Ride The Wind

Chapter Twenty-Six: Liss

"I hate it here." I mutter as we get back to the hotel.

I flop on the bed and Rikki lays down beside me, playing with my hair and I bury my face in his chest.

"Because of your old man?" He wonders .

"Yeah, I mean that's a big reason." I say as I wrap my arms around him.

"Baby, it's going to be okay." Rikki assures me and he kisses my hair. "If all else fails, I just get arrested in Alabama." I laugh.

"Rikki." I complain and he laughs.

"There's that laugh." He pulls my face up and smiles. "I'm always going to need that laugh. I love you."

"I love you to." I kiss his lips gently.

"Let's go drink. I told everybody we'd meet them at the bar." Rikki smiles pulling me out of the bed.

He kisses me again once I'm standing and looks back to the bed. Rikki smirks and kisses me again hard.

"We can always be late." He sets me back in the bed.

"Luca! Liss! Your names are on the wall." Bret calls.

"Oh yeah! Lissy, you remember that?" Luca calls.

"Should I?" I rack my brain.

"If you actually downed twelve shots of vodka, I'd say probably not." Bobby adds.

"Well the next morning, I puked on my grandma's dog. You should remember that." Luca adds and it all comes rushing back to me.

"Right!" I say.

Luca and I were down in Rainsville for the summer, we were seventeen. His grandma and my grandma were pretty tight back in the day (his mom's mom and my dad's mom, my mom and his dad are originally from Italy but moved to the US when they were young). I started dating this footballer that Luca loved (Luca was still in the closet to his family and most of his friends at this point), his name was Cole Dessen. I feel like Andy has used that name before but that's impossible, Cole is my age and I'm older than her. The three of us went to this very bar and drank so much. I don't remember a lot of that night to be honest. One thing sticks out in my head though, I know I lost my virginity that night to Cole in the bathroom here. I'm not using the bathroom here, that's for sure.

We start talking about football and Andy's last game. She tells us about what the players from Lee did to her after the game, beating her with a fucking bat. If I ever meet them, I'm going to kill them all. No one hurts my baby sister. When we start to be all apologetic Andy tells up to forget about it and to keep drinking.

I walk up to Andy who is waiting at the bar for more drinks.

"Stupid ducking quarterback." She mutters and I smile.

"Talking about my brother?" I wonder and she half smiles.

"No the quarterback from Lee, what he said to me really sticks out in my head." Andy admits and I sigh.

"What did you say his name was?" I wonder and she sighs.

"Cole Dessen." She tells me and I look at her confused.

"You sure?" I wonder and she nods confused. "What did he look like?"

"Your basic footballer, someone Luca would fall in love with." She laughs, this isn't sounding good. "Red hair, brown eyes, about 5'11", he was a couple years older than us."

Ding, ding, ding. We have a winner. That is my ex boyfriend Cole fucking Dessen.

"Liss, you okay?" Andy wonders.

"Alyssa Swagger! Still as pretty as I remember!" His voice calls.

"Liss?" Andy questions.

Aw fuck me!

I refuse to turn around. I'd have to face it. I dated the guy that beat the hell out of my sister. Not only that, he's here with Rikki in the room. I turn and face the bar, I can't even meet Andy's eyes.

All those stupid Alabama feelings wash over me. The reasons I didn't want to come to this place. My dad is here and fucking Cole is the icing on the cake from hell. I don't like the person I was here, I hate that girl with every fibre of my being. She was abused and nothing, she dated a guy because she thought it would finally make her father proud of her. I wish it never happened but it did. I like to think I'm not that girl anymore, like I killed that part of me. But deep down in the pits of my soul, her screaming for help and her father's love is still there.

I get up from the bar and make a be line for the back door.

Luca

"Lissa!" Andy nearly yells as she walks out the back door.

"Who the hell was that!?!" Rikki demands.

"Her ex boyfriend and I think the main guy that beat up Andy." I admit.

"That's why she didn't want to come here." Rikki mutters. "Fuck! I gotta find her!" He gets up but I stand up first.

"Maybe I should talk her down first." I suggest and he nods.

"I'm next." He tells me and I nod.

We walk over to the back door and Andy runs up to us.

"What the hell just happened?" She nearly yells. "I've never seen that look on her face before, like something broke!"

"I'll explain as much as I can." Rikki says. "Make sure Liss doesn't hurt herself." He pleads.

Honey, that's what I'm worried about.

I walk out the door and Liss is sitting in the dark ally, holding her knife.

"Jesus Alyssa!" I say and I take it from her.

Liss has had problems with depression for as long as I've know her. Can you blame her though? Her life was so fucked up. This is what I was scared of, Lissy hurting herself. I push up her selves looking for the cuts and nothing is there, thank god.

I sit down beside her and wrap her up tightly. Liss quietly sobs. The great Alyssa Swagger doesn't cry, let's get this straight. If she's crying something is wrong, right now I think her whole world is falling apart.

Then it hit me. Rikki should be doing this, I love Liss like she's my sister but this is Rikki's spot. I open the back door and get his attention. I watch as he wraps Liss up in the same way I did while she cries.

Liss

It seem like hours before I'm able to talk. Rikki sits in the ally with me on his lap. He rubs my back telling me everything was going to be okay. He had said that Luca had told him what was going on and that I had everybody worried.

"That's not who I am." I'm finally able to say. "I'm not the girl he knew, I hate that girl." Rikki kinda laughs.

"You're not even the same girl I met at the bar that night. Liss, this isn't you. You are strong and beautiful. The Liss I know wouldn't even give that fucking ginger a second look." Rikki kisses my forehead and wipes the tears from my face. "He might've known Alyssa but he definitely doesn't know my Liss."

"I feel horrible." I admit and he smirks.

"We're sitting in a dark ally that smells like piss, I know what you mean." He jokes and I smile. "There it is. Beautiful."

"I mean that's the guy that hurt Andy and--" I get cut off.

"She's more worried about you right now." Rikki kisses my lips. "Speaking of which you should probably go talk to her."

I explain everything to Andy and she's not mad, just hates Cole more. After that, Rikki and I go back to the hotel.

That's an eventful first day in Alabama.