When To Let Go (28 page)

Parker, Ava, and their parents acted strange the entire time, nervous one could say. It had him uneasy.

“So, Ryder,” Naomi began, halfway through them watching him eat. “There’s a specific reason we all came here today.”

His food churned in his stomach.

He only blinked back at her to continue.

Stevie reached over for her partner’s hand, giving it a squeeze, smiling at her.

It seemed to give Naomi the courage she needed to continue, “When we adopted Parker and Ava we felt our family had become complete. That all was right in world. We hadn’t met
you
yet.”

Ryder shifted uncomfortably in his seat, unsure of where this was going.

Ava and Parker’s large smiles had him unable to look at them.

Stevie took over, gently placing a hand over his, something she did more and more of. He had slowly become accustomed to it, to the point that a few times he hadn’t even noticed she’d done it.

“You’ve become a staple in all our lives,” Stevie fondly smiled. “Movie night wouldn’t be the same without the way you season popcorn.”

A smile tugged the corner of his mouth. He found it amusing the way they went crazy over his popcorn.

“You’ve become another sibling to our children,” Stevie paused, looking into Naomi’s eyes, both of theirs watering. “We love you as though you were ours.”

A lump formed in his throat and he had to look down at his plate.

“We know you’re too old to be adopted, but we be wanted to find a way to make you being a part of this family official,” Naomi took his other hand. “We’d be honored if you took our name and became a Stone.”

Ryder looked up, overwhelmed, tears forming for the first time since he was a child.

They wanted him to be a part of their family.

It seemed too good to be true.

Parker slid some papers over to him, “This is the paperwork.”

“We’ll all go with you. We can celebrate after,” Ava smiled with encouragement.

Parker handed him a pen, “What do you say?”

He had no words for the gift they had just given him. His deepest wish was about to come true. He would have a family to call his own.

He took the pen and began filling out the paperwork.

Summer arrived and in the blink of an eye it was already the Fourth of July.

The Baxters were having their annual barbeque with the Stones and the Kings.

Violet’s boyfriend had flown in to be a part of it.

Noah had warned her that either she brought him home to meet everyone or he’d go find him.

No surprise what she chose.

That meant Parker was stuck watching him always touching her in some way.

Noah jutted a chin toward the couple as they chatted with Lily and Maggie, “What do you think?”

Parker couldn’t lie to Noah, “I hate him.”

“Me too.”

“He touches her too much.”

“Yup.”

They drank in silence, watching the couple.

“Should I do something about it?”

Parker wanted him to so badly, but his relationship with Violet was starting to heal, “No.”

“That’s not what I wanted to hear.”

Join the club.

Parker watched as Violet shook her head no to whatever the boyfriend had whispered in her ear.

He pecked her lips, getting up from the bench.

Parker's grip tightened around his can of soda, denting the aluminum.

The boyfriend approached the coolers. The same place Parker had taken root.

He tried engaging Noah in conversation. Noah made up some excuse to leave.

The boyfriend opened a cooler, grabbing a beer, “He doesn’t like me very much, does he?”

Why did he have to try and talk to him?

“Noah doesn’t like anybody.”

The boyfriend removed the cap, “He seems to like you.”

“I’ve been around a long time.”

“Mm,” was his response, eyeing Parker up and down as he took a swig. “Violet said you were coming with her when she gets her tattoo.”

“Yup,” he popped out, taking a long swallow.

“That's not necessary, bro. I can take her.”

Parker's jaw twitched, “Well,
bro
, I promised her.”

“I’m her boyfriend,” he pointed out, as though it gave him the right to stake claim over what had been Parker's for over a decade. Or could have been his...

“I'm her best friend,” Parker countered, snarkier than he had intended. The boy was acid in his stomach that burned his lining and throat with every word he had to speak to him.

The boy snorted, “That's what she says too. Never had one of my friends eye fuck me the way you do her.”

Parker chugged the rest of his soda, not responding. What was there to say? He couldn’t deny what was obvious.

Violet took them by surprise, wrapping an arm around the boy’s waist, “You two look so serious.”

“Hey, babe,” the boy wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “Parker and I were just discussing how it's probably better if I took you on Tuesday.”

Violet looked at Parker in confusion, “You agreed to this?”

The boy answered for him, “Of course he did.”

“Oh,” Violet breathed out, frowning.

Parker was about to clarify when she shrugged, putting on her million dollar smile, “Okay, I guess.”

The happy couple left, leaving Parker to breathe and count to ten…one hundred, in order to calm down.

“Nobody should be that hot,” Dakota fanned herself in the desert heat, admiring Wes from afar.

Ava regretted inviting Dakota to the barbecue. She had thought it would be nice to have someone to talk to other than her family and also help keep her distracted from Wes. So far it was the opposite. All Dakota was doing was watching Wes and talking about him.

“Do you know if he has a girlfriend?” She waved a hand of dismissal, giving Ava a wink, “Never mind. What does it matter? She’s not here, right? I’m going to go talk to him.”

Ava tugged on her arm as she started to rise from the chair, “Wait. Isn’t that against friendship rules or something?”

“What?”

“Hitting on an ex-boyfriend?”

“Who the hell told you that?” Dakota scoffed, removing her arm from Ava’s grasp. “Honestly, Ava. You can be so naïve. Nothing in life is off limits.”

Five minutes into watching Dakota blatantly flirt with Wes, Ava feigned heat stroke, going into the air conditioned building.

She was surprised to find Maggie grooming in the downstairs bathroom.

“What are you doing?”

“The Kings will be here any minute. I want to look good.”

Ava had never seen Maggie care a day in her life about her appearance.

Her confused expression gave her away, compelling Maggie to explain, “I want X to be reminded of how much he once liked me.”

“I’m pretty sure his girlfriend’s coming,” Ava reminded her.

“I know. I’m just hoping…I don’t know, that maybe he’ll see me and know he could never like someone more. Is that wrong?”

“Are you finally going to admit how you feel about him?”

“I don’t know…”

“They’re here!” Mrs. Baxter shouted, coming into the house with ice cream to put in the freezer. “They have an announcement to make. They want everyone out there.”

Maggie and Ava followed her out.

Right away the couple announced their engagement and their plans to wed the summer they graduated.

Ava reached for Maggie’s hand, holding it tight, knowing what a broken heart felt like.

Everyone was congratulating and hugging the newly engaged couple, who were beaming, lit up from love.

Ryder Stone was hidden in the shadows, watching the pain on Maggie's face.

He hurt for her, yet at the same time ached, knowing she’d never feel that deeply for him or grieve over losing him.

She put on a brave face, but her usual glow had vanished the moment the couple arrived. She appeared genuine and happy as she took her turn congratulating them.

Ryder knew she was far from that. He'd been watching and observing her for years now and could easily read her emotions and body language.

The excited bride-to-be wanted to see the racetrack and where her future father-in-law spent most of his days. The same place Xavier had recounted some of his favorite childhood memories.

The fiancé “oohed” and “awed”, listening to Xavier explain the history and some of the impressive races held there. When he was done she turned to Maggie, “Xavier told me about how you plan on being a world famous racer?”

Maggie was curt, “Drifter.”

“Oh right, that’s where you do fancy turns and stuff.”

“Something like that.”

“Xavier also told me how you could never beat him,” the fiancé cuddled close to her soon-to-be husband, rubbing a hand over his chest, her ring sparkling in the sun for all to see. “That sounds just like my man. A winner through and through.”

Xavier affectionately kissed her temple before giving Maggie a challenging smirk, “When you’re good, you’re good.”

Maggie crossed her arms, “Ha! When was the last time you were out here? Last summer? I bet you’d see nothing but dust.”

“You’re on.”

Maggie seemed taken back, not expecting him to accept the challenge, “Fine, but don’t be embarrassed if you lose in front of your girlfriend.”

“Fiancé,” the newly engaged couple said at the same time.

Maggie and Xavier went to get their preferred drifting cars.

“Maggie, wait!” Violet called after her, running to catch up.

The two stopped a few feet away from Ryder.

“Don’t do this. You never drive your best when you’re upset.”

“I have to,” Maggie justified, desperation in her voice and honey-brown eyes. “I have to finally beat him. Please understand. I've lost my chance. I need it to matter.”

Violet reluctantly let her go, “Just promise you won't do anything reckless.”

Maggie crossed her heart, “I promise. This isn't about winning so much as it's needing to prove to myself that giving up what could have been was worth it, that my dream was worth it.”

Violet let out a long, drawn out sigh through her nose, “Alright.” She gave her sister a devilish grin, “Toast him.”

Light returned to Maggie’s face as she smiled back, “I plan on it.”

Ryder watched as the two cars lined up, Wesley the one to motion when the race began.

Maggie took the lead; however, it wasn’t long before they were taking turns on who was ahead.

It didn’t matter how many times Ryder had seen her behind the wheel, it still scared him. He held his breath the whole time, clenching and unclenching his fists.

Xavier won by a hood length.

Maggie was red-faced when she got out, standing on the door’s ledge to lean over the hood of the car, “Two out of three.”

“You're on!” Xavier agreed, not noticing the stress in her voice and the determination in her expression.

Ryder tried to get Violet or Wes's attention to tell them to stop her.

It wasn’t necessary. Violet was already running towards the car.

She said something nobody else could hear. Maggie shook her head no.

“Fine! I'm coming with you,” Violet declared, going around to the passenger’s side.

“Don't forget what you promised Dad, the one where you never put anyone else in harm’s way!” She yelled at her sister before climbing in and slamming the door shut.

The race was similar to before, the two cars, neck in neck. When Xavier started pulling a head, Maggie’s car sped up.

“Slow down, slow down,” Wes said under his breath. “She needs to slow down.”

It was Xavier who had the lead as they approached the last bend. Maggie’s car went even faster.

“What the fuck,” Parker cursed, coming closer to the guardrail, wrapping his fingers around it, his body hunched forward like he was ready to jump over it.

That’s when it happened. The moment that would irrevocably change all their lives.

Maggie hugged the rail, coming too close to Xavier’s back end, giving them no room to straighten for the final stretch.

Violet’s side smashed into the driver’s side of Xavier’s car, sending him rolling along the track. Maggie’s car spun out of control, eventually slamming the driver’s side into a guardrail. Xavier’s car only stopped when it smashed into Maggie’s car, driver’s side to passenger’s side. The two cars were smooshed together so badly that they almost appeared to be one car.

Everyone including Ryder gasped, all their mouths dropped open, eyes widening at the sight before them.

Chaos broke loose.

Xavier’s fiancé let out a blood curdling scream so loud that if the sound of the cars crashing hadn’t alerted everyone at the barbeque to the situation,
it
most certainly had.

Wes, Parker, and Ryder all ran to the cars at the same time.

As Ryder got closer he detached himself from the moment, knowing emotions should be kept out of this if he was to be of any help.

He got to the cars first, Xavier’s passenger’s side facing him. He went around to Maggie’s front side, trying to get a view through the windshield.

Ryder choked back the bile clogging his throat at the site of Violet covered in blood, a piece of metal jabbed in the side of her head. He immediately turned around to push Parker away, not wanting him to see her that way. He yelled out to make sure someone was calling nine-one-one at the same time he pulled out his own phone to do it.

“Holy shit. Is she dead?!” Parker cried, dropping to his knees when it was clear Ryder wasn’t letting him get any closer.

Ryder spoke with the dispatcher.

Noah must have teleported with how fast he got there.

Wes was the one holding him back, “No Dad, you don’t want to see them.”

Noah moved around his son, letting out a howl that echoed through the place at the sight of Violet and the metal sticking out of her head, limp, blood more visible than skin.

“Keep your mother away,” Noah demanded, going around to check on Maggie, who Ryder didn’t have the nerve to see.

More screams could be heard all around as parents arrived.

Malik was half inside his son’s car, crying out his name. He came out with a hand covering his mouth, backing up, shaking. He looked to his wife. Reading her husband’s face, she fell to the ground sobbing so hard it shook her entire body. Her two sons held on to her, looking to their father.

“He’s gone. My boy is gone,” he began repeating over and over again, not believing it to be true. The two brothers cried right along with their mother.

Xavier’s fiancé tried running to the car. Ryder had to let go of Parker to grab her. She fought him, hitting his chest.

Stevie came over to comfort her.

A fire truck was heard in the background.

Backup came soon after.

They had to section off the accident, policemen stopping anyone from trespassing. One of them had to threaten to arrest Noah when he refused. It was Lily’s pain that kept him from behind bars. The two held one another, watching as special vehicles arrived that would help them safely get to the three people trapped inside the smashed cars.