Broken Love (Broken 4)

“Snap out of it, Ryder! You can’t be in love for fucks sake. You just slept with her. You hardly know each other.”

Ava pushed Nate out of the way and stood in front of me. “Ryder,” she choked out. “Did you … um … did you mean what you said?”

My mouth opened to speak, but nothing would come out. “I … um … I … ahh …”

“It’s the magical pussy effect. That’s what this is. I’ve seen plenty of good men go down because of it.”

Snapping my head over to Nate, I narrowed my eyes at him as Ava continued to wait for my answer. Pinning him with a glare, I said, “You’re such an asshole, Nate.”

“Tell me I’m lying. You can’t even answer her right now. It’s the classic symptom.”

Closing my eyes, I tried to get my thoughts together as Nate continued to run his mouth. When I opened my eyes, I looked back to Ava only to see her eyes filling with doubt.

Oh shit.

“Ava, I—”

“There y’all are!” Liza called out as she walked hand in hand with Walker up to us. Lifting my head, my eyes caught Walker’s and I could see the big brother protectiveness coming out loud and clear.

“Ava, dad is looking everywhere for you. When you and Ryder didn’t show up for breakfast, the steam was practically coming from his head,” Walker said as he shot daggers at me.

“Thanks,” Ava said as she turned and st

arted walking away from me.

“Wait, Ava!” I called out as she grabbed Liza and began walking quickly back toward the house.

Walker walked up to me and put his hand on my chest as Nate said, “Oh hell. Here we go. First comes the brother, then it will be the best friend Jase, and the grand finale … the dad.”

If Nate were a few feet closer, I would have punched him just to shut him up.

Walker’s jaw tensed as he asked, “What did you do to my sister?”

“I didn’t do anything!”

Nate laughed. “Bull shit he didn’t. He told her he loved her! Can you believe that shit?”

Walker’s eyes softened as he searched my face. “You love my sister?”

“No!” I shouted.

Walker pulled his head back in surprise. “I mean, yes! I mean … fuck I don’t know what I mean! I just blurted it out. I … I don’t know why I said it.” My hands pushed through my hair as I let out a frustrated sigh. “No, I do know why I said it. It’s just … I was so overcome with these stupid emotions and I didn’t want to say it like that.”

Before I knew it, Walker was laughing his ass off. Laughing so much he had tears. Nate and I stood there and stared at him.

“Why is he laughing?” Nate asked in a whispered voice.

With a shrug of my shoulders, I replied, “I have no idea, but I’d much rather him be laughing than looking at me like he wants to kill me.”

Lifting his hand, Walker said, “Wait … oh man. Give me a second.”

“I’m glad you find this funny,” I responded as I made my way to the house.

Walker wiped his tears away as he walked next to me. “Sorry, dude. It’s just the look on your face. It was priceless. You have been bitten by the love bug for sure.”

There was that word again. “I need to talk to Ava. She thinks I didn’t mean to say I loved her, but I did mean to say it. I just didn’t want to say it like that and then when she asked if I meant it I couldn’t say it again! I need to tell her I can say it and mean it.”

After letting out a long dramatic sigh, Walker slowly shook his head. “I should be really concerned that I understood all of that.”