Scorching Secrets (13 page)

“Let her go,” Liam’s deep voice demands behind me.

“She’sssmine,” his speech runs together as his grip around my waist tightens. Liam reaches forward and grabs the hand that’s on my back and twists the man’s arm to the side. Not hard enough to break any bones but enough to cause discomfort. He curses and lets go of me, pushing me back into Liam’s chest.

Because of the heels my balance is already off, so the sudden movement causes me to slam into Liam. Liam steadies me and glares at the man as he walks away. “I say it’s definitely time to go,” he says to me.

I thank Liam for catching me and slowly step away from him. I walk the rest of the way to Jane, keeping an eye on my surroundings. A couple guys watch me as I pass, but no one tries to confront me again. I tighten the mental barrier I have up. The loud music makes it easier to tune out the voices around me. When I get over to her, she stops talking to an older woman and turns toward me. “Hey Jane. Sorry for interrupting, but I’m going to head out. I…I have to work tomorrow.”

“Oh…” A disappointed look crosses her face. “I’m so glad you could make it. I haven’t seen you all summer!”

“I know. I’m sorry about that. I’ve just been really busy.”

“I understand. Keep in touch, ok? I miss you!” She hugs me. “And keep a hold of that boy. I like him.”

“I’ll do what I can.” Laughing I turn around and start walking away. “Let’s go,” I say to Liam and Larkin. We exit the building, and Larkin guides us to the side.

“I’m going to bring Ryanne back first. I’ll be back for you in a minute.” Larkin grabs me around the waist and blinks me back to the house.

Colton

“What’s taking them so long?” I ask to no one in particular. Ryanne, Liam, and Larkin have been gone for a while. Who knows what could be going on right now.

“They’re at a wedding. The ceremony and the reception are usually a couple of hours long. They’re fine. Quit worrying,” Logan answers.

“They’ve been gone for over four hours now.”

“Which means that they’ll be back soon,” Emma says, while turning toward me. “You’re not upset because she went with Liam instead of you, are you?”

“No, it’s not that. I just—” I stop when I see movement beside me. Larkin transports into the room holding Ryanne around the waist. She stumbles back into him from the impact. He steadies her then transports out of the room again.

“I really don’t like his power. It makes me dizzy.”

“Did you have fun?” Emma asks her. Instead of answering, Ryanne takes off her heels. She pouts once she is back to her normal height. I can’t help my laughter. She looks so cute.

“Gosh, I’m so short.” I hear a few more laughs around me, but I don’t take my eyes away from Ryanne. She steps over my legs and sits beside me on the couch. “Yeah, I did have fun actually. I’m glad I went.” She tries to hide a small smile. She purses her lips, deep in her thoughts. Ugh, she doesn’t know how crazy that drives me. I wonder what they would taste like…feel like against mine. “I’m actually going to go take a shower,” she says. I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts. I can’t have thoughts like that right now.

“Ugh, you’re going to ruin your hair and make-up,” Emma whines.

“You have pictures for a reason,” Ryanne calls as she walks upstairs. She has to hold the dress up, so she doesn’t trip up the stairs. I follow her up until she is out of my line of sight.

“That girl is impossible.” She shakes her head, right as Larkin and Liam appear in the room. Liam, like Ryanne, is sweating with his sleeves pushed up to his elbows.

“Where’s Ryanne?” he asks.

“Taking a shower. Ruining all my hard work.” Emma turns and leans toward Liam, practically falling out of the chair in the process. “I have two things I want to say to you. First, you should dress up like that all the time. It totally works for you, especially when you’re all sweaty, and I can see your tattoo through your shirt. Secondly, spill. What happened? Ryanne won’t tell me anything, so I need you to tell me. Spill all the juicy stuff and don’t leave anything out.”

“Nothing really happened. We ate. We danced. We left.” Larkin scoffs beside Liam. I glance over at him. Did something happen? Is Liam not telling us something?

“Ooooh, Larkin, tell me what happened?”

“Nothing really happened…per say. They were just dancing extremely close. You couldn’t fit a piece of paper between the two of them and then when the music picked up…all male eyes were on her. I even had trouble looking away.” I clench my jaw, preventing myself from saying anything. “And then there was the drunk guy.”

“It wasn’t like that, Larkin. She was upset.”

I face him, “Upset? Why was she upset?” If someone did something to her… “Drunk guy?”

“Nothing happened with the drunk guy. I took care of it.” Liam exhales loudly and looks up at the ceiling. I can hear the sound of water running upstairs, so we know that Ryanne is still in the shower. “I shouldn’t really be saying any of this…She’s got herself convinced that she’s not meant for a ‘happily ever after.’ I think she still believes she’s not going to make it out of this whole ordeal alive. She admitted to me that she wants a wedding. She wants love. She wants to go wedding dress shopping.” He looks at Emma. “I thought you’d like to hear that.” He pauses, before whispering, “She’s afraid of letting everyone down.”

“Afraid of letting everyone down?” I ask. That’s insane. Nothing she could do would make us feel let down.

“I’m just telling you what she told me. And for the dancing…yes, I made her dance with me. She’s a teenager. Sure she’s eighteen, but she’s barely lived. She didn’t even go to her high school prom. She needed to have some fun. She needed to forget about everything that’s going on and live a little.” He stops talking and runs his hand through his hair.

“I don’t know why, but I know what’s going on in that head of hers. She doesn’t have any confidence. She thinks people only focus on her flaws and her faults. She doesn’t see what the rest of us see. Ryanne walks into a room, and everyone watches her. I’ve seen it from all of you. I admit even I do it. So obviously dancing is going to bring more attention to her. She doesn’t know that she’s beautiful, which automatically makes her more attractive to everyone. She was
happy
tonight—happy in a way that I don’t think I’ve ever seen from her.” Liam pushes himself off the couch and walks upstairs.

“That’s twice we’ve gotten speeches about Ryanne lately,” Emma says.

I look at the clock: 11:30 p.m. You’d think after dancing all night that I’d be tired, but I feel more energized than usual. I look at my reflection in the mirror and feel a little disappointed. I am back to normal. The beautiful Ryanne is gone. All that is left is little ol’ me. I hang my wet towel up and walk out into the room. Emma is rummaging through her drawers looking for something to wear.

“So how was the wedding? And please don’t give me the ‘I had fun’ line. I want details.”

I walk over and grab my notebook and pen. As I open it to a blank page, Emma walks into the bathroom and changes into her pajamas. “It was great actually. Jane looked amazing.” I give Emma details on Jane’s dress as I begin sketching it. I describe how Ross was really nervous before the ceremony and the look on his face when Jane walked down the aisle. I want someone to look at me like that; like I am the most special and important person in the world. I give her all the details on the food, the music, and the dancing. I tell her about my conversations with Liam. Everything.

“Ryanne…I had no idea.” She’s looking at me with a mixture of sadness and determination. Determination for what, I’m not sure.

I like having moments like this with Emma. It is nice to have some girl time—to have someone to talk to about everything. I like the understanding and concerned Emma, but I love the loud and blunt Emma more. She is able to take a bad situation and make everyone smile. During these times, we all need that.

“It’s nothing really. My mind just wandered for a minute. I can’t think about the future. I have to live in the here and now.” As Emma continues to watch me, I close my notebook. Pushing myself off of the bed, I start to walk out of the room and expect Emma to follow me, but she doesn’t. I stop in the middle of the hallway and turn around. What is she doing? Walking back into the room, I find her staring at the floor in the exact same spot.

“You ok, Emma?” I ask.

She blinks repeatedly and looks at me, as if seeing me for the first time. What just happened? “Oh, yeah, sorry. Just thinking.” She laughs and starts walking downstairs. “See what being around you does to me? Emma thinking? Preposterous.” I laugh but look at her closer. Nothing seems wrong. She just seems a little out of sorts.

“Are you sure you’re ok?”

“When did you turn into the worrier?” she asks me. “Usually everyone is worried about you.”

“You thinking has us all confused,” I tell her. “Don’t do that anymore.” With a laugh, she bumps her shoulder into mine as we enter the living room.

All the guys are seated on the couch or on the floor, watching a movie. I walk into the kitchen and grab a water bottle out of the fridge before returning to the room. I stop behind the couch and look to see which movie they are watching. I gasp when I see Robert Downey Jr. assembling his Iron Man suit. I am a sucker for superhero movies. Liam and Colton both turn around and look up at me smiling, obviously amused at my reaction.

I jump over the back of the couch and plop down beside them. Laughing, they move to the side a little to give me more room. I lean forward and throw my notebook on the new coffee table. I don’t know when Tom had time to buy new furniture. I lean back against the back of the couch. Colton’s arm, which is resting on the back, moves forward onto my shoulders. I lean into his side but don’t look at him. I still don’t know anything about his situation with Natasha, but after my last confrontation with her, I know I don’t want to find out anytime soon.

I refuse to acknowledge the tingly feeling that spreads through me while his fingers unknowingly trace patterns into my arm. It takes everything in me not to glance down at my arm and watch his hand move across my skin. If I draw attention to it, he’ll stop, and I don’t want that. I peek over and see Emma watching us with a sincere smile on her face. She isn’t grinning obnoxiously trying to embarrass me, which is out of sorts for her. She’s up to something...

The movie ends, but no one moves. “Ryanne, is that a mustache on your shirt?” I look at my shirt to see what David is talking about before looking back at him.

“Yes. Yes it is.” I nod but keep my expression blank. He raises an eyebrow at me, silently asking me why I have a shirt with a mustache on it. With a shrug, I say, “Mustaches are cool.”

“Since when?”

“Since forever. All the cool guys have a mustache.” I turn around and look at everyone in the room. Not a single one of them has a mustache. It’s a shame, really. I mumble an apology before turning back toward David.

“Name one cool guy with a mustache,” challenges David.

“Umm, Charlie Chaplin and Clark Gable had mustaches. There’s two for ya,” I pause and think about more men who have or had mustaches. “Oh, Tom Selleck has one.” David is looking at me like I’m crazy. Well, I’ll give him crazy. “Mario and Luigi. The Pringles guy. Papa Smurf. Captain Hook. Jafar. Gepetto. Yosemite Sam.” I pause trying to think of any more. “Mr. Potato Head!”

David, Colton, and Liam all start laughing. No one can say anything through their laughter. “I told you so.” I lean back against Colton. He is still shaking with laughter. To my right, Logan, Bragden, and Larkin are all laughing at my response. Emma just shakes her head at me because she was expecting that. She seems to be the only person that understands how truly strange I really am.

David picks up the television remote and starts flipping through the channels, quietly laughing still. “You’re pretty cool, Ryanne,” he says with his eyes glued to the television screen.

“It’s about time someone realizes it,” I mumble. David smiles at me, while Colton and Liam chuckle again. Without realizing it, I move closer to Colton and snuggle against his chest, making myself comfortable. My eyes are starting to feel heavy. I want to keep them open, but my body refuses to listen as I drift to sleep.

Colton

I look down and watch Ryanne sleep against my chest. Her dark eyelashes fan across her cheekbones. I reach down and gently pull on a spiraled ringlet and watch as it bounces back into place. When she lets her hair air-dry, it’s very curly. I honestly like her curly hair better. It’s unruly and incredibly attractive on her because she just doesn’t care. Ryanne is naturally beautiful, without all the make-up and the hair products that Emma keeps trying to get her to wear. I’m glad that Ryanne is adamant on that issue.

“If only she could see how you’re looking at her right now,” Emma whispers to me. When I look at her, I see the sincerity in her eyes. What’s going on? Emma always has a completely blunt and ridiculous comment to say about my feelings toward Ryanne. I narrow my eyes at Emma and find David also giving her a confused look. Neither of us knows what is going on. Slowly, I ask, “What are you doing Emma?”

“Nothing. I was just talking to Ryanne earlier today, when she got out of the shower. She basically told me the same thing that Liam said.” Emma glances over to Liam, “It was then that I realized how young she actually is. I mean, she’s only a year younger than me but has to deal with so much more. I wouldn’t be able to do it like she is.” Ryanne starts moving, but she’s still asleep. She does look so much younger when she is sleeping. Her facial expressions are smooth and peaceful. She doesn’t look worried or determined. I look toward Liam. Understanding what I’m asking of him, he leans back and closes his eyes.

“She’s just dreaming,” he says a few seconds later. “Nothing bad is happening. It’s a normal dream.” It’s always good to check. She’s woken up with numerous injuries from the dreams she goes into. None of us know how she constantly is able to transport into a dream. Like a lot of things Ryanne can do, it’s unexplainable. Liam can usually tell when something is wrong, but it never hurts to be completely positive.