Page 65 of My Bully's Crush: Vol1
At first, I didn’t recognize the picture, but then it clicked, and I felt the blood leave my face.This picture was taken the night Mary had tricked Elena into staying longer at the after-party, the night I met Ryder for the first time after Mary had set it up.It was all there, but no words were captioned, not yet.Please don’t know the truth about that night.This would unravel everything.
My phone rang with Mary’s tone, and I wiped away the tears that fell before answering her.“I’ve seen it.What are you going to do?”She had as much to lose as I did if this should come out.If anyone should put the pieces of the puzzle together or worse if this MengeLiNi person talked.I was no longer under the illusion that she didn’t know, she had to, and she was taunting me, taunting all of us with the pictures.
Those images on their own could be seen as nothing, but if the truth behind that night comes to light, it could mean the end of my marriage or my life period.Because what use was living if I couldn’t be here in this town where I’ve always wanted to be?
“You’ve got to do something, Mary, or we’re all going to lose and lose big.”
“That’s why I’m calling; I have an idea of how to get the heat off of us.”
“Yeah?What?”
“You’re going to tell the world that you’re pregnant.You said you and Ryder were getting along much better these days, so you should be able to convince even him for a little while until it becomes a reality.”
She hung up before I could ask her what the hell she was talking about.
I couldn’t hold back the scream this time.Stupid woman, how the hell can I convince Ryder that I’m carrying his child when he hasn’t touched me in five years?
Chapter 39
*Ryder*
It’s time.I’m as nervous as a hooker in church, but there was no way I wasn’t going to go through with this.“Do you remember everything we told you?”“Yeah, but I still don’t know how you know what the inside of her house looks like.”“You really wanna have this conversation now?”
“No, I guess not.”I wasn’t in the mood for a tongue-lashing from Zak, and we both knew I was just talking to hear myself speak because it’s a given that I don’t know how they know half the shit they do.They still haven’t come right out and said it, but my money is on military.
“Just breathe, kid; it’s gonna be fine.”Yeah, that’s what they’ve both been telling me for the last hour or so.I don’t know why I feel so sick to my stomach.This is what I’ve been striving for since my return, but now that the time was near, I wasn’t sure I could go through with it.
I knew it was fear of her reaction that held me in its grip, but still, I couldn’t figure out how to shake it off.There was so much at stake here and way too much uncertainty.
“Maybe I should give it some more time, you guys.”
“If you’d like.”Zak, the less amiable of the two, started to turn the car around while Tyler turned to look at me in the backseat.
“What did I tell you about that Band-Aid, kid?Just rip it off.You can do this; you’ve been practicing for a whole week.Just keep your head down, and remember, you were wrong.There’s no scenario here in which you were not totally responsible, so don’t even think about defending yourself.”
I nodded my head and wiped the nonexistent sweat from my brow.“She’s going to have a lot to say; let her rant all she wants, and don’t say a damn word in your defense.If she hits you, which I’m pretty sure she will, and you raise your hand to her, they won’t ever find your body, you understand?”
“Yeah, I won’t hit her; how could I?”I was actually appalled that he would even suggest such a thing, but he must’ve heard about Elena’s fiery temper from somewhere because even he knew there was a pretty good chance she was going to either hit me or throw something at my head.
I almost balked when we pulled up to her house, but on the backside where there was no traffic and no lights back there.I felt like a damn criminal, but this was the only way to do it.Tyler and Zak had gotten everyone out of her house somehow, and this was my only chance unless I chickened out and we had to do this all over again.
I can’t put it off, though, because things had become way more dangerous than I’d expected.Janie was slowly losing her mind, and whoever was behind her pushing was coming down hard, it seemed.
Her actions in the last few days have been more erratic than usual, and the spies these two have running around my house have been reporting on her drug use which seems to have ramped up a whole lot these days, which made the situation that much more unstable.
I think I was more nervous, though, about seeing Elena than any fear of rejection.Rejection I can handle because I don’t plan on taking no for an answer, not once I explain my side of the situation, at least.It was seeing her in the flesh after being apart for so long that had me worried.
It reminded me of the first time we met.I’d idolized her back then, though she didn’t know it.She was someone I’d had a crush on from afar, like most men my age, and when the time came to actually meet her, I thought I was going to be sick.She was so put together, even at a young age, that she kind of intimidated me even then.
I’d been nervous as hell then too, and it had taken me at least until the third or fourth date to stop expecting her to tell me to get lost.If only I could be sure that this time was going to turn out as beautiful as the past.
After those first few dates, it was as if we’d known each other all our lives.She became my person, and I was most definitely hers.Two inseparable kids in love with each other until we were both silly with it.
Now there was all this history between us, most of it not so good in the last five years.But I’d told myself over this past week that we had eight very good years together, and that should trump the bad.Yeah, because I was thinking out of my ass when I came up with that one.
“We’re here.We’ll wait out here for a bit if you want, just in case.Or you can call us to come get you if things go south.”“No, if anything, I’ll find my way back.You probably shouldn’t park the car back here too long, even though I doubt anyone would see it.”
It was late and dark, and the nearest neighbor was a good distance away, but with my luck, someone would come along at the worst time.I’m not sure how they got rid of the paparazzi that had taken up residence outside my gate, but I’m pretty sure Saunders had something to do with it.Either the father or the son.