“I fucking love you.”
I opened my eyes, and he was gone again. My mouth went dry, and those butterflies burst to life in my stomach again. I stood there frozen for a moment, not believing I had actually heard him correctly. Then I heard his footsteps racing up the stairs, and my brain kicked in. I ran after him.
“You’re an idiot, Jones! You know that?” I called after him as I followed him into his room and shoved him in the back.
“What the hell, Bai…” He stumbled slightly and turned around, towering over me.
“I fucking love you too.” I panted, gasping for breath from running so fast up the stairs to catch up to him.
And then his mouth was on mine, and we tumbled to the floor.
Chapter
Twenty-Six
The gossip mill at our school was going absolutely crazy. It was worse than when Ryder and I had walked in as a couple that first day back. And it certainly didn’t help that Chace and Christina had been M.I.A. since Kenzie’s appearance a couple of days ago.
But the strangest thing was the sudden increase in people who wanted to talk to us, sit with us, or have lunch with us. It seemed like Ryder and I couldn’t take three steps down the school halls without people harassing us asking whether Kenzie’s outburst was legitimate and if Chace really was the father. Others felt the need to apologise on their behalf for what they did to us, almost begging for our forgiveness. It was surreal.
“You know what? This is bullshit, Bailey,” Ryder snapped while we sat in his car waiting for the hordes of people to make their way to class. Once again, he was a living contradiction. His tone was harsh and angry, yet his touch on my hand was soft and gentle as he caressed my fingers.
“I know. I didn’t think it would turn out this way. It’s nuts.” If I didn’t know any better, I would think that people were moving unusually slow, almost like they were waiting for us.
“We should just skip today. Maybe every other day until forever. Let’s not go back to school, or let’s just change schools. We can go across town to Jayden’s sch—” I leant over and pressed my fingers to his lips to shut him up. I was not ditching school again, and I was not changing schools just because he didn’t like all the extra attention he was getting. It never seemed to bother him when it was girls throwing themselves at him. He was just going to have to man up and get over it.
“Ryder, we can’t skip today. I already ditched the other day and—” I started to tell him, but he interrupted me.
“And it was a great fucking day, Bailey. Let’s have a repeat.” He wound his hand around the back of my neck and pulled my lips to his. All thoughts of Chace and Christina and the craziness going on in our school were forgotten instantly, only to be replaced by thoughts of Ryder and those magical lips of his.
“Yes, Ryder. It was a beautiful day, and I would love nothing more than to have a repeat of it,” I said when I broke our kiss. It was too easy to get caught up in Ryder and forget about the world around me. He just had that effect on me.
“It’s settled then. Let’s go.” He released his grip on my neck and moved to turn the keys in the ignition so he could drive out of the parking lot.
“No, stop. I would love nothing more than a repeat of that day every day, but come on. Be realistic. We can’t avoid school forever. It might not be as bad today.” I leant over and pecked him on the cheek quickly before jumping out of the car, giving him no choice but to leave me there or follow me. He decided to follow, grumbling beside me the entire time it took us to get to homeroom.
“Relax, Jones. It’ll be fine. Ignore them. Just focus on me,” I told him when he paused outside the door to the classroom.
“I really don’t like this attention, Bailey. It makes me uncomfortable.” He whined and dropped his shoulders while pouting at me.
“You, uncomfortable? I don’t think so.” I raised my eyebrow at him in disbelief. There was no way he was uncomfortable with the attention. He loved it.
“Well, maybe you’re right, but I think our luck might be changing anyway.” He suddenly perked up as he looked over my shoulder. I turned and followed his gaze into the room behind us and felt my mouth fall open.
“Chace and Christina are back.” I whipped my head around to Ryder.
“Yep, today might just be a good day, Bailey. Come on. We’ll be late for homeroom.” He smiled that dimple-showing smile of his before twisting his fingers in mine and dragging me into the classroom.
The classroom fell silent as everyone watched to see how we reacted to each other. I tried my best to ignore the tension between everyone as Ryder tugged me over to our seats that were unfortunately still in front of Chace and Christina.
“Relax, love. This is going to be interesting.” He winked at me. I rolled my eyes and turned to face the front, blocking out the looks and the whispers by closing my eyes and secretly wishing that I had agreed to ditch with Ryder ten minutes ago. We could have been having a repeat of the other day instead of sitting there providing entertainment to the entire school.
“You’re smiling,” Ryder whispered in my ear. I didn’t realise I was doing it. Just thinking about that day made me giddy and tingly.
“Just thinking about the other day,” I told him, trying to stop the smile but failing when he grinned at me, obviously thinking about it too.
I zoned out remembering the afternoon we had together after finding Kenzie a mess on the sofa. Chace had really hurt her. I still couldn’t believe he was so cruel, but she was strong. She’d made it this far without his help, and she’d do perfectly fine in the future.
I pictured Ryder’s face when he told me he loved me and bolted from the room. I was too stunned to do anything or say anything at first, but once I’d finally collected myself, I chased him up the stairs and shoved him hard in the back. Who declared their love for someone before running away and hiding? We weren’t six years old. How could he have not realised I felt the same way? After telling him I loved him too and falling to the floor, his lips were warm and urgent on mine, and his arms were tight around my back. He held me close, squeezing me as if afraid I’d leave. I wasn’t leaving. His smile lit up the room when he looked at me. It was so bright I could barely look at it but was too afraid to look away.
“Bailey. Hey, wake up,” Ryder said, snapping me out of my daydream. I turned to see him smiling. “You’ve been staring into space with that stupid grin on your face for five minutes.”