Free Me From the Wolves

[35] Men and Wolves

Oliver had picked me up from school, resulting in an audible growl from Ryder that I could hear from across the parking lot. The growl caused me to fumble with my extra gym bag, which cluttered to the ground. By the time I was picking it up and hoisting it over my shoulder, Oliver was getting out of the car and opening the trunk to assist me. But when I stood up straight and lost my bag to Oliver, Andrew was opening the door for me from nowhere. Oliver shut the trunk and looked over at Andrew, causing the moment to pause.

"Ollie, I—" Andrew began to say but was then taken into a tight hug by him. I sat down in the car as they embraced each other after months of being apart and then looked over as if sensing Ryder was glancing over here from his conversation with Rod and Colin.

"We'll talk when you get home," Oliver promised Andrew, causing me to tear my eyes away from Ryder's in order to look at the only two males in my family. And somehow, I was both numb and overwhelmed at the same time.

Andrew and Oliver stayed out of the house from the time we got home until a couple hours before Oliver's flight. When they got home, he only had enough time to thank Cassandra for the stay, grab his bag, and wish Andrew good luck.

"You sure you don't want me to go with you?" Andrew asked as we neared the door. "It's an hour and a half drive back by yourself."

"I'll be fine," I lightly laughed as I opened the front door and was almost met with Ryder's knuckles before he would knock. He immediately lowered his hand and took a step backwards. I noticed that he was drenched in sweat and wearing gym clothes, probably coming from a football workout.

"I was just—"

"Hey," Oliver greeted now that he was directly behind me. I heard Andrew scoff from inside the house even though Oliver was smiling.

"Hey," Ryder repeated, allowing me to hear him sigh. I don't know why I was so frozen, but maybe it was because I didn't know how to introduce them. Part of me wanted to play into what Stella thought about Ryder being jealous, but the other side of me just wanted Oliver to meet the man I loved because he would be seeing a lot of him for the rest of our lives...but that was the thing. I didn't know if that part was true anymore or not.

"Who's this?" Oliver asked me, raising an eyebrow like many times before when I was around a male he would soon harass. But in this instance, no matter how buff Oliver was, Ryder was just as menacing. Well he was before his eyes met the ground...but that only lasted a second before he looked up, parting his lips as if to claim me.

"He's Ryder. You're Oliver. We gotta go," I said before grabbing Oliver's wrist to pull him through the path previously blocked by Ryder. I immediately got into the passenger side of my mustang—Ryder's mustang—without looking at the boy on my doorstep. Oliver gazed at him though, even after throwing his bag in the trunk. But when I built up the courage to look at Ryder's heartbroken eyes, he was being invited inside the house by Andrew.

***

"So when are we gonna talk about this Ryder?" Oliver finally asked towards the end of our travel.

"We aren't," I sighed and shifted in my seat. Oliver glanced over at me before returning his eyes to the road.

"Okay fine," he dropped easily and it honestly threw me off guard because I knew how stubborn he actually was. It was too good to be true.

"Oliver—"

"Do you think it's odd that Iris and I haven't actually been in a relationship before, but we trust in the passion that we've always had despite the bad timing and distance in order to get married?" he suddenly asked me.