Knight in Shining Suit (56 page)

“
I just moved into a
two-bed apartment,” John reminded me. Right. I forgot. John owns a
place big enough to crash in now.

“
And the point is?” I
asked, smiling. I already know what he will offer. John may be
quiet most of the time, but he’s such a sweet guy. But somehow,
only Dannie, Nicole, and I knew that. He’s a playboy. But as long
as he doesn’t plan on bringing home a girl while I am there, I am
all for it.

“
Well, I need somebody to
clean up the house once in a while for the price of free night’s
stay in the guest bedroom,” he joked. “You might sleep in the
middle of a mountain of boxes though.”

“
Very funny,” I said.
“I’ll take it! It’s only a couple of nights anyway. Then I should
be able to find a new place to move in to.”

I sincerely hope I find a
new office soon, and a new apartment. It’s actually tough since I
just paid Ryder out and I owed Adam some money. But I know that I
can still do it. I still have some money left to support my
relocation.

I gathered my stuff from
Nicole’s place. I decided to go home quickly and get some new
clothes before I went to John’s. John agreed to pick me up after
his meeting.

As soon as I was heading
out with my bag, I froze on my feet when I found Ryder standing in
the driveway.

He was watching me, a hard
expression on his face.

Stick to the program.
Stick to the program.
I recited in my
head.

He approached me.
Damn! Why does he have to be smoking hot!?
My heart kept pounding inside my chest. I have to
consciously remind myself that my brain needs oxygen, ergo,
I have to breathe!

He raised a brow at me.
“You can’t avoid me forever, sweetheart,” he said, giving me a
crooked smile, which did not touch his eyes.

“
Funny
you
seem to have succeeded a lot in
doing that to
me
,” I said sarcastically.

“
I know,” he said and I
thought I heard a trace of guilt in his voice. “But I guess we
started out on the wrong foot.”

“
No.
You
started out on the wrong foot. I
was exactly where I was the last time you said you loved me,” I
said, pain evident in my voice.

He didn’t say anything. He
just stared at me.

Then I realized that it
was not entirely his fault. I’m sure he didn’t want to forget a
year of his life. Nobody would want that.

But I wish he could have
been a little bit nicer and little less judgmental towards me. I
wish he just gave us a chance. I wish he didn’t try his best to
drive me away… cut me off from his life.

“
I’m sorry. I know it’s
not your fault.” I started saying to him. “I…”

I was not able to finish
that sentence. I blinked and the next thing I knew Ryder’s soft
lips were ravishing mine. His arms were around me, holding me
tightly against his chest.

I savored that kiss for a
while. I knew I craved it. It made me weak and shut down all my
senses.

But I also wanted to
know…
why?
First,
he didn’t want anything to do with me, asked me to stay away from
him and his family… then one day he woke up and realized he likes
kissing me and taking me to bed?

If I kept on giving in to
this… I know I will end up being hurt by him over and over. I
cannot accept these kisses. He’s not the same man he used to be. He
isn’t kissing me because he loved me. He’s doing this because he
wants me…
in spite of the ugly thoughts he
has about me
.

And whatever Ryder Van
Woodsen wants, Ryder Van Woodsen gets.

So I gathered all the
courage that I had and pushed him… hard.

That startled him. Maybe
he really did think that after that night, I would be a very easy
prey; that he could play with me however he wanted.

Tears brimmed my eyes. He
had no right to play with my feelings. He knew I was so in love
with him and I wanted nothing more in the world than for him to
snap out of his brain injury. But he didn’t feel the same. He was
taking advantage of my weakness… which he knew perfectly well
was…
him
.

“
Stay away from me,
Ryder.” I breathed.

He took a step forward.
“Astrid,
love
…”
he started.

“
Don’t call me that!” I
snapped at him. Tears are rolling down my cheeks now. “Only… only
my boyfriend calls me that. And he’s not here anymore.” I took a
deep breath. “So please, Ryder. Don’t play with my feelings again.
You have already judged me. The first thing you did when you woke
up was crush me. I’m sorry I slept with you. I shouldn’t have
because I know you’re not the same man. I guess I just… missed you
so much, I gave in. But I can’t do that again, knowing that you
think so low of me.”

“
Astrid…” he started
saying, but nothing followed. He just stood there, dumbfounded. It
genuinely looked like he didn’t know what to say. His face was full
of guilt and anguish. And I know that for the first time, I was
getting through to him. He was listening to me and seeing how badly
I was hurting… how badly he was hurting me.

“
I am not giving up hope
that someday, you will wake up from all this,” I said. “Because if
you don’t…
then I will
. I will wake up and stop dreaming that you will come home to
me.”

I saw John get out of his
car. It was my cue to go. I walked past Ryder, but he grabbed my
hand.

“
Astrid…” I stopped
walking, but didn’t turn to him. “I’m sorry.” His voice was
broken.

I pulled my hand away. “I
know. I’m sorry too.” And I ran towards John. He took my bag from
me and I hopped into his passenger seat.

It seems that Ryder was
about to follow me, but John stopped him.

“
Leave her alone, man. The
girl could only take so much shit from you.”

“
Who the fuck are you?”
Ryder asked John angrily.

“
I’m someone who will beat
the shit out of you if you don’t keep your distance from
her!”

“
Oh, I’d like to see you
try!” Ryder snarled at him.

“
If that would wake you
up, I would have done that a long time ago. But seeing as you’re
stubborn, I don’t think one good beating is enough to bring you
back. So stay away, man! Let Astrid heal. She needs that.” And John
went inside the car and drove away.

Once Ryder was no longer
in view, I let all the tears pour. John didn’t say anything. He let
me cry. I was thankful for that. I needed to feel free to cry my
heart out and yet assured that I wasn’t alone.

The next thing I knew,
John was parking his car in his garage. He turned to me and smiled.
“You’re going to be okay, Ash.”

I smiled at him and wiped
my tears away. I took a deep breath and said to him, “Come on! Show
me your crib, Daddy’s boy!”

John laughed. Then he
rounded the car and opened the door for me.

“
Didn’t figure you much to
be a gentleman,” I joked.

He grinned. “My deepest,
darkest secret. This playboy thing… is only my
disguise.”

I laughed. It felt better,
even just a little bit. In my current state, I needed all the
laughs I could get.

I went out and looked
around. Suddenly, I felt that something was wrong. The place seemed
oddly familiar.

He led me inside his
house. It’s was big as Adam’s house, also with a deck and a view of
the beach.

I could not shake off the
feeling that something was wrong with his place. Like I have been
in this neighborhood before. John hasn’t fully settled in. After
all, he only moved in a couple of days ago.

“
So when you said you
needed somebody to clean up your house in exchange for rent, you
weren’t kidding,” I joked.

John smiled mischievously.
“I was dead serious.”

“
Come on, John. You’re
rich now! Can’t you afford a maid?”

“
Ah, but I needed somebody
creative to decorate this place. And I am hiring the best,” he
said.

“
I decorate wedding
venues, John, not bachelor pads.”

“
But that’s the best
part,” he said. “Since you’re so attuned to what brides want, you
can turn this place into a chick magnet.”

I groaned. “I knew there
was a catch to all this!”

I followed him upstairs
where he showed me the guest bedroom.

“
Are you going to be
bringing women home in the next couple of days?” I asked
him.

“
You kidding me? I might
bring one home
tonight
!”

“
John!” I groaned. “I knew
this was a bad idea! I don’t want to be talking to your women about
you. If I open my mouth, they wouldn’t want to see you
anymore!”

“
Ha! I knew you were the
right person to ask to be my roommate!” He said triumphantly and I
hit him playfully on the shoulder.

Then I heard a sound of an
engine roaring outside, followed by the sound of crashing metal,
like somebody just hit a gate or something.

I looked out the window
and saw a familiar car parked across the street. Its owner gave his
metal gate one hard punch before going inside his house. It was the
biggest house on the block. And it was all too familiar to
me.

My jaw dropped. I turned
to John, a shocked expression plastered on my face.

“
Shit!” I cursed. I knew
the neighborhood looked so familiar. I wasn’t looking while John
drove to his house. I was busy crying. “Did you know who lived
across the street?”

John shrugged. “Well, even
if I didn’t have any idea before, the sight of you scrambling out
of that house at four in the morning was a dead
giveaway.”

I was open-mouthed and I
knew I was blushing from the roots of my hair. Nobody knew what
happened between Ryder and me. I was careful not to tell them. But
John knew right from the start.

“
Wh-why were you awake at
four in the morning?” I asked weakly.

He shrugged. “I just moved
in. I was unpacking. I looked out the window. I saw you walking out
in a rush, hailing a cab. I put two and two together.”

I sighed. Again tears
began to stream down my cheeks.

John took a deep breath
and put an arm around me. “It’s alright, Ash. I know how much you
love him. So I understand why you would do it. But he doesn’t
remember you. I hate to think that he would take advantage of you
that way. Now I understand why you were running away from
him.”

“
And you invited me to
crash in your house, when he was your neighbor?”

“
Well, I didn’t know the
real reason why you were staying away from him. I thought you’d
love the idea of stalking him. I thought I was actually doing you a
favor,” he said apologetically.

“
Stalking?” I echoed. John
just grinned, making me smile in return. That was really sweet of
him. “Anyway, thanks. I know you meant well. But chances are I’m
better off living at my house than here.”

“
Come on. You’re already
here.” John said. “And he still doesn’t know where you are. So
you’re still safe. My haven, your haven. Let me be your shield for
a while.” He grinned. “And besides, haven’t you heard the
saying,
‘Keep your friends close, and your
enemies closer?’
”

I think I got what he
meant. I can avoid Ryder better if I know where he is. Or at least
where his car is, since he never goes around the city without
it.

That buys me a couple of
days at least… some days of break. And then I will have to face my
problem with Ryder Van Woodsen all over again.

32.

SOMETHING OLD:

A bride must also complete
her ensemble on the wedding day with something old. It could be an
heirloom piece, old jewelry, or anything that the bride

owned in the
past.

Astrid.

T
he following days, I barely left John’s house. Rose was
taking care of all the queries for the company. I spoke to my
suppliers over the phone. I searched through the net to find a new
place with a lower rent.

I was getting frustrated
because the places with lower rents are really smaller. So it means
that I have to rent a separate apartment for myself.

“
Why don’t you just rent a
room instead of a place of your own?” John asked. We were eating
pizza in his house.

“
I suppose you’re right. I
mean, I can afford a new apartment, but I don’t want to spend too
much on that. I still have a long way to go with my company. And I
still have to return Adam’s money.”

“
Well, you know I have a
spare room,” John offered.

“
You don’t need the
money.” I told him.