Page 24 of Innocent Princess

Shoot, that's a good question. I turn to Ryker, but I don't have to ask.

"Actually, Fred is heading out on a month-long business trip. They were hoping to meet you this weekend."

My jaw hits the floor.

Cameron lets out a whistle.

"This weekend?" I repeat.

Ryker looks sheepish when he replies, "Yeah, I told them I didn't know. You'd have to miss some classes, but they really want to meet you. Now that you know you exist, they are chomping at the bit."

"Where do they live?" Cameron asks, and Ryker answers while I mull all of this over.

I've only known about them for a few months, but in those months, I've dreamed about meeting them. I was worried they wouldn't want to have anything to do with me, but it feels like that's not the case at all.

This is all so fast, but isn't that better?

The boys let me think. Ryker stands quietly next to me, Cameron still on the table. Just as I'm about to tell them I'm ready, Cameron whistles again.

"So, bad news. Airfare to Texas is stupid high."

I bite my lip. "Like how high?"

"Like eight hundred a ticket. It's normally more like three hundred." He's still scrolling through his phone.

Ryker leans on the sill beside me. "Have you ever flown before, Zella?"

I pinch my lips together as I turn my head and shake it. "No, it's on my bucket list, but I'm not sure I'm mentally and emotionally ready to just hop on a plane in two days."

His gentle smile matches the soft feel of his fingers as they brush mine where they rest on the sill between us. My eyes briefly flicker to our touching fingers then back up to him.

"I get it."

"You could always road trip it," Cameron offers still staring at his phone completely oblivious to the moment Ryker and I are having.

"I don't have a car." Mother was unwilling to let me bring my car with me since she said I was betraying her by leaving. So, Cameron and I packed up my life into his tiny sedan and called it a day.

Ignoring me, Cameron adds, "You'd want to leave tomorrow though. Stay in a hotel somewhere, then finish the drive Friday morning. If you leave Sunday afternoon, you'll make it back Monday night. You'd miss three days of class."

"Cameron, I don't have a car." He knows this. No way would he let me take his for a road trip.

"Duh, Zella. But Ryker does."

I straighten.

I'm scared to look at Ryker, what Cameron just suggested is crazy. There's no way. I laser focus on Cameron; he and Ryker are having some kind of silent conversation. Cameron is fighting back a grin. Maybe he did catch our moment earlier.

Ryker looks at me, his face impossible to read. "I'll take you."

I take my time replying. I don't want to sound hopeful, because the last thing I want is for him to be taking me out of pity. But if he wanted to take me because he wanted to be there with me, that has me hopeful. "You would take me?" I ask carefully.

"I was planning on it, whether it was on a plane or driving you myself."

"You were?" I swallow the lump in my throat.

"Yeah, Blondie. I'm in this one-hundred percent. I've already mapped out the trip."

I fight back tears because I don't want to scare him away with my emotional state. But what he's done for me and still doing means the world. So, I offer him a watery-eyed look.

---