Resisting Ryder(62)

“Hey, hey,” he said to her as he held her. She was sure he was elated to have her back in his arms, let alone his life.

He placed his arm around her as they walked to the baggage claim, and he grabbed her overflowing luggage off the carousel and wheeled it towards his black Jeep, which was waiting outside.

It felt weird to be back in the Midwest. After only a week, L.A. was starting to feel like home. She missed the palm trees already, but she would never admit that.

She climbed into his car and slid onto the familiar, smooth leather seats and buckled up.

“So you going to tell me what happened?” Hayden asked. “Did that asshole do anything to you? Did he hurt you?”

Stormy loved that Hayden was being so protective of her, but she didn’t really want to get into it with him. If he only knew the things Ryder was capable of if he felt like Hayden was a threat.

“I don’t feel like talking about it right now,” she said.

“I want to know if he hurt you. Did he lay a finger on you?” Hayden demanded. He kept looking over at her as if he was trying to read her face.

“No, not like that,” she said. “It’s over between us. Let’s just leave it at that. I want nothing to do with him ever again. That’s all I’m going to say.”

Hayden turned the radio on low as they cruised back to Coleville. He stopped prodding and asking questions, and she stared out the window trying to wrap her head around how things could’ve gone so horribly wrong.

“I have nowhere to go,” she announced out of the blue. All day she didn’t even think about not having a place to come home to. “I rented out my trailer to some guy.”

“Really?” Hayden asked with raised eyebrows. “You can stay with me. I actually have my own place now. An apartment on the north side of town.”

Stormy nodded with gratitude as tears filled her eyes, but all she really wanted was to go back home to the house Jett had bought her.

Hayden pulled into the parking lot of his apartment building about an hour later and pulled her bags out of his trunk. She followed him to his front door and then inside. His place was spotless and neat, though he didn’t have a ton of stuff. Some nearby boxes indicated that he had just moved in.

“My dad got me this place,” he said. “Just living here while I finish up my last year of school.”

“Thanks for letting me stay here,” she sighed. “Thanks for picking me up.”

“Stormy, you know I’d do anything for you,” he said. “Anything. Seriously.”

“I know,” she said as she nodded.

It was almost midnight and she was glad that the long day was nearing an end.

“Do you care if I crash on your couch? I’m so tired,” she said.

“Make yourself at home,” he said. He stepped down the hall to retrieve a pillow and blanket for her and stood with his hands on his hips as he watched her get comfortable. “Let me know if you need anything. I’ll just be right down the hall.”

She flipped the light off and curled up on the couch. Never in a million years did she imagine she would be sleeping on her ex-boyfriend’s couch back in good, old Coleville. Just a day ago, she was lying in the arms of the man she thought was going to love her and take care of her the way that Jett did. Her life was just getting started again, and now she had taken ten giant leaps backwards. Grief, guilt, and remorse had gotten the best of her when she lease expected.

She reached into her purse on the floor and turned her phone on. She hadn’t bothered checking it since she turned it off after she first boarded the plane back in L.A. It felt like an eternity as the phone took its sweet time firing up. Once the signal was found again and the screen was loaded, she saw that she had no less than ten missed calls from Ryder and various text messages, all saying he needed to talk to her, he missed her, he was worried about her, and he was confused.

Her eyes burned hot again as tears streamed down her cheeks. She was too tired to cry any more than that, though, and passed out within minutes. She just wanted the day to be over.

The first thing she asked Hayden the next morning was to run her to the bank. She had seen Jett go into that bank many times before, but she never once asked him about their money situation. She knew he had some sort of account there, but she always let him take care of everything. He gave her cash anytime she needed it, which was all she knew. Given all the accusations and the shady business dealings he was involved in, she never found an appropriate time to even ask him about his money. The last thing she wanted was for him to think it mattered. It was never about the money with Jett. Never.

Her flats lightly clicked on the hard, tiled floor of the bank as she nervously approached a teller.