The Rockstar Chronicles

Broken Pieces

"I know. I heard it, too."

"So I came over here to see if it's true. And it was." Grady glared at Ryder.

"No," Ryder started to protest, his eyes wide.

"Ryder? How could you?" I asked. "How could you do that? Lead me on like that?"

"Lindy, it's not what you think," Ryder said.

"Really?" I crossed my arms. "Did you flirt with me because my Mom asked you to? To get me to go along with what she wants."

"Yeah," Ryder admitted slowly. "At first. But I really started liking you, Lindy. I did!"

"I can't believe we've been in the band together all this time and you were doing this," Grady broke in. "I thought we were friends!" Ryder lowered his hands and I was horrified to see that Grady had hit him. A thin line of blood trickled from a cut just below his rapidly blackening left eye.

"I'm not the only one keeping secrets," Ryder scoffed. "How about the fact that you got Tom hired on and never told any of us? Huh? I heard what happened. You knew way before we did who the final member was and you didn't even tell us."

"Now wait a minute," Grady yelled, but I shushed him.

"Grady, this wasn't the way to handle it," I said. "I didn't want Ryder hurt. I just wanted..." I stopped. I didn't know what I wanted. Maybe just for everything to be the way I had believed it to be all along?

"Can I talk to Ryder alone for a minute?" I asked my brother.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea, Lindy," Grady said, glancing hesitantly between me and Ryder. "You might learn something you don't want to know."

"Or maybe I do," I said. "Just give me a minute."

"Okay, but I don't trust him," Grady said. "At least Hardyn is a jerk and doesn't act like he's not. You can never trust actors."

We waited in silence as Grady left. As soon as he was out of sight, I turned back to Ryder. "Why? Why did you do what she asked?"

Ryder shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, the way she said it, I was just helping out the band. And I did like you. But then...."

"What?"

"After we kissed, I really liked you. It might have started out as me just flirting with you, but I do like you, Lindy. Now."

I stayed quiet and he continued.

"I first realized I liked you the night we kissed. And then after that, I mean.... I was always getting jealous of you and the other guys. Tom-" Ryder stopped and made a face. "And Bridge. I thought you liked them better than me. And I thought that maybe... well, that maybe I shouldn't have flirted with you like that at first. It was wrong and I felt guilty. I still do."

"I didn't want to tell you," Ryder continued. "Because I didn't want you to hate me. I'm sorry."

"I know," I said. "So am I."

I turned on my heel and marched away, leaving Ryder Rhodes in my dust.

To be honest, I'd love to say that I never thought of Ryder again after that. I wanted nothing more than to put him out of my mind forever. But life in show biz doesn't work like that. I knew I would have to see him in the morning. And I wondered what everyone would say when they saw the black eye.

Grady was waiting for me when we got back to the house. "You okay?" he asked as he stood at the sink, holding ice to his hand.

"Yeah," I said, keeping my voice low so Mom wouldn't hear us. "Are you?"