Untethered

33 | Determination

Her pale eyes slid sideways, toward the real monster.

What the hell was she even thinking? If he caught her, that would be it. Bullet to the skull.

If they found something in the boxes, that would be the best scenario. No need to involve anyone else. However, the likelihood of that was thin, simply for the fact that it seemed nothing was ever meant to go her way.

She snorted, leaning her head against the doorframe, and drawing a suspicious glance from Danny. She shifted uncomfortably, and turned her gaze to the passing scenery. If she was going to get out of this, and keep Emma from getting hurt, she was going to have to get her shit together. He was already twitchy, waiting for any excuse to finally take his revenge. Somehow, she was going to have to muster up her cold-hearted bitch persona. It shouldn't be too hard, right? I can do that with my eyes closed... She wasn't too sure about that anymore, though. That was before she cared about anyone but herself.

~*~*~

A plane roared overhead, shaking the parking ramp, and the tiny little car with it. Emma was still sitting in the airport parking garage, holding her phone in her lap, trying to decide what to do. Evan had caught his plane already, promising to call her when he got in. That left her with time on her hands, and nothing that immediately needed her attention. What she wanted to do more than anything else, was to drive straight up to the cabin and smack Ryan upside his big, stupid, handsome head.

She closed her eyes, and leaned her head back against the headrest.

Frustration and anger warred with concern inside of her. Evan had finally spilled the beans and told her where Ryan was, but only under threat to his beanbags, and after making her promise to leave him alone until he was ready to talk to her. Her brother assured her he just needed some time so that he could work through some things on his own.

Just some time... that's all. Like it's no big deal. She blew out an annoyed breath. Could he ask her to do anything more difficult?

The answer to that, was a definitive, "Nope." Patience definitely did not rank on her list of strengths. She attacked a problem, faced conflict head-on. This "wait and see" BS was completely foreign to her, and it was making her jittery and anxious. Admittedly, she'd never had a successful, long-term relationship, either, and something told her that if she wanted one, she was going to have to learn to figure it out.

She pinched her nose to stem an oncoming headache and growled. This was going to be harder than she'd anticipated.

Part of her wondered if they even could have a relationship. After all, they were using Evan as a go-between. They couldn't even talk to each other.

But the thought of not having him in her life wasn't something she considered a possibility anymore. She had to at least try.

She opened her eyes and her fingers closed a little tighter around her phone. She would keep calling until he came home or answered. At least he couldn't say she was sending him mixed messages now. The call went straight to voicemail, so she left him another message, doing her best to keep the irritation out of her voice. She could be just as stubborn as him, and she was determined to prove it:

"Ryan, it's me," she paused, suddenly unsure of what to say exactly, before forging ahead. "So, here's the deal. You love me, and I love you, and we both suck at this stuff. But I don't suck at being stubborn—as you have kindly pointed out multiple times over the years—so this is me being stubborn. I won't come up there, but I'm going to call you every single day. I'm going to tell you I love you, and that you can talk to me whenever you're ready, and I'm going to try my hardest to be patient."