"Ashlynn...?" Cassandra questioned early the next morning. I rolled over in my bed and looked over at her.

"Hmm?"

"Is there something you need to tell me?" she asked. Where do I begin? I wondered, but I really didn't know what she was talking about. "About the car in the driveway...?"

"What car in the driveway?" I asked. She slightly frowned and then I quickly got up from my bed, dashed down the stairs and went out the door to see what Cassandra was talking about. There was a brand new, baby blue Shelby Mustang GT500 sitting in the driveway. What. The. Hell.

"Is there some grand auto theft ring or drug dealer money scam that I need to know about?" Cassandra jokingly asked while I approached the car to take the keys and note off the windshield. Who in the hell would give this to me?

I turned over the note and it simply read: This is me trying to find the right words.

I was livid. Cassandra questioned me in fragments, but I rushed upstairs for my phone only to realize that Bailee was calling me.

"Hello?"

"Ashlynn? Um...is there a reason why Stella is freaking pissed at you right now?" she questioned. I sighed. I can name a few reasons why Stella would be pissed at me, but I only needed one. Ryder.

"Maybe, but I know that there's a lot of pissed off feelings going on right now," I responded.

"Well Stella is—"

"Where does Ryder live?" I interrupted.

"I don't know?" she said. "Are you really asking about Ryder right now? Because that's probably the reason why Stella is mad."

"I think she and I have more in common with that feeling at the moment," I muttered. "I need to find Ryder. Where does he live?"

"I don't know—no one does," she stammered. Really? No one knows where this arrogant ass lives even though he's lived here his whole life? "Well Preston does, but he's with Stella at the diner and I don't think you should be anywhere near her right now. Last time I passed by, she was chewing him out."

"Ugh," I groaned. "Well get someone to ask Preston to text it to me or something ASAP."

I was getting dressed as I was talking to her and all I had to do was put on a pair of sandals and grab my purse while I exited, still with the keys in my hand. Bailee didn't give me a very hopeful response, but I still planned to head to the diner to ask Preston myself.

"Where are you going?" Cassandra asked.

"Trying to find this asshole's house to give him his car back," I said, walking past her and getting into the car. Though the engine sounded beautiful and just sitting there gave me nostalgia by smelling the new car smell, I was still mad.

Ryder and I destroyed the old mustang for my own reasoning. I wasn't asking him for compensation and he shouldn't have even thought about it because that meant he was feeling sorry for me. "Trying to find the right words"? He told me that in order to further beat up the mustang. I didn't know what it meant on his end and I didn't really care. As far as I was concerned, I could basically hear what he really thought from time to time and didn't need his word to confirm anything. A car was definitely not needed in that case. It just made me mad for some reason and I was hoping the telepathy was both ways so he could know what I felt.

***

"Oh shit," Preston commented when he saw me and stood up. Stella, whose head was in her hands, looked up and did the same. I could see pure anger take over her face. Preston faced me to get between us or maybe try to protect me from Stella.

"Ashlynn, why the hell is my mom finding you in the car with Ryder on the night he went to jail?"

"He ended up in jail for his own fault," I told her. "I just need to find him...so where is he?" I was crazy to think she'd just answer me just like that. "Look, I have a reason to be pissed at him too, so the sooner you tell me where he's at then I can straighten things out with him and you won't be so angry."

"You shouldn't have anything to straighten out in the first place!" she yelled at me, pointing in my face. "You just got here and I'm having a hard time understanding why he's wasting his time with you when I've been here for the last seventeen years of his life. I don't want to call you nothing, but—"

"No. I am nothing," I told her.

You're not nothing, I knew what I'd hear Ryder think even though he didn't and then I groaned after shaking my head and continued with my point. He wasn't even in my head anymore, but I was presuming things now. I didn't even know him!

"I've been here for what, two weeks? You're right; I should be nothing to him, so help me find him so I can figure out why he's screwing you over and buying me a stupid car."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, he did what now?" Preston asked me with a glare. Stella's eyes widened. It would make sense if Stella didn't know, but Preston was his best friend. And it was a car. Come on. I sighed. Yet another person he was hiding something from. I didn't know what the something was, but any connection he had should've been out in the open or completely erased.

"Where is he?" I asked him and then it seemed like his eyes were clouded with something.

"I can't tell you," he said as if he was sworn by an oath that no matter how much he wanted to tell me, he couldn't. Suddenly, my phone vibrated and I was receiving a text from Cassandra with an address on it. I questioned it at first, but figured she had some sort of connection to get me Ryder's address.

"Never mind," I said to them, starting to back away. "You are no longer needed..."

I began to leave and enter the address into my phone's GPS, but when I got outside, somehow Preston was right behind me.

"Stop," he said, looking down to me, now wearing his sunglasses. "Don't do it, Ash."

"I don't know what you mean," I lied with a smile.

"Do not go to his house."

"Why not?" I asked. It was a pure question. Was I not allowed at Ryder's house, much like literally everyone else? Was there something I was missing about this entire thing? If there was, Preston should have told me then and there so I wouldn't have second thoughts about storming Ryder's home. I didn't even know where it was!

Preston still didn't answer me.

"Preston, do you see this car?" I asked him, putting a hand on the hood. "Why in the world would Ryder buy me of all people a car? Where'd he even get it from or how did he even think I would keep something like this? And in this scam, why would he leave out his best friend from knowing? Unless you do know something..." He looked away and I may have hit a nerve. I sighed. "Pres—"

"Look. I only know what I'm supposed to know, okay?" he managed to tell me.

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means," he hissed, "there's a reason why you're not meant to be here and I don't know what's been going on with you and Ryder in that consideration, but it's idiotic and gives you no reason to talk to me like you know anything. I suggest you accept the car and drive back to wherever you came from."

My anger from before was boiling and boiling and wanted to project onto Preston. I didn't know what he meant by me not supposed to be here, but then again, a lot of people were saying the same thing without a single one of them clarifying. What made my insides really mad was that Preston was yet another person denying my relation with Ryder even though there was only an unexplainable one. The feelings were there and I knew myself to be loyal. Something told me Ryder was the same impulsively trustworthy person to me because after all, it was him and I jumping into activities together without so much as a true friendship. All I knew was that he meant well by caring about me and that he knew he had somewhat control over his thoughts to me. Even if I hadn't seen him in a week.

What's going on? I suddenly heard Ryder think as if he had just awoken and it made some of my fury wither away as if he was somewhat innocent of the actions that were taking place. But no. He was still the one who left that car with me and that was the origin to all of this. I was past thinking of retorts to Preston and I just climbed in the driver's seat to head to the address Cassandra sent me. While I backed out of the side-street parking lot, I saw Preston lift his phone to his ear and I didn't care if it was Ryder he was talking to. There was rise after rise in my chest just at the thought of confronting him. After a while, I didn't even need the GPS to give me directions because I felt as though I could find his house on instinct.

That came to bite me in the butt maybe fifteen minutes later when I was driving in a very wealthy neighborhood.

"Turn right in 300 feet," the female voice instructed and as slow as I was driving, I did so, wondering if I was even in the right place. Once I turned right, there was a cul-de-sac with only one large house and empty lots surrounding it. The house was massive and beautiful. I severely doubted where exactly Cassandra took me, but I recognized the sleek black Porsche that I once sat in with Ryder before Sheriff Bloomingdale arrested him. Beside it, in a large driveway with two garages, there was a silver Benz, an empty space, and then a gorgeous dark red truck. I pulled right between the Benz and the truck and took a deep breath.

The seemingly three story house was built into a hill and it was constructed with a mixture of wooden planes, red brick and glass. There was a flight of stairs to a giant glass-stained door. The house looked massive and made me lessen the idea that I could just barge in and tell Ryder off—no. The idea of offending Ryder lessened my courage, quite frankly. I quickly climbed the stairs and felt my heart in my ears when I rang the doorbell. Even from outside I could hear its echo bounce off the interior of the house. Then I was hearing steps walk near the door.

"Honey, how is it possible for you to forget your keys again—" a lady said before even opening the door all the way. "Oh I'm sorry. I thought you were my husband."

The lady had dark, wavy hair and towered over me with a slender body in maybe four inch heels and a purple dress. She had a pair of dark green eyes and sun-kissed skin the color of charred crème. She was freaking gorgeous even before she smiled at me patiently while putting in one of her earrings.

"I'm sorry. I think I have the wrong—"

"Well who're you looking for, sweetie?" she asked.

"Ryder Ramon, but..."

"Last time I checked he came home last night, but I don't really know," she informed and I paused. She turned into the doorway and called up with Ryder's name before turning back to me. "Actually, he might be just now waking up if I know my son very well."

"O-oh well then I can come back later—"

"No, no. He needs to get up anyways—it's almost noon," she insisted and then pulled me into their home. I tried not to look around and get overwhelmed by its extravagance. In the foyer adjacent to a front living room, she called up towards the staircase once more: "Ryder, you have a visitor!"

Shit, what are you doing here? He thought to me or maybe himself as if I had control over answering him back. I meant to tell him I was here to see just how hard he "tried to find the right words," but of course, he probably didn't get that thought. Until he replied: Fine...As soon as she leaves.

No, that's not what—

Have fun waiting, he snickered through his mind.

"Wow, you're so pretty," Ryder's mom gazed at me.

"Thank you," I smiled and blushed.

"So how long have you known Ryder?"

"Not that long actually," I answered and no ounce of worry came across her face. "I've only been in town for a couple weeks."

"Well you must be special then," she assured, touching a hand to my arm. "He usually doesn't let anyone come over except for Preston. It's like he's embarrassed of us or something!"

She laughed it off with an underlying truth and offense like her son actually felt embarrassed by such a grand house. I bet no one knew he lived here for a reason relating to his precious reputation. It made all of his transgressions pointless. He stole what he could afford, he rebelled against lifestyle that was his own, and he stepped to people like he knew something about having a rough life. This wasn't a rough life in any way. He was repressing his advantages in life... And for that, I felt bad for him.

"Oh no," she said, looking down at her watch. Her eyes returned to mine. "I actually have to go, but if all else fails, just storm upstairs into his room and tell him that I had to leave for a meeting, but his dad will be home soon for lunch."

It was hard not to share a smile with her, and for some reason I felt some appreciation for her in a maternal sense. I hadn't had a mother in a long while, but the same instinct that I had towards Ryder, I had towards the belief that his mom was a good mom. And then she took me into a hug. I felt like the one character in the movie that was talked up without my knowing and appreciated to overcompensate for something. It's like she knew me and knew that I would be around more.

I wondered if she had moments like that with Stella.

She pulled away from the hug, grabbed her purse, and exited the house with a chirp from the door's alarm. This big house could've been empty for all I knew and honestly, I didn't want to venture upstairs to find Ryder.

But the thought was abandoned as soon as he thought to me one request: Come on up.