Bittersweet Symphony (Bittersweet #4)(25)

I turn around, anger still raging inside of me. I don’t want to see the look of disgust on Kennedy’s face for what I just did. She watches me, her eyes running up my body. The way she’s looking at me is turning me on; then again, the built up aggression and having to hold myself back aren’t helping either.

I take a step toward her, raising my hands to calm her down, but she shudders away from me. I notice the tears streaming down her face, and my heart breaks knowing I’m the reason. I tried not to hurt her, but I did anyway.

I look at the girl that he had pinned to the top of his car.

“Are you okay?” I ask, not even recognizing my own voice. How could he do that to a girl and assume it was okay? My eyes skit back to his body on the ground. A quiet cry comes from the girl. The lighting is bad, but I can see the worry on her face. There isn’t any fear though, and that makes me worry. Has he done this more than once? Has he been attempting to do this to others? What if this happens to Kennedy? My mind heads down a path I can’t fathom, so many thoughts occurring at once.

I turn my attention back to the girl. “Are you really okay?” I’m not leaving until she gives me an answer.

She nods her head. I look down at Sam, making sure he’s was still out, then I walk away. I should ask her if she needs a ride or something, but I can’t handle another moment in his presence.

Kennedy follows me as I walk back to the blanket. I feel like I walk miles before I make it back to the blanket.

“You didn’t have to do that!” I look up into Kennedy’s bright, blue eyes. There’s some serious pent-up aggression in there, but there’s also something else. Why is it so bad that I stopped that * from f*cking up someone’s life? Unless she has a secret that I don’t know about, I just don’t understand why she is mad at me. This will teach Sam to leave her alone too.

“Would you rather I had let him do it?” That remark comes out snarkier than necessary, so I wipe my bloody hands on the blanket and take a rather large drink of whiskey.

“I would rather have you tell him to stop than to cause a huge fight! He can sue you, Ryder, and make your life hell.” She’s talking as if she knows from experience, and I’ll be damned if that doesn’t make me want to head right back over there and bury him six feet in the ground.

“Are you not telling me something, Blondie?” My voice comes out deeper than intended, making me sound all dark and raging.

She takes a step away from me as if she’s afraid or about to run. No way in hell am I letting her run away from me out here.

“I have nothing more to tell you than I already have.” Her words don’t wobble, but her eyes say something else. They are cast down as if she can’t bear to look me in the eyes.

I push off the blanket, coming to stand directly in front of her.

“From the way you reacted to what just went down, it sure seemed like it was a lot more than just something small. It sure seemed as if you knew firsthand what he was capable of. Has he done that to you?” I’m tense as I wait for her response. All I’m seeing in that moment is red. His blood will be dripping from my hands if he ever touches her like that.

“No,” she mumbles. It isn’t enough for me, though. She’s hiding something else.

“Tell me, now, before I go over there and beat the rest of it out of him.” It’s not a threat, and she knows it. I will not hesitate to go over and f*ck him up even more.

“It’s you. You cause more problems for me by doing this. You may have stuck up for that girl, which was the right thing, but once he finds out who did that to him, he’s going to come for me. He already makes me life hell. We used to be best friends, and honestly I’m not even sure where it went wrong….” She pauses for a brief second. “That’s not the point though. Sam will make our lives hell; he will spread rumors…”

I can see and feel it in her. She’s genuinely afraid of that *. I know whatever he has on her is deep, so deep that she fears doing the wrong thing will bring her some sort of pain. No f*cking way is that okay with me, not by any means.

“I would love to see him try. I was beat growing up. Pretty sure I could take a whipping from him.” I joke about it, but we both know I will blast him into the next year if he f*cks with me or her.

A look of shock shows back at me. “Ryder, you don’t understand the power he has. You don’t understand what you have done by doing something like that.” Her voice is so quiet.

I reach a hand out to her, but she pulls away, looking past me. I am growing angrier with every passing second that she’s ignoring me. Who does she think she is to tell me that I can or can’t do something, to think that she can control me?

“He scares you, and I get that, but this is me, Kennedy. The f*cked up me who you thought you could save. Look now… Am I worth saving?” I let out a hysterical laugh as if I’m a crazy ass, mad scientist.

She glares at me, a full on daggers to the head glare. She’s fuming; I can see the flames in her eyes, ready to give me a good licking, and I like it. No, I love it. I want to spark something else in her.

“Let’s go.” I grab the blanket off the ground and turn around to find a missing Kennedy. My gaze swings around. I peer into the car but see nothing. Then a branch to my left snaps, drawing my attention.

“Kennedy…” I growl, grinding my teeth together. I go from wanting to take her against the car to wanting to throw her over my shoulder in three seconds flats.