Ryder's POV
I watched my best friend. He looked so outraged...so vexed, so out of his mind, it was hard to watch.
Joshua was hard to watch.
Just then, a gentle voice intervened, cutting through the tension. "Ryder, darling, are you alright?"
I turned to see my mother, Ainsley, standing beside me, her eyes concerned. I forced a smile onto my face, feeling a familiar numbness wash over me. "I'm fantastic, Mother," I said, my voice smooth. "Just having a...lively discussion with Joshua."
Ainsley's eyes flicked between Joshua and me, her expression understanding. "Well, perhaps you two could take a break and get some fresh air?" she suggested.
"That's a great idea, Mother," I said, turning to Joshua. "Shall we?"
As we stepped outside into the cool night air, The tension between Joshua and me was still palpable, but at least we were away from the prying eyes of the other partygoers.
For a full minute we watched each other in uncomfortable silence.
"How long have you known that I love her?" He asked me.
I pushed my hair to the back and scratched my eyebrow. I didn't want to have this conversation.
"Since we were ten years old, and playing a game of truth and Dare, and Macaulay dared you to kiss Kai and your face got all red and blushy"
I exhaled and looked at his feet, suddenly my best friend couldn't stand to be anywhere near me anymore...I saw it in the way his feet shuffled, like he was about to ran a meter dash.
"You knew and you still married her. You didn't love her and you still married her! Why?!" He yelled at me.
I laughed out loud like a lunatic. Was he really that clueless?
"Doesn't matter. What matters is that Kai is gone"
"I am going after her" he declared. His mind was made up.
He started to walk away.
"No, you are not. I already forbade it" I told him coldly.
I didn't go after him. My words were enough to stop him.
Joshua moved closer, and he got all up in my face. He was barely keeping it together, he was losing his mind right in front of me.
And for the first time, he openly rebelled.
"Well, you can take your permission and shove it down your throat. I'm doing it either way"
His mind was made up.
Too bad, my mind was made up too.
"No, you will not" I adjusted my cufflinks and I tried not to lose my head too. "You won't because it's an order. You will stay away from Kai. You will clean up your act and return back to the agreeable Joshua, we all love and you will do it immediately"
He stared at me, if looks could kill, Joshua would have killed me.
He turned around and he walked away. I stood there listening to the sound of wind and birds in the tree, only turning around when I felt my mother's presence behind me.
I turned around and looked at her.
"Are you alright?" She asked me.
"No. No, I'm not" I felt a little shiver run through me. "I miss her, Mom. I miss her so damn much, it hurts"
Ainsley came closer and she touched my face, she looked so worried. "You did what you had to do for someone you love, son. Just like your father and I did what we had to do to save your life nineteen years ago when we acquired Kaidaira. Same thing he tried to do two weeks ago... He messed up, Ry but I think it came from a place of love just like you, when you decided to end your marriage without telling anyone..."
I turned around and a flash of anger ran through my face. "Don't you ever equate what you and Greg did to what I did, mother... Don't ever compare me to him, ever!"
"I was just trying to help, son. It was just a conversation"
It was my father's voice. It came from behind.
"You wanted to fuck my wife against her will you son of a bitch!"
"To get her pregnant...you certainly weren't getting the job done. It would have been a few nights with that whore of yours but your fragile ego couldn't handle...."
I did what I have always dreamt of doing ever since I was a little kid, I punched his smug face and got his blood on my hand.
"Wooh!" I yelled in my high "That felt good!"
It felt really good. I started to walk away as mom got in between us, desperate to keep Greg from lashing out physical, not that I cared.
"You think you freed her?" He yelled after me. "You didn't!"
I kept walking.