Ready or Not (The Love Game Book 4)

by Elizabeth Hayley

  Her shoulders fell a bit with my words, and she seemed to let go of some of the tension in her body. Though I could still sense her anger.

  “Go home,” she said.

  So I did.

  Chapter Eleven

  T A Y L O R

  At Safe Haven, I kept stealing glances at Ransom even though I willed myself to stop. Evidently my impulse control was total shit.

  I’d spent the rest of the weekend trying to sort through all the conflicting thoughts in my head. On one hand, I felt justified in calling Ransom out on following me home, even if I’d been drunk. He didn’t have to go all covert-ops with it. That was next grade creeper level behavior.

  So why didn’t it feel like it?

  That was the question I couldn’t escape. His following me home should’ve had all my red flags flying, but it…didn’t. With Brad, I was on edge as soon as I’d started seeing him around after we’d broken up. The first time he’d popped up somewhere I was, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up even though it could have been a coincidence.

  I didn’t feel any of that with Ransom. There was no pretending he hadn’t willingly followed me without my knowledge, but I wasn’t weirded out about it despite having acted like I was. Because it was weird. Wasn’t it?

  This was one of the things I hated Brad for most: he made me question my instincts. Everything in me told me Ransom was just being a good guy who worried about me. But I hadn’t done anything to earn his concern for me, and that put me on edge a bit. What kind of guy went to that kind of trouble for someone they barely knew?

  Who got them a job and vouched for them with his boss? Who helped them move into a new apartment? Who made time to come to someone’s first night at a new job even though he clearly had somewhere else to be?

  Obviously, Ransom did, but why? There had to be a reason, but for the life of me, I couldn’t convince myself it was malicious. After all I’d been through with Brad, it was like I’d learned nothing. I should have been running for the hills from Ransom, but instead, here I was, staring at him when he wasn’t looking.

  Oh, shit, now he’s looking.

  I averted my eyes quickly and took an inordinate amount of time picking out a bead to add to the bracelet I was making with a few of the girls. We normally didn’t bring arts and crafts items into the gym after the regular Safe Haven hours ended, but the girls had put on their best pouts and totally played me.

  It was just after six thirty, so the rest of the extended-day kids would be getting picked up soon. I looked around at everyone’s progress. “We’re going to need to clean up in five minutes. If you’re not going to finish, I can put your projects somewhere safe, and we can finish them tomorrow.”

  I received murmured “Okays” in reply, the girls unwilling to take too much attention from their creations.

  I chuckled to myself. It was still hard to believe I got paid to play all afternoon. Of course, there’d been a few trying moments since I’d started—a few arguments we’d had to mediate, some tantrums we’d had to quash, some defiant behavior we’d had to have discussions about—but overall, things ran smoothly at Safe Haven.

  There was no denying that Ransom was one of the reasons things functioned so well. He was amazing with the kids. He played with them like he was a kid himself, but they also respected him—looked up to him in a way that seemed almost instinctual for the kids. Like they knew they could trust him, that he was on their side without him having to say anything in that regard.

  Though I guessed actions spoke louder than words. And Ransom had been there awhile, so maybe he’d laid the foundation with many of the kids before I’d arrived. But even when a new kid started the program, they always seemed to gravitate to Ransom, hiding in his shadow until they felt safe to venture out into the group. There was just something about him that made people feel safe, and I desperately wished I didn’t feel the pull of that. I simply couldn’t trust it, no matter how badly I wanted to or how much my gut told me I could.

  “Gina, Gina, bo-bina, banana-fana-fo-fina, mee-mi-mo-mina, Gina!” Ransom bellowed, causing everyone, even Gina, to giggle. “Your mom’s here.”

  I smiled at Gina as she put the beads she’d gathered back into the appropriate bins. Cleaning up after themselves had been my stipulation for them bringing the crafts into the gym, and I was thankful they were holding up their end of the bargain.

  “You want me to hold it for you?” I asked.

  “Yes, please. I’m almost done, but I wanted to add a few more to it.”

  I held out my hand, and she placed her necklace into my palm.

  “No problem. It looks beautiful.”

  Gina smiled. “Thanks. It’s a present for my mom.”

  “She’ll love it.”

  Her smile grew as she said goodbye to me before grabbing her school bag and hustling toward her mother. Ransom was there, and he and Gina did some kind of complicated handshake before she left. He had some kind of special ritual with almost every kid in the program, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how he remembered them all.

  Over the next half hour, all the kids had been picked up except one. Cindy was the youngest child we had in the program. As a second grader, she was eligible for the after-school program through her school, but her mother needed the extended time, so Safe Haven arranged for another bus to swing by her school and pick her up every day.

  She was absolutely adorable, with blond hair she often wore in pigtails and freckles across her nose. She was very quiet and didn’t usually play with the other kids often, but she loved arts and crafts. She’d been silently building a bracelet for the past hour or so, and with every child who got picked up, her body grew more and more tense.

  It wasn’t the first time Cindy had been the last to be picked up. Her mother had rushed in, full of apologies and what seemed to be valid excuses about having been kept late at work three other times since I’d started. Harry had spoken to her about it, and she’d sworn she wouldn’t be late again.

  But here we were.

  Ransom approached and crouched down on the other side of the table from Cindy. “Hey, Cinnabon, how’s it going?”

  Cindy seemed to shrink in on herself and answered with a shrug.

  She was probably the only child at Safe Haven who didn’t react positively to Ransom, which was probably why he settled across from her instead of next to her. Ransom tried to connect with her—even nicknaming her Cinnabon because she was sweet—but he also didn’t push her to interact with him. I gave him a lot of respect for that.

  His eyes filled with a hint of what looked like sadness as he gazed at Cindy for another second before turning to me. “Do you have to work at the Treehouse tonight? I was going to let Roddie go home, but I can have him stay if you need to leave.”

  “No, I can stay,” I replied. It was protocol for there to always be two adults on duty until all the kids were picked up.

  “Great,” he replied. “I’ll go let him know.”

  I watched him leave because who was I kidding? Watching the back of Ransom was almost as appealing as watching the front. Maybe more so because there was less risk of him catching me staring.

  As Ransom spoke to Roddie, I tried to figure him out. Ransom technically wasn’t even working, but he always stayed until seven, just like Harry said. He was also the one everyone went to when there was a problem.

  I hated that we’d have to tell Harry that Cindy’s mother had been late again. I wasn’t sure how many warnings a family got before they were kicked out of the program, but Cindy’s mom had to be running out of chances.

  As I cleaned up the beads Cindy wasn’t using, I asked her, “Are you making that bracelet for anyone special?”

  She shook her head.

  “It’s really pretty. I bet you could save it and give it to someone as a present. Your mom or teacher maybe.”

  Cindy turned the bracelet around in her hands a couple of times before shrugging and reaching for another bead.


  “I used to make crafts all the time, but I never gave them to anyone either.”

  She looked up at me, her forehead creased a little, and I read the expression as a question she never voiced.

  “I’m not sure why,” I continued. “I guess I never thought they were actually good enough to hand out to anyone. So I ended up with tons of bracelets and necklaces and potholders, all kinds of stuff. I stored it all in a box under my bed. Come to think of it, it’s probably still there.” I huffed out a small laugh. “It’s a shame when I think about it now. All these years, people could’ve been using them, but instead they’re just sitting under my bed, doing nothing.”

  “Cindy!”

  The young girl and I both jerked our heads toward the voice. Cindy’s mom was young, mid-twenties tops. She was attractive, but she also looked exhausted. I heard her telling Ransom she was sorry, but I couldn’t hear the rest of her words.

  I turned back to Cindy to see her putting away the beads in front of her.

  “Don’t worry about it, sweetie. I’ll pick them up.”

  Cindy gave me a small smile—which made me feel like I’d hung the moon—and then started to round the table to where her bag sat. But before she got too far, she stopped and turned back to me. She reached out her small hand, holding out the bracelet.

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  She nodded.

  I gently took it from her and slid it on. “Thank you, Cindy. It’s the best gift I’ve gotten in a long time.”

  She smiled again before grabbing her stuff and running for her mother, who scooped her into a big hug and kissed her cheek.

  “I’m so sorry, Cindy. I missed you so much today.” Her mom set her down, and the two of them walked out hand-in-hand.

  “It’s a shame,” Ransom said from beside me, his proximity startling me since I hadn’t seen him approach. If he noticed, he didn’t mention it. “Taryn clearly loves Cindy and does the best she can, but I don’t think she has a lot of support.”

  “Do you think Harry will kick them out of the program?” I asked.

  “Nah, Harry’s a bleeding heart. I also think he knows more about their situation than the rest of us. That’s probably why he moved heaven and earth to get her into the program.”

  My face must’ve shown the confusion I felt, because he continued. “It was a whole thing to arrange transportation for her. She gets out of school later than the middle school kids that take the bus here, so Harry called in a few favors to get her dismissed early.”

  I hadn’t considered the logistics before. The fact that Harry would go to so much trouble for one family made my respect for him grow even more.

  Ransom looked over at me and down at my hand. “I like your bracelet.”

  I brought my arm up and spun the bracelet with my other hand. “Thanks. She did a great job with it.”

  “You’re good with her. She definitely seeks you out more than anyone else.”

  I tried to fight a smile but failed. It simply felt too good to hear that. “She’s definitely…timid.”

  Ransom sighed. “Yeah, I wish we knew more about what was going on there so we could interact with her in a more informed way, but it is what it is, I guess.”

  “I’d definitely say she’s a selective mute, and the way she reacts to certain people makes me think that’s rooted in some kind of trauma.”

  He ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah, I thought it might be something like that too. Damn.”

  The last word sounded as if it had been pushed from him, as if the thought of something bad having happened to Cindy hurt him too. Not that I didn’t feel that way, but it seemed to be deeper with Ransom. He always seemed to care so much about everyone else. It made me feel self-absorbed in comparison.

  “Hey, it’s late. Did you have plans for dinner?” he asked, the quick change in topic nearly giving me whiplash.

  “Um, not specifically. I was just going to make something at home.”

  “Wanna grab something? My treat.”

  The desire to accept was strong, which was exactly why I said, “Sorry, I’m kind of tired. I think it’s best if I just go home.”

  He nodded as if he’d expected the answer, but he also looked disappointed. It almost made me reconsider.

  “Stop by Harry’s office with me first,” he said. “And then I’ll walk you out.”

  “Okay.”

  We gathered what we’d brought into the gym, and after returning everything to where it belonged, we went to Harry’s office.

  “Any problems?” he asked after we’d told him we were done for the night.

  “Cindy’s mom was late again,” Ransom said.

  Harry sighed. “I’ll call her tomorrow.”

  “It was only ten minutes,” Ransom defended. “It’s not a big deal.”

  “I know, but if we let that kind of thing slide, more parents will start being late. I told her last time she was going to start being fined, but I don’t know. I hate to do that.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “I’ll think on it. See you guys tomorrow. Have a great night.”

  “You too,” I said.

  “Yeah, get the hell out of here at a decent hour tonight,” Ransom added. “Tell the fam I said hi.”

  “Will do.”

  We made our way out of Safe Haven and out of the center.

  “Where are you parked?” Ransom asked.

  “Oh, I walked.”

  Ransom stopped dead in his tracks. “You what?”

  “I walked,” I said more slowly. “It’s only a few miles. I got a good parking spot outside my apartment, and I didn’t want to move my car.”

  “It’s getting dark.”

  I rolled my eyes. Not this again. “Well, I wasn’t expecting to be here almost an hour late, Dad. It would’ve been fine if we’d gotten done on time.”

  “I’ll take you home,” he said matter-of-factly as he began walking toward his truck.

  “No thanks. I’ll walk.” I turned away and headed down the sidewalk.

  Screw stupid boys and especially screw this stupid boy and his overprotectiveness that was actually superhot even though it was irritating too. And screw me for thinking the word screw in relation to Ransom because it made my whole body warm. Well, warmer because it was actually still kind of hot out even though the sun was going down. Global warming could suck it.

  A hand closed around my bicep, and even though I knew who it was, I still whirled around like a maniac.

  “Don’t touch me,” I gritted out.

  Ransom held his hands up. “Shit, sorry.”

  I took a calming breath. “Go home, Ransom.”

  But when I began walking again, he fell into step beside me.

  “No can do. Not until I know you’re safe.”

  I turned my head to glare at him, only to see him smiling widely.

  “See! Look how good I’m getting at following directions,” he said. “You didn’t want me following you without you knowing, so now I’m being upfront about it. Very mature of me, if I do say so myself. You’re a good influence on me.”

  “I somehow doubt that.”

  “So you think you’re a bad influence?”

  I stopped and sighed loudly. “Why are you this way?”

  He thought for a long moment, the delay actually making me begin to anticipate his answer. So when he said, “I don’t know,” I was annoyed with myself for expecting something serious. But I was also a little amused too.

  “You want to smile,” he said as he pointed at my face.

  “I do not,” I argued as I began walking again.

  “You do. You totally do. I have effectively annoyed you into happiness.”

  “Oh my God, do you ever stop?”

  He hesitated again, this time going so far as to tap his index finger on his chin.

  But I wasn’t falling for it again. “That was rhetorical.”

  “But what if I have an answer?”

  “I don’t want to hear it.”

 
; “Well, that’s not very nice.”

  “Guess I’m not very nice.”

  “I think you’re nice.”

  He was making me exasperated. “You just said I wasn’t nice.”

  “No, I don’t think I did.”

  “Ransom,” I warned.

  “Taylor,” he repeated.

  I breathed deeply. “What will make you go away?”

  “Letting me buy you dinner and then giving you a ride home.”

  “I already told you no about dinner.”

  “Your words said no, but your growling stomach said ask again.”

  This guy was going to drive me insane. “I’m still a no on dinner.”

  “But a yes to a ride?”

  “Jesus, fine, yes, I’ll accept a ride.”

  “Sweet,” he said simply before changing directions and walking us to his truck. It was black, with an extended cab and four doors. It looked to be a few years old, but it was well-maintained. He went to open the passenger door, but the blaring of his phone stopped him before he could open it. He pulled his phone out of his jean’s pocket and looked at the display.

  The look that crossed his face was a far cry from the goofy guy he usually was. He stared at the phone as it continued to ring.

  “You wanna get that?” I asked him.

  He glanced up at me. “Not really.” Refocusing on the display again, he added. “I probably should, though. One sec.” He took a breath and then answered. “Hello?” He turned so his back was to me, and there was little else for me to do but stare at his back through his tight T-shirt, letting me see the high set of his shoulder and the way his muscles seemed to be bunched together.

  Whoever was on the other end, Ransom didn’t seem to want to speak to them.

  “Yeah, it’s me. Fine. Yeah. That’s good.” He listened to whoever was on the line for a minute or so before turning a bit so he was leaning against the back door. He was looking at the ground as I studied his profile: all square lines and smooth skin.

  “No, I don’t… I don’t think I’m ready to see you. We have a lot to work through before that happens. If it happens.”

  The person on the other end began speaking again, and I wondered who he was speaking to. I’d made a lot of assumptions about Ransom since I’d met him, and while I wasn’t convinced some of them were unfounded—hello, black eye—I also didn’t want to jump to conclusions. Mostly because the rigid set to his body and the words he was saying instantly made me think it was an ex-girlfriend, and that thought made me decidedly irritated. Not that I had any right to feel that way, but since when were emotions logical?