Rock after rock. Crack after crack. The window was smashed in before I knew it and then I was seeing a dark sports car pull up quickly maybe five yards away. I threw another rock and it bounced off the dented hood before I was seized from behind.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I was hearing Ryder ask me as he held me from behind and I was refusing to cry hysterically. I tried to throw another rock, but my arm was already tired and pinned.

Calm down, he thought to me and by then, my body was about to give out on me as the sun was starting to die. I fell back into him and I sat on top of him crying silent tears. I was too out of breath for anything else.

"You're okay now," he whispered in my ear. It was so clear and close that I guessed maybe he thought it, but I could feel his lips move my hair. I looked through the blurriness and saw the destroyed car. I could do nothing about it now, but destroy it more which I doubted Ryder would allow. He lifted me as if I was a light doll and even though we were sitting down, I faced him. He searched my eyes out of pure concern. "What's going on?"

I kept quiet. I didn't know how to explain what was going on or why I was beating up a car. Even though I felt as though adrenaline should have been coursing through me, I felt calm because of Ryder. And when he took my hands in his, there was a new feeling coursing through me.

"Come on," he whispered. "Just talk to me."

I struggled to even open my mouth.

"The car..." I began and nodded my head over to it. "It's—well it was my brother's," I admitted and then he nodded as if for me to continue. He wasn't understanding and I didn't think that he would unless I finally opened my mouth to clear things. "He's...no longer with us, so my cousin brought me the car. And he just..."

I didn't know how I was supposed to continue with that statement, but I don't think he cared. Suddenly, he was dropping my hands and walking away from me towards his car that I never knew he had. I put my head in my hands and felt so stupid. Why the hell would Ryder want to hear about my stupid problems? In his brain, he probably felt so what? that my brother died. It didn't mean I needed to destroy a car. He didn't know that Andrew had hurt me, so the only thing I could do to hurt him back was to destroy his car.

And then Ryder was standing over me holding a weapon in each hand.

"Well, until you find the right words to say, I guess we have some destruction to do," he said, offering me a nylon bat. I didn't question why he had a bat in his trunk. I didn't question what Cassandra would think or how I would get home. I just...enjoyed this moment with Ryder, smashing away at a life and image of my brother that had come up.

Not even an hour later, it was dark outside and all you could hear was our laughing. The car was destroyed completely and the only guilt I felt was for my dad for using his time helping Andrew fix it up. But I wasn't thinking of that now. I was in this moment—over dramatic, yes, but it was something at least. And now, the bat and crowbar was back in the trunk of the car that we sat in. I looked over at Ryder, feeling fatigue mask whatever it was that was actually feeling about Andrew. The only thing it didn't mask was my feelings for Ryder right now.

"Thank you," I told him.

"What for?" he purely asked as if he hadn't done anything.

"Putting up with me," I laughed. He looked over at me with the same deep brown eyes I could get lost in.

"It's not putting up with you," he denied.

I thought about when I was hearing his thoughts that seemed far more reluctant to actually be with me. They were completely different than how he treated me and for that I knew I was going crazy. I may have heard Andrew's thoughts as a subconscious for knowing him, but not Ryder's. There was no logical way.

"Ashlynn," he addressed with a quick sip of air. He was nervous. That made me more comfortable for some reason. "I have something to—"

Knock, knock, knock. We looked over to my window and there was a police officer knocking on the glass with her knuckle and shining a bright light in our faces. Ryder rolled the window down.

Shit, I heard Ryder inside my head, but audibly he asked: "Sheriff?"

"Ryder, will I ever not be the only Sheriff to catch you?" she asked him. Now that the window was fully down, I saw that the lady looked familiar somehow. She had flawless brunette highlighted hair and a beautiful face. Her badge read: C. Bloomingdale

"Will you ever not be trying to catch me?" Ryder countered with a sarcastic smile.

"Nice try," she said, holding up a pad of paper.

"So what do I owe the pleasure, tonight, Carol?"

"Let's see..." she said, turning a page. "I have you for two counts of theft, one count of speeding, one count of trespassing and apparently property damage by the looks of that car over there." She looked over at my totaled Mustang. And then she gazed over the one we sat in while I looked over at Ryder in utter shock. "Do I need to add another count of—"

"What, no Amber alert because I didn't show up for dinner? Or did your daughter decide that was a bit much this time?" Ryder interrupted. I saw him slide his hand onto the gear shift. Oh no. "If you don't have proof of any of that other crap, then leave us alone, okay? Tell Stella I'll deal with her shit another night."

She was Stella's mom. The resemblance made sense now.

"Ryder, if you drive off, I will have to apprehend you. The hard way."

"So be it."

"Stop," I told him, putting my hand over his. His brown orbs connected with mine and I saw his jaw lock up.

"Just lock me up for the night, then," Ryder told the officer even though he stayed locked with me. And then he thought: I'm dead with her in the car anyways.

"Come on," Stella's mom ushered and then Ryder leaned in a fraction of an inch towards me before getting out and getting handcuffed as if it was natural for them. After he sat in the backseat, looking down, Sheriff Bloomingdale gestured for me to sit in the front to get a ride to the station in order to call Cassandra from there. The entire right, I just kept trying to catch a glimpse of Ryder in the side mirror.

"So you're new here?"

"Yes ma'am," I answered and I heard Ryder snicker. The sheriff's eyes looked at his through the rear-view mirror.

"Don't laugh. You can learn a couple manners from her."

I can learn a lot more than that, he thought as he glared back.

"Where'd you come from?" she asked me, continuing with our conversation.

"Florida," I answered.

"Are you here for the summer or—"

"I'm here for the year," I assured.

Shit, Ryder thought as if in objection or realization of something.

"Who are you staying with?"

"Cassandra Everton. I don't know if you know her, but—"

"Yeah, I know Cassie," she smiled. "I went to high school with her. She's still a nurse, right?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good for her," she cheered. "I never knew she had a niece. I know your dad but I guess I missed the part of him having a kid."

No one knew she had any family left other than her brother. Especially not a niece, Ryder's darker voice seemed to growl as if I wasn't meant to be here. It made me turn in my seat and face him. My facial expression was angry and he picked up on it, but his didn't falter due to his stubbornness with Carol Bloomingdale. His eyes slightly narrowed and showed confusion for a split second before I turned back in my seat.

"Yeah...we weren't very close with Cassie," I sighed.

"Then what caused the move?"

"My dad," I said. "He—well, he and my brother...died and Cassandra was the only family to look after me."

I saw Ryder shift in the backseat. The sheriff even looked back there to make sure everything was fine, but I didn't want to directly look at him. Nothing? I thought to myself. He had no thoughts on that piece of information that I couldn't put into words earlier? I could just feel my face heating up.

"I'm so sorry," Bloomingdale responded with a gasp.

"It's fine," I lied and just sat with my head against the window until we got to the station. It wasn't that far away—for good reason—but I could bet money that once I called Cassandra, the trip time would be even shorter for her.

***

I was under the assumption that Cassandra's desperation to be a good guardian would mean she would speed over to the police station, but she didn't even answer my first few calls. When she finally did, she was sort of out of it, but quickly realized what exactly I was saying and she was on her way. It took her a while though, because as she gave me a disappointed look at her arrival, Ryder was already released and following out a guy dressed in a really nice gray suit. Maybe it was his lawyer. I couldn't see any other way Ryder got out so fast and easily.

"Where's your car?" Cassandra asked first.

"Probably on the way to a junk yard right now," I mumbled.

"What?" she asked, purely bewildered by what I said. While I meant to clarify, Ryder was nearing us on his way out and he couldn't be less concerned with me.

"I can't believe I had to come down here...for this!" the lawyer guy commented and then Ryder looked up at him with a resentful frown. "We've already been over this and—"

"We haven't," Ryder said. "You don't even know what happened or anything that's going on with me right now."

The lawyer stopped and faced him. Ryder was tall, but the man was way taller, though less muscular. Well, of what I could tell through a suit. Ryder didn't seem to flinch back from him though. He just looked up at him with a reluctant respect he had failed to show Sheriff Bloomingdale.

"I know exactly what you're going through," the man said. "That's why I told you what was going to happen if you continued to act this way and continue to see that girl."

That's when I paused. Even though Cassandra was starting to usher me out and understanding that maybe I wasn't in the mood to explain why the car was trashed or why that would land me in the police station with someone who she told me was trouble. I just mentally paused about Ryder. The man apparently had warned him about his criminal acts and...me. It was a given that no adult—especially a lawyer would want someone to break the law (no matter how many times), but to ban Ryder from seeing me? He didn't even know me.

While it was good to know Ryder must have mentioned me, obviously I wasn't being favored by someone without having to do anything. While people were telling me to stay away from Ryder because he was trouble, apparently they wanted him to not see me...for what? No matter how many reassuring thoughts Ryder could think towards me, I was mad. I was even angrier when Ryder dropped his head and didn't have the words to defend me.

"I'm going to go find Carol and—"

"Of course you are," Ryder scoffed and the man shifted in order for Ryder to lose an ounce of his attitude. He unexpectedly tossed Ryder a set of keys.

"Go wait in the car...try not to blow it up, okay."

Ryder pushed past him with only one bump of his shoulder while Cassandra and I were right at the door. Cassandra opened the door while apologizing about running late or being busy or whatever even though she was at work. She walked through the door, but when I pushed it open for myself, it was already being pinned back. I looked over my shoulder to see the deed done by Ryder who tried and tried to avoid my gaze.

The man's threats from earlier about me had apparently sunk in, but Ryder still thought his apologies to me.