The Bad Boy and Me

Chapter 14

*RYDER'S POV*

6 Days. 

6 days without my angel. 

I haven't slept. I haven't eaten. I haven't gone to school. 

Every second since I saw that fucking note I have been trying to locate Leigh. Cole, Russell, and Sam have all been helping me try to find her. I know she is probably suffering from what I know about the guys that took her. It's all my fault. I should have protected her more or told her about my past so she could have been prepared. I will never forgive myself and it will be a goddamn miracle if she ever forgives me. 

I try not to think about what she is going through right now because ever time I do I cry, something I haven't done since I was a child. The only thing keeping me from totally losing it at any moment is the rage I feel for her kidnappers. The things I'm going to do to those motherfuckers when I get my hands on them will make BTK look like a saint. 

"Ryder, please take a fucking shower, she isn't going to be too thrilled with the stench surrounding you," Cole says with a disgusted face. 

"Fuck you," I growl while passing him on my way upstairs. I know he is right, I'm a fucking a mess right now and I haven't showered in days. I don't want to waste a second in the search for her, but I know I need to take some time to freshen up my body and mind. 

I finish the shower and feel better, but the dread is still hanging over my head. 

"RYDER GET YOUR FAT ASS DOWN HERE," Sam yells from the living room. I rush downstairs and Cole has a huge smile stretched across his face. 

"Please tell me you have good news," I beg. 

"Look for yourself," Sam says. I peer over her shoulder at the computer screen and there it is. The location of my angel. 

I run around the house collecting weapons and equipment, so we don't get ourselves killed when we storm in there. I make Sam stay back because I know Leigh would castrate me if anything happened to her best friend. 

The twins and I jump in the car and I speed to the coordinates we found. It's some sort of abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. My hands grip the steering wheel until my knuckles turn white. Before I know it we are at the location. There are a couple of cars parked outside the house. 

I go to open the car door and hop out but stop when Cole's hand rests on my arm. 

"Ry, I know you want to rush in there and save her, believe me, we do too, but we need to scout it out first so we can actually save her without getting killed first," Cole says. I silently nod my head and we come up with a plan. 

We all are quiet when we walk around the house. I see a broken window in what seems like the basement. I go over to it and pull back the black trash bag that is currently covering it. My heart breaks when I see a cell and a tiny body hunched in the corner of it shaking and rocking back and forth. I look around and don't see anyone else down there, so I maneuver myself through the window. When my feet land with a soft thud, the small figure looks up with fear in her eyes. 

"Angel, it's me," I say as tears fill my eyes looking at her bloodied body. I can see the relief that washes over her when she finally realizes it's me. She tries to get up and come closer to me but she winces in pain and the chain around her ankle restricts her motions. I get closer to the cell and find it is unlocked. As the distance between us lessens her body seems even more frail and broken. Tears are flowing down her sunken cheeks and blood covers almost every inch of her perfect body. 

My attention is so focused on my angel that I don't even realize there is another body in the cell with her, a young boy that is dead. I grimace at the bloody sight and cannot even imagine how Leigh feels being in the same cell as the body. I rush over to her and when I reach her she collapses in my arms. I yank the chain from her ankle and set her free. The door to the basement creaks open and my angel tenses in my arms and her sobs become louder. I pull my gun out and point it to the stairs, but breathe a sigh of relief when I realize it is just Cole and Russell. 

"The two men are dead Ryder and there is no trace of anyone else being in the house," Russell says to me. Both the twins finally see Leigh in my arms when I get closer to them and they both gasp softly. 

Leigh clutches onto my shirt and buries her face in my chest as I bring her up the stairs and into my car. The twins sit in the front and I hold Leigh across my lap in the backseat. 

"Baby you gotta keep your eyes open for me, please," I choke out as her eyes start drooping and her pulse weakens. I can't imagine losing her and it's killing me to actually feel the life leave her body. Cole is driving as fast as he can to the nearest hospital and I cradle her small body, rocking her back and forth repeating 'I'm sorry' in her ear. 

We finally pull up to the hospital, but before the doctors take her away to save her, Leigh's tiny hand caresses my cheek and in a voice just barely a whisper she says, "I love you, Ryder." Then she is wheeled to surgery, leaving me on my knees in tears in the waiting room of the emergency room.