Vigilante

4. Patty Parker

Patty stared at her apartment door, not wanting to go in. It was ridiculous, she knew, but she was overcome with the irrational fear that if she went through the door everything would be a dream. That she would wake up, and Ryder would be dead again. No matter how pissed off she was at him, she still couldn't stand the idea of a world without him in it.

Open the door, she told herself.

As she went to grab her keys from her pocket, she noticed for the first time that the light was on. A long shadow was cast from in underneath the door. "Patty?" A voice called.

She about jumped out of her skin. "Teddy."

The door opened, revealing her boyfriend, Teddy Turner. He was tall, muscled, with sandy blond hair that was in a crew cut and had extremely green eyes. The two of them had only been dating for four months, but she had given him a key to her apartment which she had completely forgotten about.

He smiled at her. "Hey, babe." He kissed her on the lips, for a moment, she was back in Danny's office. Kissing Ryder, with that electric feeling coursing through her that only he could give her. She pulled away, gasping a little.

Teddy furrowed his brows together. "Wow! That's quite the reaction. You okay?"

She blushed, once more her thoughts turning to Ryder, thinking of his muscles bugling through the fine suit that he wore. She pulled away from Teddy. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be kissing you."

Teddy placed a hand on her arm. "Patty, you're my girlfriend. I think I'll allow it."

"Didn't you watch the news?"

He sighed. "Yeah, yeah I did watch the news. I know exactly what's happened. Wonder Boy's back from the dead."

She nodded. "He's back from the dead, and I kissed him."

"You know I would have been worried if you didn't."

She raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah," said Teddy, "he was one of your first loves, right?"

"Right," said Patty, "look can we sit down and talk for a minute?"

"Of course."

Patty closed the door, and the two of them went to sit on the couch.

He wrapped an arm around her. "Why don't you tell me what happened? You look serious."

She frowned, brushing a strand back of her red hair. "It was a spur of a moment thing. I was overcome with emotion. I..."

"It's not every day that a man comes back from the dead," said Teddy.

Patty took a breath, folding her hands in her lap. "I know. It's been a very weird, very crazy few days. There was also this thing at the court house with a guy and a gun---"

"What?" Teddy stood up from the couch, alarm filling his eyes. "What do you mean a guy with a gun? Patty, you should have come to me. I'm a cop, you remember, right?"

"I do," said Patty, "and I was going to tell you I swear but things have been crazy. It happened at the court house after I left the trial, and then Ryder came back. I didn't know what to do."

"Did you get a look at who it was?" asked Teddy.

"I don't think so. Everything happened so fast." She thought of the man in the leather suit, the man she now knew to be Ryder, who had completely and totally saved her life.