Page 51 of It Never Was

They were fucking bruises.

And she is fucking lying about them.

I can feel my hand twitching at my side, slowly forming into a fist. My blood is like lava in my veins. I take a deep breath in to calm my nerves because I just might fucking lose it.

Closing my eyes, needing a moment, my nostrils flare as the image of the bruises flashes back into my thoughts. They don't look fresh. They look slightly healed. When did she get them? Did she have them when I picked her up?

My mind starts to go over all the moments in the car with her. It's taking all of me to not see red right now. I need to get to the bottom of this.

I feel a breeze at my side, I snap my eyes back open. Ryen is trying to make her way up to the front of the shop. She slipped by while I was trying to compose myself.

I quickly catch up with my long strides just before she is able to break through the doors leading her to the front end of the coffee shop.

To where Willow is.

I know if she gets up there, she will be closed off completely. I've noticed the way she keeps things from her best friend, it became clear this morning when she didn't know about our drive together, or that she was walking to work that early alone. She even seemed as if she was trying to avoid another topic with Willow. I make a mental note to look out for what it might be.

I put my arm on the door frame lower than usual to block her short stature.

"Those didn't look like nothing." I keep my voice low not wanting to have Willow hear us on the other side of the door. "Ryen. Show me your wrists." I can hear the unintended anger in my tone. I see her wince at my words. My heart cracks at the sight of her reaction. I don't want to scare her. I'm not angry with her, but the fact that anyone would put their hands on her.

"Who did it?" I press further.

Ryen's body stays still. Her muscles seem to tense, and I can see a glimmer of worry in her eyes as she keeps them rested on my arm.

"Ryen, please." I try to soften my tone. I must succeed because I can see her shoulders relax a fraction. She doesn't look at me though. Her eyes grow distant as they stare blankly at the door in front of her. I need her to talk to me. I know I am new here and to her life, but I need her to know she can trust me.

She lets out a sigh, "Thanks for helping me, honestly you didn't have to." I can see the wall start to build up around her. "I should get back to work now, excuse me."

She tries to push my arms aside, letting out a small grunt. I would have laughed under different circumstances, but my mind can't get over the bruises.

"It's nothing Parker. Leave it." Ryen tries again to push my arm down the doorframe to make her move away from me, but I quickly raise it back to its previous spot, causing her shoulder to run into my arm. She doesn't look up, doesn't meet my eyes, but I know she can feel them staring down at her.

I am looking at her side profile, watching the uneasiness and wishing I could take it away. A thousand questions are running through my brain, but all I know is I need to find out who did this.

She may not see it or know it, but she deserves so much more than what she has. I want her to have it all. Hell, I want to be the one to give it to her. I want to save her from whatever she is facing, glue the pieces I can see have broken back together. I can't explain why or how I got this deep so fast. I don't have a word for it. I just know I care about her, and I don't take it lightly when people fuck with what or who I care about.

She doesn't realize or know how much I care already, in this short amount of time. Fuck, I didn't even know till all these little moments started to happen. Till I saw her with the customers, seeing her sipping her coffee as she tapped away on her laptop in the lobby after her shifts…till I saw her walking alone, and now seeing her hurt, by someone.

Her breath hitches. She draws her full bottom one between her teeth, biting down. "Parker, get out of the way." Her eyes still avoid mine.

My hands take a chance, gently placing them on her chin to bring her face to face with me. She flinches as my fingertips graze her skin. My gut feels like it was just punched at full force. Her eyes look harder than they did before, the emotional wall not swaying as she brings her eyes to mine. I could look into her dark emerald, green eyes forever.

"You're asking me for the one thing I can't give you." I say.

Her brows furrow as she faintly tilts her head in thought. I think she is processing my words.

"I—" her voice was barely detectable.

"Who?" I state flatly, my thumb caresses her jawline.

"How do you know it's a 'who'?" She asks, playing naive. She is anything but a clueless girl.

"Ryen, we both know you're not dumb." She slowly raises her eyes to mine. I can see the pain in them, and I want to rip the motherfucker who makes her feel this way to shreds. "Who did this to you?" I try to control my tone to not scare her further, but I also need her to know how serious I am.

"It doesn't matter." She replies with lack of emotion in her voice, but her eyes say something completely different.

Did she just say it doesn't matter?

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