Reaching for Rebecca

Chapter 47

RYAN'S POV

She slipped her phone out of her pocket before handing it over slowly.

"He texted tonight again; that's why Landon saw it and freaked out." Her happiness from a moment ago was immediately washed away and her face overcome by nervousness.

I'm sure Landon may have looked more upset but he would never do anything to harm Becca so I wasn't too worried when she mentioned him 'freaking out.' Grabbing the phone, I scrolled through her messages until I found the ones from Kirk.

___
|Becca Hanson > Kirk - 9:57pm|
Received: My contact at the PD has your information and returns to the office on 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!
___

So many feelings overwhelmed me at once. First, pure anger because this creep was still threatening her; second, sadness because the beautiful girl sitting next to me should have never had to go through what she did and what she was still doing; and third, guilt because I should have talked to her about this right when it happened. We could have gotten her a new phone and tossed this one just to make the tracking process a little more difficult.

"Becca, I am so sorry. I have no excuse for..."

She interrupted me, her voice strong, "We talked about that this morning Ryan. It's completely forgiven alright? Just help me deal with what's in front of us now because I don't know how to."

I stared at her, completely astounded with the fact that she doesn't even know how amazing she is.

"I think we should get you a new phone tomorrow. It's probably too late to change anything but it might help if they haven't tracked you here already. Transfer whatever you want to keep from your phone to my laptop and throw it away in the school garbage bins tomorrow okay? I'll have Landon bring you to get a new one after class."

Becca's strong demeanor faded and worry sank in so I pulled her into my side, running a hand through her tangled hair.

"It's going to be fine. I will never let him get to you okay? I'm probably overreacting with the whole cell phone thing but it would make me feel better if they had one less way of tracking you down. A different number might accomplish that."

She snuggled into my side and we sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Can we sleep in your room?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah," I picked her up and carried her to my bed. "Why don't you like sleeping in your room?"

She shrugs cutely. "It just doesn't feel like my room. I'm more comfortable in here."

"I like you in here," I practically growled and added a wink, which caused her to blush profusely. Tossing her one of my shirts, I turned away so she could change while I ditched my jeans and shirt. Climbing under the covers, I nuzzled her neck and wound my hand in her soft hair.

"I missed you. I mean I know you were here last night, but I missed you."

She wound a tiny leg around one of mine and snuggled in close.

"I missed you too."

REBECCA'S POV

I woke up all tangled up with Ryan and completely refreshed. It has been a few days since I slept that good and it was much needed. We started the day with a quick make out session, morning breath and all. When Ryan stopped us because he had to 'calm down,' I hopped in the shower.

Passing him in the hallway fifteen minutes later, I remembered that he wanted me to ditch my phone today.

"Hey, I don't really have much on my phone that I need to transfer. Can I just send you a few pictures I want to keep and call it good?" I ask in hopes that I wouldn't have to spend my time connecting my phone to his laptop and moving files around instead of getting ready for school.

He wrapped an arm around my towel-covered waist and pulled me towards him before pecking my cheek.

"Yeah, no problem. Take a screenshot of Kirk's texts too though. Make sure you delete his name and only leave his number. It's better proof and they can't really fight that it's him that way."

He let me go but when I turned to walk to my room, he lightly smacked my butt with a smirk. Although playful Ryan is fun, I should remember to not get him so riled up in the morning since I'll have to deal with this all day now.

I roll my eyes and walk down the remainder of the hallway to my room, over exaggerating my hip sway to give him something to look at, and disappear through the door. I really wanted to look cute today, but all the riding around on Landon's motorcycle has kind of made my ribs sore so I opt for leggings and a sweatshirt; however, I take time on my makeup and hair so I don't look like a complete slob. I hear the shower turn off and rush downstairs to start with breakfast before Ryan comes to ogle me again.

After getting up earlier than usual, I have time to make breakfast sandwiches complete with mayo, bacon, and eggs on toast for us to eat on the drive. Just as I'm finishing up, Ryan saunters in with a three-quarter sleeve baseball shirt and some jeans that had an amazing fit.

"You made us those?" he asked, already eyeing the delicious sandwiches.

"Yep!" I popped the 'p' and hoisted myself up to perch on the counter. I watched him move around the kitchen with ease while making our lunches and finally heard Alex sprinting down the stairs like always. He grabbed three water bottles and I poured Ryan his thermos of coffee. All three of us were out the door at the same time without a terrible rush to get to school. I also got showered with compliments from both boys on the drive about my breakfast sandwiches: I would have to make those more often! When Ryan parked the truck, he raised his arms to my waist to help me out but I groaned a little and his hands flew away.

"What?" he asked frantically searching my body with his eyes.

"Nothing," I started and already saw Ryan making a face at me. "I think riding around on Landon's motorcycle made my ribs a little sore."

His face contorted with concern.

"Don't ride that anymore. You guys can take the truck today."

"How will you get home then?"

"I'll take the bike. We can swap keys." I was so confused.

"You have a license to drive a motorcycle?"

He reached behind his neck, his nervous tick, and chuckled. "Uh, yeah I have a bike at home, just never use it anymore."

"Are you serious? How did I not know this?" I really needed to get to know my boyfriend better.

He read my mind and grasped my hand to lead us into school. "We can have another twenty questions party when I get home from practice if you want."

"Fine but you already know all about me. I get to ask all twenty of the questions."

That made him laugh and he let go of me hand to pull me to his side, swinging his arm around my shoulders.

~~~

The rest of the day went by smoothly with Landon, Ryan, Mason, and Kate all succeeding at keeping Mel and Izzy away from me. At lunch, Ryan insisted we move to a new table but I didn't want to break apart the group. We agreed that if either of the two tried anything else then we would definitely be kicking them off our table.

True to his word, as always, Ryan swapped keys with Landon so we took the old pick up to get me a new phone. There wasn't much hassle except the dumb blonde working was too busy ogling Landon and I had to explain that I wanted a completely new number four times. She thought it was stupid to want a number change until Landon repeated what I had said; all of a sudden it was a good idea to her.

We walked out of the store an hour and a half later with my new phone.

"Are you staying for supper?" I ask Landon.

"Uh, I don't have to." He seemed awkward, another new look I never thought I'd see on him.

"Quit being a goof. I want you to stay! At least I'll have someone to keep me company until the boys get home."

"No," he said and cracked a grin, "you just want me to do all the bitch work."

Giggling, I agreed. "That's true."

Just like I said, I put him to work right when we got home. Since Sheila wasn't home often, she always made sure the fridge was well stocked, especially now that I cook meals for everyone in the house. I had to make something really good tonight since I missed the past few days with everything that's been going on. Deciding on chili with homemade bread and a side salad, I had Landon chopping up the veggies while I browned some hamburger.

"It isn't funny Ryan!" I heard Alex yell and Ryan dying of hysterics as the front door slammed loudly. Alex came bounding into the kitchen, face beet red. "Becca! Tell your boyfriend to stop making fun of me!"

Ryan was still laughing uncontrollably when I put my hands on my hips and mocked a cranky mother: "Ryan what did you do to your brother?"

"N-nothing!" he said through continuous laughter and Alex answered for him.

"I'll tell you what he did!" He waved his hands around to prove his point and I started to lose my cranky mother façade. "First, he made me ride bitch on Landon's bike so thanks for that!" He glared at Landon, not afraid of what the much larger guy could do to him. "Then, if that wasn't bad enough, he popped a huge wheelie on the way out of the parking lot so I flew off the back in front of a huge group of girls including ...!" He cut off his sentence and blushed.

"Including who Alex?" I questioned, completely forgetting about being a cranky mother. Landon and Ryan were chuckling when Alex turned and trudged out of the kitchen in embarrassment. I turned to the other boys and cracked a little smile in Alex's expense.

"Smells great in here hun," Ryan stated with a side hug and a peck to my temple.

"You do not!" I exclaimed and pushed him away.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll go shower." He stalked out of the kitchen and Landon muttered: "He really did stink. Jesus Christ."