What's Enough?

Chapter 178

Ryder POV

Parents run around frantically trying to find their children; they drop to their knees when someone relays that their child is gone.

I don't see Jayda's parents. Did they leave already?

"Are you okay?" I ask Mia once she gets off the phone.

"I'm fine; my dad is flying in now, that goodness for the army plane, he'll be here tonight,"

"That's good," I wipe the blood off the back of my hands.

"Are you okay?" she asks, watching as I scrub the red off my pale skin.

"I'm fine,"

"Just go talk to her; she's right over there; she saved your life, all of our lives,"

When I look back up, my eyes land on Jayda, who is across the lot, sitting on top of a gurney; she's kicking her legs back and forth and looking around. A medic walks up to her and checkouts the gash on her head.

"I can't," She was willing to die for me; she fucking put the gun to her head and told him to shoot.

"She needs you, Ryder. Especially now after what happened,"

She's right; I know she does need me; I'm almost sure she is looking around for me. I want to walk over there, but my legs have become boulders planted on the concrete ground.

I look back at Mia. "I'll be fine, just go," she says, giving me an extra push. Her phone rings; she says it's her dad and then says, "I'll see you okay," before walking away.

I take small steps excusing myself through the crowds of people. I walk past Liam, who is saying something to that girl's parents; I think her name was Violet. They start to cry and then hold each other.

That could have easily been me telling Jaydas parents she is dead. As I get closer to where Jayda is, she turns her head my way, and again we connect. I walk up closer and stand almost between her legs; there's a huge cut going against her forehead when the bullet grazed her.

"It's okay," she says, sensing my worries. She grabs my hand with hers and brings it to the side of her cheek, resting her face in my palm, warming the cold hollowness in me. "I couldn't save him," her eyes go to Roberts's body lying on the ground five feet away; one of the officers comes and zips it up.

"It isn't your job to save anyone," If she thinks it is, she will always put herself in harm's way for others.

Her brown eyes flicker up to me and shine even on a dark day like this. I lean my head down and kiss her. Her lips mold into mine, and though i've been deprived of air all day, her kiss gives me the oxygen I need; her kiss has made me alive again.

Our foreheads rest against each other, and we take in the exhilarating power our kiss always holds. "I love you so damn much,"

"I love you,"

"You shouldn't have done that? You shouldn't have tried to give your life for mine," I would have done the same thing in a heartbeat, but I don't want her doing it for me.

"It wouldn't have mattered anyways, if you die; I die, that's it,"

"Jayda,"

"No, Ryder," she places her hand on the side of my face. "We can't be without each other; we can't live without each other," Her other hand rests on the back of my neck; our foreheads are still together, she says...

"So we save each other; it's our thing,"

...

Jayda POV