Losing Her Wings

Chapter 24

Ryan woke up the next morning in a sweat, his hand shaking as he raised it to brush back the hair from his forehead, worried about what his dreams meant. He hadn’t just dreamt of Skylar sneaking into his room to make love to him but he had seen flashes of his night with Nikita only for Skylar to walk in right in the middle of their time together, catching him quite literally in the act. In his dream, she had burst into tears, asking him how he could hurt her that way and as he scrambled for his clothes to go after her, they were suddenly outside in the rain and he somehow knew that it was pouring down because she was upset. It was beyond disturbing. When had he ever cared about anyone so much that he worried about hurting them? Not that he had never cared about anyone he had just learned not to because it meant he didn’t get hurt in the process. If he was able to hurt someone and care about it, it was only going to make it possible for that person…Skylar…to hurt him back. He didn’t need that hassle. And yet he couldn’t get over the thought that just maybe by being with Nikita he had ruined whatever slim chance he had of being with Skylar if he ever decided to take that chance and admit to how he really felt about her. Now she might never forgive him.

With the sight of her crying still in his head, Ryan picked himself up out of bed and got dressed in a hurry, throwing on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt before leaving his room, forgetting all about his phone and the fact he wasn’t wearing any shoes. He had to see Skylar. Just for his own peace of mind. It only took him five minutes to cross campus at a run and swing himself through the open door of the Wentworth building as two girls who were all too familiar to him, Aleah and Yvonne, walked out, each sending him a flirtatious and hopeful smile he never even noticed as he made his way inside. He rushed past them and weaved in and out of the numerous bodies hanging around the corridors on the Monday morning, either preparing themselves for class or trying to procrastinate long enough to convince themselves they could skip just that one early morning class. He was barely out of breath by the time he stopped at her door, not even thinking of the state he was in, his feet bare and his hair hardly prepared to see a girl he wanted to know better. He thought about knocking and how she would only push him away again or tell him to his face that she thought nothing of him because of his crazy antics and then realised that he couldn’t face that, not then, not after the intensity of his dream and all that it represented. He decided just to walk in, stepping into the room with the full knowledge that Skylar had no room mate only to find her lying on the floor, unconscious and in nothing more than a towel.

“Shit.” Ryan swore to himself in frustration, worry and panic as he dropped down beside her, panicking yet again when he checked her pulse, for the second time in twenty four hours only to feel the weak beat that was there. He could barely feel anything until a faint movement pushed at his finger and he let out a relieved sigh, closing his eyes for a minute. He didn’t know why he was so desperate for a girl who continued to tug at his heart the way she did. If she wasn’t being all sexy and feisty with him, telling him where he could shove his flirtations and his kisses, she was letting Niles flirt with her, making him jealous. But she wasn’t happy with just that, she had to scare him half to death by collapsing all the time and having her body act as if she was dead or dying. Why would she do that to him? And yet he couldn’t stop himself from brushing his hand over her face, pushing her hair back over her neck as he took in how beautiful and serene she looked despite it all. He reached for his phone in his back jean pocket only to remember that he hadn’t picked it up but instead of getting mad at himself he got up and crossed over to the mandatory phone that was in every room for that very reason, dialling out first with the thought of calling an ambulance before rethinking and dialling Devin. What else were big brothers for if not helping out in a disaster? He got halfway through the phone number when he heard a faint moan of complaint from behind him, turning to see Skylar trying to push herself from the floor.