Crossroad: TBB Series Book 2

Part 17

A/N It's been a really, REALLY long time coming! I've been out of touch with writing for far too long, but don't fret, the Bellwood Breed was my baby then, and it's my baby now! I recall where this plot was going and I'm glad you all have stuck with me these past few years as I've dealt with life! Thank you to you all for your constant love for myself and TBB! And for those of you who are new to the gang, welcome to the world of Bellwood!

Ryder's POV

"She'll be back soon." I wasn't sure about who I was really trying to convince here, it had already been three days and Riley's comatose body remained the same. We'd been doing everything we could on our own to help her get closer to the giant conspiracy that was her father's whereabouts. How could we have not known? For decades he'd been alive...and suffering.

"Yes, well until that happens we need to prepare for the worst." Avery stood with his arms crossed and his back to me as well sat in my living room. Tensions were high as we awaited Riley's return.

"What do you mean prepare for the worst? Avery she's not dead, she asleep, and she will come back." His pessimism was picking at my nerves, our attitudes had completely swapped, I was suddenly all too aware of how he must've felt last year. Riley could really do a number on you.

"Of course she's not, but how long will we be able to say the same for King Calhoun? For all we know he's already gone, or could be at any minute. And if that happens, who knows what'll happen to Riley while she's there?" He finally turned to look me in the eyes. "We could lose both of them." His voice was hard as he sighed.

"Well it's nice to see you've lost all faith in her capabilities Avery, this is Riley we're talking about." Our relationship had definitely been strained lately, we'd always been like brothers, and now...everything was different.

"Okay..." Winter interjected. "I think we're all on edge here, for now, we just have to focus on helping them both. We help King Calhoun by helping Riley discover what she's missing. Maybe we need to try going back the beginning."

"The beginning of what?" I asked while pinching the bridge of my nose. Without the constant balance and calm that Riley was, my stress had nearly been through the roof. 

"Maybe the answer she's looking for hasn't been discovered because we've been looking at the wrong time frame. We need to go back to the very beginning, Riley and her dad's duration with each other was short lived, so maybe that's what we should be looking at, what do we know about the time between Riley's birth, and when he placed her in this realm?"

Winter could definitely be on to something. Until Riley's arrival last year, the whereabouts of either one of them had been unknown, the entire ordeal was a complete mystery to everyone.

"Riley did mention something about having to discover the truth about her parents, if we figure what truth her dad was referring to, we'll be a step closer." I pulled out my phone and began scrolling through a number of photos I had taken of them. I'd spent the past few days tailing them while Riley was in the meadow. Everything they did was completely mundane. 

They went from work to home, and back to work, what could there possibly be to know about them? I stopped when I got to a picture of them sitting at a table from a restaurant they'd went to last night, not noticing the third person at the table until I zoomed in, I'd taken the picture in my car from across the street.

"Hold on," I paused while scratching my head. "What's Liam doing having dinner with Riley's parents?" I turned my phone around for the rest of them to see. His face was partially shrouded from the glare the window caused, but it was definitely him.

"Something has struck me as odd about that kid since the day he sat down at our table." Aspen added while removing the phone from my hand. Our skin momentarily touched, and in a single instance I was hit with a torrent of memories. With Riley gone, my heart was left vulnerable. "He knew us all by name."

"We should invite him out, see what he knows...pick his brain. If something is up with him we need to make it our mission to find out what. We don't need a repeat of the whole Andrew debacle." My blood turned to ice as Avery spat his name.

"Agreed, anyone up for some pizza?" I smirked while sliding my phone back in my pocket. I didn't know what Liam's angle was here, but we were sure going to find out.

A/N Sorry for such a short chapter! Had to get my feet wet again, but we're definitely just getting started! Now's the time to give yourself a refresher! Everyone had such good guesses about Andrew way back when, and I'm interested to see what tales you have spinning about Liam! Happy Readings!