Follow the Echoes // Ryan Lindgren, New York Rangers

Chapter Sixteen

Ryan knows Sydney is not having a good time. He can see her hands grip onto the fabric of her dress tightly. She had not said a word since he and Angelika sat at their table. He would be lying if he said that he did not deliberately invite Angelika to dinner at The View to piss Sydney off. A part of him wants to see Sydney jealous that he brought the bombshell blonde to dinner.

It might not be the right thing to do to bring Angelika to dinner solely as arm candy. However, it is not like Angelika is genuinely interested in him. He knows by now that she likes having him around because he used to make her feel desired. There are no romantic feelings between the two.

"So, Sydney, what do you do for a living?"

Ryan turns to Sydney, curious to see how she will react to Angelika asking her about her career. He knows this has always been a sensitive topic for Sydney, which is why he used to like teasing her about being unemployed.

She smiles at Angelika politely.

"I'm working with a legal organization and doing fundraising work for them," she says passively.

"The organization offers free legal services to individuals below the poverty guideline and she's working with the Rangers to plan big events," Adam pipes up for her.

Ryan raises an eyebrow at his friend. Why is he backing her up like that?

Sydney gives Adam a small smile, but Ryan can tell she is still not comfortable being pulled into this conversation.

"That's amazing!" Angelika brings her drink to her lips.

Sydney turns to give Ryan a look. He stares back at her blankly.

"So, Ryan, tell us about Angelika. How'd you two meet?"

She's totally jealous, Ryan smiles at her, triumphantly.

"We met last year at one of her fashion shows. Hung out for a bit before she left for Europe," he responds, giving Angelika a brief glance as he says this.

The blonde woman beams at Ryan. He knows she is prideful and loves the power of deciding when they can hook up and when they could not. Angelika was in control during their time together. She had him in the palm of her hands. She treated him like a booty call that she could have any time she wanted. When she left for Europe, it was both devastating and a relief for Ryan. He remembered missing her company and being in her bed. On the other hand, he was relieved that she no longer had a hold over him.

"So, you're a supermodel," Sydney turns away from Ryan to smile at Angelika.

What a forced smile, Ryan observes.

"Yes, I am! I just returned from Paris for new opportunities. Zac Posen wants me to walk in his show next month so we're prepping for that."

Ryan can see Sydney and Adam exchange looks, and suddenly, he feels left out. They are having a whole conversation with just a look while Ryan has no idea what they are saying to each other with their eyes. He only remembered the rough patches of their relationship and did not remember the extent of the connection they used to have. Ryan is quite sure he blocked those cringy memories out of his head.

"You've known Ryan for a while, huh?" Sydney asks.

"Yeah, Ry and I have a lot of fun together," Angelika winks at him.

Thanks, Angie, Ryan is pleased that Angelika is outwardly flirty towards him. This will definitely piss Sydney off.

"Oh? You're like his girlfriend?" Sydney tries to sound passive, but she is not fooling Ryan.

Ryan takes the moment to exchange looks with Adam, who just shrugs at him. His friend certainly notices some tension coming from Sydney, and he is not sure why.

"Oh, we haven't defined us like that, have we, Ry?"

Ryan shakes his head.

"We're just hanging out," he makes sure to make eye contact with Sydney as he says this.

"Oh! Just hanging out, huh? You guys making sure one person isn't leading the other one on?" Sydney gives him a meaningful look in return.

Is this how you want to play it, SK?

"No, nothing like that! Ry and I have an understanding," Angelika beams at him.

"Yes Syd, not all of us play games."

She purses her lips and turns away from him.

"What about you guys, how'd you guys meet?" Angelika gestures towards Adam and Sydney.

Adam chuckles awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. Sydney releases a deep breath, clearly uncomfortable with this discussion.

"We play hockey with her brother," Adam answers before Sydney can.

"Pretty sure they met through me," Ryan interjects.

Sydney rolls her eyes.

"How long have you two been together?" Angelika asks.

Sydney and Adam open their mouths at the same time to respond. However, Ryan is the first one to speak.

"They're not together anymore. They used to date, but they broke up."

Angelika looks between the former couple in confusion. They are clearly having a date tonight, so Ryan's response does not make sense to her.

"I'm sorry for making this awkward, I guess," the blonde model looks at them sheepishly.

"Not a problem at all, we're over it," Sydney smiles at Adam casually.

Adam nods in agreement, but his body language is still stiff. Sydney takes this time to finish the rest of her food. It looks like she decided to go all out and order lobster. Ryan wonders if Sydney is paying for her own meal or making Adam pay for it.

"I'll be right back. Going to use the restroom," Sydney rises from her seat and excuses herself.

No one at the table says anything during Sydney's absence. Angelika is still feeling bad for assuming that Adam and Sydney are in a relationship. Adam has looked awkward all night and the moment Sydney leaves the table, he seems to relax a little.

Ryan decides to wait a few minutes before excusing himself to use the restroom as well. He leaves the table and walks toward the direction of the restrooms. His timing is perfect. The moment he arrives, Sydney walks out of the women's restroom. Sydney stops as her eyes land on him. He looks back at her and takes the time to examine her body in the sexy red dress.

"You look hot in that," he says.

Sydney glares at him as she walks closer to him.

"You don't get to do that," she hisses.

"Come on, Syd..."

"No, you don't get to bring a hot blonde as your date, flaunt her in my face, and try to flirt with me," she cuts in.

Ryan can tell she is upset. She is definitely jealous that he brought Angelika to dinner as his date. It had been his intention to get her riled up like this. However, now that he is seeing the anger and sadness in her eyes, he feels a little bad.

"Hey, you're on a date with your ex, how am I..."

"Adam and I are not on a date. In fact, before you got here, we were talking about Casey, another hot blonde that made me feel inferior and insecure. Do I need to dye my hair blonde or something to turn heads?"

Ryan cannot help but place an arm on her shoulder. He does not like seeing Sydney this vulnerable and insecure. She is clearly going through something and feeling less than she is.

"Sydney, I just told you that you look hot tonight, take the compliment and stop feeling bad for yourself," Ryan tries at comforting her.

He knows he is being a bit tough on her but he cannot help himself. When it comes to Sydney, he cannot bring himself to be sensitive. He also cannot bring himself to reassure her by telling her what is truly on his mind.

To be honest, he is not even thinking about Angelika right now. Sure, she is extremely attractive and Ryan used to worship her for her beauty. This time around, things feel different for him. Angelika is more like an afterthought. His whole purpose for bringing Angelika around is to rile Sydney up. Everything he is doing revolves around Sydney. This is a bit terrifying for him since he is essentially admitting to himself that she has left such an impact on him. It does make him feel a bit better that she is reacting this way. He is not alone in feeling this way.

"Kind of hard to when the guy you're hooking up with brings an even hotter woman to dinner," Sydney mutters bitterly.

Ryan pulls her closer to him, their bodies barely pressed against each other.

"I want you, Syd," he whispers, breath touching her lips, "come over tonight."

Her gaze on him intensifies. A part of her is regarding him in disbelief, as if the words that just left his mouth was just bullshit. He may be pandering to her just to get into her pants. On the other hand, the way he is staring at her makes it hard for her to resist him and his offer.

"Are you sure you don't want to stick to old habits and have some fun with Angelika?"

"Syd, I am not going to repeat myself. I'm getting real hard over here just thinking about you sprawled across my bed naked," he growls.

Sydney bites her bottom lip and nods quickly. She can feel herself shaking and aching for his touch and for him to be inside of her. She finds it in herself to push her anger and jealousy aside. He made it very clear to her that he wants her. She cannot help but oblige.

"Ok," she breathes out.

Ryan nods stiffly.

"Don't change out of this dress before you come over," he instructs, "and bring an overnight bag if you need to."

"Ok."

"You head back to the table now and I'll be a few minutes so they don't..."

"I know, Ryan! Stop bossing me around," Sydney interrupts, clearly irritated with him again.

He smirks at her.

"You like it when I do that though."

"Oh my god, shut up!" Sydney turns from him and practically storms back to their table.

Ryan chuckles to himself and walks into the men's restroom.

-*-

Sydney tries to tip toe into the living room and quietly close the front door behind her. It is no secret to Jade that she is seeing someone, but she does not need to be caught in her walk of shame this morning. She kicks off her shoes and gently placed her duffel bag on the floor.

However, as she removes her coat, she nearly jumps at the sight of Chris emerging from the kitchen. He glances at her expectantly.

"Nice try, baby sis," he says.

"Hey," she chuckles nervously.

"Where you been?"

Sydney scratches the back of her head sheepishly. Getting absolutely railed by your teammate.

"At a friend's."

"I see," Chris does not look convinced, "this friend have a name?"

She shakes her head.

"No, this friend does not have a name."

Chris laughs. He knows when he is prying too much for his sister's liking. Even though the two used to be open with each other regarding their personal lives, he knows Sydney sometimes wants privacy and to keep a part of her life to herself. When she is ready to talk to him, she will.

"Alright, Syd, we'll stop talking about your friend who does not have a name," he drops the topic, "I am planning the wedding anniversary dinner for Jade. I want to make sure it's perfect so I need your help."

Sydney beckons her brother to follow her to the kitchen table. Her brother is sometimes hopeless when it comes to romance so she takes it upon herself to step in and make sure what Chris is planning for Jade is something Jade will like. Before the pair got married, Sydney constantly gave Chris pointers on how to plan anniversary dinners and gift selection for birthdays. Some things never change.

The Kreider siblings sit down at the dining table and begin planning Chris's anniversary dinner with his wife.

"This is going to happen while we are on that California road trip next week," he starts.

"No way! Are the team going to be in California the same time I'm at Berkeley for Rory's graduation?" Sydney exclaims excitedly.

Chris nods affirmatively.

"We're in San Jose the night of the graduation and our anniversary."

"Sweet! I am assuming we won't have time to hang out because you're trying butter Jade up at the anniversary dinner."

Chris smiles but the younger Kreider sibling can tell that he is troubled. His smile did not reach his eyes. Whatever is troubling him is so daunting that Chris, who is usually good at hiding his emotions, cannot mask it. It does not help that Sydney knows Chris better than almost anyone else.

"What's wrong?"

"Damn, Syd. Nothing gets past you."

She reaches across the table to give his upper arm a comforting pat.

"Jade's not home now? Let's talk," Sydney cranes her neck up the staircase to confirm that her sister in law is nowhere to be found.

He sighs in distress but obliged anyway.

"I think lately, Jade has been frustrated about me not being present for many things," he reveals.

Sydney tilts her head in confusion. Chris's job and unavailability is not news to any of them, especially Jade. Jade always knew what she signed up for when marrying a professional athlete. Something must be up.

"I don't understand. You've always been unavailable for literally anything," Sydney says, exasperated, before adding, "no offense."

He places a hand over his face.

"I missed too many things lately. She hosted a gala last week and I had promised I'd be there. We didn't have a game that night. Jade was so excited. We had to fit a team practice in after that humiliating loss against Boston..."

"Oh Chris," Sydney breaths out.

"And yesterday, she had tried to plan a surprise dinner date for us. I went to Mika's instead."

She pauses.

"Ok, how did that happen? She invited you to dinner and you just said no so you can hang out with Mika?"

Her brother shakes his head, as distressed as ever.

"She was dropping hints, like 'when you come home Friday night, we can try this bottle of wine' or 'let's try this bath bomb on Friday,' and then Mika invited me over so I ditched her. Came back home to Jade cleaning up the candlelit dinner she prepared for us."

"Shit, was she pissed?"

"I know she is. She keeps telling me that she is not mad and blaming herself for not being straight forward with me. But she's already out the house before I even woke up."

Sydney is shocked. Chris and Jade always seem like they were in tune with each other. They were her idea of the perfect couple. Before her break up with Adam, she strived to be like them. Now, she has a pessimistic view on love and Chris is letting Jade down like this.

She wants to think that she does not believe in love anymore, but the feeling in her heart yesterday when she saw Ryan bring Angelika to dinner may prove otherwise. She envisioned Ryan taking her out as his date instead of the gorgeous blonde. When she snapped back to reality and saw Ryan and Angelika glance at each other, she was devastated.

Feeling that way scared her. What did that mean for her? Did she actually have feelings for the infuriating defenseman? Sydney remembered the feeling of butterflies in her stomach when Ryan told her that he wanted her. It may very well be lust on his end, but Sydney is afraid that this is becoming something more for her.

That part terrifies her.

For right now, she wants to do whatever it takes to get Chris back in Jade's good graces again. Helping her brother out with his wife is the least she can do for him. She needs to focus all her energy on Chris now and not on the dangers of her love life.

"So we need to make sure your anniversary dinner is special," she concludes, "and you have to be as attentive to her needs as possible."

Chris hums in agreement.

"Which is why I need your help planning the place and working out the logistics," he states.

"Agreed," Sydney removes her hand from Chris's arm and clasps both hands together, "first of all, find a way to get Jade to come to the road games in California. This can be a wife and girlfriends trip, or just whoever Jade likes from that group. I can talk to Jen for ya!"

"Thanks!"

"I gotchu, big bro," she beams, "I know Turk doesn't like it when family travels with the team so let's make it lowkey."

"You are such a rule breaker."

"I'm the bad seed in the family, what can I say?"

Chris rolls his eyes.

"Ok, so what do I do that day, with the game and all?"

"So you make sure you send her anniversary flowers and cards. Order it to her hotel room. Call her, text her, make her feel loved..."

"I know that part, Syd. I meant how do I reveal to her that I'm taking her out?"

Sydney shakes her head at her brother.

"Geez, you men literally have three brain cells when it comes to this stuff..."

Chris sticks a tongue out at her.

"The whole waiting for her at the restaurant to surprise her notion is not going to work. After the game, swoop her up in your fancy tux and take her to dinner. Let her know ahead of time though. Knowing Jade, she's gonna want that."

Sydney pulls out her phone.

"Ok, we are going to make sure we find the right florist and that everything is perfect for her," she exclaims excitedly.

Chris releases a breath as if in relief. He can always count on his sister to have his back. Sydney loves planning these things for him, but he can tell that she legitimately wants things to work out for him. She is loyal to a fault and he is fortunate enough to be her older brother. Even though Sydney feels like she owes him for taking care of her during her two stints in the city, she helps him out every way she can.

"And we need to pick a place that is lowkey but still sophisticated to Jade's tastes, let's check these places out..."

Chris smiles at Sydney gratefully, and it is a smile that reaches his eyes this time.

"You're the best, Syd!"