Avenging You

Chapter 22

Parker

I open my eyes and gasp and look around my room as I see I’m back home. A part of me wants to open my phone and check the email that Ashton sent me, but I stop myself. I should save that for a day when I really need it.

It was so good seeing him. It was exactly what I needed and… he gave me his blessing to move on. I mean, I guess I always knew he would be okay with it, but now that I know it for a fact, I need to make a move.

I purse my lips contemplating if I should do it now. And I push myself off the bed knowing that I need to speak to Ryan before I lose my nerve.

If I’m going to move on, I can’t think of anyone better than Ryan.

I open my door and see Ryan starting to climb the ladder to head outside. I'm surprised he's still down here, but I guess he was waiting to see if I would come out to talk to him. I build up my courage and I call out his name, “Ryan.”

He looks towards me surprised that I’m ready to talk already. I guess that although it feels like it’s been a long time for me it’s probably only been a couple of minutes.

He sighs and gets back off the ladder as he says, “Yeah, Parker?”

I look around us making sure that we’re alone. No one else is around and I rush towards him and pull his face to mine in a kiss. He’s shocked at first, it takes him a moment to react, but when he does, he grabs my waist and pulls me closer to him. He lightly bites my lip wanting me to let him in- I hesitate, but open and let our kiss get deeper. I tug on his dirty blonde hair and his hand travels lower and he squeezes my ass making me squeal into our kiss.

After a few minutes we finally pull away and I feel breathless from the intense kiss. He puts his forehead against mine and says in a husky voice, “What made you change your mind?”

“Honestly? You’re right. Ashton would want me to move forward and he would be happy to know I was moving forward with you because he knows that you would always take care of me.”

He smiles at my response and I say, “But I want to keep this on the down low. This is something AJ has wanted to happen and if it doesn’t work out then I don’t want him to know about it.”

“I agree, I don’t want to upset him. So, how about tonight when everyone goes to bed we meet outside?”

I nod, “That sounds nice.”

He says, “I’m going to go back out… do you want to join?”

“I’ll wait a minute, I don’t want it to look to obvious.”

He smiles and nods, “Makes sense.”

I turn to walk back towards my room, and he says, “Hey Par.”

I look towards him and he says, “Thanks for giving us a shot.”

I nod, “Thanks for… not giving up on me.”

He smiles and climbs out the hatch and I sigh softly trying to ignore the little bit of guilt I’m feeling over moving on. But I know Ashton told me to and I know this is good for me… even if it hurts a little bit.

Ryan

When I get outside, I see that Emma and Ava are now playing with AJ and Skye is off with the boys and getting a training session in. I’m up for that so I rush over, and Skye is eager to fight with me.

When it comes to hand-to-hand combat, I’m one of the best and she knows it. I try my best to focus on her, but it’s hard when I’m so excited about what’s going on with Parker.

I can’t believe she kissed me. God, the feeling of her lips on mine was just perfect and her body pressed against mine… it’s like we were molded to be with one another.

I know that if Bella and Ashton were still here, we would be with them, but at the same time I can’t help but wonder if maybe we were the ones who were always meant to be.

I would never say this to Parker- I know it would upset her. Maybe it’s just because it’s been a while since I’ve dated anyone, but I just don’t remember feeling so… perfect.

I know I’m going to have to work hard not to scare Parker off because I know that she’s not in the same place as me and she’s going to want to move a lot slower than I do. But I’m willing to wait for her. She’s a girl worth waiting for.

I guess I got distracted for too long because I feel a small shock go through me. I glare at Skye and say, “Hey, I thought this was a no powers round.”

She shrugs, “You weren’t responding or acting like you were even fighting so I needed to get you out of your daze.”

I roll my eyes at her as she comes towards me ready to punch me and she asks, “What were you thinking of anyways?”

I dodge her and swipe a leg under her making her fall down and I answer, “It doesn’t matter.”

Her eyes spark with mischievousness and she asks, “Does it have to do with Parker?”

I roll my eyes and try to act exasperated at the suggestion, “You know that she and I are not on the best terms right now.”

She stands up and looks at me skeptically. Her arms are down, and I can tell the fight is over for now anyways. She says softly, “Be careful around AJ, okay? He can tell if you love someone… don’t get his hopes up for nothing.”

She leaves me after that and goes back towards the girls and AJ and I watch her curiously. Tom asks, “You okay, Ryan?”

I nod, “Yes sir, anything else we need to do?”

He shakes his head no and says, “Do what you want. I need to go talk to Parker and we’ll figure out what the next steps are for all of us.”

I nod and watch as Tom walks away.