𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚎 | 𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚘𝚕𝚏 [2]

opening up

—

Ryder stared ahead at the ground in front of her as she listened closely to the pounding of Austin's heartbeat.

Per Ryder's request, Austin brought Josie home and took Ryder with him and Isaac to avoid the possible interference of her parents if they started arguing. They also did this out of respect for Jesse, knowing the small child wasn't very fond of loud noises.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it's not my business, nor was it my place to just say something like that." Ryder shrugged, "Like I've said before, if you had asked, I would've told you. But what Stiles was going through wasn't something that needed to be spread around like that."

Austin understood.

He's known from the beginning that even if he were her biggest enemy, Ryder wouldn't have just told everyone that Stiles killed someone.

"He's was crying, Austin. He was covered in someone else's blood with his own seeping from his shoulder, and still, his biggest concern was how his closest friend was going to react once he found out that someone was killed in front of him. And clearly, his need for me not to tell
anyone was necessary because Scott didn't even care that his supposed best friend was almost killed. He cared more about the fact that Stiles couldn't save the guy that wanted him dead."

"Theo told me that you were apart of it." He stopped his pacing to look at her, "Is that true?"

She wanted to be offended that he believed such a thing, but knew that Theo had nearly gotten into just about everyone's heads. And, Austin, he was so easily convinced if you could shed a few tears to make your story more sad.

She couldn't blame him. He was used to giving people the benefit of the doubt and allowing them more opportunities to get on his good side.

His father's done it more than once. Stiles was given the chance, along with Scott and just about everyone else in the group. So, Austin giving Theo a chance— even if he didn't know it was a chance to possibly ruin his relationships— wasn't so unexpected.

"It's not true. The only involvement I had was when Stiles texted and told me what he did." She inhaled softly before continuing, "I went over to his house, he told me what happened, I let him know that it wasn't his fault and then I promised to keep quiet about it."

His heart fell in his chest.

He couldn't believe that he allowed Theo to get so far into his head that he nearly lost Ryder. And Isaac. Simply because he couldn't just ask her what happened.

She could see him beating himself up internally, sighing softly before she reached forward to grab his hand, pulling until he was sat next to her.

"I'm not mad at you."

He huffed, "You should be."

"I'm not."

"But you should be." He looked over at her, "Ryder, this is the third time i've doubted us and our relationship."