It's Not Perfect

Chapter 24

I don't think I have to explain what happened after we went dress shopping, leaving the boys to their stupid plan.

A plan which included beating Ryder up until he was only a sweating mass of bruises. They knew Miguel had been very careful about where he abused Ryder so it wouldn't jeopardize his performance in the ring. So the guys figured, Duke wouldn't care about all of that. He'd just beat up Ryder to prove a point. And that's exactly what the bruises all over Ryder's body did, prove a point.

The boys beat and kicked Ryder until he could barely breath. Then they dumped his body near his car to make it look like Ryder had been attacked while on his way back to the fights. Chase drove to Miguel's office and told him what happened, that a man approached Ryder and told him he had to join a different under ground fighting club or else he'd suffer the same fate as his father. Miguel dropped everything and rushed to where Ryder was unconscious on the pavement. And all hell broke loose. Miguel flipped shit, he completely lost it.

At least, that's what the boys told me. I wasn't around when all of this was happening. I was at the mall buying the most perfect dress in the world for the masquerade ball that was now only a hours away.

Ryder has been bed ridden for the past week. Chase wouldn't let him get up except to use the bathroom. I brought Ryder all of his meals and slept with him every night while listening to his ragged breathing. This life that the fighters led, it was absolutely ridiculous. How could anyone survive like this?

"Good morning." Ryder mumbled as he rolled onto his side to face me.

I smiled up at him but it was a sad smile, one that couldn't bare the weight of these fights, "Good morning. How are you feeling?"

Ryder rolled his eyes and kissed my forehead like he did every morning, "I'm fine. How many more times do I have to tell you that? The first few days were a little iffy but I'm all better now, just some yellowing bruises that are easy to hide. Satisfied yet? I'm fine."

"You're also a very good liar." I replied, sitting up and straightening my hair. I looked over towards the closet where I had kept my dress ever since I bought it. Ryder refused to look at it, he wanted to be 'stunned' the first time he saw it on me. The funny thing was, I worried that he may never see it on me. Not if he got beaten to death before I ever put it on for him.

Duke hadn't come after us after the little stunt the boys pulled, but I didn't know whether that was because Miguel had actually managed to scare him off...or if he was just buying his time until he found the perfect moment to destroy everything.

But we had feared Duke might try something. So Ryder and I had ran off to his grandparents house, the huge one that was only reachable by jumping out of a train. The sight was still breathtaking but spending almost a week here was starting to get to me. There was no electricity, so all of Ryder's meals had to be made by hand only. And don't even get me started on the bathroom situation. Everything about this place was eccentric and mysterious, but sometimes it was nice to just have working plumbing.

"Who says I'm lying?" Ryder asked, sitting up next to me. The blanket fell from his shoulders, revealing the fading bruises that dressed his chest, torso, and every other inch of Ryder's body. I swear he must be growing immune to them. It takes maybe a month or so for my bruises to go away but it only took Ryder a week. Was that even humanly possible?

Probably not.

But neither was my fear for Ryder's life.

"I say you're lying." I replied quickly, hopping out from under the covers to open the blinds that had been drawn closed last night to keep the moonlight out while Ryder and I...stayed warm.