Impacted (Conflicted Encounters #2) (25 page)

When we left the diner almost an hour later, we walked my mom to her car. I hugged her and promised to call her when I landed. My head was starting to swim with all the things I still needed to do before the morning. A weight had been lifted off with the visit from her, though. I had finally let go of some of the resentment I had towards my parents.
 

They may have been controlling and difficult to please, but I never opposed to their plans. I woke up every morning and lived the life they built for me. I never expressed my unhappiness, but I'm not sure I knew it before I met Ryder. They were trying to fit me into a mold they thought was best and I let them. It wasn't their fault they didn't know what I wanted, because neither did I.
 

"I love you," she told me before closing the car door.

"I love you, too." The three of us watched her drive away and waved. I let out a huge breath of relief when her car was out of sight.
 

"You look amazing by the way," Ryder said into my ear. "I like the hair."

"Thank you," I smiled and leaned up to give him a quick kiss. My mother's words ran through my mind. Would I ever be able to let him go? Would he make me?

"Okay, people! Lets get this show on the road," Scarlett hollered and then ushered us back to our cars. She was right; we were all meeting at the apartment for dinner and to get ready to be up early. I gave her a ride back and she sprinted up the steps. I've honestly never seen her this excited before. I shot a quick text to Dan to see if he had any info on Adam yet. He hadn’t been answering any of my texts. I didn't know if that was good or bad news.

Caleb and Logan showed up shorty after we arrived. We set up a grill down in the parking lot and the boys made steaks. The pickup trucks were used as seating and provided the music. A cooler sat by the grill as we cooked, laughed, and drank. Adam showed up, late, but he came like he said he would. I wondered why he was late, but Scarlett didn't seem to care, so I bit my tongue. Looking around at the boys, I realized I wasn't the only one with these thoughts.
 

"Dance?" Logan asked when a slow country song rang through the truck windows.
 

"I didn't know you danced?" I teased as I wrapped my hands around his neck.
 

"I don't. Just wanted to chat," he admitted. "I worry about her."

"I know you do." I think I knew more than he thought I did.

"He's not right," he told me.
 

"Probably not, but she needs to figure it for herself. He will screw up and whatever he is hiding will come to light. I promise."

He nodded and watched as Scarlett grabbed another beer from the cooler and tossed some ice at Ryder. His eyes were on us, and Logan gave him a cheeky grin. I smacked his shoulder jokingly as the song ended. He gave me his trademark smile and I wondered how she hadn’t fallen for him.

"That was adorable," Ryder muttered as I joined him at the grill.
 

"Wasn't it?" I played along. "I thought it was magical and romantic."

His dark eyes glared down at me and I smiled up at him. He searched my face, trying to see the joke in it. "I don't share, baby girl. I thought I made that clear."

I snaked my arms around his neck and pressed my chest to him. "I'm not up for sampling, Mr. Brooks. You are not sharing. But I'm no one's possession."

His lips crashed to mine, proving how wrong I was. His lips and tongue owned me. Fingers ran through my hair, which belonged to him as well. I moaned into his mouth and he swallowed it up, keeping it forever. I pulled away, breathless and tingling. His smirk told me he knew damn well he had just put me in my place.
 

Ryder

Today was going to be hell. I could already tell. We were up at four in the morning, so that wasn’t a good sign. We had to brew two pots off coffee to fill us all up. Logan, Caleb, and Adam stayed the night here, and the six of us would all be leaving for the airport in less than an hour. Mr. Rhodes, our old high school principal, was borrowing a van from the school district to take us all there. Kallie called in a ton of favors and worked out every detail.
 

Kallie shouted commands to us like she was a troop leader. We were all too tired and scared to dare disobey, so in no time all the suitcases were lined up in the parking lot. The girls quickly showered and Kallie was dressed in what I was now calling "traveling attire". She wore a pair of black leggings and a loose fitted tank top. She looked comfy and soft to the touch.
 

She ushered us down and we all filled into the waiting van. Most of us slept on the way to Cincinnati. We were functioning on less than four hours of sleep, but at least we had a full day of flying so we could sleep then. Kallie was in leader mode when we pulled up to the busy terminal. She got us checked in and we followed like zombies through security. Adam had a small setback at the check in counter, some issue with his ID. I thought Kallie would fly off the handles with the slight delay.

Of course, we were seated and waiting for take off with an hour to spare. We had an hour and half flight to Charlotte then an hour layover. After another five-hour flight, we would arrive in LAX airport a little after noon. There was no reason I should be across the country before noon. This was too damn early.
 

Logan and Caleb were stretched across a bench of seats, trying to sleep. The airport was too noisy for sleep, so I took a hard seat next to Kallie. Adam and Scarlett were sitting together and talking quietly.
 

"You okay?" I asked Kallie after I noticed her shaky hands flipping through her notebook.

"Yeah, just nervous," she admitted.

"Relax," I nudged her with my shoulder. "You still have three more days until the wedding and guests arrive. You can't worry the whole time until then."

"You're right," she said. Her shoulders relaxed slightly, so I reached back to rub her neck. Her eyes slid closed as I worked the hard muscles into jelly.
 

Our flight was called and we were seated on the plane. Caleb sat with Kallie until I gave him a death glare and he moved across the aisle. Once we were in the air, I quickly fell asleep. I was woken up when the tires hit the runway, and I was relieved to finally get off. Then I remembered I still had to do this at least two more times and the relief vanished.
 

Our flight to LAX was delayed by half an hour, so we were able to grab lunch in the food court. Kallie was a nervous wreck by that time. Our flight for Hawaii left at three, but we had to get our luggage and check back in before the flight. I was constantly grabbing her hands to keep her from playing with her bracelets.
 

While we were seated in the terminal and waiting for the flight to board, Kallie paced. I couldn't take it anymore. She was supposed to be enjoying this trip. I stood and walked to block her path. She looked startled to see me standing in her way, and her eyes went wide. I closed the small space between us and took her face in my hands.
 

I brushed my lips gently across hers. A sigh escaped her and the breath tickled my face. I hovered in front of her lips, teasing so I would take all thoughts away except those about me. Her blue eyes were locked on mine, and I watched as they cleared, and then grew darker. I closed the space, kissing her.
 

She moaned into my mouth and I pressed harder into her lips. She opened, allowing my tongue inside to coax her. She tasted like the five cups of coffee she had already today. Her body melted into mine and all the noise and people around us disappeared. All I could hear was her little whimpers. The loud speaker broke us apart as it announced that it was time to board.
 

"What was that for?" she asked, short of breath.
 

"Distraction." I smiled and took her hand to follow our friends to the plane.
 

The flight was five hours long, but we had a meal and movies to keep us "entertained". The flight was spent with on and off sleeping, switching seats to chat, and trading our phones for different music. Logan was unusually quiet except when he sat with Kallie. They seemed to be able to chat for about an hour before he swapped with Caleb and sat with me.
 

"You gonna keep her?" he asked when he sat down.

"She's not a stray dog," I muttered. "I'm not sure it's my choice." I couldn't stop her from leaving when we got back home. I couldn't just haul her up to my room and lock her in the apartment.
 

"She needs to know what you want, dude," he laughed.
 

I ignored him. I didn't know what I wanted, other than her. I wanted all of her and I wanted it all the time, but I wasn't going to force her into another life she didn't want to live. She left once and didn't come back until Scarlett needed her help. I couldn't convince myself that she didn't entirely want to be home then. She could leave again and go right back to her old ways.
 

I watched her as she watched some video on Caleb's phone. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail and she laughed at whatever she saw. She looked happy. She didn't look happy when we were at her parents’ house or in her shop downtown. I knew without a doubt that I would spend every second trying to make her happy if she stayed here. I just didn't know if I was enough. That terrified me more than anything.

When we landed, we had to run through the airport to transfer over to the flight that would take us to Hawaii. A storm had the runways in a traffic jam and we circled the airport for an additional hour, waiting to touchdown. My body was sore and I was restless from sitting all damn day. Caleb, Logan, and Adam were getting irritated as well. We checked in just in time for the next flight. Five more hours to go.
 

The plane was smaller than the last three we were on. There were fewer passengers and some empty seats. The flight attendants were cheery and made jokes while giving the safety procedures, which we all had memorized by then. We all sat in our own rows this time with an empty seat for each of us if we wanted to stretch out. Which is exactly what we all did when the seat belt light went off.

Kallie turned and faced me from the opposite side of the aisle. Logan was behind her and across from Caleb, who was behind me. Scarlett was in front of me with Adam across. We pretty much took over whole the back of the plane and we chatted loudly. It'd been a long day of traveling and the girls were starting to show it. They were exhausted and getting a little loopy.

"Can I get you guys anything to drink?" the attendant asked our group.
 

"Can we get a round of beers, and those adorable little liquor bottles?" Kallie shouted over her seat to the woman.
 

"Sure thing," she laughed, and headed to the front of the plane. She came back with a cart of beers, little bottles of vodka and rum, and some cups with a bucket of ice.
 

"You guys are going to be a lively bunch, I can tell," the attendant chuckled as she passed out the cans.
 

"You have no idea," Scarlett laughed.
 

"Let's play a game," Kallie said, sitting up and giving me an odd look. I had no idea what it meant.
 

"Oh! Like what?" Scarlett squealed, moving out to the aisle.
 

"I brought cards. Maybe poker or blackjack? Anyone know how to play?"

There it is. I smiled back at her and shook my head. She was trying to out him. Probably not the best idea, as we were all in a confined space. It's not like we could kick him out after. Proving he can play a card game won't make my sister ditch the dude, either.
 

"We don't have a table for that, sweetheart," I said sweetly, giving her a look. She pouted and I wanted to take her lip in my mouth.
 

"Yeah, we probably shouldn't block the aisle either," Adam spoke up. Of course he was just looking out for everyone’s safety. Prick.

"Fine," Kallie huffed, and then killed the rest of her beer. I raised an eyebrow at her, knowing she didn't eat much and it never took her long to get a buzz. We still had four hours before we landed in Kona.
 

Adam pretty much ignored us as he played on his phone. Kallie and Scarlett were chatting about celebs over their seats. The attendants eventually just left a tray of drinks in an empty seat for us. We were growing louder by the minute and other passengers started to join our in on our slurred conversations.
 

Kallie developed a good buzz by the halfway point of the flight. We learned way too much about the other passengers since we became one big party in the air. Kallie's eyes were starting to drift closed, and I laughed as her head rolled around and she tried to keep it up.
 

"Stop laughing at me, Mr. Brooks," she pointed at me.
 

"Come here. You're almost comatose," I teased.

She pushed herself up in the seat and stumbled across the aisle to the empty seat next to me. I moved my legs down and raised my arm. She rested her head on my chest and I put my arm around her. In only a few minutes, her breathing slowed and her head got heavy on my chest.