Why Me ?

Chapter Twenty-Two: Grief

" What's going on here?" Alice asked as she walked into the bar..

" Nothing babe. We're just having a man to man talk." Ryder says.

Jake clenches his fists with anger. Ryder realized how mad he got so he continues to piss him off.

" No I mean, what the hell is Jake doing here?".

" Oh baby, I know you don't like seeing his stupid face but that's not a way to greet an old friend. " Ryder says as he walks over to Alice and hugs her with one arm.

" Let's go to sleep now. It's really late." He said as he walked away with her, making the brunette confused.

Ryder ordered his men to take Jake and his wife to an extra room.

Jake was furious. He entered the room and began to punch the walls, letting his anger out.

" What's wrong with you?" His wife Mary asks.

" Nothing! " Jake yelled.

" Calm down honey. ".

" Whatever. ".

" Let's just sleep. " Mary says rolling her eyes.

Jake lays his head on the pillow and resting was the last thing on his mind. Tears began to fill up his eyes, remembering how Ryder was touching Alice, and the fact he couldn't do anything about it killed him.

Meanwhile, Ryder leads Alice to his room, as she looks at him with hesitation.

" Why did you bring me here?".

Ryder's intentions weren't what Alice thought, he was really worried about her being alone, after seeing how she reacted to having her heart broken.

" You will sleep in my room tonight. ".

" Ryder, is this about teasing Jake or-" He cut her off mid sentence, " No little one. It's not like that. I know how much you're hurting right now. I want to keep an eye on you, i want to be there for you." .

Alice nods her head slowly and walks into his room.

" You know, I don't think I've ever came in here and had a good look at your room. It's actually really nice. " she says, trying to act like she was okay .

" It's better in my bed. " he laughs.

" You're such a manwhore. Now where do i sleep?".

" On my bed. I'll take the couch." Ryder says as he sits Alice down on the bed.

As she quietly lays down, a scent of an aroma tickled her nose. She dug her head into the sheets and deeply inhaled the smell, loving every moment of it. It was a mixture of heavy cologne and very expensive whiskey. The scent reminded her of their first kiss, getting butterflies as if he was laying next to her.

She laid there daydreaming about him for almost 10 minutes. Tossing and turning, trying to fall asleep. But then she remembers Jake, as she looked up at a painting of a girl looking at the stars, hung on the wall.

All the emotions she had buried deep down suddenly rose up and started a storm within her. Floods of tears fell out of her eyes as she tried to stay calm, so Ryder wouldn't hear her weeping. She began to pinch her legs to try to keep it together, but Ryder already realized something was wrong, her breathing changed. He got off the couch and smoothly crawled into bed with her, turning her around to face him. He hug her, burying her face into his chest. " It's going to be okay. " he whispered.

She wrapped one arm around his neck as she continued to cry, and pulled his head closer to her apologizing for disturbing his sleep.

" Don't apologize. I told you I'm here for you!" He said with a broken tone.