Watched

by Louise River

  After Mason takes off, Ryder heads back home and climbs on his bike. He needs a long ride out in the country. Parker talks about how running clears her head, and he understands it. The long rides help him think clearly. Now he just needs to formulate a plan to get her out of his head.

  Chapter 9

  Parker hasn’t gone for her morning run, and she’s starting to feel restless. Aaron and Paige have both ignored her phone calls. She knows something weird is going on, but she needs to leave the house to find out exactly what. Being cooped up mixed with her lack of run is making her mind run rampant.

  Walking into the kitchen, she sees both parents at the island drinking coffee. They took the day off to make sure she was okay, and she was starting to feel smothered.

  “I need to head out for a bit.”

  “No.”

  “Dad, please?”

  “Not by yourself.”

  “I’m going crazy. Plus, I need to get a run in. You know how I get.”

  “It’s been one day, Park,” Anne says. “You’ll live.”

  “You don’t understand. My run yesterday was ruined. My run to the station was ruined. It’s my stress relief.”

  “I’d rather have you a little crazy than a little dead.” Peter takes a drink of his coffee.

  “That’s a bit extreme, don’t you think?” Parker sighs. “Please?”

  “I’m not comfortable with you going for a run either, baby,” Anne says. “I’m sorry.”

  “Please? It’s still light out. I’ll just go to Aaron’s house. I’ll have him bring me home. Plus, I’m sure Sam will follow me.”

  “There is a destination.”

  “And a higher patrol going on,” Peter says reluctantly.

  “Fine, but you need to text us when you get there.”

  “I promise.”

  “And I want you home before dark.”

  “Okay, Mom. Thank you.”

  “Be careful!” Anne calls.

  “Love you guys!” Parker heads out the door. With her black running leggings and bright yellow t-shirt, there’s no way people wouldn’t notice her. Her hope is it will deter anyone from attacking her.

  She rounds the corner to Aaron’s house, and even though it’s only two miles, her mind and body suddenly feel calmer. Until she sees Paige’s car parked outside. The foreboding feeling she’s been pushing down for days returns with so much force it nearly knocks the wind out of her. She walks up to the house, and it’s unlocked as usual.

  “Safe,” she says under her breath. “There’s only a murderer on the loose. Let’s leave the doors unlocked.”

  After texting her parents to tell them she’s arrived, she enters the house quietly. She walks to the basement where Aaron’s room is. These steps are so familiar she can easily avoid the creaking ones. For some reason, she feels she needs to sneak. And when she hears the light music coming from Aaron’s room, she knows it’s best to not announce herself.

  His door is open. Since his mom works until eight most nights, and his dad hasn’t been around for years, there’s no reason to close it. Inching closer, she hears moaning.

  Please let it be him by himself. Please don’t let it be with my best friend. Even as she thinks it, she knows it’s not plausible Paige would be in the room while he plays with himself. Stepping in the doorway, she freezes.

  “Oh, baby,” Aaron moans. Paige’s naked body is straddling Aaron, her butterfly tattoo on the small of her back stares at Parker. His hands are on her hips guiding her up and down. As much as she wants to turn and run, it’s like watching an accident; you just can’t turn away.

  “You like that, baby?” Aaron moans again. “You like riding my big-”

  “Stop talking.” Paige’s voice is breathless. “You’re ruining it.”

  “You feel so tight around my big-“

  Paige stops riding him. “It’s not that big. Stop talking.” She starts again. “Don’t ruin this again.”

  “Again?” Parker doesn’t realize she’s asked it out loud.

  Both of them freeze, and slowly Paige turns her head. She covers her chest with her arms and her eyes go wide. Aaron cranes his neck to look around her.

  “Parker!” Paige rolls quickly off of Aaron and pulls a blanket around her. “This is not what it looks like.”

  “Shit!” Aaron says and grabs his boxers from the ground.

  “Again?” She repeats. “What do you mean ‘again’?”

  “It’s not what you think. Baby, I swear,” Aaron says. He walks towards Parker, but she backs up and puts her hand out to stop him.

  “Really? Explain this. She slipped and you fell?”

  “See, what had happened was-“

  “Aaron, shut up!” Paige looks to Parker. “I’m so sorry.”

  “My now ex-boyfriend and my now ex-best friend were caught fucking behind my back. That explains why neither of you will answer my calls. You’re, you know, busy.”

  “We’re not the only ones at fault here, you know.” Aaron crosses his arms across his chest.

  “You’re seriously blaming me?”

  “It’s because you’re leaving. It caused us to bond. You’re always busy with running and shit.”

  “I’m busy for two hours every morning before you even wake up? Especially when you don’t have to go and work as a fake gym teacher? I’m really causing you to stretch your time pretty thin.”

  “You think you’re better than us.”

  Paige starts sobbing in the corner.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You think you’re better than we are.” Aaron looks at Paige who refuses to make eye contact with either of them. “You’re going off to a big university in the fall, and we’re stuck here. We’re townies.”

  “And this is somehow my fault? I drove you to stick your mediocre dick at best into my best friend?”

  “It’s not what we intended.”

  “So, let me get this straight,” Parker looks at Paige. “You two think this is okay?”

  “No,” she sobs. “It’s not okay.”

  “What did I ever do to you to make you hate me like this?” Tears are stinging at her eyes.

  “I don’t hate you.”

  “This isn’t something you do to your friend.”

  “Stop trying to make her feel bad,” Aaron snaps.

  “You want me to focus on you? Okay. It’s somehow my fault that I actually applied myself in life and earned a scholarship to college, and I’m a bad person for it? You’re seriously expecting me to take the blame for this? Is your poor sexual skill and ever-growing potbelly also my fault? I force you to eat all of those carbs and fried foods while forcing you not to exercise. You know, with my ‘running and shit?’” Parker snaps.

  “Aiming below the belt now, huh? That’s usually beneath you.” His pride is hurt, but Parker doesn’t care.

  She turns to Paige and asks, “Have you listened to any of the voicemails I’ve left you?”

  “I haven’t been able to bring myself to listen to them.”

  “You know the most recent body, Chantal, they found?”

  “Yeah I read that.”

  “What does this have to do with anything?” Aaron interrupts.

  “Shut up. I’m done talking to you.” Parker turns back to Paige. “I was the one who found her.”

  “What?” Paige gasps.

  “Which you’d know if you’d listened to any one of my voicemails.”

  “That must have been terrible.”

  “It was. It really was. But it fails in comparison to being attacked by the son of a bitch who did it. Turns out those letters I’ve been getting? Yeah, they’re from him. And I have had no one to talk to about it.”

  “You were attacked?” Paige asks.

  “Yep.”

  “What letters?” Aaron asks.

  “I’m not going to say it again. I’m done fucking talking to you.” Parker turns back to Paige. “Luckily Ryder was at work and saved my life.”

  “I’
ll kill him.”

  “Aaron, seriously, you are scared of spiders. You invoke fear in absolutely no one. Stop talking.”

  “Parker, I should’ve been there.” Paige starts crying again.

  Tears fall from Parker’s eyes. “Yeah, you should have. The thing is, I’m not even mad you slept with Aaron. Had you come to me woman to woman and told me you like him, I would’ve let you have him. It was never going to last. It’s just how it was. But lying and going behind my back is a betrayal I can’t get over. I trusted you, and this is what you do? I lost my best friend tonight.”

  “Parker, please forgive me!” Paige falls to her knees. “I won’t see him again.”

  “I don’t even care. Losing my best friends is one of the worst feelings. And it’s the cherry on top of the sundae that is my super shitty week. So thank you.”

  “I think you need to calm down and accept the responsibility you had in this triangle,” Aaron says.

  “Shut up!” Paige screams. “No one cares about what you think. Absolutely no one. Not in this room, and not on this planet.”

  “You’re free, Aaron. Have all the sex you want with as many people as you can dupe into crawling into bed with you. I don’t are. Honestly and truly. I. Don’t. Care.” Parker shrugs. “I’m not even mad at you.”

  She turns around and rushes up the stairs and outside. The cool air hits her face, and the weight of the week and losing her best friend hits her at full force. Sobs overtake her body. She knows she should call her parent to come and get her, but standing on the sidewalk crying seems like the better option right now.

  Chapter 10

  Ryder returns to town after four hours driving out on the highways. There’s just something about driving among farmland and few people that he finds freeing and calming. He decided to come home when he got a feeling like he needed to.

  His phone starts vibrating in his pocket, so he pulls over in the station parking lot. The caller ID reads “Chief.” Great. “Edwards.”

  “Edwards, you’re on suspension with pay for the next three days. You don’t need to come in to work tomorrow.”

  “Can I ask why I’m on suspension?”

  “You disobeyed orders, and the problems you caused were unprofessional.”

  “With all due respect, sir, had I not disobeyed your orders, who knows what would have happened to Parker. And I did not say anything to infer you did anything you shouldn’t have while speaking with Mr. Lewis. The only reason I came inside is because Parker was in shock.”

  “I also feel you’re being inappropriate with Parker, and I think a few days are just what you need to think everything through.” Click. Well, I guess that conversation is over.

  Putting his phone back into his pocket, he starts his bike and takes off again. As he nears the end of Main Street, he turns left to head towards his house. And that’s when he sees her. Parker’s standing on the sidewalk, crying, and hugging herself. He slams on his breaks so hard he can feel the back tire come off the ground at least an inch.

  Hopping off, he pulls off his helmet and rushes to her. “What’s wrong? What happened?” He starts looking around for an albino looking blonde haired man when she shakes her head.

  “It’s not him.”

  Aaron comes barreling out of his house in his boxers and a semi-hard dick. Ryder’s skin starts to crawl. All I want to do is punch the smug attitude out of this prick.

  “You deserve everything you get, you stupid bitch!” He’s screaming at her. “You’re nothing but trash. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s why you’re being attacked by some asshole who wants to kill you!”

  Aaron gets within three steps of Parker when Ryder steps between them. Aaron runs into his chest. Ryder’s seeing red at this point, trying to determine what Aaron did to her, and why he was the one yelling.

  “I’d suggest you back the fuck off right now,” he says, his voice deep and low as he hovers over Aaron. He has a good four inches over him. I bet it would only take one hit to knock him on his ass, out cold. “The only trash around here is you with your sad excuse for an erection there.”

  Aaron looks down at the crotch of his boxers. “Hey, man, it’s cold out here.”

  “Not that cold.”

  “Fuck you, man!”

  “Nah, you ain’t man enough to do that. Now walk away before you end up with something broken, son.”

  “Stop,” Parker says and grabs Ryder’s arm. Her touch sends electricity through him, and he feels as though she just shocked him. She pulls her hand back, and he knows she felt it, too. “Can you please take me somewhere? Somewhere that’s not here?”

  He hands her his helmet. “Hop on.”

  Without any question, Parker puts on the helmet that’s about two sizes too big for her head, and waits for him to climb on. As soon as he’s seated, she wraps her arms tight around his waist. The touch shoots fire straight to his groin. Baseball. Babe Ruth. My Grandma. Tapioca pudding. Don’t pitch a tent here, Edwards. You aren’t fifteen. But you are in a shit load of fucking trouble.

  He cruises through town until they reach Grandma’s Diner on the outskirts by the highway. Greta Reynolds has been working there since it opened in 1967, after the old building, a pub, burned down. She is a sweet old lady with curly blue hair cut close to her head. She was plump, but her wrinkled face always held a huge smile. Never married, she considers all of the children in the town her grandchildren, and she always volunteers to help with town fundraisers.

  “Hi, Deputy Edwards. Your usual booth?” Greta asks. She’s wearing a light blue uniform with a frilly white apron.

  “Hi, Ms. Greta. If it’s not too much trouble.” He shoots her his most charming smile, and she smiles back.

  Greta looks to Parker and frowns. “Are you okay, honey?”

  “I’m fine,” Parker lies and puts a fake smile on her face. “Just a bad night.”

  “I heard about what you stumbled upon. That must have been terrible for you.” She pulls Parker into a big hug.

  “I’m okay. I promise. Thank you, though. I appreciate it.”

  “Let’s get you seated, and I’ll bring you some water.”

  They sit down in the furthest booth away from the door. Greta returns a few minutes later with a couple of glasses of water. “Do you know what you’d like, or do you need a minute?”

  “I’m ready. How about you, kid?”

  Parker glares at Ryder in response to his affectionate nickname. “I’ll take the cobb salad with French, please.”

  “Deputy?”

  “I’ll take the sirloin with mashed potatoes and green beans, ma’am.”

  “Medium rare?”

  “Is there any other way?”

  “A man after my own heart,” Greta says with a smile and walks away.

  “Why this booth?” Parker asks.

  “What?”

  “Why is this your usual booth?”

  “It’s the furthest from the door. I like being able to have my back to a wall to see everything around me.”

  “Must be a cop thing.”

  “I also like it because not many people can listen to every word you say.”

  “You’re not originally from a small town, are you?”

  “Obvious?”

  “A little.”

  “So,” Ryder says taking a sip of water. “What happened back there?”

  “Ugh!” Parker leans back into the booth and looks at the ceiling.

  “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

  “No, I should explain. I owe you that much for saving me. Again. I feel like you’re always in the right place at the right time when I need you.”

  “I’m not sure how that keeps happening, but I’m happy to be of service.”

  “Did you notice another car outside of Aaron’s house?”

  “A van?”

  “Yep.”

  “Paige’s van.” Now it makes sense to him.

  “Yep.”

  “What ha
ppened?”

  “Oh, you know. The usual. Walked in on them fucking.”

  “They weren’t,” he says and mentally kicks himself for sounding like a high school girl.

  “They were. Again, I guess. So, it’s not the first time. I suspected something, but I wanted to believe my best friend wouldn’t do that to me, you know? I didn’t want to think she was capable of betraying me like that.”

  “Pretty upset about your boyfriend messing around, too, huh?”

  “Not really, no.” She shrugs her shoulders. “I’m not mad they slept together. I’m mad Paige went behind my back. She can sleep with him all she wants now. I really don’t care.”

  “You care a little. You loved him, right?”

  She pauses a moment as if to think of the right words. “I think what we had is what people call puppy love. It wasn’t real love. I never felt like I couldn’t go on without him. Or at least, what movies portray as real love. Did I care about him? Sure. It’s been over for a while, but I’ve been banking on us growing apart when I moved away. Letting things end naturally. Does that sound stupid?”

  “No, I don’t think so. But then why were you crying.”

  “Because I lost my best friend tonight. She’s been through everything with me. I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do without her.” Parker sighs. “Had she just come to me and told me she had feeling for Aaron, I would’ve stepped aside. I’m not lying when I say I don’t care. It’s the betrayal of it all. I’m not making any sense.”

  “I think you are.” Thank God she’s not upset about that asshole.

  “What hurts even more is her guilt over going behind my back made her not talk to me when I needed her most. She hasn’t even listened to any of the voicemails I’ve left her over the past three days. She went ghost on me. When I needed her most, she wasn’t there.”

  “If she had been there for you, and you found out she was sleeping with him, would you still be upset?” Ryder takes another drink of water.

  “I’d be a little pissed about her lying, but no, not really. God, I sound like a terrible person.”

  “You don’t sound like a terrible person. I get it. Honestly, though, I couldn’t figure out why you were with a guy like that to begin with. He’s not exactly a likeable person.”