Behind Closed Doors-A Rydellington Short Story

It'll Always Be You and Me

Ellington's POV:

Two weeks later, the first half of the tour ended. Now we're on a break-we have a couple months until the second leg of the U.S. tour.

Today we're back in Los Angeles spending a day at the beach. The day started off fine (despite the fact that Ryan had to come along too). Until I saw Rydel make her way up the beach after playing catch in the water with the boys. I was laying on a towel reading a book, not a huge fan of football. She gave me a flirty smile as she walked towards me, knowing no one was around to see, and I smiled back. I quickly hid it, though, when Ryan appeared out of nowhere behind Rydel.

He jogged to catch up to her and called her name. I saw her face fall and she reluctantly turned to him. I couldn't exactly hear what they were saying, but I could just picture her sassily saying, "What do you want?"

He smirked and reached for her hand but she pulled away immediately. I rolled my eyes at his failed attempts. Of course I saw it. I've seen it ever since they started "dating." He unnecessarily flirts with her and touches her when there aren't even any cameras or fans around. I know it bothers her and she's tried stopping it, but there's not much she can do when he's so persistent.

A couple weeks ago when she cried in my arms about this whole situation-about not being able to deal with it and not wanting to deal with it any longer-it broke my heart. I knew that this was even harder for her than it's been for me. So I couldn't even imagine how she's been feeling these past couple months.

And although she told her brothers to fix this and to get her out of this situation, I didn't see them trying very hard. I've been trying to think of a way to put an end to it without revealing that her and I are together. But I could never come up with anything.

I watched as he wrapped his arms around her waist and felt my own heart start racing wildly, hating this. She put her hands on his chest and tried to push him away, but he was too strong. I saw a smug smile cross his face and he whispered something to her.

He knows that they don't have to act like a couple today. It wouldn't serve any purpose-there's no fans around to see it. She knew it too which was why she didn't try to hide how much she hated it.

He disgusted me. Watching this right in front of me disgusted me. I knew I couldn't take it much longer.

I watched her shake her head and struggled against him again. He just smiled and slipped his hands even further down her waist. That was it, I felt I had to do something. I couldn't just sit here and watch as he treated my girlfriend this way.

I stood up and as I walked over to them, I could hear Rydel's protests to get away from him. "Ryan, I'm not joking, stop."

Upon seeing me approach them, Ryan pulled his attention away from Rydel and even released her. A confused expression crossed his face as I fixed my gaze on him. But I didn't say a word until I closed the few feet between us and shoved him on the shoulders, pushing him away from her.

"That's enough," I demanded. "You have no right to treat her this way. You aren't her boyfriend and never will be."

Confusion flashed across his face again and Rydel placed a warning hand on my arm. "Ellington, what are you doing?"

I looked past them and saw her brothers walking up the beach and towards us, confused expressions on their faces. "What's going on here?" Rocky asked as they approached us.

I couldn't hide how mad I was. I knew I couldn't keep this secret any longer. "Ryan's been treating your sister like shit and you guys don't even care. Or worse, you don't even see it."