Page 14 of Out to Find Freedom

My attention on Ryan was becoming too much. Yes, I really had to stop. Especially when I knew nothing could come from it.

But then I heard his back door swing open with a bang through my already-open window.

“This is nice,” someone said loudly, and I was sure it was a female voice.

A woman.

Was it the woman who’d been with Declan?

Ryan’s friend?

Pushing my dish aside, I climbed to my feet on the bed and glanced out, frowning when I saw it wasn’t his friend. Instead, it was a woman I hadn’t seen around Ryan before, and the way she looked at him twisted my stomach.

Was it sane to hate a person I’d never met?

“Yeah, I like it,” Ryan replied. He took a sip from the glass he held in his hand. It was dark outside, but a light from inside his house shined out onto the back deck. I could see the liquid in the glass was either dark brown or black.

The woman held her own glass with the same coloured liquor—I doubted they’d be drinking cordial.

“How long you been here?” she asked. Obviously she didn’t know Ryan well. So why were they together now?

“Few weeks,” he said, voice low and rough. A voice I wanted talking to me. Eyes I wanted looking over my body like he was hers.

Until I remembered I was nothing like her. She was big busted, with long legs, blonde hair, short skirt, tight top. I had visible scars, long dark hair, and dark eyes. Not only that, I was short and skinny like a starved greyhound.

Was I jealous?

How could I be jealous?

Ryan was good-looking, but I didn’t actually feel things for him. That would be weird.

I didn’t.

The guy was practically a stranger.

A headache suddenly throbbed at my temples. Finally, after years in a small, damp basement, I was losing it. Losing it enough to gain some type of feelings for a man I didn’t know. An older man.

No. I wasn’t jealous. I wouldn’t let myself be.

“You wanna hit the restaurant?” Ryan asked. He was takingherout on a date.

Closing my eyes, I rested my head on the ledge. A vision of pulling her hair so she’d get away from him popped into my mind. “Don’t be stupid, Emerson,” I muttered to myself.

I glanced back out, covered my mouth with my hand, and bounced down to sit on the bed. Ryan had been looking this way. He wouldn’t have seen me. He shouldn’t have. The window was tiny, it was dark, and the wire fence would have obscured the top of my head and eyes.

Moving my hand, I took a deep breath to calm my erratic heart. I tilted my head, straining my ears to hear anything. They were talking. If I wanted to hear what was being said, I needed to get closer.

Slowly, I got to my shaky legs and straightened. With my back to the wall, I stood beside the window and rested my head close to the opening. Their voices became clear.

“I didn’t hear anything,” she said.

“Hmm,” Ryan grunted.

“Hey.” Her voice changed—it went lower, sweeter. “How about we have dessert before dinner?”

Ryan chuckled. “You’d want that?”

“Yeah, baby. I’d definitely want that.”

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