Shattered ✓

F O R T Y - E I G H T

Alexa

The house felt off.

Even though everything looked the same—the worn couch, the faint smell of coffee lingering from this morning, the stack of shoes by the door—it didn't feel like home right now. Not without Ryder here. Not after everything that had happened.

But that was about to change.

Zach had gone to the hospital early to pick up Ryder, leaving the rest of us behind to get things ready. It wasn't much—we cleaned up the living room, made sure his bed was comfortable, and stocked the fridge with food Cameron insisted Ryder would actually eat—but it was something. Something to distract us while we waited.

And now, the waiting was almost over.

I sat on the couch, my knee bouncing as I tried to focus on the sound of the TV in the background, but I wasn't really watching it. Andrew sat beside me, arms crossed, staring at the floor. Justin and Jason were on the other couch, halfheartedly messing with their phones. Cameron was pacing, stopping every now and then to check the window.

None of us said anything, but we didn't have to. We were all thinking the same thing.

Ryder was coming home.

And even though that was supposed to be a good thing, the weight in my chest didn't lift.

A part of me wanted to believe that everything would go back to normal the second he walked through that door—that we'd all settle back into our usual chaos, Ryder cracking jokes, Justin and Jason arguing over something dumb, Andrew rolling his eyes at both of them. But I knew better.

Ryder had been stabbed. He had almost died. Nothing about that was normal.

And then there was the other thing.

I hadn't heard anything new about Elliot, Michael, or Jackson.

I hadn't reached out. They hadn't reached out.

Maybe I should have, but I didn't even know what to say. What was I supposed to do—ask Elliot if he was okay after killing someone? Ask Michael if he was still talking to Jackson after whatever the hell happened between them?

I shook the thought away. I needed to focus on Ryder right now.

Cameron finally sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. "They should be here by now."

"They probably stopped for something," Andrew said, but he didn't sound convinced.

As if on cue, the sound of a car pulling into the driveway made us all sit up.

Zach's car.

No one moved at first. Then Cameron was already heading for the door, and the rest of us scrambled after him.

Zach stepped out first, looking exhausted, but his eyes flicked to us before moving to the passenger side. A second later, Ryder appeared, moving slower than usual, one arm wrapped around his side as he eased himself out of the car.

He looked... different.

He was still Ryder—same messy hair, same sharp eyes, same expression that was always on the verge of a smirk—but there was something else now. Something in the way he moved, careful, like he didn't fully trust his own body.

Like he wasn't sure he was safe yet.

I hated that.

"Hey," Ryder said, forcing a grin as we all just stood there, staring at him. "What, no welcome home party? No banners?"

Justin scoffed. "Dude, you almost died. Forgive us for not throwing confetti."

"Lame." Ryder smirked, but it didn't quite reach his eyes.