Descending Darkness(21)

I walk over to Colton and lean against the back of his chair. He smiles up at me before turning back to Liam. Though they were in the middle of a conversation before I walked into the room, Liam’s attention has moved elsewhere. I follow his line of sight and watch as his eyes follow Natalie as she goes and sits down beside her brother. Hmm, I’ll have to watch them. I don’t like meddling, but sometimes a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.

“So Ryanne, you’re trained in gymnastics too?” Natalie asks me.

“Yeah, I started it when I was seven and trained for ten years. I quit last year. I was nationally ranked, but it started to get too costly,” I tell her. I leave out the part about quitting after my mom died and the injuries I sustained because of the accident.

“You were nationally ranked?” Colton asks me. I glance down at him. The impressed look on his face sends happiness and slight embarrassment surging through me.

“Hey, that means that there are probably pictures on the Internet,” Larkin says as he takes out his phone. I run over to him and try to grab the phone out of his hands, but he is already searching my name. I lean over him, but he moves his phone out of the way. The first picture he pulls up is one of me doing a forward walkover in a silver and black leotard on the beam. He whistles and clicks the next picture which is one of me doing a split leap in a red leotard during a floor routine.

“Ok, I think that is enough.” I try to take his phone from him again. Liam and Colton stand behind him looking at the pictures. “Guys,” I whine and glare at them. Colton grabs my hand and pulls me away from Larkin. Liam laughs and sits back down. Larkin continues to flip through pictures. He laughs and shows me a picture of myself upside down on the balance beam. “I won’t hesitate to drown your phone.”

He rolls his eyes but puts his phone away. “Happy?”

“Super,” I say. “Thank you.”

“That totally explains why you hate dressing up,” Emma says. “I’d hate it too if I had to wear all that glitter and tie my hair back that tight all the time.”

“I loved gymnastics, but it did take a lot to get ready for it,” I agree with her.

Colton wraps his arms around my waist. I am getting so used to him doing this. It feels so comfortable. I lean back against him, resting against his muscled chest. “I liked the leotard,” he whispers in my ear, quietly enough that no one else can hear. I feel a blush rise. Emma quirks an eyebrow at my reaction.

“You’re lucky I like you,” I mumble to him. His arms tighten around my waist, and I bite my lip to keep from sighing at his deep chuckle.

“Conner, did you sleep okay last night? You look tired,” I ask him trying to ignore Colton behind me.

“As well as I could considering…I mean I just found out that my little sister is working with Dravin.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Has she ever attacked you guys before?” he asks us. I tense against Colton. “She has, hasn’t she?”

“She almost killed Ryanne,” Emma says. Conner blanches.

“She stopped breathing. I had to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation before I could heal her,” Logan replies. Natalie gasps and turns toward me.

“It doesn’t matter. That happened a while ago. I’ve had worse, and I’m still alive.” I really don’t need any more people worrying about me. They are still looking at me with sadness. I know that their sister is the one that attacked me, but there is no reason to be sad. It happened a while ago, and I am fine. Logan was able to heal me…eventually. “I’m serious. Everything’s fine. Stop looking at me like that.” Natalie looks away, but Conner starts shaking his head.

I step away from Colton and walk over to Conner. I stand on my tiptoes in front of him, so I can whisper in his ear. “Your sister is still in there somewhere. Don’t give up on her just yet, but be wary, okay?” I look up at him. He searches my eyes before nodding. He must have seen that I believed that Natasha was only doing this stuff because she was upset. I do believe that there is a chance she could realize the error of her ways and turn around.

However, I know that there is an even greater chance that the Natasha they knew could be gone forever.





Chapter Six




Colton

Natalie is flipping through Ryanne’s old sketchbook while sitting on the couch. She stops at the picture of Liam and glances between the page and Liam. “Wow, she’s really good."

“Yep, Ryanne’s good at everything,” Emma says.

“Emma…” I start.

“No, I didn’t mean that in a bad way. I’m just saying that she’s good at like everything.” Right as Emma finishes talking, we hear the sounds of a piano being played from upstairs. “Exhibit A.” The soft melodic notes echo throughout the house. I lean back and close my eyes, picturing Ryanne as she plays. I can see her sitting at the piano bench—her hands rhythmically moving over the piano keys. She feels the music around her. Playing with her eyes closed, she lets the music communicate through her. When she does something, she doesn’t do it halfway. She puts everything into it and loses herself in the art.