Page 114 of Rider Daddies
I tighten my jaw and silently plead for my mind to not remind me of that night.
But I hear that foreign knock at the door again—three loud booms at the door that made it known a stranger was on the other side.
“Don’t answer the door to strangers when you’re home alone,”my parents used to say.
But do police count as strangers?
I was thirteen and alone in the family home. That was thefirstandonlytime I have ever seen police officers show emotion.
“Your parents were in a car collision and they didn’t make it. We’re very sorry.”
They started to list out protocols after that, what comes next.
It was all noise. Just echoes and sound that wasn’t going to bring them back.
Ash was turning eighteen in the next month, so we stalled the care system enough to avoid having to move out.
I turn and see Ash like a great, silent figure in the night. Even the strongest of men crumble.
I sigh, trying to gain some composure.
I think it’s safe to say that I have none.
Even when you recognize that somebody plays a significant role in your life, it still fucking hurts.
The sound of my own hammering heart is replaced by Willow’s shaking voice as she demands over the phone for emergency services to get over here this instant.
“What about Tristan?” I say.
“Who gives a fuck about Tristan?” shouts Ryder, walking away from the car. “He caused all of this mess in the fucking first place. I hope he got crushed by his own car and is getting rejected from the gates of Heaven as we speak.”
I survey the crashed car and grimace. I don’t think Ryder needs to hope.
The passenger side of the vehicle is wrecked past the point of return.
“We need to get her out of there.”
“No.” Ash’s voice booms like thunder through the night. “We can’t. It’s too dangerous. We don’t want to?—”
Kill her?
“Ryder, check her pulse again,” Ash demands.
Ryder approaches the car.
Then, a set of sirens ring through the atmosphere.
I step out into the road to see the faint flashing of red lights.
They draw closer, the sirens becoming louder until I have no other option but to cover my ears from the screaming sound of emergency vehicles.
There’s a fire truck, an ambulance,anda fucking cop car.
Jesus.
Why must the cops involve themselves in everything?
I shield my eyes, my vision turned blue and red.
