Page 38 of Ryder

Crystal

How do you know he’s a pissant?

Me

Bc he didn’t drop everything to meet your family

I clearly didn't mean me in that equation, but fuck it, I don’t correct myself.

Crystal

He’s working. He would if he could

Me

He’s not good enough for you

Crystal

You don’t even know him

Oh, me and fuck face are gonna get acquainted real soon,Sugar. I really need to get off this subject before I break something. I don’t really want to explain to Luca why I just put my hand through the wall, nor do I have the money to fix shit because I can’t control my temper when it comes to Crystal. I also push away that this is partly my fault for ghosting her for half a year. I’m a selfish bastard, what can I say?

Me

Be nice to your brother, he’s worried about you

Crystal

I’m always nice to him

Me

Later

I click my phone off, running a hand through my hair. I don’t know if Crystal realizes she has me on a string, but that’s exactly how it feels. If she’d had a boyfriend in Arizona, would it have been any different? Maybe. But this is too close. Now I know where she lives and works, it’s right under my nose. It hits a whole lot lower.

One thing is for sure; if she doesn’t start being honest about what the fuck she’s really doing here living this secret life with a non-existent boyfriend, things are gonna get ugly real fast. She might not be mine right this minute, but I’ll always protect her. I’m from the gutter, so when I smell a rat, I really fucking smell one. And this is complete horse shit. Crystal may think she can lie her way out of whatever it is she’s up to, but she can’t lie to me. I can see right through her, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do tonight when I see her.

I just don’t like the feeling in my gut that something isn’t right. What’s more? The helpless feeling that I can’t do anything about it washes over me. Fuck that. I’m about to be patched in. Things are different now. Life is turning around for me, for the better. But if there is one weakness that I have, it’s always going to be Crystal Cartwright.

8

CRYSTAL

I don’t knowwhy I changed three times. I don’t know why I do a lot of things these days. I hate that my hands shake whenever I hear the phone vibrate. If Jimmy knew Ryder was texting me, he’d have a fit.

He won’t find out.

I swallow hard. If he knew I was having dinner tonight, he’d freak about that, too.

Luckily he’s out tonight, and I can catch up with my brother without a million questions. Jimmy wouldn’t have come anyway. He doesn’t really like many people, and will always find an excuse to not meet my family. Especially Luca. Maybe he senses my brother might see right through him. Then again, Luca has always had that way about him that good people respond to. It terrifies me that he'll meet Jimmy and not approve. Not that I need my brother’s approval, but I’ve always told him everything. I’m close to Casey, too, but I’m too much of a free spirit for her to handle. I know she definitely wouldn’t like Jimmy. And then there’s my parents… I may have spun a few tall tales when I told Luca my boyfriend was a businessman. He’s more of an entrepreneur than anything. Maybe I’m naive, but when hepromised me the world, I believed him. A part of me wished it was Ryder saying those things, but that’s not fair on Jimmy. It isn’t his fault that nobody could ever measure up to the one man I put on a pedestal.

I know agreeing to dinner with Ryder isn’t the greatest of ideas, but I couldn’t blow my brother off, and tonight was the only night that Jimmy is out playing poker at the club.The fucking club.If they were to meet, the shit would really hit the fan. I wouldn’t want to see Luca’s disappointment in me, or the anger in Ryder’s face, because unbeknown to me until we moved here, they know one another.

And they don’t get along.

I didn’t plan on coming back to Louisiana so soon, maybe someday, but Jimmy had a new opportunity, and I thought why the hell not?

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