Ryder's POV

The following morning, we woke up to the familiar sound of the pacman alarm. I lifted my head and looked down to see Sam's arm snaked around my waist.

Sam groaned. "Let it ring for a bit, I don't wanna get up,"

"Hey, come on, we can't delay our training," I said, pressing my lips on his nose.

"5 more minutes, plus most people will be getting up late today. Everyone's probably hungover,"

I hummed. "Fine,"

Sam reshuffled, muzzling his face into my neck, and pulling me closer, if possible. This boy could be a muscular, dominant man one minute, and then a cute little submissive the next. I smiled at the thought, before relaxing for a few more minutes.

My thoughts wandered to last night. The crazy stuff we did together, how good Sam felt inside me, how good he sounded, how enjoyable he made the night for me, My cheeks went a little red just at the thought of it. 

"What?" Sam asked.

"Huh? I didn't say anything," I responded, confused. 

"I know, but what are you thinking about?"

"Nothing, why?"

"It can't be nothing," Sam chuckled against my chest, "Your heart started beating so fast," 

Oh God, that's so embarrassing. I thought, covering my face. "Shut up," I said through my hands. Sam chuckled again, but let it go, eventually drifting off back to sleep.

After some time had passed, I stroked Sam's head gently, waking him again. "Baby come on, we gotta train,"

He grunted, gave me one last squeeze, before opening his arms and letting me go. I chuckled and got up to turn off the annoying alarm sound.

I went freshened up and checked my phone, to see a notification from Jessy.

Jessy: hey Ryder, call me when you're not busy.

I frowned. It was weird for Jessy to leave a message with no context, or emojis.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked, walking out of the bathroom with a towel in hand.

"Uh . . . Jessy said call him when I'm not busy. But he didn't say anything else. That's weird from him." I said.

"Give him a call baby," Sam said, wrapping his hands around me from behind. "Would you like me to leave you for a bit?"

"No it's okay," I said, as he rested his chin on the top of my head.

I dialled, and Jessy answered on the first ring. "Ryder,"

"Hey Jessy what's up?"

"Is Samuel with you?" he asked.

"Yeah, he's here," I replied.

"I'm here," Sam added. "Would you like me to leave?"

"No no, stay," Jessy said.

"Can you explain what's wrong?" I asked.

Jessy sighed. "I have some bad news."

"What happened? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Last night my parents received a call from you parents."

"What did they say?"

Jessy spoke slowly, like he was trying to phrase everything correctly. "You're sister has been super . . . unwell lately. And last night, they. . ."

"Go on . . ." I said quietly, fearing what he was about to say.

"They lost her yesterday." He finished.

Sam's grip tightened around my waist. He moved his head from on top of me, to my shoulder, and held me close. I felt my hands starting to sweat a little, leaving little patches on my phone screen.

"Ryder?" Jessy spoke when I didn't say anything. "I wanted to tell you while Samuel is there, because I can't hold you and console you from here."

Sam cleared his throat. "Yeah I'm here for her, don't worry." He seemed lost for words. So was I.

"She . . . asked for you." My heart ached at those words.

"R-Really?" I felt my eyes watering.

"Yeah. . . she told your parents to tell you she'd always love you. . . they told us she was confused and forgot that you'd been missing for years . . . but I thought it was almost like she knew. She knew that you'd somehow hear that message."

A tear spilled, dripping into Sam's arm around my waist. He spun me around and I tried to wipe all my tears away.

"Hey, hey, hey, come here. It's okay to cry." he reassured me.

I dug my face into his chest and began to weep.

Even in her last moments, she thought of me . . .

Sam spoke to Jessy a little longer before he hung up.

"Hey, look at me?" he said, sitting me down on the sofa and kneeling in front of me. "Don't try and hold back the tears, just let them go. It's okay, you can cry as much as you want." He caressed my shoulders while I weeped for a bit.

"I'm so sorry." He said quietly, after a few minutes. When I still didn't say anything, he kissed my hand. "She wouldn't want you to cry, you know."

I hiccupped and nodded.

"And you heard Jessy speaking to me, he said she was suffering. She's not in pain anymore, you know. She's in a better place." he reminded me.

That thought relaxed me a little bit. When I was younger I couldn't bear seeing her in pain. 

"Hey I, I don't mean to be insensitive, and I hope I'm phrasing this right, but I didn't realise she meant this much to you. I understand you'd be upset, because obviously she's your sister, but you told me before that, you two were never that close,"

I hummed, beginning to calm down. "I supposed I lied a little," I mumbled, spinning my ring around my finger. 

"Do you want to talk about it? You obviously don't have to, I won't push you into anything," he reassured me.

I shrugged, and he sat beside me on the sofa. "As we grew up, we were incredibly close. My parents were quite abusive towards me, but they treasured my older sister. I'm not sure why. Neither of us knew. Maybe it was part of their culture, to care more for the oldest child. I don't know. But anyway my sister knew it was wrong. She would comfort me, when my parents hurt me."

"She must have been a great sister," Sam said, stroking my hands. 

"She was. But then when I was 6 or 7, she became ill. She got kidney failure, and her kidneys failed fast. She needed all kinds of treatments and she spent more and more days in the hospital, to the point where she lived there. My parents were somewhat glad that she was no longer  with me, supporting me. So they had more opportunities to mistreat me, with nobody in my defense." 

Sam pulled me close and I rested my head on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry my love,"

I continued talking. "I started to hate her for leaving me alone with my parents, all the while knowing it wasn't her fault. My parents wouldn't allow me to go see her in hospital. Ever. She would message me and call me sometimes but it was difficult for her to find time when Mum and Dad weren't by her side. So I simply didn't see her. I haven't seen her ever since she was admitted in the hospital for intensive care."

"Wasn't there any way to treat her?" 

"Before I left, I know that she needed a kidney. All the donors that came forward, didn't match. Even my mothers, and fathers. Mine matched though. It did. But I was 12 at the time. My parents argued with them for months, trying to convince the hospital into taking one of my kidneys, but they refused. They don't perform live organ donation from children. It's against the law. I was scared. I wanted to be able to help her but I was terrified."

"I would be too, you were just a little kid. In fact I'd still be scared if someone asked me to do it today."

"I didn't hear anything else about her really, after I left. Even though I was in contact with Jessy still, he didn't have any information about her because he was quite distant family. Since my parents stopped allowing me to see her, I tried to forget. Forget about how much she cared for me and loved me. Because it hurt to think about her. So that why I told you we were never that close." I explained, sniffing.

"I understand. You wanted to move on." he reassured me while he held my hand. "I know you need some time to mourn her, but if there's anything I can do to make you feel better please, tell me, Rye," 

I sniffled and nodded. "How am I gonna face anyone? Nobody knows I've been in contact with Jessy, so they won't understand how I found out about my sister. Only Gray would know," I looked into Sam's eyes, he seemed to be tearing up too. "I'm not sure I'll be able to hold it together in front of people,"

Sam hummed, "You're right, it'll be a difficult day. What would you like to do? We could always have a normal day in terms of training but just eat in our rooms instead of in the Cafeteria. Or if you want we can spend all day here? I thought training might help you take you mind off stuff maybe, but it's up to you baby," 

"I think it would be good to keep training but eat up here? Won't people get suspicious though?" I frowned and leaned my head back onto his shoulder. 

"Yeah I'll knock next door and ask Gray what he thinks, okay?" he kissed my forehead, and wiped my tears away. "I'll be back in a second okay?"

I nodded and let him go. Sam returned a couple seconds later, looking bright red. "Uhm. Sierra answered the door,"

I gave him a small smile, "They're totally dating. I recon Josy spent the night with Jared too," I said quietly.

"Yep, I'm sure. Anyway, Gray said he'd come over in a minute," Sam sat beside me again, putting an arm around me, holding me close. 

There was a soft knock on the door and Sam called them in. Sierra opened the door slowly, peeking in before walking over to me and sitting on the other side of me. I wasn't sure what to say to her, I knew that Gray had told me not to tell anyone I had been in contact with Jessy so I was scared of how she would react, but Gray followed her in and sat on the sofa opposite us. 

"Ryder, I informed Sierra that you kept Jecil's number on the day we picked you up," Gray admitted. 

I looked between them, sinking into Sierra's hold as she put her arm around me. "You knew this whole time?" I asked. 

Sierra hummed, "Yes, my Love, but there was no reason for me to get involved anyway, so I just forgot about it I guess. But now I do need to get involved, I need to be here for you when you need it," 

I started getting a little upset again and I felt Sam's fingers tighten around mine. "She asked for me before she died," I whispered. 

"I'm sorry, Ryder," Sierra said back, softly. "I'm sure you both loved each other dearly." 

"I never knew your sister, Ryder," Gray started, "But I'm sure if she could see how far you've come, from where you started, she would be so proud, and so happy for you. Consider that even though she was far from you during her last moments, she would much prefer to not see you, than to leave you with the monsters you called your parents,"

The thought calmed me down so much. Gray was right. "You're right," I stated, still sniffling, "She was probably incredibly happy that I was gone. I can't imagine how awful she would've felt if she had left me there alone,"

"Exactly, my Dear," Sierra cooed, caressing my back and calming me down. 

"We were talking about staying here for a day or two," Sam started.

"Yes, I think that's best, we'll get Tessa to bring some food up to you both. And you can take a couple of days off from your training, making sure you feel better is much more important," Gray added. 

"How does that sound, sweet?" Sierra asked.

"Yeah, that seems like a good idea. I don't want to worry anyone," I admitted.

"Don't be silly, just focus on yourself for a few days, okay?" Sierra said, as I lifted my head to look at her. She used her sleeve to wipe the tears off my face, before her gaze dropped down to my neck for a long few seconds. I blushed, realising that she was looking at the marks Sam left on my yesterday, and I looked down quickly. 

She smiled, and just briefly ran her finger tips across them for a split second after finishing wiping my face. "Message me if you need a single thing okay? Me and Gray are going to get some breakfast now."

I nodded and they left the room, leaving me and Sam alone once again. I smiled at Sam weakly. "She fully made eye contact with my neck," 

"Oh no," Sam said, "I'm not gonna lie I'm trying not to look at them," he added, referring to the hickies. 

"Why?" I asked, confused. 

Sam's face reddened and he looked away. "It's making wanna give you more hickies,"

"I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime you know," I reassured him.

"Thank God," Sam sighed. "Anyway now's not the time to think about that, lets get back into bed and cuddle until Tessa comes with food,"

We climbed into bed and Sam spooned me from behind. I checked my phone after hearing a text tone to see a message from Sierra. 

You're gonna tell me and Josy the details when you're feeling better, me and Gray heard everything. <3 Let me know if you need anything though, sweet. - Sierra. 

I blushed again.