Aftertaste (Sin #2)

XLV.

I lose track of time and place. I can't see anything, I can't hear anything. I know I'm still in the living room and on the floor, but I'm crying so hard that I can't focus on my surroundings. I'm too scared and I'm panicking too much. I'm too weak to fight back, especially when I know it'll only make things even worse.

I don't know what happened to Alexander because no one said a thing. I know Lena is panicking, but she doesn't move to go look. I wish she would. I wish, just this time, she'd go to him and make sure he's okay. But I saw she's scared of Ryder, too, and that made me scared even more.

I'm completely defeated.

I don't know what to do, other than let him do what he wants to me because if I don't, God knows what else he's going to do. To me or to someone else.

But then comes the sound that pierces through me and makes me go completely still and quiet. A door. Loudly closing. And then whistling. Happy whistling. I hold my breath, lifting my head to see what's going on.

My eyes meet a pair of legs first before they jump up and I almost sing in relief. It's Sam. Sam, who stopped whistling and is now looking around the room at all of us. "What in the fuck is going on here?" she asks.

I'm almost too busy swimming in relief to catch the look Ryder gives Lena and her shaking her head as if they have some kind of private conversation.

"What the fuck?" she repeats again, looking at me.

I sit up now against the wall, ignoring the mess I've made when I vomited. I try not to cringe and be embarrassed about it, but this has always been my reaction when anxious, stressed and scared.

"Alex," I say weakly.

Sam just blankly stares at me, probably trying to figure out the situation in the room. I see how her body and face both change from happy to serious and ready to attack.

"They shot Alex," I say again, barely being able to choke the words out. My throat burns from the pain and the tears just won't stop falling down my face.

Sam's eyes widen and she spurs into action. She takes her phone out immediately. "Where's he?" she asks me, already dialing a number.

"Garage," I say weakly.

"Oh, no, you fucking won't, Samantha," Ryder sneers and goes to her, wanting to grab her phone, but Sam pushes it out of the way, standing all fearless and badass in front of him. I know Sam and Ryder go way back and I know he tried to hurt her, too. I admire her for being able to look at him in the eyes and not have any reaction other than anger.

"Oh, yeah, I fucking will, Ryder. Don't you ever come up to my face like that again and try to threaten me because I will snap your neck."

Ryder grins at her, not threatened at all. "Let's face it, Sam. You're not going to do shit because if I wanted to, I'd handle you with my one hand."