Avenging You

Chapter 28

Ryan

It’s like 4:00 a.m. when the lights come on in the kitchen and I hear noises. Both Skye and I get up with a groan and we watch as Parker stumbles in and begins to make herself a pot of coffee. AJ coms into the kitchen and sits at the table while he waits for Parker to make his food.

Standing up and coming closer to them it is obvious that neither one of them are doing too good right now. Parker has bags underneath her eyes, and it looks like she’s been messing with her hair a lot. It even looks like AJ has bags under his eyes.

Skye seems to notice it too because she looks at me with a concerned expression. She walks over to check on AJ while I walk over to Parker. I lean against the counter and cross my arms as I watch her waiting for her to look at me.

She never even acknowledges my existence it’s like she’s in autopilot mode. I look at the table and see Skye talking quietly with AJ so I’m thankful that at least he is conversing with someone.

When Parker gets close enough to me, I grab her elbow and say softly, “Par?”

Her eyes meet mine immediately and for a moment I almost go inside her head. I never do that mainly because I respect her privacy, but also because her head is normally locked up like a vault that is hard to get into without her permission.

Right now, it’s not. I almost slipped in without even trying and I don’t think that she even notices it. I ask, “Are you okay?”

She nods, “Yeah, yeah, just a… just uh…” She spaces out and shakes her head and goes back to preparing eggs for AJ.

I look up and see that Tom, Emma, Jasper, and Ava came out of their rooms and just saw our interaction. All of them look really tired, but Tom and the girls look really concerned about Parker meanwhile Jasper looks like he’s kind of pissed off that he got woken up so early. Jasper walks over to us and says in a harsher tone due to his grumpiness, “Parker.”

She jumps a little because he took her off guard and she looks at him and says, “Hey Jasper, do you want some eggs?”

He shakes his head no, “I’m fine. Let me get that for AJ. How about you go get some rest?”

She shakes her head no as she says, “N-No, I’m fine.”

Ava’s voice rings out as she walks closer to her and she sounds motherly as she says, “Parker, it’s obvious you’re tired.”

Parker tries to back away but bumps into me and jumps as she looks at me in surprise. Skye stands up and says, “Parker, you and AJ both need to rest. I’ll stay with him and Ryan can stay with you.”

AJ’s voice speaks up, “Mama needs me to keep the gray away. I have to stay with mama.”

I look at Parker curiously trying to figure out what he meant and Skye sighs, “AJ, Ryan has an ability that can keep the gray away from mommy’s head, okay?”

He nods and yawns loudly and asks, “Can I eat before going to bed?”

“Of course, kid.” She answers and she looks to Jasper and asks, “Can you finish his eggs?” She looks at Parker and says, “Go back to bed. Ryan will help you. You know that he’s capable.”

Parker nods and walks back towards her room and I follow her. I feel really weird going off with her alone because we agreed not to do this kind of thing in front of AJ, but I know that this isn’t anything romantic and is actually something that we need to do for her wellbeing.

She lies down on her bed and stares up at the ceiling and tells me, “Every time I fall asleep Hunter gets in my head. I haven’t been able to rest all night. AJ can sense his presence and sees the gray color around my head and has to push him out of my head. So, AJ has only been able to sleep for a few minutes at a time and when I fall asleep it’s like I’m not even asleep during those few short minutes before AJ brings me back.”

I nod in understanding as I lie down on the bed and she immediately rolls over and puts her head on my chest and I put a hand on her head as I play with her hair trying to do any type of soothing motion that might lull her to sleep.

I ask, “Do you think Hunter knows what’s happening?”

She yawns as she says, “No, he doesn’t. He knows I keep leaving, but I don’t think he realizes I don’t have a choice about it. I think he thinks I’m doing it on my own.”

I nod in understanding and she says, “Thank you for coming in here. I know we agreed not to.”

I chuckle, “Well, this isn’t anything romantic. I would do this for anyone that has that psychopath trying to live in their head.”

She laughs and ends up snorting which makes both me and her laugh. She says with a sigh, “You always know how to lighten the mood.”

I say, “Well, isn’t that my job as your best friend?”

She yawns and says, “Are you my best friend though or my boyfriend?”

“Well, who says I can’t be both? Besides… do you want me as your boyfriend?”

We never made anything official since we were doing things on the down low and trying to take things slow, so I’m surprised she made that comment. I think it’s something that slipped out due to her sleepy state. She doesn’t answer me, and I can feel her body relaxing, but then she jumps as if she’s scared and I say, “Shhh, it’s Parker. I got you. I’ll stay in your head and keep your walls up, Par. Just get some rest.”

She nods and says, “Thanks Ryan.”

A moment passes and I thought from her deep breathing that she was asleep, but I could swear that I heard her murmur, “I love you.”