Saving Ryder

Shaleigh

Of course Siege would call in the middle of the night to get Ryder's attention. I throw on my jacket and shoes, and follow Ryder out to his car. As soon as we're both in the car, he takes off speeding and we arrive in thirty minutes flat. He doesn't even pull the keys out the ignition when he gets out and starts sprinting towards the entrance. It kind of pisses me off that he's running in there to her after our conversation we just had. I don't even bother to sprint after him. I just casually walk, and as soon as I walk through the doors, I see him running through the doors to go find whichever room he needs to go to. I walk up to the front desk, and ask where he went running to. They give me Siege's room number, and I head in that direction. As soon as I arrive I see Ryder and Siege hugging. I press my ear against the door, and listen quietly.
"I didn't have anyone to call, Ryder." Siege says.
"I know. I'm here." He says, and I see him pull her against him tighter, and kiss her head.
"I miss us." She says, crying. "Don't you?" She asks through her tears. He doesn't say anything though. He looks torn. Right around that time he turns his head and sees me standing there. I'm not even hiding the tears falling down my face. I turn and take off into a sprint down the hall way and out the doors that lead me outside. I don't stop running. I just keep going until I can't anymore. My legs give out, and I collapse on the grass, and just keep crying. He didn't even chase me, and I think that's what hurts me the most. I pull out my phone and call the only person I know to call, Caelix.
"Hello?" He answers, and I think I just woke him up.
"Caelix, it's Shaleigh. I know it's late, but can you come pick me up from the hospital? I'll explain everything when you get here." I say not hiding the fact I've been crying.
"Of course. I'll be there in fifteen." With that said we hang up. I can't believe he didn't come after me after the conversation we were having when she called and interrupted. I stand up trying to clear my head, and walk back to Ryder's car to put the keys in the ignition for him. Just about that time Caelix pulls up, and I hop in the car with him. "Would you like to tell me what happened?" He asks while pulling out.
"Ryder and I were having a conversation tonight about Siege, and I told him I felt like he was going to go back to her, and he said I was his one and only, and all this other bullshit. Then in the middle of our conversation, Siege calls, and Ryder practically breaks out in a sprint to meet her here at the hospital. Well, when we arrived, he ran to the room she was in, and when I got there I saw them hugging, and him kissing her on the forehead. Then she told him she missed them, and he didn't respond. It was about that time he turned and saw me, and I broke out running. You know, that's not even what hurt me the most. The fact he didn't run after me hurt more than any of that could."
"I hate to say I told you so, but I told you he'd always run back to Siege, and a beautiful girl like you doesn't deserve that. Ryder may seem like this perfect guy, but he takes for granted the people that love him. I wanted you to see that, but you didn't quite give a guy the chance to make an impression on you. I understand what you fell for though. The charm, good looks, and the person he pretended to be. Who wouldn't fall for the perfect one? Look at you Shaleigh. Do you even have a place to stay?" He asks, and I can tell he's pissed at Ryder.
"No." I say in a whisper.
"You're staying with me. I have a guest bed room, and it's all yours." He says basically demanding me.
"Okay, thank you." I say quietly. I pull out my phone without thinking and text Ryder.
"Ryder, I just want you to know what you and I had is over. You would think after our talk you would be more considerate, but the first time Siege texts you, you go running. I can't do that. I guess our conversation didn't mean anything to you. After this text message is sent, I want nothing to do with you anymore. I'm changing my number and blocking you. You really fucked up with me, but I hope you and Siege work things out, and you become happy again. I'm sorry I couldn't make you happy enough." Before I could reconsider it, I press send. I know I'll regret it later, but I can't keep letting him into my life when obviously what he told me was a lie. I never got to tell him though I haven't had my period in over a month, and I'm scared I'm pregnant, but he never has to know now that we're over.
"We're here." Caelix says as we pull up to his house interrupting my thoughts.
"Thank you for everything. I owe you." I say climbing out the car.
"You don't owe me anything." He replies walking towards the front door. As soon as we reach the front door I push him against it, and kiss him. My hands move from him abs all the way to his hair. Right as he pulls me against him my phone starts buzzing. I pull away, and pull out my phone only to see Ryder is calling. I press answer, and put my iPhone back in my pocket so he can hear everything.
"Where were we?" I say pressing my lips back against his. His hands wrap around my tiny waist, and he picks me up. I immediately wrap my legs around him, and start kissing his neck. He moans out in pleasure, and I know Ryder is still listening. "Open the door baby." I say in an almost too seductive way. Caelix opens the door, and carries me all the way up to his bed room. Our lips don't break the entire time. Caelix throws me on his bed and rips off my shirt. His lips immediately went to my stomach, and he began trailing kisses up and down my body. I moan out loudly in pleasure, and right before it goes any further I stop him. "I can't do this." I say, and quickly get up and run out the room to the bed room. I take my phone out my back pocket, and realize Ryder hung up about the time I was moaning. I look at my text messages and I have fifty unread text messages from Ryder.
"We need to talk."
"Baby please."
"Look, I'm sorry, please."
"This is important." Then the rest just saying "hello." I don't even respond because I don't know what to say. I know I broke his heart. I get undressed, and I get under the covers, and start crying. I don't know why, but it's all just pouring down my face. I pick up my phone to look at it, and realize Ryder is calling me. "Hello." I say crying.
"Oh my gosh, you're okay." He says in relief.
"Didn't look like you fucking cared when I ran out." I say pissed.
"Shaleigh, Silas is in a coma." He says, and I can hear the heartbreak in his voice. I was a total bitch to him, and I didn't even make sure he was okay.
"Oh my gosh, what happened?" I ask, crying worse now.
"He was in a car accident." Ryder manages to get out.
"I'm on my way to the hospital." I say hanging up on him. I run in there to Caelix. "Take me to the hospital." I demand.
"Why?" He asks.
"Silas is in a coma. I should've never left. I need to go." I say in a rush.
"Okay, I'm coming." He gets up, and is now running behind me. We jump in the car, and Caelix starts driving. "Can we talk about what happened please?" He asks me.
"It was a mistake. I was vulnerable." I say, not lying to him. He doesn't even try to respond because we're at the hospital, and I'm already running towards the door. When I get in there I jump on Ryder, and I kiss him, hard. I can tell he wasn't expecting it because it takes him a minute to kiss back. "I'm so sorry I wasn't here baby. I just saw you hugging and kissing her head, then I got upset."
"It's okay baby. I understand, but like I said. It's you and I against the world." I kiss him because that's all I can really do right now. I know he's upset because of Silas, and I won't lie, so am I. Silas is like a son to me, and I love him like he's my own. "Can I talk to you outside, please?" Ryder asks, and I can hear the hurt in his voice. I don't say anything because I already know what it's going to be about. I already know I'm about to break his heart, so I turn around and I head towards the door. He trails behind me, and I don't even know what to say. "Who were you with, Shaleigh?" He's not hiding the hurt in his voice, and it's cutting through me like a knife.
"Caelix." I reply so quietly I'm surprised he hears me.
"Caelix?" He says in a loud whispher. "How could you do this to me?"
"You think it's easy Ryder? You think it's easy watching you retreat to her every time something goes wrong? I watched you run to her without even knowing what was really wrong. You dropped our conversation earlier just to answer her phone call, so why don't you look at yourself first, Ryder. I may have hurt you, but you're constantly hurting me. If you want her go, just go. I lost you once, I'm sure I can do it again." I have tears running down my face now, and I'm not even trying to hide it. He's constantly hurting and worrying me with this Siege shit.
"Are you Silas's dad, Caelix?" The doctor comes and interrupts.
"I'm Ryder. I'm Silas's dad." Ryder's whole body stiffens at the name Caelix.
"Well on the birth certificate it says Caelix is the father of Silas. Even a DNA test was done." The doctor replies, and I think he knows he fucked up. Ryder turns around and punches the brick wall. Siege lied to him. It was her plan to get Ryder back. I don't know what to do, but I go over there and wrap my arms around him anyways. He returns the hug, and I can hear him crying. I can't believe Siege pulled that bitch move on him.
"I'm so sorry, baby." I don't know what else to say to him. His grip gets tighter around me, and I know Caelix is standing behind us.
"How the fuck are you going to do that to me?" He says releasing me. Now he's in Caelix's face, and I know he's about to hit him. His hands are clenching into a fist, and his hands are as white as a ghost. His face is about as red as a fire truck. Before I can even jump in between them, Ryder's right hand connects with Caelix's face. Caelix falls to the ground trying to regain his composure, but Ryder gets on top of him and just starts pounding his face. I try to pull Ryder off, but Caelix hits me by accident, missing Ryder. I fall back, and the pain in my jaw starts pulsing through my face. Ryder immediately gets up and rushes over to me. "Oh my gosh baby. Are you okay?" He asks holding me in his arms. I shake my head yes because as of right now it hurts to move my mouth. "You stupid mother fucker." Ryder says, and it kind of scares me. His voice has never been like this. It's a mixture of anger and hate. Caelix still hasn't got up from where Ryder hit him. Ryder releases me and walks over to Caelix connecting his foot with his face. Caelix screams out in searing pain, and I grab Ryder to try to stop him. As soon as he realizes it's me, he stops, and kisses me. He kisses me for so long that my lips go numb and I forget the pain, but I love it. I love the way it feels right now. He's kissing me with so much love and desperation right now. He backs me up all the way to the brick wall, and he's pinning me with his hips. His erection is pushing into me, and everything, everyone around us is slowly fading. It's just him and I. Well that is until Siege taps on his shoulder interrupting us.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but did you know when he saw you running out he looked at me and said, "I guess that means it's over. Then he kissed me. He grabbed me by my face and told me he missed my lips against his." For a minute, I feel a rush of jealousy fill me. I want to run far away, but what will that do? I try to move, but Ryder still has a death grip on me. I know he doesn't want me to leave him. That's exactly what he's afraid of.
"I didn't fucking kiss her. I promise you that, Shaleigh." He's looking me dead in the eyes. His eyes are telling a whole different story than Siege. This is the moment where I either get pushed over the edge, or it's the moment I figure out who's telling the truth and all.
"Who's telling the truth and who's fucking lying to me?" I say, and I'm pissed.
"You know Shaleigh, your boyfriend has always been one for being good in bed." Siege says, and I get out of Ryder's grip landing a punch to Siege's face. We're at a hospital, so if I hurt her bad enough she'll be right where she needs to me. Siege swings at me, but I dodge it landing another punch to her face. Next thing you know Caelix is pulling me off of her, and Siege's nose is gushing blood. Ryder goes to grab me, but I yank away from him.
"WHO THE FUCK LIED TO ME?" I scream. Siege looks straight at Ryder before opening her mouth to answer. He doesn't look back at her. His face is blood red, and I know he's pissed.
"I lied." She says and she sounds scared. I push past her, and I run inside the hospital and sit down waiting to hear news about Silas. Normally I would want to go home, but I know this is important to Ryder. Siege made him believe he was the father for years. That means Siege cheated on Ryder.
"You okay, baby?" Ryder comes up behind me and puts his hand on my shoulder.
"I should be asking you that." I respond.
"I just can't believe that boy in there is not my son. She cheated on me, Shaleigh. Everything I've ever known has been a lie. She's made me believe for all these years that I fucked up. Like it's my fault Silas was kidnapped, and made me feel like the worst father in the entire world. I spent all these years feeling like complete shit because I couldn't find my son. Turns out, he wasn't my son at all." His voice was cracking, and I could tell he was holding back tears, but this is the first time he has ever even tried opening up to me.
"I'm really sorry, baby. Let me just tell you something okay? You're an amazing guy. You were there for me when Julian abused me. You were there when we were both about to die, and the only thing you were worried about was me. You didn't care if you were about to die. All you cared about was me getting out of there alive. No guy had ever done anything like that for me, so if you want to know, that's when I fell in love with you. I fell in love with you the moment you proved you cared more than anyone. I've loved you for so long now, and you'll never understand just how much I do. I can't even explain it myself. You're the most amazing and sweetest guy I've ever met. When you got Silas back your world revolved around him, and I adored you for it. Even though he's not your son doesn't mean he still can't be in your life. He can be, but one day you're going to make an amazing father." I say reassuring him.
"I don't ever want to be a father again. Siege ruined it for me." I want kids. I want to be the mother mine never was. I want my kid to have a father who isn't going to abuse them like mine did to me. How do I tell Ryder my period is late? If I'm pregnant, then what am I going to do after that "Shaleigh are you okay?" Ryder asks breaking my train of thought.
"Yeah." I respond giving him a fake smile.
"Did I say something wrong?" He asks, and I can see the worried look on his face.
"No." I say giving him my best smile.
"Why do I feel like you're lying to me?" He asks, and I feel like I am. I don't want him to know I think I'm pregnant. He just said he doesn't want any kids, ever.
"Can I use your car? I want to go get something to eat. Do you want anything?" I ask, completely ignoring his question.
"No, but thank you." He says handing me his keys and wallet. "Use my wallet, you know how I feel about you spending your own money." He says, forcing a smile on his face. I take his wallet and keys knowing I'm not going to use his money. Everything you buy comes up on your bill, and I don't want him to know I bought a pregnancy test. I thought this was going to be easy seeing as we broke up, but now we're back together and I'm trying to hide this behind his back.
I arrive at the store twenty minutes later. I turned up the music so loud I couldn't even focus on my thoughts, and that helped clear my head. I get out of the car, and lock it behind me casually walking to the entrance of Lucky Mart. I walk to the section where I know the pregnancy test are, and I grab the most expensive one. I walk up to the cash register checking everywhere around me making sure I don't know anyone. Your total is fifty two dollars, and seventy five cent. I pull my card out of my wallet and swipe it entering my pen. I grab the bag and rush to the bathroom, closing the bathroom stall behind me. I remove the pregnancy test, and pee on the stick like it says, sitting it on the toilet paper holder. The box says wait five minutes for results, and I know this is going to be the longest five minutes of my life. I'm now pacing in the little four inch bathroom stall, and I can feel my palms getting sweaty. I don't think I've ever been so nervous in my entire life. Two minutes down, three more to go. Times ticking, and I can hear it inside my head. Part of me wants to have a baby, but Ryder doesn't want one, and we're in this together. I love him so much, but this is my baby, and I promised I'd never get an abortion. One minute left, and now I'm in a panic. How do I tell Ryder? How do I even raise a kid? What happens if Ryder leaves me? What happens if Ryder doesn't want the baby? Five minutes. I don't want to look down. The thought is putting my stomach in knots, and making me feel sick to my stomach. I slowly look down at the pregnancy test and read it.
Positive.