“No can do, baby girl. Not until you’re safe and sound under my roof. You can fight with both of us as much as you like when we get there.”
She stills.
“Ryder’s there?”
“Yeah, Kitty Kat. We both fucking miss you so bad.”
“Yeah, well. I fucking hate you both.”
But despite the fire in her words, her fight diminishes, and by the time I lower her into my passenger seat, she’s lost it altogether.
31
KAT
He fucking kidnapped me.
Styx barged into my house, kicked my bedroom door in, carried me downstairs, and kidnapped me.
I want to hate him for it.
Part of me does hate him.
But I also can’t believe he did it—I can’t believe he came for me.
And I don’t know what to do with that.
They lied to me, they hurt me so bad. But I think deep down, Styx’s betrayal was worse. Because it’s always been him.
I’ve loved him since before I knew what love was. When I was a young girl, too young to lust after a guy like Stygian Johnson. But the heart doesn’t always follow the rules. It doesn’t conform to society's expectations and boundaries.
“Hey,” Ryder’s gravelly voice shatters my thoughts. “Do you need anything?”
He peers into Styx’s bedroom. The room I now occupy.
When he’d first brought me back here, I’d been too angry to notice the small changes. The girlie products on the vanity. The snacks on the counter. The lilac shaggy cushions on the couch.
But the biggest shock of all had been Styx carrying me straight into his bedroom and announcing that it was mine for the foreseeable future and that he would take the couch.
That was two days ago, and I’ve barely left the bedroom since.
“I think I’m good.” I roll my eyes toward the copious amounts of drinks and snacks piled on the bedside cabinet.
“He went a little overboard, huh?”
“You think?”
“Can I sit?” he asks, and I nod.
Ryder drags the chair closer and folds his big body into it. “How are you feeling?”
I shrug, refusing to meet his eyes.
“It’s been two days, Kitten.”
“Please, don’t call me that.”
He leans over and gently takes my chin in his fingers. “Katrina, you need to snap out of this, darlin’. It isn’t healthy.”