By the time the library closed for the night, Mark had loosened up a lot. He lost his shyness and showed me his goofy side. He had me laughing for most of the night and my stomach was sore by the time we were heading out the door.
“Hey, do you need a ride home?” he asked.
We pushed through the doors and I smiled when I saw Ryan’s car sitting out front. “Nope,” I said, pointing to the car. “Ryan’s here. But thanks for the offer. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.” I ran to the car and hopped into the passenger seat. I kissed Ryan’s cheek. “Thanks for picking me up,” I said.
He turned to give me a brief smile. “No problem. You ready to go home?”
I frowned at him. Something seemed off. I placed my hand on his cheek. “Hey, is everything okay?”
“Yeah. Sorry, I think I’m just tired.” He started the car and pulled away from the library.
I watched him as he drove in silence. I had a feeling that it was more then just him being tired, but I decided not to pry. When we got to my place, my eyes immediately zeroed in on the car in the driveway. “Shit,” I muttered.
Ryan cursed as well, but quite a bit louder and more violently. His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “What the hell is he doing back?” he snarled.
I looked at him with a bit of amusement. “It’s his house, Ryan. He does live here.”
He turned to look at me and his eyes were dark. “I don’t know if I can let you go in there, Sammy.”
I put a soothing hand on his arm. “Why don’t you come in with me? You can stay over if you want too. It’ll probably make both of us feel better if you’re here.”
He visibly relaxed. “I can live with that,” he said before getting out of the car.
I got out as well and he came around to wrap his arm around my waist as we walked into the house. We shed our coats once we were inside and then wandered further inside.
We found Jason in the kitchen. He froze when he saw us, but he didn’t say anything. He regarded Ryan carefully, obviously thinking that he couldn’t say anything bad about me unless he wanted to end up in the hospital. So, instead of talking, he just took a small stack of money out of his pocket and laid it on the kitchen table, and then he disappeared into the living room.
I walked up to the table and grabbed the money. I knew it was for groceries and household things, so I stuck it in my pocket and then Ryan and I went upstairs. We stopped outside of Charlie’s door. I knocked and waited until he called out a response before opening the door. “Hey, I’m home. Ryan’s going to stay tonight.”
Charlie was lying on his bed and he nodded. “It actually makes me feel better that he’s staying here, what with Jason being back.”
“Did he say anything to you?” I wanted to know.
Charlie shrugged. “Not really. He asked where you were, and I said you were out with him,” he replied, indicating Ryan.
I turned to Ryan. “Jason doesn’t know where I work, and we want to keep it that way. I can’t afford to have him find me there and start something.”
YOU ARE READING
Fighting to go on
WerewolfSamantha's life changed two years ago when her mother died. She now cares for her younger brother and puts up with an abusive guardian. The fun, happy girl turned into the shy, terrified girl. When they move and her and her brother start at a new sc...