Ryder Kingston ||
I watch as she puts her final touches of makeup on her face.
She looks beautiful, as always.
She stands up from her vanity spraying perfume all over. This a different scent from her usual scent but still with a hint of vanilla, keeping it to her.
She's wearing a long-sleeved cream-colored dress that reaches mid calves with a square neckline. Paired with white heels. She's wearing a single gold necklace and little gold hoops. And my ring.
She smiles at me and I stand up holding my hand out. "I love black on you," she says sarcastically.
I'm wearing a black long sleeve button and black pants, nothing special. Paired with the chain she gifted me, some rings and black shoes.
I kiss her temple, "I love everything on you."
"I love you."
"I love you too," I tell her. It feels so fucking nice to be able to say it without hesitation. Without having to know if she feels the same way anymore cause I know she does.
We walk out of her room and Sebastian curls under my feet once I walk out. Analia bends down picks him up and walks to everyone in the living room.
I follow behind her with my arm laced around her waist. "All ready," she says smiling.
"We have to wait for Elijah. He seems to be taking his sweet time." Analia stiffens and I rub her back relaxing her body once again. Analia looks at me and I look at her.
"Did you guys do something?" Gio asks. Analia walks away, avoiding the question, with Sebastian places him down next to his food and I scratch the back of my head. Gio gasp. "You did, didn't you?"
"What are you talking about?" Lincoln asks joining the conversation. Oh, fuck sake.
"I forget you don't live here so you don't hear the drama," Apollo smirks, "Just wait till you hear this." Apollo loves adding the fuel to fire, huh? He winks at me walking over to the couch to sit on it. Belle leans on the couch watching this go down.
Lincoln's attention is now on me and Gio is crossing his arms. Where's Analia? I look back and see she has no clue what's going on because her back is towards us and she's bent down next to Sebastian. Guess I have to do this fucking myself.
I turn my attention to them clearing my throat, "Elijah kissed Analia." Lincoln stares at me for a second trying to figure out if I'm joking. "I'm not joking."
"If you're not joking then why aren't you in jail right now?" He asks. I rub my hand over my face being done with this conversation. I'm fucking over this.
"Do you guys really think I'm that aggressive?"
"Yes," they all say in unison. Thanks for the reassurance.
I hear the sound of heels behind me and I turn around. Analia comes over standing next to me. "What are we talking about?"
"How Elijah kissed you," Lincoln says. Lincoln looks at her almost like he's disappointed. He really is a father.
"He kissed me. I didn't kiss him. Anyway, I don't know why this topic is being brought up. We cleared the air. Everything is fine," she tells them. "Now bring it up again and I might have to cut your tongues out of your mouths," I smirk at how hot she is. We might have to excuse ourselves for another 30 minutes.
The door opens revealing Elijah. From the couple of minutes we last saw him, he's now all out together. I'm still pissed for what he did but he knows what he did wrong. There's not much else I can do. It already happened. All I can do is move on.
But not forget.
He's dressed in a light blue button-down shirt with a white blazer thrown over and white pants. Not bad.
Definitely not my style though, but we all know that.
He waves awkwardly at all of us as he walks to us. "So?" He says.
"You kisses An-An?" Carter shouts out. My eyes fly down to Carter and I shake my head with my hand on my forehead. Some stifled laughter is made around the room. I forgot he was here.
"I guess since we're all here now it's time for us to go," Gio says breaking the awkwardness. "Actually, can we take a picture?" We all look at him confused.
"A picture?" I repeat.
"Yes, a picture. Is that not what I said?"
"No one is going to take-." Everyone starts crowding around each other. Belle drags Apollo off of the couch and Analia drags me into the group. Apollo and I look at each other dreading this moment.
Gio yanks out his phone extending his arm. We all squished together trying to get into the frame. I wrap my arm around Analia's waist pulling her close to me. Her cheeks start turning pink and she looks at the camera giving it a toothy grin. I stare at the camera as he snaps the pictures.
"Smile, Ryder," she says through her smile. I force a smile and she drops hers. She comes close to my ear and whispers, "If you smile, maybe tonight we can go for round three? Or more?"
A toothy grin appears suddenly on my face and I stare at the camera. After being cramped together we all finally head out.
Analia walks beside Gio. "Why don't you invite your girlfriend?" She asks him. Gio stares ahead for a second and licks his lips focusing.
"We broke up." Shit. When did they break up?
I've been so caught up in my mind and caught with Analia, that I had no time for anything else. No time for Gio. Now I feel like a bad fucking best friend and I'm sure Analia is feeling the same way.
Analia's face falls. "I'm sorry, Gio. When did it happen?"
He shrugs, "About three days ago. I called it quits so don't feel bad. I had to." We walk out of the apartment carrying our conversation as we walk.
"Why?" I ask.
"Because of my past. My present. I can't ruin her. I can't let this shit catch up to her. She's too perfect for all of us. I don't want to be the one to ruin it," he tells us sadly. The tone in his voice has changed. You never really see Gio sad and being out of his happy mood. But this seemed to change that for the moment.
I don't know if Gio loved her. But I know she meant a lot to him just by the way he talks about.
I walk over next to him patting him on the back. He looks over his shoulder at me giving me a small smile. "I'm sorry I wasn't there."
"Me too," Analia adds. Gio looks at us both.
"Don't worry. You guys had your shit going on."
"Doesn't excuse our behavior. You're still our best friend," Analia tells him. She's good at the sappy shit not so much me. I'm only sappy with her.
By the time our conversation is done we're downstairs in the lobby. We spend about 6 minutes figuring out who's going in who's car.
Analia and I are of course going together. Gio is dragging us into his Jeep with him and Apollo. Lincoln is going in his car with Carter. Elijah and Anderson are joining him.
Analia runs over to Gio's Jeep, in heels, calling shotgun. She hops in without my help, which I fucking hate, closing the door. I hop into the back at the same as Gio.
He turns the car on putting in the destination onto the GPS. "Where are we going?" Analia asks.
"Somewhere familiar."
After putting in the destination Gio puts the car in drive and we drive away to the restaurant.
Analia Rayne ||
15 minutes later.
It's currently 4:30 in the afternoon. I didn't realize how late it was until we got into the car.
We still have about 25 minutes left of this drive.
Last time we came here I didn't notice how far it was. A forty minute drive is far.
I lean back into the seat turning my head and staring out the window. The weather is nice today. It's not cold, not hot. It's perfect. Perfect enough for Gio to take the top of the Jeep off and put the windows down.
"Analia." Gio says. I look at him with a smile. "How did you know Ryder was the one?" I stare at him a little confused but then I realize where this conversation is going.
He loves his girlfriend-ex girlfriend. Her name is Rose. Like the flower. He's shown me a picture of her. She's beautiful. She has blonde hair just like him, tan skin, and brown eyes.
"I felt... myself near him. Like I didn't have to hide myself behind a wall anymore. I finally felt like I had a person in this world that understood me and made me feel like it was okay to like someone like me. Also cause of his tattoos."
Gio chuckles softly. He stares ahead for a while and I could tell he's in his head. "Did you feel that way about her?" Ryder asks asking the question before me.
"I don't know. Maybe. I've loved someone behind her but it's like different with her. It feels different with her. I don't know if it's love or lust or just something to satisfy myself for a while. I don't know."
I grab his shoulder and then lay my head on it. "If it's feels right or if it feels like-."
"You're on top of the world with her," Ryder says. I smile.
"Yeah that. Then maybe she's the one. Maybe you do love her. But that's not something I can determine," I tell him.
He nods his head whispering a thank you to Ryder and I. I lift my head and turn around.
"I love you," he says before I could say it, again. I groan. "I wanted to say it first." He shrugs before grabbing my hand and leaning back. Our fingers slip out of the hold and my fingers tingle missing his touch.
"God kill me," Apollo mutters.
"Hold on-Did I just hear?" Gio's jaw is dropped and he's in full disbelief. "No fucking way!"
I start letting out a laugh and so does Ryder. Gio smiles and let's out a nice "Whoo!" into the air. "I cant wait till you guys get married. I call be the man of honor!"
"What about about my best man?" Ryder asks.
Gio dismisses him with his hand, "You have Elijah." I cover my mouth not letting the laugh slip out. Apollo laughs along with me. Ryder kicks the back of Gio's seat like a little kid and Gio holds his back.
"Watch your mouth."
"Analia control your dog." I turn around and stare at Ryder who stares at me giving a "Don't you dare say it" look.
"Down dog," I tell him. He narrows his eyes at me before rolling them. I turn around and Gio holds out his fist for a fist bump. I fist bump him before staring back out the window.
~~
25 minutes later.
Finally, we're here.
It's now 5 because it took us forever to get gathered as a group. Elijah hasn't been acting weird which I appreciate. I don't think I can handle any awkwardness today.
Gio walks in first holding the door open. We all follow in and he walks to the receptionist telling him his name, "Bianchi." He gathers 8 menus for us walking us outside to their deck.
I remember our first time here. I threatened Ryder that I would throw him in the water. Fun times.
He walks us to our table we all thank him taking our seats. Ryder and I sit down next to each other. He pulls my chair out for me. Belle sits next to me and Gio sits beside her. Across from Belle is Apollo. Anderson is across from me, Elijah is across from Ryder, Carter is across from Gio and Lincoln is sitting at the head of the table in between Gio and Carter.
That was a mouth full.
I look at the menu already seeing what I'm going to order. Our waitress comes over asking for our drinks. Everyone orders something with alcohol except from Ryder and I.
If Ryder doesn't drink any, neither will I. On some occasions. I order a virgin piña colada and he orders some coca-cola.
I order my food as well as my hunger is eating me alive. I order some fettuccine Alfredo and chicken.
Soon the waitress comes back with our drinks and orders everyone else's food. Once she leaves we all start talking.
I'm talking to Belle when Ryder slips his hand under the table, placing it on my thigh. I slip my hand down intertwining our hands. I look down at our hands then at him. He smiles at me before looking away.
I just know his cheeks are pink. Our food comes right after and we all eat.
After eating Lincoln stands up and all our attention is drawn to him. What's he doing?
"I don't do things like this but for some reason it felt right to," he begins. I shift in my seat facing him. Ryder wraps his arm around me from behind and I lean back. "I want to make a toast. To all of us. Toast to each and every one of us. Toast to our new additions. Analia and Belle. Cheers."
Cheers are made around the table in their own native language. "Salud," I say and drink my pina colada.
"We should go to the beach," Belle says. Gio agrees with her. I then hear a groan next to me. I look at Ryder narrowing my eyes.
"Let's go," I say.
~~
15 minutes later.
I hop out of the car with Ryder's help.
Belle is the first one to run down to the shore calling Gio behind her. She then calls Apollo and the rest of us.
I feel the excitement grow in me as I slip my heels off and throw them in the Jeep. I grab Ryder's hand and yank him with me.
We run down the small hill to the beach. Belle is already in the water with Gio splashing around. I smile at the sight.
I've said this a million times but I always wanted siblings. Always wanted the feeling of protection from them. It felt different from family who protected you, at least I assume. But now I know that feeling.
Ryder comes behind me and picks me up throwing me over his shoulder. I kick my feet knowing where this is going. I squeal as he runs into the water and places me down.
He splashes water at me and I do the same back. I see the most beautiful smile that I love plastered on his face.
This is the dream.
He runs up to me grabbing my arms and pulling it to his chest. I feel the water hit my legs making the dress stick closer to me. I look at Ryder in his eyes and see his eyes feel with delight as he stares down at me. He presses his lips against me before pulling away.
"I'm so glad that you were the one I fell in love with. You saved me, Analia. More than you'll ever know."
I reconnect our lips and drag my arms behind his neck making the kiss deeper. I pull away staring into his caramel colored eyes. "You know you deserve me right? You're the missing piece I spent so long looking for," I tell him. He blushes again and he looks away to the sun.
"I always thought that drugs would be my addiction forever," I begin, "But turns out I was wrong."
"You were my endless addiction."
He connects our lips once more making the kiss more intense saying more than words can say.
"I love you, amour."
"I love you."
Water then splashes all over us interrupting our sweet moment.
"You guys are gross. You know there's people around?" Apollo says. I chuckle and see everyone has joined us in the water.
"Oh boo-hoo. Watch your words, Evans. Are you jealous?" I make a big splash wetting his face. "I love you guys too." He makes an angered expression. And starts coming towards me.
"Maybe you should run," Ryder mutters. I start running in the water making it difficult. He finally catches up to me splashing water all over me and everyone does the same.
This is it. This is the family I've dreamed of in my dreams. My found family.
With the most amazing man next to me.
My endless addiction.
The End.
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Words: 2829
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And that's the last chapter, until the epilogue. Which will be posted at the end of the week. Thank you guys so much for making my dream come true. I haven't shed any tears yet because I know the epilogue is coming out. This book has taken over my life and it's going to be so heartbreaking knowing I won't be posting anymore chapters for this book. I don't want to waste all my words on here cause i'll be making an author notes.So i'll save it. But hope you guys enjoyed this book. Wow. I love you guys. I just shed a tear.
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xoxo.