Hurricane Love

Fourty Four

An hour later, I was up, showered and dressed as Ryker waited by the window, ready to jump out if anyone entered the room and once I was ready, he left the way he came in and planned to meet me at the end of the road. I'd prepared a speech for Christine to explain where I was going so early, knowing she'd be a little more lenient as she always was when Stan was away again, but she'd clearly decided to enjoy having her bed to herself again and was still sleeping, so I quickly and quietly left the house to meet Ryker waiting for me outside.

We walked hand in hand, taking a slow stroll and I forgot about all of the problems in our lives as I laughed at some stories he began to tell me about when he lived in Essex. I'd always known he was quite the rebel but the stories very much surprised me. He really hadn't cared about anything or anyone and now that I really looked at him and compared him to the Ryker on the first day I'd met him, he was a different person and it made me feel warm inside to think I had something to do with that.

'So, are you going to fix things with Abbie?' he asked me. 'And your mum? And your job? What happened there anyway?'

'I was really struggling during my shift because I...well, I thought I'd seen you enter the restaurant and after that my head was all over the place,' I sighed. 'I was outside taking a break and Abbie and Mason were there and that's when I found out what Mason had done and Abbie and I raced to the train station.'

'Oh, so you ditched work to try and stop me from leaving?' he asked.

'Well...yes,' I chuckled.

'Yet I still left anyway and you lost your job,' he sighed. 'I'm sorry.'

'It's not your fault,' I told him. 'Anyway, I don't know if I've lost my job. I should probably go down there and talk to them and beg for it back because it was actually a pretty great job.'

'Just tell them your boyfriend is really big and doesn't take shit from anyone and if they don't give you it back then he'll break all of their faces,' he said.

'Yeah, that should work,' I said, sarcastically, before laughing. 'It's okay, I'll fix it. Christine will be fine and as for Abbie...she'll be more difficult but she can't stay mad at me forever.'

'She was pretty mad,' he said.

'That's the most mad I've seen her,' I sighed. 'She never comes for me like that so I know I've upset her. There was a lot of truth in what she said now that I look back on it and I owe her a massive apology.'

'Glad you're owning up to it,' he said. 'See, we're both doing a lot of growing. You're accepting that you did wrong and I...well, I haven't kicked Mason's head in.'

'Yet,' we both said, in unison, and laughed.

'Anyway, we're almost there,' Ryker said.

'Wait,' I said, glancing around the familiar small and narrow road. 'This is the way to Mason's house.'

'Yes, it is,' Ryker replied.

'Why are we going there?' I asked him. 'I'm telling you, there is nothing we can say to him that will make him change his mind.'

'Just trust me,' he said.

I stopped talking and stayed quiet as we headed up the road, knowing I had no choice but to trust him because otherwise, I'd be giving up completely, and I was holding onto this final chance with every inch of hope within me.

Finally, we arrived at the gates of Mason's property and they were already wide open. Clutching my hand tighter, Ryker pulled me up the driveway to the front door and after giving me an anxious look, which totally set off my nerves even more, he knocked. We waited a few seconds and finally, Mason's mum answered the door.