Page 6 of Fighting for You

When I place my hand in his, a spark of electricity shoots through me and my eyes instantly lock with his again. The moment was beyond surreal and I know he felt it, too.

“I am Stacy and this is Meghan,” Stacy introduces us, and all I want to do is get out of there fast.

“Meghan, it is a pleasure to meet you,” Ryder says, his deep voice causing heat to warm my entire body.

“Would you like to…” before he can finish, I cut him off.

“I’m sorry, I have to go,” I say, picking up my dress and running toward the entrance.

The tears are already starting to pour down my cheeks and I need to get out of there before anyone else sees what a disaster I am.

Stacy is shouting for me to stop, but I can’t. I continue to run until I am outside on the busy streets of the city. The loud traffic and chatter of people walking all around me seem to drown out my own thoughts.

Suddenly, I feel a hand grab my arm and spin me around.

“Meg,” Stacy begins, but she stops when she sees my distraught face.

Pulling me in for a hug, she allows me to sob all over her crimson red dress.

“I’m so sorry,” I whimper.

“What happened?” she asks, still holding me close.

I take a moment to collect myself and pull out of her embrace. “Honestly, I have no idea. Ryder Made me think of Wade and it was just too much,” I admit.

Stacy nods in understanding. “Meg, I know how difficult it was for you to lose Wade and I especially know how hard this week is going to be. But, Wade wouldn’t want you to stop living. He would want you to move on. From everything you told me about him, he would have wanted more for you,” she says.

I know that what she is saying is true, but it doesn’t make it any more difficult to accept. I don’t know how it is possible, but somehow, Ryder just made me feel things I hadn’t felt in years. And the worst part was, I wasn’t sure if I ever felt that same spark with Wade.

Chapter 7

Ryder

What in the hell just happened?

I had asked myself the same question a million times after Meghan ran off. We seemed to be having a nice conversation and then, like lightning had struck, she rushed away.

I followed after her, now looking back, I wish I hadn’t.

When I found her on the street, sobbing in her friend’s arms, I knew that whatever was wrong with her, didn’t have anything to do with me.

Normally, any girl that showed any sign of drama had me running for the hills. I hated that shit. But, there was something about Meghan that told me this wasn’t drama-- the pain I saw in her face and through her tears, well, that ran deep.

She must have experienced something tragic in her life-- something I could relate to myself. In my line of work, I had seen more times than I care to admit, the pained faces of someone who had lost a loved one. I had seen it in the widows who knew their husbands would never come home and the mothers who had lost a child in battle. When I looked at Meghan, I understood that her heart was filled with loss.

I knew it was wrong, but I had to find out who or what had hurt Meghan. It might not be any of my business, but hey, when did that ever stop me before? I was a fixer, it’s just what I did.

Hell, if she would let me, maybe I could fix whatever she needed. Something had come over me and there was no turning back now.

Chapter 8

Meghan

In life, we have to grow from our pain. Well, right now, I wasn’t growing, I was wollering in my own self-pity. After making a huge fool out of myself at the gala, I had tried to keep a low profile at work. Thankfully, no one other than Kristen saw my dramatic exit, but still, I was mortified by my behavior.

Not only had I looked insane, but I had probably made Ryder Feel terrible. I just hoped he didn’t think he did anything wrong to warrant such a heinous outburst from me. My only hope was that I never had to see him again.

Fear took over on Monday morning when I was called into Melanie’s office.

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