ryder
“FELICITY!”I pound the door so hard, my knuckles go bloody. “Please, baby, open up. Let me explain.”
There’s no answer.
“It’s not what you think,” I say, voice breaking as my forehead comes down to rest against the wood. “I swear…”
God, I sound pathetic.
I am pathetic.
I knock again, softer this time. “Felicity. Please. Talk to me.”
Lincoln and Aiden wander in, eyes wide as they take in the scene. Aiden, as always, is all too perceptive. The expression on his face tells me he knows exactly what’s going on, in that bathroom.
“What’s the deal?” Linc asks in a murmur. “Is she okay? Areyouokay?”
I turn back to the door, hands braced against the frame. I can feel my heart racing at twice its normal speed as my ears strain for signs of life.
“Felicity, I’m getting worried. It’s been twenty minutes.” I swallow hard. “If you don’t open the door or at least let me know you’re okay, I’m taking it off the damn hinges.”
There’s no answer.
Running my hands through my hair in exasperation, I turn to face the guys. “I think you two should go on ahead, without us.”
“Dude. It’s the fucking Wildwood launch party.” Linc pauses. “We can’t show up without Wilde or Woods.”
“You’re going to have to,” I snap. “I’m not leaving her behind.”
He holds up his hands in a defensive move, turns on a heel, and walks out.
Aiden lingers for a moment. “Tell her I’m sorry for my part in it.”
I watch him leave, jaw ticking rhythmically as I clench and unclench my teeth. I can’t believe how out of control things have gotten. I can’t believe I’m standing outside my own bathroom, shouting till my voice goes hoarse and banging till my skin breaks, because the woman I love has locked herself away from me.
Over and over, I replay the haunted look on her face when she asked me what was in the bag — like she was staring at someone she’d never seen before in her life. Someone untrustworthy.
I sit down with my spine against the door, lean my head back to the wood, and wait. At least fifteen minutes tick by in total silence. There’s nothing I can say to reach her. Nothing I can do with a door between us. So, I use the only option I have left at my disposal. I start to sing the song I wrote her months ago, back before we came here, when life was simpler. Whenwewere simpler — two foolish kids falling in love too fast, with no fucking clue where this crazy road would take us.
“Why would I tear you apart when I could walk away?
Why would I tell you the truth is, I just want to stay?”
My low, rasping words vibrate with every feeling buried inside me. All the things I’d like to say to her, all the truths I need to admit, but can’t find the words to speak.
“Wasn’t till I left that it hit me…
I was in love… with a girl named Felicity…”
The door yanks open abruptly and I fall backwards, bashing my head against the bathroom tile. I stare up at her, hovering over me. Her eyes are red from crying, her pretty makeup streaked and ruined.
“You can’t just sing that and hope it fixes everything,” she tells me in a broken voice. “Pretty lyrics won’t do anything to resolve this.”
“They got you to open the door,” I point out softly, sitting up. I rub the back of my head.Holy fuckthat hurt. I’m going to have a bump the size of an egg.
Climbing to my feet, I see she’s backed away from me, creating as much distance as possible between us in the small bathroom. When I take a step, she throws up a hand to still my motion.
“No.” Her slender neck convulses as she swallows harshly.