Page 44 of Finding a Melody
Micah just rolled his eyes. “I’m not stupid.”
“No, you aren’t,” Graham said in a way that made it sound more like a warning too.
I laughed. “I’ll keep him out of trouble for you.”
“Good,” Hayley said. “I’m so glad we decided on this place.”
“You mean, you decided,” Graham corrected, raising an eyebrow.
They bantered a bit more, making me and Micah laugh. Micah had one of the most normal families that I ever knew. I never understood functional, still didn’t get it, but being able to see them together like this, I was finally beginning to get an idea.
By the time I left before they made me stay for dinner, Bayley still managed to fill my arms with tins of cookies and brownies that she had made in order to ‘test’ the kitchen yesterday.
“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Micah asked.
“Of course.” I leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
He chuckled. “Me too.”
On my way home, Bryan called, and I had to assure him I was still on for Saturday and that I had a dress and everything. While I had dreaded the rest of the week and even the party, at least now I got to look forward to spending time with Micah. He’d get me through the week. He’d gotten me through worse in the past.
Chapter Thirteen
The rest of the week had blazed by too quickly, even with Micah around to distract me. Before I knew it, I stared at my closet as nothing seemed to jump out at me for tonight. I knew I had to get ready to act as Bryan’s partner at his fancy party, but my limbs refused to move. While Micah and the others did so well to distract me, it was moments like this when my thoughts got too quiet, and quiet thoughts were dangerous.
As of the moment, I couldn’t stop seeing that Ryder biker in my mind. In fact, my mind went into overdrive and before I knew it, my memory had the man at about eight feet tall, with muscles bigger than my head, and a gun tucked into his jeans. I knew that wasn’t true, but my mind sure liked to think so.
And that was exactly how the rest of my week had gone when Micah wasn’t around to make me laugh in school and the guys weren’t there to annoy me after school. Getting lost in the memory-imagination of the Ryder biker. Over and over again. What he would have done if I’d admitted to being the girl he was looking for. If he realized I was her. The danger that kept hanging over me, spiking my paranoia. I was so happy that Bryan forced me to get an alarm system.
Would it really get that bad though? Could it? Wasn’t that too... I don’t know... fictional?
Almost two years ago, I met a young woman. Janice. She was eighteen while I was still fifteen. We had met at an event I volunteered for. We talked. A lot. And over the next few weeks, grew impossibly close. If I had an older sister, I always thought it’d be like that. I kind of wished she was my sister.
Then I noticed the bruises.
The way her blue eyes were growing dimmer each time we met up.
How she flinched away from touch.
The shyness.
The long sleeves.
She was abused and she didn’t know how to get help. I ended up providing that help for her. Carefully. I talked about myself, about the abuse I had faced when I was younger after my dad left. I didn’t lie to her, really, I just talked about what had happened to me as a kid and alluded to the idea that I wasn’t in that situation anymore. I already had my plans for myself, and in just a couple more years, I was going to execute them. I owed Lindie some time at least before I pulled the rug out from underneath her feet.
But Janice didn’t know what to do, and she was so scared. I had to get bits and pieces from her before I could put it all together in a complete story.
She had met the leader of the Ryders, Rick McCormack, the previous year. He was handsome and nice, wooed her into a relationship. Then he became distrustful and mean, and she wanted to get away, but she didn’t know how. She didn’t have the funds and no one to reach out to. Her parents had passed away when she was a kid, and then Rick had done a good job of isolating her from any friends she may have had.
A few months later, I managed to get her relocated through Joyful Heart. New city, new identity, new life. We rarely contacted each other. Once in a while, I’d get a vague email from a random address, saying she was okay and thankful. I made sure to delete those. I didn’t know the Ryders’ connections throughout the three towns, I just knew they were deep.
And if they knew it was me who helped her.
Damn. I was in serious trouble then.
I bit my lip and blinked a few times, trying to focus on my closet. The boys were downstairs, waiting for me to change. I would go with Bryan to his fancy event while the others stayed over at Seth’s house for the night.
I automatically dismissed most of my dresses. I needed extra fancy. I rarely went to these kinds of events. I had gotten invited often, but ignored them. Lindie usually went in my stead, always saying something like not wanting me to embarrass her. And the way she came back happy and drunk, sometimes with a man, I knew she ate up the attention there.