Hope's POV:
Dominic pulls away from our embrace.
It feels like it lasted a lifetime but I still crave for his touch.
He grabs my wrist gently and begins pulling me back towards the VIP lounge. "Dom" I whisper. He slowly turns around, he looks vulnerable for the first time. I was going to ask him who attacked him last night but I couldn't take advantage of his vulnerability at this moment so I decide against it.
"You can go inside, I'll stay out here for a while." I smile slightly.
He nods his head and slowly turns back around, he limps back into the VIP lounge and closes the door, not completely but just enough to keep the cold air out.
I turn back and lean against the railings while crossing my arms to keep me warm.
I watch the city.
I hear footsteps approaching me from behind and assume that Dominic came back outside. I continue to watch the city with my back facing the man.
I hear something hard fall to the floor and slide over to my foot.
I pull my eyes away from the captivating lights and look down at my heels. Laying next to them is my phone.
I look back up at the person and quickly realise that it's not Dominic, it's Ryder.
My heart skips a beat but my face remains neutral.
I bend down to pick up my phone, not saying a word to Ryder. The screen is shattered but it still turns on. I go to my chat with Dominic. The message I supposedly sent to him last night wasn't there. He deleted it.
I look up from my phone and give Ryder a quick fake smile before hurriedly walking by him to get inside.
Once I pass him, I let out a breath that I didn't realise I was holding back until I feel Ryders hand grip around my wrist and pull me back forcefully. I turn around to face him. He lifts his free hand up and harshly grabs my face.
He aggressively pulls my face closer to him so that I'm just inches away from him. His eyes are bloodshot red.
"You cheating on me?" he growls out.
The pungent smell of whiskey fills my nose making me want to pass out.
"Of course not!" I shriek, confused by where he got the idea from.
Suddenly, I feel stinging across my left cheek and my vision becomes blurry with tears.
The bitch slapped me.
"DON'T FUCKING LIE TO ME" he screams. "JUST ADMIT IT, YOU'RE A FUCKING WHORE".
"I'M NOT LYING" I scream back defensively. Not many things piss me off, but being called a whore for no reason really does.
"IM-NOT-FUCKING-STUPID" Ryder exclaims, punching me hard between each word.
I'm on the floor now. My lip is bleeding, so is my eyebrow, and I can already feel bruises starting to form on my face, neck, and chest.
Ryder doesn't say a thing as he repetitively kicks me. On my stomach, on my back, my legs, my arms. He kicked me everywhere. It felt like hours of pure torture. I can barely breath when he stops. His hand on his knees as he leans over taking deep breaths.
His chestnut hair falls over his forehead as he looks completely blitzed. He was always the worst type of drinker, he is the aggressive type.
The first time I got drunk with Ryder was when I was 16 and he was 18. He had pushed me against the wall and banged my head against it till I passed out because I spilled his drink on him. The morning after he somehow convinced me it was all a dream and that I had just drunk too much.
I believed him without thinking twice.
I know what a mistake that was now.
"I even tried killing him for you" he declares with disgust. "I DID IT ALL FOR YOU HOPE." He raises his voice. My name falls off his tongue as if it's some type of poison, something so toxic it would kill him. And worst of all, something that disgusted him.
He puts one leg over me and does the one thing I least expected him to do.
Yes, Ryder is an aggressive drinker. But I never thought he would go this far.
"Nobody cheats on me and gets to live" he snares while pulling his gun out from behind him.
"No one" he whispers.
I shut my eyes with force as I prepare myself for my death.
I could barely breath right now, how could I possibly even try to fight back?
Even if it meant my life was on the line. I couldn't move.
BANG
I still lay there, my eyes shut closed. I'm waiting for my end. But it doesn't come.
I open my eyes to see Ryder still standing there with his gun in his hand. His eyes brows furrowed in confusion. I turn to my left to see a bullet imprint on the ground, close next to my head.
He missed.
I look back up and before I have time to react, I hear another gunshot. I'm still not dead.
Ryder collapses to the floor next to me, blood bleeding through his white shirt from his chest. Right on his heart.
I try my best to get up as fast as I can and I lean over him. No heartbeat. He's not breathing.
I feel my heart shatter into a million pieces.
I know how stupid I sound. He tried to kill me, but he was also the first guy I ever loved, he taught me what love felt like.
I remember there was a time when I would do anything for him. When I was with him then I felt all my problems go away. No matter what was going on in my life, when I was with him then I felt safe. I felt comfortable. I felt at home.
He was the only guy I have ever loved and I loved him unconditionally. He loved me too and I knew that he would do anything for me.
Whenever I would look at him, his once soft brown eyes would bring me comfort, warmth, and security.
He made me feel loved and safe when no one else could.
Or so I thought.
At first, I figured that the gang life is what made him aggressive and cold. His once soft eyes turned hard and cold.
It didn't change him though. He's always been like this, I was just completely oblivious to it. The man I loved was a monster but I saw past all his flaws because I was so in love with him.
He lied to me continuously and I, like a little girl, naively believed everything.
Our whole relationship was a lie.
With that said, I lean over Ryder's dead body and release my hell awakening sobs.
But I'm not crying for the man who beat me and tried to kill me, I'm not crying for the man who lied to me continuously, I'm not crying for the man who made me believe that I was responsible for his death. I'm definitely not crying for the man he was today.
Instead, I'm crying for the life I thought I would have. I'm crying for the trust, love, and security I put toward this man. I'm crying for myself, the girl who was led to believe a lie. But most of all, I'm crying for the boy that was my brothers best friend. The boy who was my first love. The boy who looked at me with nothing but softness and love in his eyes. The boy who used protect me from every obstacle life threw at me, who used to sneak into my room whenever my parents were fighting and listen to me complain and cry. The boy I lost myself in.
That loving boy just happened to grow into a despicable man.
I'm crying for the boy.
I look at his still body, he looks so calm and at peace. He doesn't look like the monster I had just met, he looks like the man I loved, the man I still love. The man I thought I knew. His face supports a single tear drop that streams from the corner of his eye and connects with his hair. I bring my hand towards him and wipe the tear away with the pad of my thumb.
Still struggling for breath, "you p-promised you would never l-l-leave me again" I cry in between sobs.
Pain shoots through my body with every huff of breath I take. I curl up and feel strong arms around me. I cry into them before the darkness overtakes me.