“Ry, I’ll listen if you want to talk,” I said gently. “I know you’re upset about Rosalie. It wasn’t your fault. None of us blame you?—”
“You should.” He stared at me. “You fucking should. I-I almost…” He let out a frustrated sigh.
“Talk to me,” I urged. “I’m worried about you. What did you almost do?”
He shook his head and closed his eyes. “Nothing. I’m going to head to the airport. My flight is out in a few hours. Lines and shit,” he muttered.
He stood, and I followed him.
“I’ll drive you?—”
“I’ll take a cab,” he said, pushing his feet into his shoes.
“Ryder—”
“You are my best friend in this entire world,” he said, turning to me. “If I stay, I’ll fuck it all up. I can’t do that to us.”
I frowned at his words. “How would you staying fuck anything up? You’ve been amazing over the years. I couldn’t have done half the shit I’ve done without you. When Rosalie comes home?—”
“Take care of her, OK? She’s a good girl.”
What the fuck?
He reached out and hugged me. I squeezed him tight.
“Stay, man,” I whispered.
“I need to go. I’ll call you when I get there.” He pulled away and opened the door, his suitcase and backpack already in his hands. I knew he’d never let me follow him, so I watched him leave, my heart broken.
I wanted more than anything to help him, but I couldn’t help if I didn’t know what the hell was the matter. Maybe the time away would be good for him.
At least that’s what I told myself.
I knewwe were tired of going out and beating the piss out of people without getting any answers. I think it’s what was most frustrating. We put in all this effort, followed any tiny lead we had, but kept coming up empty-handed.
E had taken a few days away to work on the horsemen end of things, which was fine. He and Evan didn’t seem to get along anyway, which was odd to me since Fox and E had been pretty close.
If I had to guess, E was protective of Rosalie and viewed Evan as a threat after seeing him in action.
If he only knew…
I’d been heading off the media and doing damage control. Writing statements. Trying to update and let everyone know that Rosalie was fine and just needed some time off. The police said it was the best way to go about it, and the label definitely liked that idea.
So I updated her social media with an image of her and me that we’d taken together a few weeks ago. I captioned itSpending time with my love. I figured it was good enough, and she’d definitely say that if she were the one uploading it.
In the picture, I was holding her against me, her back to my front, and she’d taken a selfie of us together in a hotel bathroom while we’d been getting ready to go out.
Since I had all her login information, it was easy to just get on and upload to her account. Within minutes, the image had thousands of likes and comments.
I hated lying like this, but the police thought maybe it would draw out her stalker. That he’d do something stupid and get himself caught as a means to prove he had her.
I didn’t want that to fucking happen, but if it meant we brought her home…
“Hey,” I said as Klaus came into the room. “Anything?”
“No,” he replied.
I sighed. “That’s what Evan said when he got back a few minutes ago. He ran up to grab a shower.”
