Chapter 57
Chapter 57
"He asked you why you didn't wear rings?" Liz questioned, and I nodded slightly as I took a sip of my
coffee. "Oh my God!" Juliet and Celeste exclaimed, with overjoy.
"Do you know what this means?!" Ally stood up from her seat. I shook my head, furrowing my
eyebrows in confusion. "Rain.." Leah narrowed her eyes at me as she fixed a sleeping Melanie in her
lap "Don't be so oblivious."
"I'm not!" I defended "I just figured he was being his usual Ryker self." "Rain," Ally scoffed before
grinning "He's going to propose!" I choked and spit my coffee back into the mug before breaking out
into a coughing fit.
"Ryker is not going to propose," I shook my head as I stood up from my seat and walked into the
kitchen of the warehouse to put my mug away. "Oh come on, you two fight like a married couple
anyways," Celeste rolled her eyes.
"Look, I know Ryker. And he's not the type of guy to propose..like ever," I defended. "Well I know my
brother," Leah spoke up "And I know how much he loves you."
"We are not getting engaged, alright?!" I exclaimed before they all started bickering over this with me.
"So if he did, you wouldn't say yes?" Juliet cocked an eyebrow at me.
"Well I don't know, because it's not going to happen," I defended. "But Hypothetically speaking, what
would say?" I then heard the doors of the main room in the warehouse open. "We do not talk about this
at all in front of the guys, understood?" I gritted, pointing a finger at all of them.
They all went silent and moments later all guys came into the kitchen. "Where's lunch?" Luca and Will
asked, and Celeste flicked Luca in the head "Waiting for you to make it."
Ryker came up to me and pecked my lips. "Hey, how was work?" I asked and Ryker rolled his eyes
"Guy came in and demanded for a lower price on his engine because I fixed it a month ago but he
fucked it up again."
"Well did you lower the price?" I asked and he scoffed a laugh while grabbing a water bottle from the
fridge "Hell No. I told him to pay or find a new mechanic."
The guys were all dealing with a bunch of stuff on the gangs and coming up with plans for if anything
happened, while some of them went to work.
"Shit," Ryker muttered under his breath before he reached up to the cabinet and searched for a
medication bottle. He sighed, and I grabbed my backpack and reached into the front pocket before
handing them to him.
"Thank you, I promise I'll pay them next month," He sighed and I rolled my eyes at him "Ryk, I told you
I'd pay for them." "But you shouldn't have too-" He started when I put my index finger up to his lips;
making him shut up.
"Hush. We're not having this argument again," I stated. He rolled his bright blue eyes at me, before
changing the subject "How was school?" I threw my head back and groaned at the thought "Horrible,
we had a three hour graduation practice."
It was the last week of graduation and I was still in a reality shock from it, because I was officially going
to out in the 'real world.' The thought made me horrified, and I could just imagine all the student loans
and taxes building up.
"Liz! Liz! Liz!" A voice yelled and Alessandra came running into the kitchen again with a laptop in her
hand. "Ally! Ally! Ally!" Liz mimicked her, with a chuckle as she put a bunch of dishes away.
"I found this apartment for $3500 a month, it's right by time-square and has a two bedrooms, a kitchen,
living room, and bathroom," Ally informed, and Liz took the laptop from her.
"Not bad," Liz examined the laptop screen. "Plus it's right by the park, so hot shirtless guys probably
run by there," Juliet popped a cut up piece of cucumber in her mouth.
"Well let's go check it out tomorrow, and we might have just found out apartment," Liz grinned at
Alessandra while handing her the laptop back. "You guys find anything, yet?" Will nodded towards
Ryker and I.
"Nope," I shook my head as I was filling out a bunch of paperwork for modeling. "Still on the fence
about this," Leah narrowed her eyes at us "You guys seem to be moving fast again."
"Let them be," Luca rolled his eyes at Leah "At least they're not sleeping around with strangers." "Do
you know how many bedrooms you want?" Celeste asked curiously, while cocking an eyebrow.
"3," I stated while not looking up from the papers I was filling out. "Rain apparently wants to live in a
penthouse," Ryker's voice filled with sarcasm, making my eyes snap up to meet him.
"3 bedrooms is not a lot," I narrowed my eyes at him "Plus if we have-..Melanie and Faith certain nights
then they can each have their own rooms." "You better not have been about to say kids," Leah looked
at me knowingly, and my eyes went wide.
"Leah," Ryker warned "I don't really think you have territory to speak about the subject of having kids." I
heard a car door slam shut loudly outside, and the doors to the warehouse busted open.
Hearing voices, I saw the rest of the gang come into the main room and Craig came into the kitchen.
He looked at Ryker and nodded his head towards the living room "I need to talk to you."
Will and Luca hurriedly left the kitchen and Ryker followed Craig out. I looked at the girls worriedly
"Whats going on?" "No idea.." Liz trailed off, as she dropped the dishes she was doing and walked into
the living room.
My phone then started to to off, and I looked to see Joel's contact flash on my screen. "Hello?" I
answered.
"Stay safe, I registered money into your account if you need it," Joel informed. Furrowing my eyebrows
together, "What Joel? You're making no sense-"
The doors to the kitchen opened and Ryker came in and grabbed his keys "Rain, you're coming with
me." "Joel, I'll call you back," I said before hanging up the phone.
"What's going on?" I asked with worry starting to take over me. "Grab your stuff, I'll explain on the way,"
Ryker stated and I quickly flung my backpack over my shoulder before following him out of the
warehouse.
Getting into the passenger seat of his truck, Ryker got in the driver's side and started the truck before
backing out of the parking space and down the road that led you away from the warehouse.
"Get change, I think there's some of your clothes in the back," Ryker informed while stepping on the
gas. Turning around, I leaned back and grabbed saw I left a bag in the back from the one day Ryker
picked me up.
Pulling out a white t-shirt, jeans, and leather jacket; I turned back in my seat and undid my uniform skirt
and got changed into the clothes. "Want to tell me whats going on? Or where the hell we're going?" I
asked, sending him a look.
Ryker clenched his jaw, clutching the steering wheel "You can't get mad." "Oh my God.." I muttered
"What the hell did you do!?"
"Look, when we first met I was dealing with a lot of shit at the time. And I was in between gangs,
because Craig started to piss me off. I was selling this guy cocaine, and he ripped me off then framed
me," Ryker explained before pausing for a moment and looking over at me "I killed half of his gang; 9 to
be exact just so he wouldn't rip anyone off."
My eyes widened and I took in what he said. A feeling of unsecruity came over me, and I gulped in
response. "You murdered nine people.." I whispered under my breath, but loud enough for him to hear.
"Rain," He grabbed my hand, making me flinch "I wouldn't ever do anything to hurt you." "Nine people
are dead Ryker, nine people with family and friends!" I exclaimed as I tore my hand away from his.
"People die everyday," Ryker pointed out "They deserved it." "No one deserves to be killed!" My voice
rose, and muscles became tense "And you can't kill people for someone else's actions!"
"Callum." Ryker said, and I looked at him in confusion "The guy was Callum." "Who's Callum?" I asked,
furrowing my eyebrows together and looking over at him.
"My father," Ryker stated, pressing down all the way on the gas as he swerved in and out of cars. "I
thought he was in jail," I blinked slowly and clutched my seat belt. "He was, he bailed with money that
his gang robbed from a bank," Ryker took a sharp turn a down a road before glancing over at me "He
wants you."
"W-what?" I stuttered, my eyes going so wide I thought they'd pop out of their sockets. "Zeke contacted
him, he gave him all your personal information. He figured if he gets to you, he'll get to me. That's why
all those gangs came yesterday, they're working for him."
"You've got to be kidding me," I slammed my head back against the seat "Why am I always wanted
dead?" "Because you're dating me," Ryker rolled his eyes at me "But we're going to stop at your house
and grab some stuff, because we're going to Pennsylvania for awhile."
When Ryker pulled up to my house I saw a familiar car in the driveway. Unbuckling my seatbelt, I
quickly got out and ran into the house as Ryker followed behind me. Pushing the grand doors open to
the house, silence filled the air.
"Rain," A voice breathed and I looked over to see him walk down the grand staircase. "Gramps!" I ran
up and hugged him tightly, as he hugged me tightly back "Oh my gosh, you've grown up so much." Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.
Travis Thompson; aka my grandfather who's my dad's father. My grandfather and I use to be extremely
close, and I use to spend my summers with him when I was younger because he lived in Maine. I
haven't seen him since sophomore year summer, because I had everything with Tyson going on.
Pulling back from him, "What are you doing here?" A voice cleared and I looked over to see my dad
walk out from the living room. My grandfather sighed before looking at me "I came when I saw what
happened yesterday on the news."
"Oh," My mouth formed an 'o' shape "About that.." "Rain, you need to get going," My dad said as he
dropped a key on a decorative table "You'll hit traffic."
Looking back at Ryker, he sent me a look which was saying my dad is right. Ryker obviously told my
brothers or dad about What's going on, and that must be why Joel said all that when he called.
"Right..." I trailed off, then going up the steps and to my room.
I walked into my closet, searching for a backpack and stuffing necessities as I ran around my room.
Walking up to my desk, I quickly searched for a magazine of bullets when I knocked over something
and the glass shattered.
"Shit," I muttered under my breath, bending down to the ground to pick up the broke picture frame with
a picture of my mom and I when I was 13. My heart fell, and I traced the broke frame with my thumb
while staring at the picture.
"I miss her," I said to Ryker as I felt his presence behind me. "I'm sure she misses you too," He said,
while walking up behind me. "Then Why hasn't she called lately?" I questioned, looking up at him.
Ryker's phone then started to go off and he pulled it out before his face was taken over with annoyance
"Rain, we have to go. Craig is already calling me." Nodding slightly, Ryker pulled me up off the ground
and we headed out of my room.
"Stay safe," My dad hugged me quickly and looked at Ryker with a stern look "Take care of her." My
grandfather then pulled me into a hug, "Please be careful and give me a call."
"Will do." I nodded, pulling back from him "Love you gramps." "I love you to Rain," He tucked a piece of
my hair behind my ear before I gave a small smile and turned around to Ryker.
He took my hand, intertwining his fingers with mine and leading me out of the house. The door shut
behind us, and I looked back before taking a deep breath in realization of everything that's going to
happen.
* * * * *
Scrolling through my phone on random social media sites, I came across a random message in my
inbox from the username: Natalie_Knox and clicked on her profile to figure out who she was.
I don't ever recall meeting her, but she had chocolate brown eyes, long brown thin straight hair, and
was stick thin. "Do you know Natalie Knox?" I asked Ryker, while looking up from my phone.
His eyes snapped over to mine before he looked back at the road "You remember Officer Knox? The
one that Craig hired to help us find you, Natalie is his daughter. She was a bitch anyways."
I looked at the message that was about coming to Pennsylvania with an address attached to it, that I
opened up in Google. It seemed to be an abandoned warehouse, that was isolated.
"She sent me an address to some warehouse," I informed Ryker. "Probably where we're suppose to
go. Neil said he was going to forward me the address." Ryker pulled down a road that was completely
empty and only lit by the street lights.
We were in Pennsylvania now, and it was about 9 o'clock and dark as well as raining. Ryker placed a
hand on my thigh while keeping the other one on the steering wheel. "Ryk," I spoke up and turned my
head to look at him "Why were you put in foster care?"
Ryker tensed up as he looked over at me for a moment "Why are you asking?" "Because you never tell
me anything about your childhood," I frowned at him.
"That's because I didn't have a childhood, I had to grow up by the time I was 8," Ryker scoffed at the
thought. "Can you give me a run-down on The-Ryker-Anderson-Non-Existent-Childhood, then?" I
cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Fine," He rolled his eyes at me "My parents were married at 17 because my mom got pregnant at 14
and had Leah at 15, they met in the Crusades gang when my dad was a member and my mom got
herself caught up with him."
"17.." I blinked in complete shock, and Ryker nodded "Engaged at 16, married at 17; Insane if you ask
me. Anyways, then they had me, Reece, and a Faith. My dad was abusive as is, add alcoholic and
drug abuser in there, plus a gang leader; you had the perfect combination for a father. He abused all of
us, including my mom who was too scared to stand up to him."
Ryker took a turn down an empty road, and kept his eyes on the road "My mom lost her job which is
the only thing we lived off as. She became a stripper, but that didn't pay the bills for a family of 6 at the
time. I remember going to school and teachers always asking me what was wrong because I had
obvious bruises and marks. Child services caught on, took us away and split all us up for foster care."
"Ryk..I'm so sorry," I whispered, feeling extremely guilty. Ryker shrugged lightly "I was in and out of
foster cares with abusive parents, and it just became a pattern. When I was 13, I met Craig. He took
me in, and I was trained before initiated into the gang. The day I turned 18, Leah and I pulled Reece,
Faith, and Melanie out of foster care. Leah took custody of Faith and Melanie plus Reece until he
turned 18. Then we dealt with the usual gang stuff, I was busy with selling and everything. I honestly
thought I was going to die by the time I hit 20."
He looked over at me, a smirk tugging up at his lips "Then I met you." My lips broke out into a smile
that I tried to hold back but failed miserably. "Someone remind me why I love you, because the first
time I met you I wanted you dead instead," Ryker smirked.
I scoffed, smacking his arm "Oh please, you're lucky my irresponsible-ass forgot my books at school.
You wouldn't even of made it to 20."
"What about you?" Ryker glanced over at me. "What do you mean 'What about me'?" I furrowed my
eyebrows in confusion. "Well, I know your parents got divorced, mom moved to California, and your
dad is an abusive fucker. But that's it."
My lips pressed in a thin line, I turned straight in my seat and stared ahead at the road. "When my mom
was 18, she accidentally got pregnant with Jax because my dad roofied her at a party. My mom and
dad were together, but my mom refused to sleep with him. Which my dad took into his own hands."
Taking a deep breath, I continued "They got married and had Jax, then Ryan, Joel, and eventually me.
I was a mistake; my dad told me he didn't want anymore kids, especially when he found out I was a
girl."
"Best goddamn mistake to ever happen," Ryker scoffed at the idea of my dad. "My dad threatened to
kill my mom is she didn't get an abortion, and that's when all the abuse started..towards my mom at
least. When I was born, everything was fine until my 8th birthday party."
Pausing for a moment, I recalled the party like it was yesterday. "It was a family and friend party, my
dad had one-sixteen too many drinks. I was with my friends, he grabbed me by the hair and dragged
me into the house. He took his belt off and whipped me with it, all because he didn't have a clear mind-
state. That was the first night he laid a hand on
me, and my mom was going to take me and leave. The thing was, she was too scared to leave; my dad
would've came after her, and it would've put her and me in jeopardy."
Ryker looked over at me with a sympathetic face. "I'd to to school with bruises all over my face and had
to lie to my teachers about everything, and I dreaded going home every day. I remember one night
sitting on the bathroom ground, crying my eyes out, and having some of my mom's prescription pills in
my hand when I was only 13."
"Rain.." Ryker said in complete shock as he looked over at me, his face completely dumbstruck. "I was
about to commit suicide, and let everything be over. Joel luckily broke the door down and stopped me
before it was too late. My dad cheated on my mom, held her at gunpoint, and was drunk 95% of the
time."
Fidgeting with the sleeves of my leather jacket, I kept my eyes narrowed down "He was an alcoholic
who needed help, but wouldn't get it. Every Night was a fight, and every night my mom could have
been killed. My dad abused her pass her breaking point. So one night everything happened..my mom
was done. She packed up her stuff, and left."
"Babe..I had no idea-" Ryker started but my phone buzzed, to see that Vince texted me and I took this
as the chance to change the subject.
Vince Baker: We're all stopping at the Walmart on 25th street to grab a few things
"Find 25th street, everyone is stopping at Walmart I guess." I explained to Ryker and he nodded before
turning into the shopping center that was packed with people.
Once we found Walmart and parked the truck before getting out. I came around to the other side of the
truck, and grinned at Ryker before pressing my lips into his. I took his hands and placed them right
above my butt and Ryker pulled away "Alright, what do you want?"
"How'd you know I wanted something?" I asked shocked, that he knew. He narrowed his eyes at me
"Because I know you." "Food, I'm starving." I stated as we headed into Walmart.
We walked through the doors of the store to see a bunch of people dressed in black and had mask
covering their face as they turned towards us and a guy pulled out a gun, aiming it in our direction.
"Oh God.." I gulped nervously, turning to look at Ryker "Why does this always happen?"