A Bad Boy's Worst Nightmare (Book 1)

8. Mistake

Corey's P.O.V

I poured a little bit of dog food in to the bowl by the fridge. The poor dog was probably gonna croak sometime soon. He looked awful. But, I think he was happy. He was noisy, and grumpy, but whenever Ryder was around he would wag his tail a little bit and his eyes would sparkle. That dog really loved her.

I heard footsteps shuffling into the kitchen and I turned slightly. "Kelsey," I greeted.

"Fuck face," she replied.

I lifted an eyebrow. I hadn't heard her cuss before. "Wow. Someone woke up on the wrong side of bed."

"That's what happens when I see you first thing in the morning," Kelsey muttered. Suddenly her eyes locked on to the box in my hand and she stopped. "Are those Lucky Charms?"

"Uh...yeah. Why?"

She started bouncing. Here was the annoying little girl I'd been around recently. "Can I have some? Pretty please? That's my favorite cereal!"

"If," I said slowly, "you answer a few questions I have."

"Fine. Gimmie!" she squealed, bouncing again.

No one would have ever guessed that she was seventeen. I handed her the box and watched her scurry to the fridge. She was just like a squirrel. Finally, she settled at the kitchen table and looked at me with her big blue eyes, which were now shining happily. "So what questions do you have? I'm guessing they're probably about Ryder."

"Yes," I said, trying to decide on what to say next. "What's her favorite cereal?"

"She doesn't like cereal. I mean, she'll eat like three boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch at a time, so I guess that would be her favorite, but she doesn't eat it for breakfast normally."

"Then what does she eat?"

"Ryder's weird about the things she eats. Normally she'll have oatmeal for breakfast, but she always talks about how much she used to love eating a bowl of strawberries and bananas in some cream. Every day she gets nachos and gets a huge portion of guacamole, but every time I ask she just tells me how much she hates it. And she won't share it, either. Then, I don't think she eats dinner. I've never seen her do it, anyway."

I nodded. "Alright. Next question. Who is Kale?" My voice was a little more steely this time. She had called me Kale last night. It bothered me a lot more than it probably should have.

Kelsey, whose eyes were set on her bowl of cereal, froze with the spoon half way to her mouth.

I waited.

She didn't say anything.

I waited longer.

She still said nothing.

"Kelsey," I said eventually. "Would you reply already?"

"He's...um...He was Ryder's...brother," she said awkwardly. "I never met him...he was, um...gone before she moved here five years ago. He...um...He was twenty, I think, and she was twelve. She...really, really loved him." Her eyes shifted away again. "She had...two brothers, actually. Kale and Cody. Cody was six at the time, I think."

Ryder had brothers...?

"When she was twelve...well...her mom was never really around much, and her dad was...mean. Ryder came home from school, and Kale was...on the floor. Of the living room. She said Cody was in his bed, and that she thought he looked like he was sleeping before she saw the blood soaking the blanket. Apparently, her father had gone crazy and killed Cody while he was sleeping since he was home from school that day, because Cody looked almost exactly like her mother did. Then Kale came inside and tried to talk to her father, but..." Kelsey's voice broke a little. "Anyway...her father killed himself after that. Ryder had...no one." She looked up at me again. They were so red. "She moved here a couple of months after that with her mother. Her mother is never around, at least I've never met her, but she pays for Ryder to live here and leaves her money sometimes for food. Other than that, I think Ryder's completely self reliant."