Back to You (16 page)

Alex’s height made him intimidating enough, but when he was passionate and angry about something, he was a force to be reckoned with, and for the first time I could see just how much Donny meant to him. He was a fierce protector when he loved someone, and I knew right then that Donny was always going to be a part of his life whether I liked it or not.

Riley’s breathing was coming quite unevenly and he was staring at the ground, trying to focus. Alex was still looming over him, and I quickly got between them and put my hands on Alex’s chest. “Go home, Alex. I need to take care of this. I’ll call you later tonight, okay?”

“You want me to go?” he clarified, looking hurt and disappointed. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I know,” I assured him and reached up to place a soft, sweet kiss on his lips. “But he’s about to have an anxiety attack and I need to get him out of here.”

Alex really looked at Riley for the first time and his reaction was apparent. He felt terrible all of a sudden. “Why do I always hurt people when I’m trying to protect the ones I love?” he mumbled. “Where’s your car?”

“We drove Riley’s and it’s that way.” I pointed to the parking lot on the south side of the building. Alex walked over to Riley who shrank back even more and was wheezing hard. “Riley,” Alex said in a calm, soothing voice. “I’m sorry I scared you, but I need you to know I’m going to pick you up now but I won’t hurt you. I’m just taking you to your car.”

Riley nodded and Alex swept him up off the ground. To see him caring about my friend in distress just minutes after Riley had hurt his own friend reinforced what type of person Alex truly was and made my heart swell with pride. The bipolar emotional rollercoaster that I’d been on that night was truly exhausting, but I followed Alex to show him where Riley’s car was.

As soon as Alex sat him in the passenger seat, I was in the driver’s side and digging in the middle console for his anti-anxiety medication that I knew he kept in there. I opened the bottle and dumped one into my hand and handed it to Riley then offered him a drink of my pop that had been sitting in the cup holder. He took it then pulled his legs up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. He laid his head on his knees and concentrated on his breathing.

“I’m going to take him to my house. Once he’s okay and can make it home, I’ll call you,” I told Alex.

“Okay, I’ll be waiting,” he assured me. “We still have so much to talk about.”

I nodded at him, started the car and drove home.

Riley didn’t say anything to me the entire ride back to my house, and I could tell he was feeling badly for the way he acted, but most importantly, when he calmed down enough, I was going to get down to exactly what the fuck that was all about back there.

Once I got him inside and settled onto the couch, I grabbed two bottles of water out of the fridge and offered one to him. He took it and twisted the lid off of it before taking a long drink of it. His breathing had returned to normal but he’d been unusually quiet.

I sat down in the armchair and waited for him to speak. The silence was deafening but I was determined that he would explain himself. “Thank you.” He finally broke the silence but that’s not what I was expecting him to say.

“For what?” I asked rather curiously.

“For getting me out of there and taking care of me even though I know you’re mad at me.”

“Why do you think I’m mad at you? I mean, I’m definitely not happy with the way things went down back there, but I’m not necessarily mad.”

“The way you approached me in the funeral home was definitely a bit intimidating with the two of them flanking you, but when we got outside and you defended them, I could tell you were mad. I’m sorry I yelled at Donny, but I was hurt after I watched you fall apart in Alex’s arms, when I’ve been the one who’s been helping you through this for the past few days. Then you walked out with him and left me in there. At least I had Andrew and Robyn with me. Alex left Donny in there with no one. I know I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on him but it’s too late now.” Riley pulled his legs up to his chest, mimicking the position he’d been in in the car.

“Riley, you know I never meant to hurt you in any of this. I wasn’t anticipating falling apart like that but seeing Grammy lying there…” The emotions began to well up in my chest again and I needed a second to compose myself. “Well, it wasn’t easy. Alex and Grammy had a history too and it just finally got the best of me. You’ve been a great friend the past few months and I’m glad we’ve had time to become so close. You know I never anticipated Alex coming back into my life, but I have to say, regardless of everything that happened, I want him here. I’m sure that’s not what you wanted to hear, but I can’t help it, Ri. He’s the one and he always has been. We have a lot of stuff to work out, but I think we can get there.”

Riley sucked in a breath. “Yeah… that’s definitely not what I wanted to hear.”

“I’m sorry, Ri.”

“Yeah, well, I guess I knew better than to fall in love with someone who wouldn’t be able to catch me. Andrew warned me in the beginning. I just thought the progress we were making was so good. It seemed to be heading in the right direction, and you seemed really into me, so I let myself get comfortable and then got blindsided by the truth.” A single tear slid down Riley’s cheek.

He was in love with me?

“Ri,” I said softly as I moved to get up. “If things were different…”

“No,” he said abruptly. “Don’t. I’ll be okay.”

“I didn’t know it was this serious for you, Riley. I never meant to fuck up our friendship. I don’t want to lose you, but I don’t want to be selfish and keep you around if all it does is hurt you.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Tyler. I’m still your friend. I’ll apologize to Donny and make things better. I’ll get over this. It’ll just take time, okay?” he announced rather forcefully as if he were trying to make himself believe it.

“Okay,” I agreed, a bit reluctantly. I could tell something was off with him, but it seemed as though he wanted me to keep my distance and it really wasn’t my place to physically try to comfort him anymore.

“I think I’m going to go home now.” He stood up off the couch and wobbled a step.

“Are you okay to drive?” I asked him.

“I’ll be fine,” he assured me but then he took another step and was still a bit shaky. He usually was so soon after taking his anti-anxiety meds.

“I’m driving you home. Give me your keys.” He looked like he was seriously considering not handing his keys over. “Riley,” I said a little more loudly. “Keys, now.”

He reluctantly handed them to me and I drove him to his duplex in his car. After I made sure he got inside okay, I pulled out my phone and dialed Alex. When he answered I asked him, “Hey, can you come pick me up?”

I gave him Riley’s address and then sat down on the porch and waited.

Alex

After Tyler left with Riley, Andrew came outside to see what was going on. I was over by the car with Donny when Andrew came jogging over. “Where did Tyler go?”

“He took Riley back to his house,” I answered and then turned to Donny. “Are you ready?”

Donny nodded and walked to the driver’s side to get in. As I was walking around the back of my car toward the passenger side, Andrew spoke up again. “What happened out here?”

“Tyler wanted to know why Riley verbally attacked my friend. Riley got lippy about him, so I defended him which, of course, threw him into a panic attack. I got him to his car and Tyler drove him home,” I explained simply. “Can I go now?”

“No, not quite,” Andrew sneered at me. “I want you to know that I don’t like you and I’m not in your corner. I’ve been there for him through all of this, and I’ve watched him pine for you for nearly two years. You’ve caused him so much heartache that you don’t deserve a second chance with him, but I swear to everything that is holy in this world if he decides to give you one and you screw it up, they won’t be able to find all the pieces to put your ass back together. Tyler deserves so much more than he’s gotten in the past two years, and you seem to be what he wants, so do not fuck it up this time, Alex.”

I had to give him props for protecting his friend but he was really starting to get on my nerves. “You don’t know anything about me or why I left. I know I fucked up and I won’t do it again, but just know that I don’t give a shit if you’re in my corner or not. If Tyler gives me a second chance, I won’t do anything to make him unhappy. I know what I lost and what I stand to lose if I ever do anything that stupid again, but your opinion doesn’t matter to me. So if you don’t mind, I’m going home to talk my friend into staying instead of leaving because of what yours did.”

Andrew stood there with his mouth slightly agape as I got into the car and shut the door with a bit more force than was really necessary to emphasize my point. I hadn’t had a chance to talk to Donny since the whole debacle went down so I turned to him as he started the car. “Donny, I’m sorry.”

“I don’t really want to hear it, Alex. I’m grateful to you for defending me back there, but I just want to get back to your house so I can pack and head home.” He stepped on the gas pedal and we were quickly on our way back to my parents’ house. It was rather impressive how quickly he had learned his way around Lincoln.

“Donny, I don’t want you to go like this. I know you’re upset about what happened, but please don’t let what Riley said be the cause of your leaving,” I pleaded with him.

Donny laughed sarcastically again and I was beginning to hate that sound. It definitely wasn’t a pleasant one. “You really don’t get it, do you?” he asked me seriously. “This isn’t really about Riley or what he did, even though that pissed me off. This is about you and me, or really just about me. I’ve been here with you for less than forty-eight hours and you’ve barely spent any time with me. We’ve spent more time fighting than anything else, and I don’t want us to end up like that. I can just go home now and you can come back whenever you’re ready.”

I really wasn’t sure if it was the right time to drop the big bomb on him or not, but I decided I should probably wait until we weren’t in the car for that. “I just don’t want you to go. I’m sorry that I’ve been so hard to get along with the past few days but it’s been rough and weird. You being here means so much to me and if you really want to go, I can’t stop you, but I’d really like you to stay.”

Donny didn’t answer me which made for an awkward silence for the last few minutes of the drive home. Once we were parked and in the house, my mother ushered us into the kitchen for dinner. She had kept ours warmed for us since we’d been gone and was hovering like the over-protector she was. “How are you, honey?” she asked me after she’d placed our plates in front of us.

“I’m okay but it was really painful to see Grammy lying there like that. Tyler didn’t take it very well either, which made it harder,” I answered before shoveling a big bite of mashed potatoes into my mouth. My mom’s cooking was always the best and I’d sure missed it.

She placed her hand on my shoulder and squeezed lightly. “There’s not much you can do but be there for him if he needs you. I’m sure he’s got a lot of support coming in right now, but I think maybe your support is going to mean more to him since you understand how much Bea meant to him based on how much she meant to you.”

“I know. I’ll do my best.” She left the room and Donny and I ate quickly and quietly. I wasn’t sure when to tell him my news because I didn’t want to push him farther away, but I also knew that he had the right to know.

After we cleaned up the dinner mess in the kitchen (Donny insisted on us doing all the dinner dishes so my mom wouldn’t have to) we headed upstairs to change out of our dress clothes. Once we were back in comfortable clothes, I walked up and hugged him. I held him close to me and just hugged him. I truly did miss him. We were used to spending so much time together, and the past few days had stretched us away from each other. He held on tight and let me hug him. “Don’t go yet,” I whispered.

“How long are you going to be here?” he asked me quietly, and I think he already knew what I was going to say.

I released him from my arms, but held onto him by the shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes, even though it was so hard to do with all the pain swimming in them, and dropped the bomb, “I’m staying here indefinitely, Donny.”

His face fell but he didn’t yell at me like I thought he was going to. He walked over to the bed, sat down then fell backward with his arms over his head. “If you’re moving back here, then I’m moving with you,” he announced matter-of-factly. “I kind of expected you to tell me you weren’t coming back to Dallas, so I’ve been thinking about it and it makes the most sense to me.”

“Are you going to be happy here though?” I asked him. “I mean, I’m so happy that you want to come here to live because you’re always going to be my best friend, and I’d hate to be so far away from you, but I don’t want us to end up fighting and pushing each other away because I’m going to be with Tyler. I know that isn’t going to be easy for you to see.”

“You’re right. It’s not going to be easy but I’m going to be okay. I don’t want to be ten hours away from you, and I’m sure I can easily find a job up here. There’s always someplace looking for wait staff. I’m sure this is what I want to do.”

“Well, if you’re sure,” I replied and smiled to myself at the thought of not having to leave Donny behind to be with Tyler, but then it occurred to me, it was too easy of a solution. They say if something seems too good to be true then it probably is, so I was sure something was going to blow up in my face later.