Pretty Amazing Grace {Ryan Blaney || Sequel to Sweet Caroline} ✔️

five

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

"We should go to the bar." Chase's voice was definitive. "We'll get you nice and drunk so you can forget about what happened."

Ryan nodded. He had called Chase after he left the courthouse because he needed to talk to somebody that wasn't his mom or Elle. Chase surprised him by offering to fly to stay with him for the night. He appreciated it -- appreciated that he didn't have to sit at his parent's house and wallow in his feelings alone.

And he had a lot of feelings. The anger was still there, buried under the mountain of guilt that was starting to crush him, along with the overall hatred he had for this whole situation. He hated that he had pushed Lydia by taking her to court. He hated that instead of relief when he saw her again, he felt anger and he took it out on her. But mostly, he hated that after court, Lydia couldn't even look him in the eye.

He hadn't meant to lose his cool on Lydia but once he saw her, all of the feelings that had been festering erupted and he couldn't stop himself. He wished that he could take back everything he said even before they had gotten into the courtroom and his lawyer forced her to go into detail about why she fled.

Knowing that Stacy had blackmailed her into this made Ryan's world spin and his stomach twist. He should have known that Lydia wouldn't have taken Caroline away from him voluntarily. He should have trusted her, he should've heard the shakiness in her voice on the voicemail and known that something was wrong. He should have tried to make sure that she was okay instead of immediately trying to take custody of Caroline.

Life is full of should-haves and Ryan wasn't sure if he'd ever be able to forgive himself for his part in this mess.

And then Lydia dropped a bombshell that made his whole world stop -- Stacy had threatened to give Lydia's ex-boyfriend, one that had hurt her, her location with the promise that he'd kill both her and Caroline. He had no idea that she even had an ex capable of that. Sure, he had always suspected that she had first-hand knowledge about abuse but he had never expected this.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Chase offered as they climbed into Ryan's Bronco, pulling Ryan from his thoughts. Ryan shrugged, taking a deep breath as he tried to clear his mind and focus on getting to the bar. He could deal with the rest later.

Ryan's phone vibrated with an incoming call -- Stacy. She had been relentlessly calling since Friday. Now he knew why. He had half a mind to answer and give her a piece of his mind but he didn't know what to say to her. He didn't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing that she had managed to take away one of the best parts about his life, the one thing that kept him going.

"Give me your phone." Chase leaned over, grabbing it before Ryan could protest. "The last thing we need is for her to ruin our night." Venom dripped off of Chase's words as he referenced Stacy.

Ryan nodded slowly. "Right." His brow furrowed, searching for words to say to Chase about Stacy. "Mine and Stacy's relationship was ..." his voice trailed off a little. "Not good?" He offered even though that was a gross understatement. Ryan squeezed his eyes shut, trying to remember the terms that his therapist uses when he talks about his relationship with Stacy and her abuse.

"You know, I never asked her to be my girlfriend?" Ryan scoffed. "She just started telling people that we were dating and everybody kept congratulating me and telling me that we were a perfect match and I didn't want to look like an asshole. She invaded my life. She kept telling me that she knew what was best for me and my career and if I argued, she'd threaten to ruin my career. And if that didn't work, she would go to Elle and Elle would threaten me into doing whatever it was that Stacy wanted to do. And you -- Stacy decided that she didn't like you so every time I hung out with you, she'd make my life hell. So it just was easier if I didn't. And by the time I realized that what she was doing, it was too late. I could see the anger you had for me." He fidgeted with his hands, waiting for Chase's response.