June," I guessed.

He smirked. "Good looking and brains, don't get that often."

"Thought you were telling a story."

"I was, but then you had to inject."

"I promise I won't interrupt again."

This light-hearted banter was actually helping; taking my mind off the devil upstairs.

"Anyway, the cleaner was doing the washing. A common everyday thing you know. No one thought much of it. Anyway, Zane had this top…"

"I think I have an idea where this is going."

Ryder shook his head with a wide smirk. "Nope. No-one could have seen this happening. The cleaner wanted to speed things up, so she started ironing two things at once, and it just so happened that Zane's white t-shirt got ironed with one of mom’s."

I frowned at him. "And?"

"And Zane got the logo 'teacup club' on the back of his top. The funniest part was he knew nothing about it until he got home, even though students at school had been teasing him all day."

Ryder couldn't hold back the chuckle now. "Aw," he sighed, pulling himself together, "It was a classic one."

He planted a hand on my cold knee. "Now, tell me, what happened that has scored you on Zane's hate list."

"More like kill list." I muttered, "He won't ever speak to me again."

"Not so long ago you would have seen that as a good thing."

I stared at him blankly. "That was before I knew he loathed me to the point he wished I never existed."

"Come on, even I see the way he looks at you. Zane doesn't loathe you, and I reckon he would kill anyone for even thinking about hurting you."

"Maybe." Tears began to well. "That was before he knew."

"Knew what?"

"That my dad and brother are part of the freedom fighters. That they stand against everything that Zane stands for, what the pack stands for."

"So, others have connections to the group. Not as strong as yours though." Ryder attempted to soothe the situation.

Bringing my sorrow filled eyes to look him in the eye. "I'm his mate."

Three simple words, but telling them out loud to Ryder…just felt wrong.

"But that doesn't matter now because he wants nothing to do with me. He is icing my mom and me out of the pack. He wants me gone. He's ashamed of me, and I get it." That was the worst part of it all as I understood why he wanted nothing to do with me.

"Allie, I'm sure…

"Don't, Ryder." I turned to look at him sharply while standing up. "Zane wants me gone, and the saddest part about it all is I didn't even know I wanted a future with him until there was no chance of one happening."

"He'll come around."

"He thinks I am blocking him out of my mind with a bracelet my brother gave me, but I'm not even wearing it." I looked at my bare wrists. "I haven't worn it in weeks. Still, he thinks I am planning something, blocking him out, and on a mission to destroy everything he loves."

I mentally scoffed. Who would think a tough man like Zane would ever fear a girl like me?

"Allie, don't just leave," Ryder said to my back as I walked up the small path heading for the gate.

There was nothing to say, and there was nothing Ryder could say to fix it.

Zane and I are what we are - broken.