Page 8 of Fade (Fighting Fate)

Giving me a small smile, she took a step toward the door. Reality quickly kicked in, and I automatically took a step that way as well. “Uh . . . that’s probably not a good idea.”

She blinked at me and frowned. “I . . . uh . . . I need to apologize to him.”

There were so many things wrong with that sentence, but that wasn’t the issue I needed to deal with just then. “Maybe you should wait until tomorrow. Think about it a little more.”

It wasn’t Ryan I was trying to protect. Hell, if this girl could rip him a new one, I would happily stand back and watch, but for some reason, she made me feel protective of her. She seemed fragile. I didn’t want her to get hurt, and I knew that was exactly what would happen if I let her go down that hall.

“It’ll be too late tomorrow,” she mumbled, almost too quietly for me to hear.

As I processed her words, she stepped up to the door and pulled it open.

“Wait,” I said, a little desperately. “You don’t want to go down there. Trust me.”

She frowned at me. It was obvious I was confusing her. “Why?”

Fuck it all to hell. I was going to fucking kill Ryan in the morning. “He’s not alone.”

It took her approximately three seconds to comprehend what I’d said, and somewhere between the third and fourth second, something kicked her into action and she was off. Not down the stairs and out the front door like I’d hoped, but down the hall to Ryan’s door.

With trained practice, I had my sweatpants on and was out the door, behind her, in three seconds flat. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quick enough to stop her from opening the door to Ryan’s room.

I saw the shock come over her face as she stood there, taking it all in. I couldn’t see what Ryan was up to, but going by the noises I could hear, I knew it wasn’t anything this girl would want to see.

She sucked in a sharp breath, her hand going to her throat.

“What the fuck!” I heard Ryan spit out.

Okay, time for action.

“What the fuck are you doing here, Amy? Get the fuck out of my room!”

“We only broke up yesterday, Ryan,” Amy said softly. “Yesterday. How could you do this already?”

Ryan laughed. The fucker actually laughed. Amy flinched, and I saw her throat tighten. I was ready to go knock my twin out.

“Baby, I was inside another girl an hour after I walked out the door. That’s what happens when your girlfriend doesn’t put out.”

He laughed again, and the girl he was with joined in.

Amy took one tiny step back, and then another. Then she was darting past me and down the stairs at a breakneck speed.

Motherfucker. I couldn’t let her go like that. She’d probably have a crash or something, driving in that state of mind.

The last thing I heard as I dashed after her was Ryan’s amused voice calling out, “You could at least shut the door when you leave!”

Asshole.

Chapter 5

Amy

I wanted to cry.

Not because I was heartbroken. I think I’d always known I didn’t love Ryan. It was more from humiliation. Seeing Ryan in bed with Kacey had seriously shaken my self-esteem. Did I really mean so little to him that he could move on so quickly?

Had he been telling the truth when he’d said he’d slept with another girl within an hour of us breaking up?

My eyes stung. Had he even cared for me a little?

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