Fighting to go on

Chapter 26

*Samantha’s POV*

            When I woke up the next morning, I immediately remembered what had happened last night. I went to cuddle closer to Ryan, but suddenly realized that he wasn’t even in the bed. I bolted upright, panicking slightly. Had he left to go see Jason after he said he wouldn’t?

            As if he read my mind, he came in the door, carrying two mugs. When he saw that I was awake, he smiled and came to sit on the bed, setting the mugs on the bedside table. “Good morning.”

            I scooted over until I was pressed against his side. “Morning. What’s in the mugs?”

            He reached over and grabbed one, handing it to me before retrieving his own. “My mom made us some tea. I was just downstairs talking to her about this situation.”

            I took a sip of the drink and sighed in pleasure at the taste. “What did she say?”

            “She wants both of you to stay here, at least until you’re eighteen. Ideally, she wants you to stay a lot longer, but she said she’d understand if you didn’t want to.”

            “She actually doesn’t mind having two more teenagers at the house?” I asked incredulously.

            Ryan slipped his free arm around me. “She loves you Sam. She already considers you a daughter and she said that Charlie is a ‘fine young man’.”

            I snorted at that. “She obviously doesn’t know him all that well then.” As I rested my head on his shoulder, I knew that I was going to have to bring up Jason. “Ryan, I want you to promise me that you won’t go after Jason.”

            He tensed up immediately. “How can you ask me that Sam?”

            “Because if you kill him, you’ll go to jail. That means you’ll be leaving me and last night you said you wouldn’t. So you need to promise me that you won’t go after him.”

            He was silent as he thought about it. “I promise I won’t go after him,” he said slowly. “But if he touches you again, all bets are off.”

            I smiled with relief and kissed him lightly. “I can live with that.” I took both of our mugs and set them back on the end table. I turned back to him and straddled his lap. “Have I thanked you for being there last night?”

            A smile played across his lips. “No, I don’t think you have.”

            When we eventually made it downstairs, we found Charlie and Nancy sitting at the kitchen table. Charlie was shoveling bacon and eggs into his mouth, while Nancy watched in amusement.

            Ryan stepped into the kitchen and looked at his mom. “Still think he’s a nice young man?” he asked.

            Nancy laughed. “He’s a growing boy, that’s all. You’re the same way when you eat a lot of the time.” 

            He scoffed. “I don’t act like a half starved animal,” he protested.

            I poked him in the side. “You do sometimes,” I told him, raising my eyebrows.

            His eyes lost focus a little as he obviously remembered what we had just finished doing. “Oh yeah, I guess I do,” he said with a big grin.

            “You two are so disgusting,” Charlie said when he stopped eating to breathe.

            “Do I need to remind you of the situation I found you and Anna in the other day?” I retorted.