Reaching for Rebecca

Chapter 46

REBECCA'S POV

Landon's eyes looked murderous as he waited for me to open Kirk's recent text. Thankfully, I had deleted them all except the one from Sunday and now this one.

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|Becca Hanson > Kirk - 8:02pm|
Received: My contact at the PD has your information and returns to the office in Tuesday. You know I don't like waiting...
Received: Everything's entered doll. Just a matter of time now. I'm looking forward to catching up!
___

"How old is this last one?" Landon asked through a clenched jaw.

"Sunday." I almost didn't recognize my own voice when it squeaked out. I saw his face soften so he must have heard it.

"Did you tell Ryan about it?"

I concentrate on my empty coffee cup before answering.

"No. Well yes, he knows I got a text but was busy and kept forgetting. We were going to talk about it tonight." Landon carefully lifted my chin up.

"I thought this stopped. I haven't heard anything from Ryan about it for a while."

"Well it did stop for a few days but then I got the one on Sunday."

He squinted his eyes in thought before they flew open.

"Did you delete all the old texts?" He snatched my phone and tried to scroll up to see if there were more messages. "Becca why did you delete those? You could have used them later as proof!"

"Landon," my voice was back to its normal tone, "I deleted them but there's screenshots saved on Ryan's phone. He moved them to his and deleted them from mine so I wouldn't have to look at them."

We sat in silence for a few seconds until Landon reached for my hand.

"We need to get you back. If you don't want to talk to him that's fine. I'll walk you to your room and keep him away but you shouldn't be in such a public place right now Becca. Especially if people are looking for you." He helped me up and then turned towards the Starbucks counter. "I'm going to pay. Text Ryan and tell him we're coming back."

I really didn't want to text Ryan but if I didn't, Landon would so might as well.

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|Becca Hanson > Ryan - 8:19pm|
Sent: Landon wanted me to let you know that we're headed home.
___

He texted back immediately and I felt bad for ignoring him, but that only lasted a few short seconds since the thought of Mel sucking on his face snapped me out of it.

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|Becca Hanson > Ryan - 8:19pm|
Received: Thank God Becca. I've been so worried. When will you be here?
Received: I'm sorry babe. Please don't shut me out again. Let me talk to you.
Received: I know you don't want to answer... see you in a bit.
___

I slid the phone into my pocket when Landon came back over. We walked in silence out the doors and towards his bike. Just then, a cop car drove past in silence and Landon jerked me close to his side, attempting to hide me behind their view. The car kept driving and he rapidly set me on the bike before taking off.

As soon as the Bradley's house was in view, I could see Ryan bolting out the door looking severely disheveled.

"Landon, I don't want to talk to him right now. Please." I was practically begging and could feel the tears close but I refused to let him see me cry anymore.

Right when he parked the bike, Ryan was at my side and ready to pull me in for a hug.

"Becs I'm so glad you're okay. I was so wor..." his voice got cut off my Landon's.

"Just shut up!" Ryan balked from the look at his friends face and took one step back. "Come on Becca. Ryan stay here and I'll talk to you in a second." He took my hand and almost dragged me up the stairs. Once we were at my room his grip softened and he spoke quietly. "Text me if you want to talk okay? I know Ryan didn't stay outside so I'll go have a chat with him. If you need anything call." He turned to leave but stopped. "I can pick you up for school tomorrow if you want."

Right when he sees me nodding, he sighs and leaves my room, shutting the door behind him. I quickly lock it and sit on the floor with my back rested against the wood. I can hear the two in the hallway and decide to eavesdrop.

"Landon, I swear I had nothing to do with that! You know me. We've been like brothers our entire lives! I wouldn't lie to you or Becca about anything!" Ryan's voice sounded like I'd never heard it before. Like he was afraid, frantic, nervous, hopeless; I'm not really sure.

I had to struggle to hear Landon's calm voice. He must have been facing away from me.

"It looked pretty real but I had my doubts as soon as I started to think about it."

"You know how Mel is," explained Ryan. "She's just trying to steer Becca away."

Landon audibly sighed. "I think so too."

"All this timing is just fucked up. You have to know I would never do anything like this especially to Becca. You have to know that." He sounded unbelievably desperate and my shell was starting to crack. How come Landon didn't tell me what he was thinking earlier?

"I know you wouldn't Ryan but she doesn't know that. You two haven't known each other that long. I'm not saying you shouldn't be together because everybody can see that you need each other."

"I know that Landon. We haven't known each other for long but it feels like we have! She's it for me!" I heard him slump against the floor. "But she won't even talk to me. Mel's trying to fuck everything up and it's working. I can't do a damn thing about it."

I felt Landon's back sliding down the opposite side of my door to sit on the floor with Ryan.

"I'm not saying anything because I talked to Becca in confidence about this." He stopped to chuckle; I knew he figured I was listening.

"What's so damn funny? This is not funny Landon."

"No, no. I'm not laughing at you." Ryan must have given him a weird look since I heard another small chuckle from Landon before he continued. "I'm not going to lecture you about how you've been acting around her because I'm sure you two have discussed it. But you need to pay more attention to this stuff going on with Kirk."

"We were supposed to talk about that tonight but she won't talk to me now, she wouldn't even listen to what I had to say about Mel's little stunt."

I heard a small chuckle and felt the door move when Landon stood back up.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that. I'll give you two some privacy."

I heard the front door slam and the revving of a motorcycle engine. Seconds later, my door moved slightly and I heard the rustle of clothing on the other side.

"Becs?" His voice was somewhat shaky and uneven; however, the deepness of it still made me shiver.

I sighed loud enough for him to hear and I felt his head thump back against the door.

"Do you want to talk about Mel or Kirk first?"

"Mel." I answered without hesitation. I knew if we talked about Kirk first, I would open the door and need his comfort but it was the opposite for the Mel conversation.

"Okay. I don't know if you think my promises mean anything anymore but I promise you it was nothing. I didn't know she was going to do that or I would have stopped it before it happened. She's just trying to get you to run away Becca. Please don't let her do that." I heard a pretty audible sniffle and thought there was no way my strong man was crying over this. I wanted to check but needed to get all the information out now.

"Why didn't you push her away Ryan? I watched, you didn't push her away."

"Yes I did! If you waited two more seconds you would have seen that Becca."

I scoff. "You sure took your time with it then."

He hesitated with the next part. "I don't know how to word this but you're already upset so I'll just get it out." I waited during a long pause. "I was distracted okay? And it wasn't by Mel or anything."

"Then what was it?"

"She just had so much freaking lipstick on that it felt like her lips were crayons! I wasn't even thinking about what was happening." I immediately started laughing but kept it quiet. He would be out of his misery soon.

"Are you crying?" I heard him shuffling around outside the door. His voice was a little louder so I assume he is facing me now. "Bec's please don't cry. I really did push her away and I tried to come get you but you were gone."

I reached up and twisted the doorknob to see a red-eyed Ryan. His eyes were watery and facial features tight, but once he saw that there was no more sadness in my eyes his whole face lifted.

"Why are you laughing?" he asked incredulously.

"Crayons Ryan, really?"

He smiled. "It really was disgusting, made the experience even worse than it would have been without that added in." We were both still on our knees with him right outside the doorway and me right inside. He wrapped his arms around me tightly, pulled me closer, and nuzzled my neck. "Thank you for listening. I care about you so much Becca."

"I know. I feel the same and I'm sorry I just ran out. It wasn't fair of me to do that when we just talked about it this morning."

He pulled back and held my face in his hands. "You don't have to apologize."

"Yes I do! You have shown me nothing other than loyalty and I keep throwing my distrusting nature in your face. I'm sorry for that Ryan."

He grinned and pulled me in for a quick, sweet kiss.

"I hate to ruin the moment but Landon seemed pretty adamant that we talk about the texts as soon as possible."