Lacey

Chapter 35 - Ryder

Tossing and turning in bed all night, I throw the blanket off my body in a fury and stalk towards my ensuite for a quick shower. It was too early to head to school, so I shot Saint a quick text after showering to inform him that I would be at his place in twenty minutes. I didn’t bother waiting for a reply as I angrily shoved my phone into my jeans pocket. Lacey currently didn’t have a car, but there was no way I was waiting around for her; she could get the head of the household to give her a lift in the town car for all I cared. When I arrive at Saint’s, I am not surprised to see West and Lawson are already there. It seems I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep.

Letting myself into the house, I find the guys lounging on the couches in the family room. Saint and West were murmuring quietly while Lawson sat on the coffee table with a pissed off expression on his face. “What’s up, Lawson,” I asked, concerned that my best friend looked two seconds away from exploding. Lawson slides his furious gaze to me. “I want things to go back to normal with kitten. I am tired of this bullshit and don’t believe a word Lyndsay says. She has always been a cunt”. “You saw the” I begin but am cut off when Lawson jumps up from the coffee table and storms towards me, his fists clenching at his sides. “Don’t even fucking say it, Ryder. I don’t give a fuck about the video or what anyone thinks is on it. Do you hear me? My life was nothing before I met kitten. She has been the only one who can calm my chest’s emptiness and who gives meaning to my life. I may be fucked in the head, but I would be a fool to let her go,” he snaps. “I am going to marry that girl and will leave every fucking one of you behind if you can’t get your heads out of your asses where Lyndsay is concerned. Something isn’t right with that video, and it is eating away at me night and day. I will burn the fucking world down around you to find the truth, and if you stand in my way, I will fucking watch you burn with it,” he snarls before snatching his car keys off the table and storming out of the house, the door slamming loudly behind him. I stand there open-mouthed, stunned for several seconds until Saint coughs to bring my attention back to the room. “Where is Lace?” Saint questions, a picture of poise with his arms folded over his chest with one eyebrow raised in question. “Why does it fucking matter, Saint?” I reply, a little too archly. “I guess it doesn’t”, he replies with sarcasm. “Let me guess; you guys are ready to forget there is a sex tape of Lacey out there. Taken on the night, we all laid our hearts on the line for her, only for her to disappear until the next day. Am I reading the room, right? I mean, I get Lawson. He is a crazy son of bitch who is infatuated with her but come on, I thought you guys were a little smarter than that,” I spit with venom.

Seriously, how did Lacey have us all by the balls? I mean, sure, she was on my mind twenty-four seven. I hadn’t slept properly since the prom, lying awake for hours feeling sorry for myself at her obvious disregard and rejection of us when I longed to go to her, to hold her petite body against mine and look after her for the rest of her life. I can admit I had fallen hard for Lacey. And fast. There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t have done for her until she betrayed my trust and threw my love in my face. I know I am a difficult person to get along with most days, but I had tried my hardest to be a better man for her. I made sure she was always comfortable, that she always ate and had every need met because I knew she hadn’t had the same loving, caring upbringing that I had. I wanted to protect her, make sure that she never went through hell again until my dying breath, but it seemed everything I did was for nothing. Lacey hadn’t reciprocated my feelings. It gutted me that a divide had been wedged between us to rival the Grand Canyon, and I didn’t know how or if we could ever return to what we were starting to become to one another. I didn’t want to believe my eyes when Lyndsay showed me the video. I still didn’t. But my pride was too wounded to accept it as anything but a big fuck you from Lacey to my friends and me. It hurt to think that she may have been playing us all along. That she was possibly a fake as fuck, gold digger like most of the whores at our school.