Page 40 of Between the Flames

CHAPTERTWENTY-THREE

It had been over a month since the night my world came crashing down around me, leaving me crawling through a pile of ash, trying to navigate my way out.

Ryder had gone radio silent, not even so much as a text message had been sent. I tried not to let it bother me; he was a married man, after all. At least, I think he is. I could only assume that Noah’s assumption had been wrong. If Ryder and Lily had split up, wouldn’t he have shown up again by now? Noah told me to go to him, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. If they were still married, I refused to be the one to come between them. I couldn’t face that rejection. Instead, during the last four weeks, I have spent every waking moment over-analyzing. I’ve picked apart the entire reunion, when he showed up at my house, and my breakup conversation with Noah.

Noah and I had ended things in a romantic aspect but had fallen back into a comfortable friendship that I was grateful for. After a lifetime of friendship and months of dating, I was terrified that it would all be gone the moment we said goodbye to our relationship. Although it did take us each a few days to move past some awkwardness, we were able to flip through the chapters of our relationship and pick the pen back up to continue writing the story of our friendship. I had always known Noah was a good man, but it was in these last few weeks that I was able to see just how special he was. My head was still reeling over the fact that Noah and I slipped into a relationship and back out of it without any added drama, but when I really stopped to think about it, it made sense. If someone is truly meant to be in your life, they will be.

My daily routine stayed consistent, albeit a little mundane, but lucky for me, I had a firecracker as a best friend who always knew how to make me laugh.

The sun sat high in the sky as the days stayed lighter for longer now, and I cradled my phone between my shoulder and ear, listening to Rosie go on and on about the newest bad boy in her life. Fumbling through my purse while I walked to my car, the coolness in the air prickled my skin. I shivered at the same time as I found my keys and I adjusted the phone so that I was holding it again. My eyes scanned the parking lot of my office, keeping an eye out as I continued toward my car.

“Elle, he’s just so… so… infuriating! Maddening. He thinks I am some damsel in distress. Seriously, he’s there every time I turn around,” Rosie ranted through the phone.

I laughed. “It sounds like he’s…”

“A freaking stalker? Yeah, I know.”

“Protective. The word I was going for was protective.”

“Protective of WHAT?! I don’t need a man to protect me. I can slay the monsters on my own, you know that.”

“I know that, and you know that, but does he?” I rounded my car, approaching the driver’s side. The keys fell from my hand as I gasped in surprise.

Weaved through the handle of my door was a single red rose.

“Elle? Elle, are you okay?” Rosie yelled through the phone.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I’m good. There’s just…” I held the phone to my ear, my body twisting as I looked around the parking lot. Aside from a few cars, it was deserted—I was the only one out here. I bent down to pick up my keys, shoving them into the pocket of my coat. “There’s a rose in the handle of my car door.”

“A rose?” she questioned.

“A rose,” I confirmed.

“Well, who’s it from?”

“Hang on, there’s a note.” I reached over, grabbing the small tag hanging from the rose that was tied on with a piece of twine. The word ‘Mine ’ was scrawled across it in masculine handwriting.

“Elle? What’s it say?”

“It says ‘Mine,’” I whispered, lost in thought. There was no doubt in my mind who this was from… but why now? It had been a month.

Rosie squealed in excitement, and I pulled the phone away from my ear. “Mine? He just inscribed the note with MINE!? Girl. You’re totally fucked. Both in the mental and literal sense. That man is going to dominate you in the bedroom.”

I groaned, sliding into the driver’s seat and locking the doors. “Why does everything have to be so dirty with you, Rosie? This means nothing. I haven’t heard from him since he showed up at my place a month ago. Plus, he’s married.” I emphasized the married part, my tone going sharp. She was completely shipping me and Ryder, but was forgetting that huge detail. It wasn’t going to happen; he was a married man.

“You sure about that, Elle? Just based on what you’ve told me about his character, he doesn’t seem to be the type of man who would pursue someone while being married.”

Pressing the speakerphone button, I let the phone drop into my lap before running my fingers through the ends of my hair, thinking about what Rosie had just said. She had a point.

“I don’t know…”

“Seems like it’s your move babe, are you going to take the King or keep dancing around the board?”

I let my head fall to the steering wheel, albeit a little too hard. I winced, pain searing my forehead. “Shit,” I mumbled, rubbing the throbbing bump.

“I have to go Rosie, love you,” I told her before abruptly ending the call. I wasn’t normally one to hang up on my friends, but I couldn’t handle her energy right now. She would want to continue to push me into hunting him down and taking charge of the situation, but I needed to think.

She had a point. What if he wasn’t married anymore? But to that, I had about a dozen burning questions. I rubbed my fingertips over the growing bump on my forehead, trying to soothe the pain, while closing my eyes for a moment as thoughts swirled around my head.

Right now, the only thing I knew for certain were two things: I was irrefutably still in love with Ryder, and I needed time to sit in my thoughts and decide how to handle this situation I suddenly found myself in.

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