Parachute [Book 4]

Chapter 11 - Headphones

Marley Lynn

***

I heard Ryder’s alarm go off early that Monday morning, and I felt his arm disappear from around my waist as he jumped out of bed, keeping the covers over me still. I rolled over to watch him sleepily as he got out of bed, stripping out of his pajamas to go have a shower. “Can’t you stay in bed a little longer?”

“No, I gotta go to school, Mar.” Ryder whispered, opening the door to the bedroom and quickly leaving me to turn on the shower.

I rolled over and buried my face into his pillow, closing my eyes to try and fall back to sleep.

I eventually did, and was woken up again an hour later. Ryder was shaking my shoulder lightly, whispering in my ear. “Marley? Marley Lynn, wake up, honey.” Ryder’s grip tightened on my arm and I rolled over, looking up at him through my tired eyes.

“I’m up.” I murmured, wiping my face to get rid of the dried saliva down my chin. “What do you need?”

“I’ve just got to go now.” Ryder grinned down at me, pushing a strand of hair that had fallen out of my ponytail out of the way. I frowned and tilted my head over to look at the alarm clock on my nightstand. It only read 7:30 – Ryder didn’t have to be at the train until 8:30, and it didn’t take an hour to walk to the station.

“Why so early?” I whispered, looking back up at him.

He grinned down at me, leaning down a little bit more to kiss my forehead. “I’m gonna go walk with Emma, because she lives literally five minutes from here. You don’t mind, do you?”

I pulled a smile and shook my head. I felt worried about them being friends still, but I wasn’t going to tell Ryder that I was lying – it would only spark another fight, and I never wanted to fight him again. “That’s okay.”

Ryder nodded. “Okay, awesome. I’ll see you this afternoon.” Ryder pressed a kiss to my nose before quickly pulling his lips down to mine and giving me a soft kiss. “Bye, bye darling.” He winked and pulled back, tugging his overloaded schoolbag onto his back.

“Bye.” I waved at him before tucking my hand back under the covers. Ryder disappeared from the doorway and I heard him tread through the house before opening and closing the door as he left.

I let out a sigh and gazed at the ceiling, rubbing my hand over my eye. I picked a bit of sleep out and flicked it onto the floor, tugging the covers up to my chin.

Ryder had promised me no one would ever be put over me on his level of importance, but I still had this odd, nervous feeling that someone might. Especially that pretty Emma girl, who seemed like a lovely person. She wanted to walk to school with Ryder and all.

I kind of wanted to meet her. See what type of person my husband was befriending.

I didn’t understand exactly why I was so concerned that this girl was going to take my husband. I mean, I was married to him for God’s sake. We were living together and we loved each other more than anything in this world.

There was no way anyone could take my man from me without a big fight. And there weren’t going to be any big fights going on around here anymore.

I rolled onto my side in bed and bundled the doona cover up right next to my head, sticking my arm under the pillow and letting it hang off of the bed. I brought my legs up to my chest and buried my face deeper into my pillow, trying to get back to sleep because getting up at 7:30 was not a good way to start the day. 12pm seemed like a better time to me.

But the problem was I couldn’t get back to sleep. I tossed and turned for half an hour before I finally decided it was best to actually get out of bed and start my day. And by day, I meant sitting in front of the TV, waiting for Ryder to come home so I could question him about his day.