Page 20 of Tangled Hearts

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” I said, reaching for her hand and threading our fingers together.

The moment our hands touched, it felt so right, but my fucking guilt crashed down on me. She pulled her hand away from me quickly, like our touch had burned her, looking out the window like nothing had happened.

The rest of the car ride was uncomfortable as I tried to figure out what I had done wrong. She looked out the window the entire time and when I parked the car, she didn’t move or look at me.

“My contact says they will be here in about thirty minutes,” I said, willing her to look at me. “Are you hungry?”

She shook her head.

“Well, I’m hungry and I don’t know when we are going to get another chance to eat so we should eat now,” I said, opening my door. “I’ll get your door.”

She opened the door without waiting for me, shutting it quickly.

“I was going to get that?—”

My words trailed off when she wouldn’t look at me. I wanted to ask her what was wrong, get her to talk to me, but a part of me thought this might be for the better. If she hated me, it might be easier for both of us.

“There’s a great seafood place that has a delicious clam chowder,” I said, putting my hand on her lower back to direct her where we were going.

She quickly walked away from my hand rushing forward, until I had to grab her elbow and direct her a different way. I let her go immediately, thinking she didn’t want me to touch her and that bothered me.

God Ryder, get your shit together.

I was annoyed with myself, if I was feeling the whiplash of my feelings, I couldn’t imagine what she was feeling.

She thinks you're an asshole.

If she didn’t hate me before, she certainly hated me now.

We arrived at the small seafood place getting a table on their patio that overlooked the lake we were by. Oria sat down, but her eyes were glued to the water. I noticed her face was slightly red and so were her eyes.

Fuck, I think I made her cry.

There were no signs she had been crying. I didn’t even hear her sniffle. Guilt hit me now that I had hurt her, but I didn’t know what the hell I had done.

“Is…. is that the ocean?” Her voice was a little gravelly.

“No, it's a lake,” I said, watching her.

“Oh, I didn’t think they had restaurants by lakes, I guess that makes sense,” she said looking away.

Her earlier awe was gone.

“Have you seen the ocean before?” I picked up the menu trying to give myself something to do so I wasn’t just staring at her.

“No,” she said, picking up her own menu.

“When this is over, I’ll take you one day,” I said, kicking myself because what the fuck was wrong with me?

Thankfully, the waiter came by to get our drinks and food order. She didn’t know what anything was, so she settled for the soup and a salad. I was starving so it was fried catfish with fries, some gumbo and some crawfish. Once he left, she stared out at the water. The silence was deafening and her demeanor felt like a stab to the chest.

“Ryder?”

My body tensed when I registered that voice.

“Jordan,” I said, looking over at him, but he was looking right at Oria.

I immediately was on edge because he was a shady friend of Soren’s, but he also was a vampire who had no moral code. He was looking at her like she was his next meal.

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