Dared To Love

Chapter Twenty

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Sheets of grey clouds covered the sky, almost turning into a faint black as the sun dipped under the horizon a while back.

"There's a good hotel up ahead," Ryder suggests, "I used to go there when I was a kid with my family."

He gave the directions to Charlie and we were off. It had been a long day, and I was up for a break. To many things have been happening that it was hard to catch up. 

Just as something good in my life happens, another thing has to come and ruin it.

Ryder called in and booked three rooms, one for Chloe and I, another for Charlie and Damon and the last for Ryder, Ky and Jacob to share. 

It was only a few minutes away from the service station we were at earlier, off the main highway and located within the heart of a small city. 

"This is beautiful," I breathe as we walked into the lobby. I thought we would stay in some cheap motel down the road, but Ryder had other plans.

"I get a pretty good discount here, so I thought why not," he laughed, as we walked up to the counter. I paid my share, along with everyone paying for their own. 

We then collected the keys and unloaded our bags onto the trolley. The bellhop came and took our bags to our room whereas we lagged behind, taking our time. This reminded me of the time back in Paris, where I first met Travis. 

Travis.

"Charlie and I are going to the casino," Chloe informed, Ky and Jacob tagging along. Damon said he had a few calls to make so it was just Ryder and I without any plans.

We just went to my room and relaxed for a bit. Sharing a bed, he wraps his arm around my shoulder as we lay down. 

Changing into something comfy, I now wore one of his sweatshirts, and shorts, as I snuggled up close. 

My fingers traced his stomach, just going round in random circles as I nearly lose myself in another deep thought. 

"What do you want to do?" 

"Let's talk," I suggest, hoping he'd go along with it. 

"About what?" he asks, "You already know so much about me."

"Not your secrets," I imply, hoping I wasn't being pushy. I changed my tone into something soft, as I looked up at him, only to see his face changed expression. 

"Can I ask you something personal?" he asked, looking down at me nervously.

"Only if I can ask you one?" I reason and he nods.

"I'm first," he quickly adds, before taking in a deep breath, "Did you ever love Jarred? Why did you date him?"

Wasn't that two questions? Letting it blow over this once, I take a deep breath before I answer, thinking of the right words to say. 

"I dated him to prove to myself I was over you," I hesitantly say, "I forgot about him when you came back, until that day when I followed you to him."

I wanted to give him a detailed answer, not vague, but I guess I just spoke what was on my mind, rolling off the tip of my tongue. 

"I fell in love with him when I first started dating him, up until the point when he continuously started to abuse me," I start again, a little more detail, emotions hitting me like a ton of bricks, "I still had hope that he would change, but he didn't."

"When did you stop?"

I felt Ryder's fingers, lift up my chin, as I turn, flat on my stomach as I faced him. My eyes lost focus, only to lock with his when I see him silently urging for me to continue.