“No,” he spluttered, seeing my solemn expression. “I didn’t mean slow us down. I meant this. I don’t want to scare you away.”
I reached my hands up to hold his face, just like he was holding mine and I kissed him, a soft gentle kiss on the lips, then I pulled away.
“You aren’t going to scare me away. You never have, and you never will. I want you, Ryan Hardy, rough edges and all. I. Want. You.” I made sure to emphasise the last part. I needed him to know that I was in this one hundred percent.
He wrapped his arms around me to hold me close, and buried his face in my neck like he was breathing me in.
“There’s no rush,” he said. I could feel his heart beating wildly in his chest and I squeezed him tightly to me.
“I know,” I whispered back. “I’m not going anywhere.”
We stayed like that for a while, me sat on the altar, and him stood in front of me, both of us holding the other like we’d found something so precious we were scared to let go in case the fragile moment shattered like paper thin glass.
Today, we’d given each other a part of ourselves that no one else had ever seen. He’d always be Ryan Hardy; tough guy, Renaissance man and one of the lads. But this boy, right here in my arms, he was my Ryan. Kind, gentle, loving, and all mine.
Reluctantly, after a time, Ryan pulled back and said, “There’s one more thing I need to do tonight.”
I smirked, having absolutely no clue what it was that he needed to get done. But I nodded, and he held my hand as I slid off the altar. Then he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and kissed the top of my head.
“It’s a guy thing,” he said with a hint of amusement in his voice.
Interesting.
Ten minutes later, we were pulling back up to the kerb opposite my house. I looked at my watch to see it was just before eight. Great. I was getting front row seats to watch Chase get stood up.
“Really?” I side-eyed Ryan. “You’re gonna make me watch him get shot down?”
“You don’t have to look if you don’t want to, but I’ve waited all week for this.” Ryan reached over and grabbed my hand, pulling it into his lap and threading his fingers with mine. Suddenly, I didn’t care what we were here for. All that mattered was him. I leant across and kissed his cheek and he turned to take my mouth in another toe-curling kiss. I loved the way we fit together so perfectly. His mouth over mine, our tongues laced together. The taste of him was hypnotic. I was well and truly under his spell.
We broke away when we heard a car engine roar to a stop next to us.
“Showtime,” Ryan sang, settling further down in his seat and winding his window down. We watched as Chase checked himself in his mirror, patting his over-gelled hair and then grinning at his own reflection.
“What a knob.” I shook my head and Ryan laughed.
“He loves himself way more than he could ever love anyone else. You probably did him a favour tonight, babe. The waiter only needs to put a mirror on the table. He can sweet talk himself all night.”
I laughed, but the fact he’d called me babe, made the rest of his words sound like white noise. I liked being his babe.
Chase got out of the car and we saw him root around in his pockets and pull out what looked like a foil packet. Condoms.
“Motherfucker,” Ryan spat, and I squeezed his hand as he tensed up beside me. Chase stuffed them back into his jeans and we both saw him smirk to himself. “I swear to God, I’m gonna kick the shit out of him one of these days.”
“Not tonight, babe,” I said, using Ryan’s pet name and he turned to me and grinned, then lifted my hand up and kissed the back.
“I don’t need to. I’ve got you. I don’t need anything else.”
I had to resist the urge to throw myself across the van and launch myself on him.
Yes, Ryan. You do have me.
Instead, we both went back to watching the farce that was my non-date with Chase unfold. He rang the doorbell, gave his hair one last pat and shape for good measure, and when my mum answered, he straightened up, no doubt giving her a full dose of the Lockwood charm. I could see mum frowning and then shrugging her shoulders.
Chase started to rub at his perfectly set hair, causing it to fall out of place as he tried to work out what the hell was going on. I wasn’t there and being told no was something Chase Lockwood didn’t like to hear, ever. Even when you actually said it to him, he didn’t listen. It made me go cold thinking about other times I might’ve said no, and he’d just disregard my feelings. I’d had more than a lucky escape. Ryan had saved my ass tonight.
Mum and Chase stood for a minute longer, Mum looking uncomfortable and probably asking him if he’d like to come in and wait, and Chase shuffling on his feet hopefully feeling like a prize twat. Then he spun around and marched down the steps away from our porch. Mum bit her lip, scowled and then shut the door.
Just as Chase was about to open his car door, Ryan beeped his horn and Chase’s head shot up. He narrowed his gaze like he was trying to make out who we were and then his face dropped. Ryan flipped him the bird, then he started the engine up and rolled the van forward a few feet to put us adjacent to Chase’s parked car. Chase folded his arms and huffed a laugh, looking down the road and then back at us sat in Ryan’s van.