Losing Love

8

Hope's POV:

He gives me his award winning smirk as I stare at him wide eyed from the leather couch. I had come to terms that I was never going to see him again, yet he came back into my life anyhow.

He greets everyone in the room, which consists of Kyle, Carter, Cole, and Dominic, before hugging me. I slowly wrap my arms around his body as he bends down towards me neck, "I missed you", he whispers softly. His pungent cologne is overwhelming, mixed with the slight scent of cigarettes and coffee - a habit he must have picked up while he was away.

"Why are you here?" I ask him curiously, my curious eyes burrowing deep into his brown orbs. He remains silent, unsure of how to respond.

"After I saw the footage, I remembered a place that Ryder and I used to go to on the borders of New York. He most likely wouldn't have been there but I figured it was worth a shot, so Dominic and I went there and sure enough, there was Ryder." Kyle answers for him while glancing in Ryder's direction with a look I couldn't comprehend, Ryder nods his head after a few seconds of silence, "yeah" he adds quietly, now staring at my shoes.

I look towards Ryder once more, before turning my gaze to Kyle. His eyes still remain on Ryder's chestnut hair, which glows under the bright, white lights of Kyle's apartment. From Kyle, I look at Dominic. He stands straight, with his arms crossed behind his back as he stares at the ground with no emotion, as usual. Carter sits in the singular cushioned chair in the corner of the room while focusing deeply on his phone in front of him, his elbows attached to either side of the armrests. He's completely oblivious to the tension in the room.

My stomach bursts with an unsure feeling, my gut is clearly telling me that something isn't right, yet my mind forces me to believe that Kyle would never lie to me.

Breaking the tense silence that floats around the room, with everyone's eyes straying away from me, Carter's phone rings out. "Sugar Crush!", a high pitched child's voice echoes through the room, everybody's heads snap towards Carter, including mine, as he jumps slightly before tackling his phone back into his pocket. I watch as Dominic glares at him, "sorry", Carter squeaks out, embarrassed at the fact that everybody in the room now knows he was playing Candy Crush.

Kyle breaks the silence following Carter's intrusion, "Ryder won't be in hiding from now on.", he turns his sight from Carter to me. I don't say anything but walk to my room.

Stern knocking sounds at the white wooden door to my bedroom, "Ryder?" I call out, clutching the photo frame in my hands. "It's not Ryder" a deep voice answers through the other side, I place the photo frame facedown on the bed before walking past the neat room and pulling open the door.

Dominic stands tall right in front of me, he smiles faintly at me before storming into the room, colliding with me lightly in the process. I shut the door closed and turn around to Dominic, who now sits on the bed.

"Can I help you?" I ask suspiciously at the muscular man on my bed, he doesn't reply to me but instead lifts the photo frame up and stares intensely at it. I storm towards him, holding my arm out in front of me as a gesture to collect the object.

Dominic's eyes rise to my hand, he holds the frame to me. I gather it but in the process our hands touch. A shock spreads through my fingers and I result in dropping the frame. It falls to the ground, smashing with shards of glass spreading across the room.

"Shit", I mumble beneath my breath as I bend down and begin collecting the pieces in my hand. "Hope, stop" he warns, I stop my actions and lift my head to his direction, he's now standing directly in front of me. "You're going to hurt yourself" he continues before bending down, our faces remain inches apart from each other.