I knocked on the door timidly.

"What do you bloody want?" I hear a gruff voice from the other side.

I poked my head inside and saw him laying in his bed and staring up at the ceiling.

"I-its just me" I whispered timidly, afraid to spike his anger seeing as he had just been shot. But to my surprise, when he looked at me, his eyes softened.

"Baby"

"Hey" I smiled shyly at his nickname for me. If someone had held a tomato next to my face, they wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two.

I took a few steps inside then stopped as I saw Ryder slowly sit up and leaned on the bed rest. His hair was messy but somehow it made him look even sexier. He was still a little pale but not as much as he was before. His shoulder was bandaged and looked like it had stopped bleeding.

He had no shirt on.

Dear God.

His tattoo was on full display and so was his abs. He looked like he was fully sculpted by the hands of God himself. Every part of his body was defined and looked rock hard.

I immediately snapped myself out of my daze and willed my eyes to stay on his face.

He had a lazy grin on when I looked back up. Why did that make him look even sexier?

"Like what you see?" He raised a brow cockily.

I held my head down and summoned my inner tomato once more. He laughed at my embarrassment.

"You're cute when you blush" he said with that same cute grin in his face.

You're not helping here.

Then he stopped laughing and called for me. "C'mere"

I slowly inched forward, a little closer to the bed. I didn't want to get too close then do something clumsy that could cause him more pain.

"Closer Dori" he chuckled.

I took one more step.

"Closer"

Another step.

"Closer"

One more step.

"Just a little bit closer"

Another one inch step.

"You're almost there"

By the time I took the next step, I was at the end of the bed facing him. That was where I chose to stop.

"Come closer" he urged but I shook my head.

He frowned a bit. "Why not?"

I pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. He might think I'm stupid.

"Dori" he called my attention.

"I-I m-might be clumsy and end up hurting y-you" I whispered.

He didn't say anything for a while so I looked up and saw him smiling at me with an admiring look in his eyes.

"You won't do anything wrong. I trust you" I looked at him and took a deep breath then walked right over to him. He smiled at me and Pat his lap indicating for me to sit there. I furrowed my brows.

"Won't I hurt your shoulder?"

He shook his head. "I'll support you with my good arm" and with that I sat. As soon as I made myself comfortable on his lap, he wrapped his right arm around my waist and pulled me into him and nuzzled my neck. He inhaled deeply then let out a content sigh.

He pulled away from me and looked dreamily into my eyes. We stayed like that for a while, me wondering why all of a sudden he decided to start a staring contest.

"What?" I asked, chuckling a bit.

He smiled. "I love that"

"Love what?"

"The sound of you laughing and how your eyes light up every time you smile" he explained. Then all of a sudden, his face fell into a more serious expression. "You are beautiful and I love you"

It took a while for my brain to process his words but as soon as I did, my heart decided that it was the perfect time to take control. And you know what it made me do?

I kissed him.

Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I didn't want to, it's just that I would never have initiated it.

His response was almost immediate, as if he had wanted to do it as much as I did. He kissed me with longing and adoration and love. When I tried to pull away, he placed a hand in the back of my head and pulled me back in. I smiled against his lips and tangled my hands in his soft black hair.

I loved him so much. And to think my father tried to take him away from me.

With that thought, I pulled away. He looked back at me with a confused look. "What's wrong? He asked softly.

My eyes travelled over to his bandaged shoulder. Did my father really do this?

Ryder's eyes followed mine and stared at the wound. "You're not hurting me Dori. Micah gave me some pain killers so it doesn't hurt as much. I'll be fine in a fe-"

"W-who shot you?"

He paused, staring up at me as if that was the last thing he would've expected me to say. I had obviously caught him off guard. But then his shocked expression was replaced by a small grin.

"You don't have to worry about that Princess" He was trying to brush off the matter, but I wasn't giving up that easily.

"I wanna know who it was and seeing as you're a gang leader, I'm pretty sure you already got you guys to figure out who it was. Tell me." I said with as much determination as I could muster.

The tiny grin fell from his face. "Dori-"

"Tell me"

"You shouldn't have to worry about that"

"But I do" he looked at me with furrowed brows, a strange look in his eyes, almost as if he knew what I was thinking. His long silence confirmed my answer.

I shook my head and got off his lap and started to pace the room.

"So it was my father!" I exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Well it technically wasn't your father" he said staring at me with fear in his eyes. "It was someone else who he sent. Dennis managed to get the license plate number and we used satalite images to track the car and it headed straight for you father's gang house." He explained. " I swear I wanted to tell you but- Dori?"

I was hyperventilating. A million thoughts were running through my head as I pulled at my hair frustratingly.

Ryder noticed my panicked state and started to get up off the bed while holding his bruised shoulder. Seeing that brought about another thought.

"He was trying to kill you!" I said pointing to his injured shoulder. "The bullet's in your l-left shoulder w-which means he was aiming for y-your heart!" I was becoming very frantic by this time. My thoughts were whirling around in my mind and it felt like I could barely breathe. "H-h-he was trying to k-kill you" I whispered, the realization slowly sinking in. "You could've died"

Ryder shook his head at me and cupped my face in one hand. "But I didn't"

I pulled away from his grasp. "But you could've!"

"But I didn't"

"But you could have!" I yelled at him as tears rolled down my cheeks. Why couldn't he understand?! "Y-you c-could have" I whispered in a trembling voice as I fell on my knees with my face in my hands. "This is all my fault"

"No!" Ryder said in a very commanding voice. He knelt down in front of me and touched my shoulder, turning my attention to him. "This is nobody's fault but mine. You told me to stay out of it and I didn't, I went behind your back and tried to find him without your permission. It this is anybody's fault, it's mine" he tried to convince me.

Why won't he get it?

"If I hadn't come into your life then this wouldn't hav-"

"No, fuck that!" He yelled. "Fuck that shit about you coming into our lives. I don't care! I need you" his eyes were pleading with mine. "It doesn't matter who's fault this is. All that matters is that we figure out a way to solve this. Together" held my hands in his and looked me in the eyes waiting for an answer.

"Ryder" I sighed looking into his eyes. I knew he wanted me to drop the topic and stop telling myself that it was my fault but this was not something that I could let go of so easily.

But the look in his eyes made me surrender. Just for tonight.

"Fine"

His face lit up at that which made a warm feeling appear in my heart. "Yeah?"

"Yeah" I said with a smile. It was nice seeing him happy. He took my hand and led me to the bed. We layed down and I felt his arm snake around my waist, pulling me closer to him.

"Goodnight Princess" he said as he kissed my neck.

"Goodnight"

Only, it wasn't going to be.