Song for the chapter: Is That Alright, by Lady Gaga

The week that passes since meeting Ryker's uncle and his wife was hectic and time-consuming.

While I'm not complaining because I am embarrassed that I cried like that in front of him like a fool, he literally meant what he said about harassing me to see me more.

He'd text me in the morning, asking if I needed a ride to work or if I slept well. He'd spam my phone throughout the day, even though I was on the floor and could only check it if there was no customers. And then he'd be waiting for me at what's become our spot to take me home. Even after I'd walk inside, he'd text me and make sure I was okay.

It was a lot...but also really, really sweet.

Today I'm going to see Gran. I was going to just—actually, I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but Ryker insisting on taking me so he could spend the day with me and meet them wasn't it.

"You don't have to come." Is the first thing that comes out of my mouth when I walk into his garage.

He doesn't say anything; he just takes a step forward, grabs my neck gently and presses his lips on mine, soft.

It made my head spin.

"W-what was that for?" I whisper.

"I missed you. You've been busy." He smirks at me.

"Oh."

He kisses my forehead and opens the door. I slide in, my cheeks burning, and he shuts the door behind me. As Ryker gets in, he starts the car up and he hands me his phone to type in the address in his GPS. I smile, but do so anyway.

As we hit the highway, Ryker extends his hand and places it right above my knee, making my stomach flip and my cheeks flush. I bite the inside of my cheek, trying not to freak out.

"Ryker?"

"Hm?"

I look at him, nervous to even ask. He takes a quick glance at me and gives my leg a gentle squeeze.

"You can ask me anything."

How does he always know what's going on in my head? Is my face really that expressive?

I sigh. "Your dad said you were studying English?"

One of his brows raise. "You remember that?"

"I try to remember anything important, Ryker."

He glances over at me, his eyes staring at mine intently, before he looks back at the road.

"Uh, well, yeah. Kind of, I guess. I studied creative arts with a minor in English. It's how I actually met Olivia, she was in a literature class of mine." Ryker huffs. "But I switched out from campus to online after a year and a half—much easier, by the way." He smirks.

"What happened?"

Learning about Ryker fascinated me. I couldn't get enough about him.

"Olivia and I just weren't right." Ryker shakes his head. "We jumped into something based purely on something physical, not emotional. She manipulated me and my anger a lot to benefit her and her wants. Obviously, she got me into underground fighting. I did it a lot back then." He runs a hand through his hair. "I never saw it until it was too late."

I reach out and grab his hand and bring it back to my thigh. He smiles slightly, making my heart skip a beat.

"That wasn't on you, Ryker. I hope you know that."

He doesn't say anything, just gives me a guilty smile. I frown, knowing that he blames himself for not seeing how evil Olivia really is. Honestly, she's a the Devil incarnate—the she-demon.

"So does that mean you write stuff?"

"What?"

I smile. "You studied creative writing, it must mean you write, right? Like stories or something? Poems or stuff of that sort?"

His mouth is open, but nothings coming out.

"I knew it!" My smile is wide. "Can I read something sometime? Please? I bet you're a secret softie. You know, those guys who look all tough and bad on the outside but they're really—"

"Oh look, we're here." Ryker cuts me off.

I narrow my eyes at him. He thinks this is over, it's not.

When Ryker parks the car, I can already see Gran walking out onto the porch.

"Well aren't you a sight for sore eyes?" Gran exclaims as I walk across the grass towards her.

I looked like normal: light denim jeans, a white v-neck and my hair was in a high ponytail. I maybe put on a little extra makeup because Ryker was coming, but that's it.

"Look who's talking." I smile.

My grandparents were in their late sixties, I think. Maybe early seventies by now. Gran has her hair in a short pixie cut and dyed full grey, complimenting her blue eyes and round face. Her body was petite and her wrinkles prominent, but she's how I envision my mom would've looked if she had the chance to grow old.

"Where's grandpa?" I ask.

"You know how he is," Gran rolls her eyes. "Never resting a day in his life. He's out by the shed hauling some soil to plant me a new garden." Her eyes land on Ryker. "Who might you be, young man?"

"Gran, this is Ryker, my friend." I smile as I step aside. Ryker comes forward and extends his hand. "Ryker, this is my grandma."

"Please, call me Phoebe."

Ryker smiles. "Pleasure to meet you, Phoebe."

"Handsome and polite. Where have you been hiding him, Maddibear?"

I feel my cheeks heat up at the nickname. "Gran."

"Is that who I think it is?" I hear grandpa call from behind. "My, my! Look how beautiful you've gotten."

Grandpa opened his arms to give me a hug, which I fully intended to give back, but Gran swatted her hands at him.

"Phil Masterson, you are filthy. Don't you touch her covered in all that dirt!"

"Yes, ma'am."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Gran, it's fine—"

"Who's this fella?"

"I'm Ryker," Ryker extends his hand to my grandpa. "Ryker Brooks. Close friend of Maddison's."

Grandpa takes his hand and gives it a firm shake. "Phil. It's nice to meet you."

"Pleasure is all mine, sir."

I bit my lip; my grandparents are a sucker for manners. Ryker's winning them over, easy.

"Your wife was saying you were hauling some bags of soil to a shed? If you'd like, I could give you a hand."

Done deal. They'd probably invite him for dinner, and to come back again and again.

"Well, that'd be just great." Gran answers. "Phil's back ain't as good as it used to be."

"Phee!" Phil scolds.

She just blows him a kiss and grandpa waves her off with a smile on his face. He tells Ryker to follow him and they disappear to the side of the house, leaving me with a smile on my face.

"Someone's smitten."

I turn to Gran. "What?"

"I see you, girl. Watching everything, holding your breath. Making sure he doesn't make a mistake so we don't have a reason not to like him." She sits on her rocking chair, so I sit on grandpas. "You like this boy?"

I shrug. "I used to think I hated him," I admit with a snort. "But now...now he makes me feel things I never knew were possible, Gran."

"That's how you know it's real, sweetheart."

I shake my head. "But you can feel that with so many other people. How do you know, without a doubt, that's it?" I sigh. "Mom was so sure in soul mates, in believing that there was just one other person out there for you. She felt it with dad, but then she also felt it with Joey's dad, didn't she?"

"Listen to me, child," Gran gives me a small smile. "Your momma loved your daddy with every fiber in her body. And when he left her, she was broken. And she just wanted to feel complete again, so she sought the wrong things instead of healing." She shrugs. "But your daddy came back, didn't he?"

I nod. "Yeah."

"Sometimes people get tested, sweetheart. And it's in our trails that our faithfulness is tested the most. It's when we really know who we are and what we believe."

I smile. "Mom said that a lot."

"Because I said it to her growing up," she laughs, sadness evident in her tone. "You have to trust yourself, first, love. Trust your instincts, trust God. You know your momma always did. And look, it led her to have two beautiful girls and a happy life. You know that, don't you?" She looks at me.

I force a smile and nod. "Of course, Gran. I just..." I shake my head. "I wish she was here to tell me what to do. She always had the best advice right when I needed it."

Gran nods. "Well, here's what I got: give the boy a chance. Because you seem to like him. I see how you look at him, and every time he passes by, how he looks at you."

I turn my head as she says that, and sure enough there's Ryker, picking up a bag of soil from the back of grandpas truck. But he's looking at me with such a look that it makes my insides double over.

"Yeah, nobody just looks at each other like that." Gran chuckles. "Give it a chance, Maddi." I look at her. "You love everyone else so much, don't you think it's time you get some of that love back?"

I give her a small smile, letting her know I heard her, but too stunned to say anything back.

* * *

Ryker and I left as the sun was setting. Like I said, they invited us to stay for dinner and Gran made her famous chicken dumplings. Ryker loved it so much she gave him a container of it in a paper bag in the back seat.

"Your grandparents are kinda awesome." Ryker states.

I snort. "Thanks."

"You okay?"

I nod. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Maddison." Ryker's voice was always like that, like a demand for attention. I looked at him. "Don't do that with me."

"Do what?"

"Hide what you're feeling."

"I'm not." I defend.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"That's such bullshit, Maddison. I can tell by how you're sitting there with you chin in your hand and the edge of your thumb in between your teeth that somethings on your mind."

Wait, what? How'd he notice all that if he was driving?

"Well, you're wrong."

That's the best I could come up with? Smooth, Maddi.

Ryker just shakes his head, but stays silent. His hands are gripping the wheel the entire drive home, silence and tension so thick, I could cut it with a knife.

Ryker pulls into his garage after a while and idles his engine. It's dark, the summer sounds of bugs all around us. I don't really know what to do, so I just take a deep breath.

I reach for the handle when Ryker finally speaks up.

"When are you going to realize that you matter to me?"

It's low, but I heard it.

"What?"

"When are you going to accept that I actually fucking care about you?" He raises his voice, his angry eyes looking at me.

"I—"

"Because you keep holding me at arms length away from you, Maddison. And honestly? That fucking hurts. You ask me all these questions and I answer, honestly, because I want you to know me. I want you to know every deep, dark secret I have. I want you to have it all. But you won't let me..." he trails off, looking away from me.

I blink several times. Was he serious?

I move towards him, but end up being blocked by the stupid center console. So I climb over it and straddle his lap, making his eyes wide as he looked at me. I sit straight, holding onto his shoulders.

"You're annoying and frustrating." I start. "You ask for a lot and I feel like I'm giving it to you, but obviously, I'm not. So, I'm sorry." I inhale. "It's not easy for me. It's never been easy for me; having someone want to know these things about me is new. I'm trying, Ryker. And I want to try with you."

Ryker's hands move up to my neck and hold me gently. My lips part at his touch.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, you're right." I smile small. "I want to know you, but it's only fair for you to know me, too. And I really want you to."

Ryker's eyes dropped to my lips, making me instinctively lick them. He, very slowly, inched his way towards me, stopping just a hair away from my lips. My breathing was already heavy in anticipation and I couldn't bare it. I pressed my lips against his and almost sighed in relief.

Ryker's kisses was like an addiction—once wasn't enough. I needed more, craved more. He was pressing his lips against mine in the most soft and tender manner until I swiped my tongue on his lip ring and pulled it between my teeth.

He groaned before his lips met my urgency, kissing me faster and hungrier. I gave him immediate access when I felt his tongue swipe my bottom lip, touching mine dominantly. I moaned, which made my cheeks flush.

"Fuck, I love when you do that." Ryker's voice was raspy now as he pulled back to look at me.

"Do what?" I ask, breathless.

"Get embarrassed," he kisses my neck. "When I'm the only person who's ever turned you on."

I suppress the moan that tries to escape as he kisses further down my neck.

"When I'm the only person who gets to have you like this."

My breathing is erratic as he starts to pull the fabric off my shoulder and places kisses on the now bare skin.

"When I'm the only person who's made you wet."

"Oh my," I mutter as I tighten legs around his waist.

His hands move to my back, pressing my body against his. My chest pressed against his and his eyes widen as he looks down at the cleavage that's now popping out through the shirt.

"God, you're so beautiful." Ryker looks up at my eyes. "You have no idea how beautiful you are to me."

My lips are parted, my heart hammering against my chest. I wanted to say something, anything—but my attention was dragged across the street when I saw a car pull into my driveway.

I furrow my brows. "What?"

Ryker looks back. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I shake my head. "Uh, I need to go see who that is. Hang on."

I open the door and climb off Ryker's lap. I adjust my shirt and walk across the street. I see the car full of people, a couple guys and a girl. I walk inside, confused, only to see my dad coming down the stairs with some luggage.

When dad wasn't hammered, he looked good. He looked normal, like he didn't drown his sorrows away every night. His brown hair was combed and his green eyes weren't surrounded with red and he'd even shaved.

"Dad?"

"Ah, Maddi. There you are." He actually gave me a small smile. "How's it going?"

"I'm fine." I raise a brow. "What's with the car outside?"

"Right! I decided I'm going to Vegas for a few days. I needed a break and I finally took some vacation days."

I felt my heart fall; despite his shitty parenting, my birthday is soon and I didn't want him to be gone for it.

"How long?"

He rolls his eyes and rolls his suitcase past me. "I don't know, Maddi. A few damn days. Don't you think I earned that much?"

I blink, mostly to keep the tears away. "You're right," I clear my throat. "I hope you have a good time."

"I plan to. Call me if there's an emergency or something. See you when I get back."

And then he left. No I love you, no reassurance he'll be back for my birthday. Nothing.

I took a deep breath and nod.

"I love you, too, dad. See you when you get back."

A/N

My baby, Maddison 🤧

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