Sophie is bubbly as ever when we pick her up, and she's had a good day from what I can gather. Upon seeing Ryder her mood lifted even more, and it made me jealous. I only got a small hug whereas Ryder was given a big squeeze. I didn't hold the resentment long, and it wasn't too serious, because as soon as Sophie started to jump around in her seat, it made my heart warm. She has people she cares about, and who care about her. She's got a family, and although I've only thought of how it would affect me to have the guys disappear from my life, I didn't take into account the pain that Sophie would feel. I worry that the years of neglect from my mother, that I tried my hardest to make up for, has caused her to rely on the guys for happiness, as they are the first people to show her caring outside of me. Is that what's happening to me? Am I just latching onto them because they're the first people who have shown an inkling of respect towards me?I shake the thoughts off, not wanting to go down that dark swirling vortex again. I already had this figured out last night, I don't need to do it again.

I glance at Sophie in the rearview mirror, and that pushes the thought further out of my mind. She's happy and that's all that matters to me.

Ryder flicks the indicator on, and it prompts me to look out of the window and where we going. I recognise the street and see his building in the distance.

"We can't be here," I tell him, staring at the building. I imagine their mother sitting in their apartment, and her expression when I walk through the door. It's not a good one. No matter how much I won't let her words affect me, the sentiment is there. I'd still feel everything that caused me to flee last night - the scrutiny, judgement, and feeling like I'm unwelcome.

"Why not?" Ryder asks, shutting off the engine and pulling the key out of the slot. I sigh.

"I have a feeling your mom doesn't like me," I admit, although it's not just a feeling.

"She doesn't like a lot of people. You could even say she doesn't like us," Ryder says pragmatically.

"Wha-"

"What did she say to you?" Ryder asks calmly, turning in his seat to face me, changing the subject in the process. I don't miss Ryder

"It was stupid," I mumble, looking back to Sophie who is wriggling, antsy in her seat.

"I have to disagree. What was it?"

"She accused me of being friends with you, only due to your money."

"And she stoked the fires of you doubting whether we should pay for you." He hits the nail right on the head. He groans, rubbing a hand down his face. "First of all, my mother has no control over any of the money that has been spent on you, so she has no say in what we spend it on. Secondly, I really am sorry that my mother said that to you, she shouldn't have. We only have to put up with her until Monday. As soon as our birthday is over, they'll be out of here, and I can't wait to see the back of them." He tilts his head back to the headrest, and I notice how truly tired he is. "They're a lot of work," he murmurs, almost to himself.

I reach out a hand, placing it on his arm closest to me. I rub a thumb over his bicep subconsciously. "You don't have to be here," I offer, not wanting them to stay in an environment that is becoming detrimental to them.

Ryder glances up to the mirror and to Sophie. A smile comes to his lips, and when he looks at me, it gets bigger. "Come on," he says, motioning with his head out of the window. A small huff of breath, almost like a laugh leaves me at Ryder changing the subject.

I ruffle Sophie's hair as she runs past me and down the street toward the apartment building. When we enter the building Ryder begins to jog, challenging Sophie to a race to the lift. Sophie wins, and by the time I arrive to them, they're already walking into a waiting lift.

I shift from one foot to another as it rises. Ryder glances over at me.

"My mom's not here," he assures. He side-steps until he's standing next to me, wrapping an arm around me. "I don't like she made you feel like this."

"I'm used to it."

"Still not ok," he murmurs resting his head on mine.

The doors eventually slide open and Sophie bounces next to us. I trust Ryder, but I still search the room for any sign of his parents being home. If they were there's not much I can do, and I would try and prove her wrong, but I don't want to always rely on being on my best behaviour around her. That would be exhausting.

Speaking of exhausting, Sophie looks like she's tiring herself out with all of her exuberant energy. She didn't exactly have a good night's sleep last night, and after daycare, it won't be much better.

She's trying to stay as positive and happy as she runs to the sofa, but when she jumps onto the sofa, I can see her flagging. Her eyes are wide and I can see that she's trying to prove that she's not tired to me.

"I think it's time for you to take a nap, darling," I tell her, putting my hands on my hip as I look down at her. She shakes her head adamantly at me. I raise my eyebrows at her. I stroke her hair away from her face, and push her head gently back to look at me. "Sweetie," I say, trying to convey that I don't believe her.

She pouts, and I know that I'm right.

"Sophie, it's time to take a nap, let's go..."

"I'll go sleep here," she says, her eyebrows furrowed as she lays down on the sofa.

"She can go up to a room, if you want," Ryder offers, but I don't think that's a good idea. I don't want her to get too comfortable. If we have to leave soon then it'll be easier for me to just pick her up. I also don't want to disrupt her agreeing to go to sleep. It's always hard to persuade her to go to sleep, so I'll take what I get.

"I'll go sleep here. Night night," Sophie says snuggling down into the sofa. A soft chuckle leaves my lips at her drastic difference. She was more tired than she looked.Ryder pulls a blanket off the back of the couch and drapes it over Sophie. We both stand there for a moment watching over her before he suggests we go out to the terrace.

It's beginning to cool down, unlike earlier when the sun was directly overhead, but now the sun has been covered by clouds. The change sends a shiver down my spine, and Ryder and I find ourselves under a shared blanket. Most of the time we've been sitting out here has been silent, and every so often we hear Sophie from inside the apartment, thanks to the propped open door.Ryder has been staring down at his glass for the last minute, and all of a sudden he looks up to me.

"Did my mom say anything else?"

"Mm?" I ask having been pulled out of my thoughts.

"Did she say anything else, other than you being with us for the money?" His expression is full of suppressed pain, and that in turn hurts me to see him like that.

"I don't think I should say..."

"Did she say anything about us?"

"You?"

He sighs, looking at me out of the corner of his eyes before his eyes go to the wall of the terrace. "Don't tell Trys I told you this... but, we've both had kind of a colorful past."

"Colourful?" I question.

"Just stupid things really. We didn't really care, we acted out, got into trouble, and slept around," he grows quieter with every point.

"You mean normal teenage things?" I point out. He chuckles at me.

"I wish my parents saw it that way... It's just tiring, we're not like that anymore by the way, and they can't seem to see that."

"Ryder you don't have to justify to me about anything..."

"But we never spent anything on any of the people we slept with. Yeah, there were people who were only with us for the money, but they were quickly kicked to the curb, by us not our mom. Whenever we tried to settle down, mom would come and say something to the girl and she would leave. I don't want that to happen to you. Please believe me when I say that we wouldn't be spending the money on you if we didn't think you deserved it. There is nothing attached to it. We're just helping out a person in need."

"I know," I tell him honestly. I came to the conclusion yesterday to trust them and that hasn't changed. "I'm sorry your mom's done those things to you. Even if you were like the person you were describing, I would still like you all the same. You aren't bad people, Ryder. Gerard said that you always had a reason for the 'rule-break'."

"He said that?"

"Yeah, after we met at dinner," I admit, not thinking it would be a bad thing if I told him.

"He's a good guy," he muses.

"Mm," I agree noncommittally, not sure how I feel about Gerard yet. I haven't heard from him since the dinner, but that dinner was perfectly fine. There was nothing too weird about it, and there was nothing to put me off, but am I ready to have a relationship with him. He is family.I sigh, and Ryder drops a hand onto my shoulder, squeezing it. "Bambi..." he starts unsure. "I know I said this all yesterday, but I'll say it all again no matter how many times you need to hear it."

"Thank you!" He makes eye contact with me, his grey eyes intense.

"Mummy!" I hear Sophie call faintly. I continue to stare at Ryder for a moment before I come to my senses and look away from the hypnotising stare. I clamber out from under the blanket and jog into the living room for my daughter.

Hi guys!

Here it is! I apologise that it's late. I was trying to get it up to 2000 words, and although it's not quite there, it's as close as I could get with it making sense to me!

The next part will be up on the 6th of November!

I also get that it could be considered repetitive with this part because Ryder has said something similar to this before, but we have his mother to thank for that! It shouldn't really be touched on again!

I hope you liked it!

What did you think?

What do you want to/think will happen next?

Thank you reading, voting, commenting, sharing, and following!

CC ;)