He really doesn't know shit. I wasn't the predator, his sister made me her prey.
I might have found her, but she came to me, I didn't force her into anything she didn't want.
“I think that she's young and doesn't know any better.” His lips curl angrily as he bares his teeth. “But I do. I understand men like you. You find a vulnerable girl, alone and in need, and then you strike. I'm warning you, stay away from her.” He points his finger directly in my face.
I can't stop myself. I slap his hand away, gritting my teeth and puffing out my chest. I'm not going to stand here and let him treat me like some pervert. As if this was all planned and my goal was to get in her pants.
“Get your fucking finger out of my face,” I bark through clenched teeth. Taking a firm step in, I crook my jaw. “You don't have a damn clue what you're talking about.”
“Bullshit I don't. I know your reputation. And I know my sister, and she deserves better.”
“Maybe you don't know her as well as you think.” Storming past him, I let my shoulder slam against his, causing him to teeter on his feet.
“Hey!” Marc yells, attempting to rush toward me.
But Ryder grabs his arm and pulls him back, shaking his head no. “Just let him go. He isn't worth it.”
Every muscle in my body is shaking. If Ryder thinks his sister is a delicate flower, he hasn't been paying any attention to her. She made it clear to me already that she doesn't want someone cradling her all the time.
If I can know that about her in just two weeks, where the hell has he been?
Driving home, my hands are gripping the steering wheel so tight my knuckles are white. I can't stop thinking about what Ryder said.
I am older than her. Her life is just beginning. We might have hopped onto the same path, but we're not walking the same walk.
Am I any better than. . .
I think back to a girl from my past. A friend who needed help and nothing more, and I was there for her. There was a guy twice my friend's age stalking her. He wouldn't leave her alone, and the police wouldn't do anything to protect her.
This situation isn't exactly the same, but what makes me any different than that guy? I'm older than her by a decade. She's only eighteen, a single foot into adulthood. I might not be stalking her, but I'll be holding her back from experiencing life.
Just like the stalker stopped my friend Sadie from living, I'll be stopping Melody. I've already been her age. I've been stupid and reckless. I made mistakes and grew into the man I am today.
I'll be stripping her of all those experiences, holding her back. She might regret it later. Having not gone out to party with her friends. Not going on random road trips. Not being free to follow the wind wherever it takes her.
Melody deserves the chance to figure out her life without an older man tying her down to a place she might not want to be. It isn't fair for her to have to settle for anything because of me.
My head is trying to do the right thing. It wants to be rational, to recognize the truth of what this is. It’s just a fling. We're having fun right now, but in the end, we can never be together. Ten years is a big difference.
But my heart, my heart is speaking a different language. It isn’t using logic. My heart only feels. It feels her. It wants her. It needs her. And right now, it's so heavy at the thought of ever letting her go.
I'm in too deep, and the idea of becoming the man she'll grow to resent pains me. I won't become her big mistake. I have to do the right thing.
And it's not what I want. Except, this isn't about me at all. This is for her. No matter how much I hate the idea of this, there's no avoiding it.
I have to let her go.
11
Melody
'Your call has been forwarded—'
Hanging up, I send Bran another text. Not just another text, but the millionth message in the past two days. He probably thinks I'm crazy for texting him so much, but this is driving me nuts.
Where are you? Call me. Hitting send, I toss the phone on my bed.
I haven't heard from him since the day at the waterfall, and that was four days ago. My mind has been running wild. I knew it was risky opening up to him and telling him the one thing I absolutely know I want one day.
I shouldn't have said anything to him about wanting a family.
Dropping onto the mattress, I tuck my hands under my legs and hang my head. Ryder told me he was a loner, he warned me Bran wasn't a good guy. He left his family, abandoned them as if they meant nothing to him.