In that moment, I knew I couldn’t hold what he used to do against him. Rider...Jayden...so many other people were a product of their environment. Some got out. Others didn’t. Rider was right. A lot of it was luck. Sometimes it was determination. But mostly it was luck, and I was the luckiest of them all.
Forcing myself toward him, I unfolded my arms. “You’re involved...in this, though.” When he opened his mouth, I kept going. “The day you and Hector left school after Jayden did. You...showed up with your head busted open. Why?”
Rider pushed off the door and lifted his hand. He brushed the hair back from my face, tucking the strands behind my ear. “Jayden had a problem.”
I waited.
His fingers traveled down the side of my face, over my jaw. He curved his hand around the nape of my neck. “He was going to meet Braden. We stopped him.”
When his thumb smoothed over the space where my pulse fluttered, I felt the touch throughout. I wasn’t going to be distracted, though. “You stopped him with your face?”
His lips twitched. “Braden’s boys didn’t appreciate us retrieving Jayden.”
My heart flopped over heavily. “Who is Braden?”
“No one you ever have to worry about,” he responded immediately, and I pinned him with a look. “Seriously. There is no reason why you’d ever come across him.”
“But you will?”
He raised a brow. “Not if I can help it. Hopefully Jayden will learn from what happened tonight.”
“And if not?” My stomach kept flipping around. “I want to know who he is.”
For a moment I didn’t think he was going to answer and then he sighed. “Braden is in school with us. He runs shit for Jerome, who is way older. When Jayden didn’t have the money, Braden and his crew were going to have to answer to Jerome for that since Braden was the one to bring Jayden in. Of course, they were pissed at Jayden, and when they get pissed, they aren’t about talking.”
They were about fighting. “And you and Hector took Jayden’s place or something? Is that how you got hurt?”
“No. We persuaded them to give Jayden more time,” he explained. “It took a while to persuade them and some of the persuasion wasn’t talking.”
Oh, God. I couldn’t even fathom what it would be like to be in that situation. “Are you going to get involved...again? These people sound scary. I don’t...” I took a deep breath and said possibly the most selfish thing ever. “I don’t want you involved in any of that.”
“Because you care about me?”
“Of course.” I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t want to worry about you getting hurt.”
He stepped in and his other hand settled just above my hip. “Because you want to be with me?”
“Yes.” That word was easy to speak.
Rider smiled then and the right dimple appeared. “You want to be my girlfriend.”
I opened my mouth and then I laughed. It sounded strange after the seriousness of our conversation, but the statement was sweet and silly.
His cheeks pinked. “Not sure how I feel about that laugh,” he teased. “But I do love the sound of it.”
My breath caught at the word. Love. Oh, gosh, was that what was happening here?
“So do you? Want to be my girlfriend?” he asked, and then chuckled. “Probably should’ve brought this up before I kissed you, but I want...I want to see where this goes, Mallory. I feel like we got a second chance, you know? I’ve been thinking that since I sat down in speech and saw you sitting there. We have a second chance. And who gets second chances?”
I searched his gaze, feeling a rightness deep in my chest. I had thought the same thing before, about second chances.
“I don’t want to pass that up.”
“I don’t, either.” Slowly, I placed my hand on his chest again. Carl and Rosa wouldn’t be happy with it. Neither would Paige. And maybe this all was a little crazy, but I wanted this—wanted him. “Yes.”
The smile broke out across his face and he started to speak, but seemed to change his mind. Without saying a word, he lowered his head and he kissed me—my third ever kiss—and it felt just as right and perfect and complete as the first and second one.
And when he lifted his mouth from mine, he pulled me to his chest, wrapping his arms around me, and I went, holding him just as tightly as he was holding me. I pressed my cheek to his heart, and pushed everything with Jayden aside for the moment. I focused on Rider and me, and what was happening here and what it meant.
Because this...this was a beginning.
Chapter 25
Ainsley clutched the bowl of popcorn to her chest as she stared at me from the foot of my bed. Only the kernels were left, but Ainsley liked to root around for the half-popped ones. I had no idea how she didn’t crack her teeth gnawing on those things.
It was Sunday evening, less than twenty-four hours after Rider and I kissed, after Jayden showed up and after we went from friends reunited to definitely not just friends.
Boyfriend.
Girlfriend.
Even though I’d been present for all of that, I had no idea how it all happened. A hyena-like squeal built in my throat and I resisted the urge to bury my face in the pillow that lay in my lap.
“Back up,” Ainsley said, blue eyes glimmering. “You told me a lot. Everything. But I have to go back to something. He drew a heart between your names?”
I nodded.
“For real? Oh my God, Mal. That’s so corny, but so cute, so it strikes out the corniness and just makes me swoon.”