Page 37 of The Heir

“As much as I’d love to tell you somethingelsehappened—”

I glared at him as he chuckled.

“Emma is not lying, dad; nothing happened. We really did just fall asleep.”

His dad nodded as if he finally believed us. “Well, hurry up, and get her home. It's late, and I'd hate for her aunt to worry.”

“If she is with me, Mary won't care,” Ryker grunted.

His dad looked as if that was hard to believe. I didn't know why Ryker was acting so strange. “Just take her home, son.” His dad then walked out of the room.

“Ryker!” I whispered in anger.

He laughed.

“What? It's fun to mess with him, sometimes.” His smile was wide—his blue eyes flashing in the low light of the hallway. He rubbed his eyes and yawned again, his t-shirt wrinkled from the nap. He was so different from Shad.

“I don't want people to think that about me,” I said.

“Don't worry, Emma. He knows nothing happened.”

He walked to the edge of the bed where I stood, holding out his hand. I didn’t take it.

“What was all that about—you wishing somethingdidhappen?” I asked, confused. He merely shrugged and grabbed my hand with his, and he pulled me from the room. We walked downstairs and through the front door, hearing his dad call out a goodbye.

As we reached my house, I opened the door with Ryker trailing behind me. I realized Mary wasn't home yet. Ryker turned on the hall light.

“She's not off yet,” I said sadly, not wanting to be alone.

“Do you want me to stay until she gets here?” he asked, scratching the side of his neck. I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to be alone. He made his way to the living room, and I watched him make himself comfortable on my couch. “We could watch another movie?” he asked, looking back at me. I walked around him, moving to the opposite end of the couch, not wanting Mary to find us all wrapped up together like Ryker’s dad had, if I fell asleep again. Ryker’s brow rose in a question as he watched me.

“What? I'm not doing a repeat of what we just went through at your house.”

He laughed. “I'm not going to do anything, Em.”

“You’re my best friend, Ry. I know that.” His face twitched for a moment as if he didn't like what I'd just said, and I didn’t fully understand what could have been wrong with my statement.

He finally shrugged, and then he turned on the sports’ highlights. I lost interest; my head was reeling with so many questions, so many thoughts. The face of that man was seared into my brain, an image I could not get out of my head.

The car was turned upside down, and the watch on my father's lifeless wrist ticked, counting down each second that blood dripped onto its clock face. I tried not to vomit and turned to my left to see black boots and hear a voice. “Yeah, both dead. You guys are real idiots, making such a mess.” Another pair of boots entered my vision. “I will clean this up. Go. At least, she is still alive; they don’t really matter—” A face peered into the window with black hair, a perfect symmetrical face, other than a crooked nose.

I screamed.

“Emma,”

I heard a masculine voice whisper into my ear, and I fought to keep the man off me.What does he want? He knows I didn't die. Why did he spare me and leave my parents for dead? Whatdid he want with me?I panted and clawed at the voice trying to sooth me. “Emma, it's me, Ryker. You are dreaming.”

I opened my eyes and saw blond hair, blue eyes, and I started to cry.

“It’s him, Ryker, I saw him—that night. He kept me alive on purpose. He only wantedthemdead.”

Ryker held me as I cried into his shoulder and shivered at his cold embrace.

“What—?” he pulled away from me, searching my face.

“It was him. You were right. He did help me, and he was irritated by the mess, but he didn’t care that my parents were dead,” I cried out and buried my face into Ryker’s chest. “Why would anyone want them dead?”

“I will find him; I won't let him ever hurt you again.” As he said it, I wanted to believe it, to beg the universe to believe it with me and make it come true. But somehow, with that man’s face in the forefront of my mind, I knew that before long, he would hurt me again. I just didn't know how or why or when.