The Four of Us | On Hiatus

Chapter 30

T H I R T Y

      IT WAS SAFE to say my head was killing me when I woke up the next morning. Not only that, but the blinding sun burned my eyes from the window more than it would have if I hadn't had a killer migraine.

      I groaned in irritation and tucked my face farther into Ryder's chest. At some point in the night, we'd shifted so that he was laying on his back and I was over top of him, our legs tangled together with the sheets we'd kicked halfway off in our sleep.

      "Skye," Ryder muttered sleepily. "What the hell are you groaning about?"

      "Light. Head. Pain," I said simply, groaning again—dramatically loud, if I might add.

      Ryder sighed his own irritated sigh and tightened his grip around me before sliding me off of him.

      I didn't protest.

      "Fine." Without another word, he slid off the bed and walked over to the window. After closing the blinds, I shifted my eyes over to where he stood as he turned to face me. "Better?"

      I smiled smugly and pulled the pillow down to my chest to cuddle it. "Much."

      Ryder rolled his eyes and made his way back over here, climbing into bed and pulling me—and the pillow—closer to him. Neither of us said a word as we laid there comfortably.

      Unfortunately, that comfortable feeling was short lived.

      Both of us groaned as the familiar sound of my phone rang beside us. "Wait," I said, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Isn't my phone dead?"

      Ryder shook his head when I glanced up at him. "I put it on my charger after you fell asleep last night."

      "Oh," I said akwardly, the memoroes from the night before flooding fowrward. "Thank you."

      "No problem, I had a second one," he said, once again getting up from the bed. He grabbed my no longer ringing phone and handed it to me.

      I took the phone from him, but didn't bother unlocking the screen yet. Instead, my attention was focused on him. "Ryder."

      I waited for his eyes to find mine. "Yes?"

      "Thank you," I said again with more emphasis.

      A look of realization crossed his features as he caught my double meaning and remembered last night. I jumped slightly when he reached up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "Don't thank me. I'd do it all over again if it meant you'd be safe after."

      It took a moment of me staring at him with this unfamiliar feeling in my stomach before I realized his hand hadn't left its place by my cheek. He seemed to realize at the same time as I did, and yanked it away like he'd been burned.

      "Sorry," he said quickly, clearing his throat to fill the oncomig silence. "You should probably call whoever that was back."

      I nodded silently and unlocked my phone, checking the recent calls on the list to the top one having been Tyler. Just when I was about to call back, my phone rang again with Jay's name lighting up the sceen.

      I answered and put the call on speaker, not even getting the chance to say hi before Jay's worried voice blurted out, "Skye?"

      I sighed. "Hey, Jay."

      "What the hell happened to you last night?"

      I could hear noises in the background loud enough to tell me he most likely had me on speaker, too. "It's a long story."