Chapter 31: The Picture

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I want to see you smile
Let me take your picture, baby
I'll save it for a rainy day

I woke up to the sight of bright hazel eyes staring at me.

To say I was surprised was an understatement.

Why?

Because I punched whoever owned those eyes.

"Shit!" Ryder yelped, his hand caressing his cheek as he sat up. "Kath, what the fuck?"

I sat up in surprise, my eyes wide. "I'm sorry! I was just shocked, I didn't know who you were for a second, so I panicked!"

"Most people scream when they're in shock!" he winced, massaging his cheek. "What is wrong with you?"

I smiled apologetically, rubbing my eyes to rub away the sleepiness. "Sorry, it's reflexes," I apologized before narrowing my eyes at him. "Why were you even staring at me? What's wrong with you?"

"You looked so peaceful and I wasn't used to it," he reasoned out. "And you had your arm around me, I was checking to see if you were doing it on purpose or not."

"Of course it wasn't on purpose, I was asleep!" I protested, heat rushing up to my cheeks. Did I really do that?

He smirked, but it faltered since his cheek still hurt. "Your eye twitched, sweetheart. I'd say you just wanted to feel my muscles."

As if on cue, he flexed.

I threw a pillow in his face. "I was asleep. I'm going down to get you ice, maybe that'll shut you up."

He ran in front of me before I could even open the door.

"No," he objected sternly, his eyes trailing down to my still bare legs. "You are not going down like that."

"Oh, my God, stop exaggerating, everyone has legs!" I threw up my hands. "It's not like I'm just wearing lingerie!"

"Can you just wear pants please?" he sighed.

Even though Ryder Rowland actually said please, I turned him down.

"I don't want to," I denied, making him sigh again. "Your hoodie is long enough anyway, stop worrying."

"That dude is going to stare at you creepily, I'm not taking any chances," he chided, a stern look on his face. "Just stay here, I'm going down myself."

He narrowed his eyes at me and closed the door, leaving me alone in the motel room. I sighed and lied back on the bed. I looked to my right to see Ryder's dead phone, making me remember that my phone was dead as well.

I looked at the motel phone on the bedside table, face-palming myself. We could've just called the lobby downstairs instead of arguing about who was going down.

I pressed the phone to my ear and pressed the button that said 'lobby.' After a ring, it was answered by a lady.

"What can I help you with?" she asked nicely, also with British accent.

I was disappointed that it wasn't Alexander, but I guess this was his relative or something.

"Do you guys happen to have an iPhone charger?" I inquired.

"No, but we can lend you ours," she replied. "I'll send someone to room 123 for that charger. Will that be all, miss?"

"Yes, thank you."

I put the phone down and went to the bathroom to freshen up. I washed my face and brushed my teeth with the motel toothbrush before studying myself on the mirror. My hair was a mess, so I tied it up into a messy bun. My skin was dry and I wasn't feeling so fresh, thanks to the stress my brother caused me. My eyes zeroed in on Ryder's hoodie, which was very comfortable and enormous on me.

Woah, I thought to myself. I actually slept with Ryder Rowland.

It was weird that I was comfortable enough with him to sleep on the same bed with him. Yes, we weren't given much of a choice, but I could've forced him to sleep on the floor or on the couch if I wanted to.

I was warming up to him, and I didn't like that at all. My laughter and smiles weren't fake, and I actually enjoyed spending time with him. Sure, he was annoying, but I found it bearable and actually kind of endearing.

Ew, what is happening to me?

The knock on the door wheeled me out of my thoughts. I slapped myself before walking to the door and opening it, revealing Alexander holding two iPhone chargers.

"Hello, love," he greeted, his eyes flashing to my legs for a moment before climbing up to my face. "Here are the chargers."

I swooned.

I smiled thankfully at him and grabbed the chargers. "Thanks, Alexander."

"Where's your boyfriend?" he asked, glancing around the room.

"Oh, he's not my boyfriend," I chuckled as I looked for a socket to plug the charger into. "He went down to get some ice though, I accidentally punched him."

I peeked at him to see he leaned on the side of the door with an amused grin settled on his lips.

"Oh, may I ask why?" he asked as I continued my search for sockets.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out," I winked at him.

He chuckled in response.

Finally, I found two sockets below a table. I bent down to plug in our phones when I heard a loud thud, followed by a yelp.

I whirled around to see Alexander on the floor, with Ryder standing up beside him with a furious expression on his face.

"What the bloody hell, mate?" Alexander hissed. He tried to go back up but Ryder pushed him down again.

"Ryder, what's wrong with you?" I asked, running towards Alexander.

He glared at me for my actions. "This creep was checking your ass out as you bent over, I was just teaching him a lesson."

I blushed and backed away from Alexander, inching towards Ryder. I pulled the hoodie down, attempting to hide my legs.

It didn't help that I saw something rising from Alexander.

"Oh, my goodness, get the hell out of our faces, now!" I barked. Ryder walked in front of me and hid me with his body as the creep trudged passed us, muttering profanities along the way.

Once he was gone, Ryder pulled me into our room. I noticed a vein popping from his neck and the way his jaw clenched, so I quietly walked away from him and put on my jeans.

I looked down and murmured, "Sorry," shoving my hands in the pockets.

"It's fine," he sighed, calming down. "Let's just go."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "I thought the car's broken?"

He gathered up his things and replied to me mindlessly. "I woke up earlier than you and called through a payphone for Triple A. It's as good as new now."

It was then I noticed that Ryder was wearing a shirt when I woke up, unlike last night. I was stunned that he made such an effort to wake up earlier and actually got the car fixed.

"Why didn't you wake me up? I could've kept you company." I asked as I gathered my things as well. Looking at our barely charged phones, I decided to steal one charger, leaving the other out of kindness.

He shrugged. "You look like you were having a good sleep, I didn't want to ruin it."

I was about to gush in response when a smirk spread on his lips.

"Also, I didn't want to ruin your dream, which was obviously about me."

I scoffed, leaving him inside the room. He trailed after me, chuckling at his own joke.

Alexander was by the lobby table, causing Ryder to growl at him and instinctively wrapped an arm around me. I shot Ryder a bemused look before casting the British creep a glare from hell. He slapped money on the table and stormed out without saying anything, dragging me along with him.

After getting in the car without any word, I checked my phone to see it had multiple calls and texts from Kaden.

Where are you?

Katherine, don't you dare make me stay a night here.

Fuck you, Kath.

Please come to me. There's a man in the cell that looks like he wants to eat me.

Hurry up, they're going to take my phone away. THEY'RE GOING TO MAKE ME SLEEP IN THE CELL HURRY THE HELL UP

BITCH THEY'RE GONNA TAKE MY PHONE AWAY WHERE TF ARE U

And last but not the least, his last text before probably going in the cell.

I hate you.

I was about to tell Ryder to step on it when my stomach growled loudly.

"Breakfast?" he asked, glancing at me.

I nodded sheepishly. "Breakfast."

Sorry, Kaden. But food > you.

*~*~*~*~*

"When I told you to bail me out right away, I meant right away," Kaden snarled as a policeman let him out. "Not a day after."

I opened my mouth for a retort when the police sneered at him. "Is that a way to talk to your mother?"

I smirked as Kaden grumbled through bared teeth. "Sorry, mother."

Ryder, who was right beside me, was doing everything he could do stifle his laughter. He kept coughing and wheezing, causing people around us to throw us weird looks.

Okay, I should probably explain. Since I wasn't eighteen, I couldn't exactly bail my older brother out. This already happened before, so I knew the drill. Yesterday, we had to stop by my house to get my brown wig and to steal my mother's ID. So now, I had on a brown wig that made me look like my mother and shades on so that they wouldn't distinguish my eye color.

I signed a few things with my mother's signature, something I learned to do since I was getting all these letters from teachers for all my trouble.

"You're a rude child, Kaden," I clucked my tongue, getting other people to snicker at him. "Maybe I should give you a spanking when we get home."

Eavesdroppers started chortling while Kaden glared at me.

"Shut it, Kath," he said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, don't worry, my boo," I cooed, patting his head like a child. I could see it took all of his power not to grab my hand and throw me to the floor. "After your spanking, your bubble bath is prepared, as well as all the Spongebob series that always seemed to calm you down."

Ryder choked back another laugh, causing a police officer to glance at us suspiciously. The others remained amused by us, making Kaden more and more embarrassed.

I could do this for a living.

Just before we exit, the police officer caught me by the arm.

"Mrs. Solace," he said as I flinched my arm away from him. "Could you take your sunglasses off?"

"Why?" I asked, feeling my heart race.

"Just for security," he replied, giving me a scrutinizing look.

"That's not necessary, officer," Ryder stepped in.

The policeman studied him with narrowed eyes. "And who are you?"

"Ryder Rowland," he snarked, emphasizing his last name. The officer widened his eyes in recognition.

"Oh, right, sorry... sir," the officer apologized, not quite sure what to do. In the end, he bowed, making the three of us snicker. "You three may go, sorry for the intrusion."

Ryder nodded at him and led us outside, Kaden and I sighing in relief when we were out of earshot.

"Never thought I'd be happy for being friends with some hotshot like you," I commented gratefully.

Ryder shrugged. "The name comes in handy sometimes."

When we neared his car, I heard Kaden gasp in surprise.

"You've got to be kidding me," Kaden marveled with wide eyes. "That's your ride? A fucking Bugatti Chiron?"

He nodded proudly.

"Sweet ride," my brother complimented as Ryder got to the driver's seat. He bent down my ear and whispered, "Marry this dude."

I raised an eyebrow. "I thought I shouldn't fall in love with any of them?"

"I never said anything about falling in love with him," he shrugged.

I gasped. "You heartless monster! I am not marrying his money."

"Guys," Ryder called out as Kaden burst out laughing. "We have a problem."

I raised an eyebrow.

"There's no room for another person."

Despite being the issue, Kaden's face lit up.

"You two are probably tired from the drive, aren't you?" he asked with a cunning look, making me narrow my eyes at him.

"Not really," I replied just as Ryder nodded.

I raised an eyebrow at the Playboy, in which he replied with a shrug.

"Well, don't let this trip go into waste!" Kaden continued, throwing his arms on us. "There are a lot of things to do in LA! There's even what we call the Grand Park's Winter Glow, you two can hang there and take pictures, whatever it is you youngsters do nowadays."

I cringed at the way Kaden said 'youngsters,' but Ryder didn't seem to care. He only perked up at the words 'take pictures.'

Oh, boy.

"What's the catch?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"You know me so well, little sis," he tutted. "But I only ask for this car until 10 PM, and I promise I'll return it unharmed. The park's near my apartment anyway, so it's not an inconvenience for any of us."

I shook my head. "Nu-uh, we're not agreeing to that."

"Actually..." Ryder chimed in. "I want to go."

I didn't. Sure, I was usually reckless and adventurous, but I was just so tired.

But Zachary's voice slid into my head.

Just go, blondie. It'll probably make that shithead fall faster for you.

I sighed. He was right. I should grasp every opportunity.

"Well, it could be fun," I shrugged, making Kaden's smirk widen. Ryder grinned. "Fine."

Kaden laughed manically after Ryder tossed his keys to my brother. He excused himself for a moment to call fo a cab to us while I stayed with Kaden.

"So are we going to talk about why you got arrested?" I asked in a low voice.

He frowned and looked at everything else but me. "The girl was drunk and is probably your age, and this douchebag was bothering her and telling her things girls her age shouldn't be hearing. I only did what was right, even if I got a little carried away."

I sighed. "I saw the pictures, Kaden. The officers could barely recognize the man because of all of his bruises."

"He deserved it," he snarled. "He was about to rape her, Kath."

"I know," I whispered, noticing how he clenched his jaw and pulled his hair as he ran through it. Something we both did when we were feeling crazy. I lowered his hand from his hair. "And you were right to save her, but they said you kept beating him up even when he passed out. Even you don't go that far."

"I'm sorry, okay?" he snapped, throwing my hand off him, his brown eyes blazing with anger. "I know I shouldn't have gone that far, but all I could think about was how the girl reminded me of you, and what I would do if that happened to you. The girl was your age, Kath, and she was defenseless. I wouldn't know what I'd do if some bastard ever laid a finger on you."

He was breathing heavily, his fists clenched with rage. I sighed and wrapped my arms around him, resting my head on his chest.

"Is that all, Kaden?" I asked quietly, knowing there was something else bothering him.

"You really do know me so well," he sighed, amusement laced in his tone as he rested his chin on top of my head. "I might have also been releasing my anger on that pedo. I dunno, with Grams gone, our parents fighting 24/7 and me not being there for the both of you, there's just a lot of pent of anger, you know?"

I nodded, hugging him tighter. It felt good that somebody else was sharing what I was feeling. "I understand. Christmas break is coming anyway, so hold on for a bit and you'll be home with us, okay? Just hold on. Don't ever do something like that again, even if that jackass deserved it."

He let me go and placed his hands on my shoulder, looking me in the eyes. "You hold on as well, yeah? Don't want my crazy sister getting crazier. And tell Karl I'm coming home soon."

I rolled my eyes but smiled, nodding at him.

"Um, sorry to interrupt your sibling moment," Ryder spoke up with a sheepish smile, "but cab's here."

Kaden clasped a hand in Ryder's shoulder. "You take care of my sister, okay?"

"And you take care of my car."

The two of them shook hands before Ryder opened the door for me, letting himself in after.

"So," I grinned at him. "You ready for an adventure?"

*~*~*~*~*

"Which shop are we going into?" he asked as we got out of the vegetarian restaurant.

We stopped for a snack first before going anywhere else, and that was when we realized we needed nice clothes if we were going to have a mini photoshoot.

I pursed my lips in thought before it widened into a grin. "How about we go to thrift shops? I heard it's quite popular around this area."

Despite my excitement, his face pulled into a frown. "Thrift shop?"

I raised my eyebrows. "Don't tell me you've never been into one."

He ran a hand on the back of his neck and shook his head.

"Okay, we're definitely going to thrift stores, rich boy," I stated, grabbing my hand in his and pulling him to a cab. I asked the driver to get us to the nearest thrift store, and he said he could bring us to a street full of those.

"Are those... safe?" he faltered as we came to a halt in the busy street of thrift shops.

"Well, it's a rarity for people to die here," I drawled, not shaking away his nervousness. Ryder handed the cab driver our payment before being led out by me. "So I guess it's safe."

Not waiting for him to reply, I pulled him to the nearest store. He seemed so agitated to be in a crowded place he wasn't used to that it almost made me burst out laughing. Instead of making fun of him though, I wrapped a hand around his and fought our way to our competitors who'd want the best deal as well.

"Why couldn't we just have went to Gucci or something?" he questioned impatiently. "I could have bought you what you wanted."

"I know," I replied indifferently as I scoured the place for a great deal. "But where's the thrill in that? Besides, you have to learn how to thrift. Life will not always be easy, you know?"

He scoffed. "I beg to differ, sweetheart. Life is always easy to me."

I raised an eyebrow at him, knowing fully well he didn't mean that. He turned his chin up and away from me though, insisting that title for himself.

I couldn't exactly blame him for thinking that though. He did always have it easy, with his looks and money. It didn't help that girls were flaunting themselves at him almost always. Him being the same arrogant boy he is got me to burst into determination and reminded me of why I was here in the first place.

To make him realize that life was not just at the palm of his hand.

"Okay, so here's what we're going to do," I began, releasing his hold and clasping my hands together. "We are going to get outfits for each other, good ones. We can roam around this street to find what we want for the other person, and said person has to wear that for the whole day. We have to be here after 20 minutes, capiche?"

His eyes narrowed into slits, but there was an amused gleam in his eyes. "How do we know the other person is going to take this seriously."

I paused and pondered before snapping my fingers with an idea. "The loser will have this punishment."

The light in my eyes ignited in his. "What if the winner gets to ask the loser whatever he—"

"Or she," I chided.

He rolled his eyes. "Or she desires."

I looked at him.

He sighed. "There will only be one wish and it cannot be inappropriate, sorry sweetheart."

"Deal," I agreed, extending my hand for him to shake and ignoring his jab deliberately. "Let's text each other our sizes, yeah?"

He shook my hand with a challenging look, smirking.

"Well, let the games begin."

I ran outside of the store without looking back, already thinking of a nice winter outfit for men. It wasn't snowing

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