Chapter TwentySix- Ross's P.O.V-
I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening taking care of Carter, making her comfortable, and just letting her do what she wanted. I don't remember what time it was, but I know it was around five, when Carter started telling me about her day.
"The girls and I snuck into Riley's apartment today." She said, hesitantly.
"You WHAT?!" my eyes went wide.
All she did was shrug, then proceeded to tell me everything that had ensued followed by informing me that she hadn't eaten all day and she was starving.
"This is why I can't leave you alone for days on end. You, one, don't feed yourself and two, you get yourself into trouble." My hands instinctively went through my hair.
"Oh come on," she sassed "I get into trouble with or without your presence."
"Well, someone's a sassy miss today." I got off the couch and went to the kitchen to see if we had anything in there.
I leaned on the counter and hung my head down. After a few minutes I felt small arms slide around my torso and a face pressed between my shoulders.
"I'm sorry," Carter mumbled into my back "I should have taken better care of myself,"
"I forgive you," I turned and wrapped her up in my arms "But tomorrow I'll be with you all day so you can't protest about food, got it?"
"Got it," she kissed my cheek.
"I'm going to order some take out so what do you want?" I asked, taking my phone out of my pocket.
"Hmmm…," she thought for a moment "Burgers and lots of them; I'm starving,"
"Well, you should have eaten, but I digress." I sighed.
"I know, I know," she sighed as well.
I took her face between my hands and kissed her luscious lips. I felt her smile through the kiss. She pulled back.
"I'll be back in a bit," I kissed her forehead before leaving.
"Love you," Carter said as I walked out the room.
"Love you most," I peeked my head around the corner.
She shook her head and smiled at me. I took my wallet off the table near the door and headed down stairs.
Carter's P.O.V-
After Ross left I went to my computer to look at all the things I'd found on Riley's hard drive. I went to my room and dug in my skirt pockets for the flash drive. When I found it I plugged it into my MacBook. While I waited for the files to come up I made a pot of coffee. I heard the laptop make an odd noise while I stood in the kitchen waiting. The files on the computer had all downloaded and were in handy dandy little sections. The first file I went into was the e-mails. I read and re-read everyone until I was certain there was no evidence in them, but I still had one to go. I wasn't expecting to find what I found in that e-mail. It was from Riley to Francesca. It read as follows:
'Hey Frankie, I know that this is hard for you, and it's hard for me too, but you can't tell anyone about this. If you do word will get back to dad and then everything is ruined. I'm going into London to visit dad. I'm sorry Frankie, I love you, I'll see you in a couple of days. Riley'
I looked at the computer screen in confusion. I was now more confused then ever! Nothing seemed to be making sense. I rubbed my head and closed my eyes.
"How did I get myself into this?" I asked myself.
There was a knock on the door and a beep coming from the kitchen. When I got to the door I looked through the peephole. It was Taylor.
"Hey Tay," I questioned.
"Hey kiddo," he replied stepping into the room.
"By all means," sarcasm oozing from my tone "Come in,"
"So, let's gossip," he sat on the couch and put his feet up on the coffee table "What's Delly not telling me."
"I don't know what you mean." I honestly didn't know what he meant.
"Fine, I'll get right to the point; what did you guys do today?" Now I knew what he was walking about.
"We went shopping and then to the set." I shrugged, turning to pour myself a cup of coffee.
"That can't be all you did," He got up and started following me "You were gone the whole morning and most of the afternoon and now Rydel is going through all the food in the room like it's a freakin shoe sale!"
"We haven't eaten because there was a shoe sale!" I turned to look at him.
"That can't be it!" He said.
"Fine since you aren't going to leave me alone about it I'll tell you that we broke into Riley's apartment." I poured coffee into my mug.
"You WHAT?!" He yelled.
"You sound just like Ross." I rolled my eyes.
"That's because I'm just as concerned!" Taylor said "Not only is it my girlfriend who's putting herself in danger but it's my cousins too,"
"We're not in danger!" I said "We're just fine,"
"You ARE!" He said.
"Quit being so over protective; you're not my father!" I yelled.
"No, but if he were here he wouldn't condone this!" Taylor was getting more and more inflamed.
"So what? He wouldn't condone Riley cheating on Rosie either! She's like a daughter to him!" I said.
"But you ARE his daughter! He'd be more worried about your safety than Rosie's heart condition!" my cousin was starting to get on my last nerve.
"I know you're worried about me, but I'm an ADULT, I've been one for a while now, and I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself!"
"You know what, FINE! Try to take care of yourself, I don't care anymore, but when you need family while you're caught in the middle of all this don't come crying to ME!" He said before slamming the door behind him.
I took an angered sip of my coffee and started looking through the files again, this time more determined than the last to convict him of something!
Hey y'all! I know this is a rather short chapter and the reason it's so short is because a lot of things have been going on these past few days. It just seems to hit all at once, but most of it is good things. The picture to the right is what Carter is wearing. I hope you liked this chapter and if you did make sure to click the like and comment buttons to the side! As always thanks for read and I love you all!
~~~RossLynchFan~~~
