Page 37 of The Fault Next Door

“If you want to, we can do some stuff to get you there.”

Ryder kissed him again, and he wasn’t sure they were going to make it out of the house. But Ryder let up and then took his hand, holding it all the way back to his house. It felt good walking next to Ryder. Though they were trying to keep everything casual, he had a feeling it was getting serious between them.

Chapter 26

The weekend had been perfect.Nolan had stayed at his house both nights, and they'd grown closer, which was odd thinking about it. Nolan finally agreed that he could drive on Sunday morning, so they went to pick up his truck. He had Nolan drive the long way so they didn't go past the church. He still didn't know what to do about his parents.

He was able to start working again on Tuesday, which made him happy. He couldn't live like that, never getting out, just sitting at home doing nothing but staring at the same four walls.

On Friday, he was looking forward to spending the evening with Nolan. They were going to watch a movie together. It was a gay movie, so he wasn't sure what to expect. He hoped it was good.

He pulled up and noticed a rental car in Nolan’s driveway. He was about to go inside when he heard shouting. “Jesus, what’s going on?”

Ryder headed to Nolan's place and knocked on the door, but screaming started up, so he tried the knob, glad it was open. He stepped in just as an older woman started hitting Nolan with her purse. Ryder didn't hit women, but he sure as hell wasn't goingto stand by and watch this woman bash Nolan. He took a giant step and grabbed the strap of the bag. His arm twinged with pain, but he didn't let go even when the woman jerked.

The woman turned, shock shone on her face as she tried to tug the purse away from him, but he wouldn’t let go.

“That’s enough of that,” Ryder said through clenched teeth.

The woman started screaming about him stealing her purse. He held the bag away from her and pulled out his phone. Luckily, he’d learned how to use the voice assistant and asked it to call 911. The woman started screaming and crying, shouting insane shit at him as he tried to tell the operator where he was and to send someone out.

Before the officers arrived, Ryder had guessed that this woman was Andrew's mother. When the two deputies showed up, he was glad he knew them because Andrew's mother was trying to convince the deputies that both he and Nolan had attacked her. What she didn't know was they'd talked to this guy when someone had tried to break into Nolan's house before, so he knew someone had been skulking around. When she tried to say that she was there to retrieve the ashes of her next of kin that Nolan had stolen, the deputy raised his eyebrows and hit her with a hard stare.

"So, are you the one who paid the person to break into Mr. Montgomery's house?"

She sputtered and tried to defend her actions, but the deputies weren’t having any of it. “We’re going to have to go down to the station. We can cuff you in the front if you agree to behave.”

“Well, I’ve never been treated so terribly before. You should be cuffing him. He’s the sick pervert who stole my son. He’s the thief.”

“You can not come into someone’s house and start hitting them. His cheek is cut, and he probably has a lump on hishead from you hitting him with this heavy purse. It could be considered a deadly weapon depending on how heavy it is,” the deputy said.

Andrew's mom gasped and acted like she might faint. Ryder saw it for the act it was. He felt bad for Nolan because now the whole town would know he'd been married to a man. An ambulance showed up, and they tended to Nolan's cuts, but he declined to go to the hospital. The EMT, a guy Ryder recognized as a few years younger than him, came over to Ryder.

“Hey, man, are you going to sit with him for a few hours?”

Ryder nodded. “Yeah, I’ll stick around.”

"He says he doesn't want to go get checked at the hospital. If he starts acting weird, is dizzy, or can't be roused, could you take him in or call us back out here?"

Ryder nodded as worry twisted through him. “Sure. I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“Great. It’s good to have you back in town. I know you were older, but I remember you quite well.”

Ryder nodded, unsure what to say. "Thanks for patching him up."

"Sure, and watch how dilated his eyes are."

“Will do.”

Everyone left, and it was just him and Nolan, who was sitting on the couch with his feet up. "Shit. That was wild. Are you okay?" Ryder asked as he dropped to the couch next to Nolan.

Nolan put his hand on Ryder’s leg and squeezed. “I’m only okay because you stopped her. I was thinking I was going to have to punch her or something. I’ve only punched one woman, and she was hopped up on drugs in the ER and trying to grab a cop’s gun. I had to hit her hard to stop her.”

“Damn, that’s awful,” Ryder said.

“Yeah, I tried to get her to stop, but she was totally out of her mind and out of control. She wanted to shoot the snakes that she saw.”

Ryder shook his head. “That’s wild. I think whatever we had planned this weekend can wait.”

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