I felt my heart break slowly in my chest. Never in my life had I experienced the pain I did when I watched him stand up and walk away. I knew it was too good to be true.

My eyes drifted close as the tears leaked out of my eyes. I'd lost him. I'd just lost the boy I had fallen madly and irrevocably in love with. I hadn't expected to fall in love with Ryder. I hadn't wanted to fall for him. But I had. I'd fallen, and I'd fallen hard. I thought I knew what heartbreak would feel like. I thought I knew what I was in store for. But boy was I wrong. Because as he walked away, he took my heart. He took it with him, leaving me empty and hollow inside.

People say that emotional pain could physically hurt. The truth was, it was fucking unbearable. I felt like someone had ripped everything out, chewed it up and spit it out. All I could do was grip onto my t-shirt as my breathes became labored and my world began to drop around me. It was hell.

The door to my room swung open again and I didn't dare look up. I knew it would probably be Nadia and I didn't want to see her or anyone at the moment. I just wanted to wallow in self pity.

"Casey," the sound of Ryder's voice made my heart jump. Lifting my head up, I sniffled as my eyes traveled towards him, my eyebrows lowering when they landed on his naked torso. I felt my mouth water at the perfection. His skin had a natural tan and looked smooth to the touch. That was the first time that I'd actually seen Ryder's body in the light. That was the first time that I really looked at him. Really saw every little detail.

A perfectly done tattoo caught my eye as his muscles flexed under my gaze. Getting up, I walked over towards him, my eyes on the tattoo. I'd never actually noticed the tattoo before, since it was neatly hidden on his left rib cage under his arm. When I reached him, I crouched down to get a better look. It was a phrase, fixed in a spiral, with a design that looked somewhat like an explosion bursting out from the middle.

I raised my hand slowly and traced the spiral with my index finger, making his body jerk under my hand. 'Life is a journey with certain curve balls you can't escape. Carpe the fucking diem.' A small smile graced my lips. Only Ryder would manage to fit a swear word into a tattoo that was supposed to be meaningful.

"I got it a few years ago, to remind myself that somethings just can't be explained," he mumbled from above my head and I straightened to look at him. "The explosion hides a bullet wound."

I turned wide, questioning eyes towards him and he motioned for me to join him on the bed. I followed him to the bed and waited for him to climb in. When he was settled, he spread his arms open and waited for me to climb in. I climbed in willingly into his strong arms, leaning my back against his wide chest, and he wrapped them tightly around me, resting his chin on the top of my head.

"When I was five years old, my mom left my dad for another man. She just up and left, leaving a note behind explaining that she was in love with someone else. My dad took it hard; he was in love with my mom and couldn't believe that she had left. Even though it killed him, my dad sucked it up, for me. I didn't see or speak to my mom for a whole year after she left. She never called or visited and didn't leave any information for us to get a hold of her."

"On my sixth birthday, my dad organized this big birthday party. The day of the party, my mom showed up. Except she didn't show up to get my dad back, she showed up to take me away from him. One thing led to another and they ended up in court fighting for custody. The court ruled in my dad's favor and my mom got supervised visits. This, of course, pissed off my mom..."

When he paused for a minute, I grabbed one of his hands and interlocked our fingers, encouraging him on. "It made her so mad that my dad had won. She'd not only lost me that day, but she'd also lost the guy she'd ran away with and it made her bitter to no end that my dad's life was actually looking up. A few months after my seventh birthday, my mom knocked on our door, drunk and desperate. She kept crying and telling my dad that she wanted him back, but my dad wasn't having any of it and it only made her angrier."

"What my dad didn't know was that my mom had a gun. Put a gun in a desperate and scorned woman's hands and you've got trouble...She went to shoot my dad when I walked in the room, making her miss my dad. The bulled got me instead...When I woke up in the hospital, I couldn't remember anything and for years my dad lied to me about it, never wanting me to know what really happened. But about a year after we moved here, he finally told me the truth. My mom was caught and charged with attempted murder. A few years later she was diagnosed with schizophrenia."

"Even though I tried to explain it to myself so many times, Casey, I couldn't. I couldn't because some things just can't be explained. I know that you think what happened with your family is your fault, and I know that you may not believe me when I say this, but...it's not your fault. What they did, that's on them, not on you," he told me, grasping my chin in between his thumb and index finger, making me look at him. "It's not your fault and I need to know that you'll try to believe that."

My eyes lowered and I nodded reluctantly.

"Promise me, Casey," he demanded forcefully and I looked up at and stared into his beautiful eyes; those eyes that held so much promise, so much love, and I nodded.

"I promise," I whispered and he smiled softly.

"Good," he replied, resting his chin on my head once again. "Oh and another thing,"

"What's that?" I asked, shaking my head slightly, with a smile.

"How the hell can you afford this big ass house?" he asked, making me chuckle.

"I inherited every single thing from my grandparents. They were the only family that didn't actually hate me." His arms tightened around me protectively.

"What about the car? You said your dad gave it to you?" I nodded.

"I told you that my dad was a share holder of the company that manufactures that car, do you remember that?" he hummed in reply, confirming that he did. "He had one of his friends send me the newest car every year for my birthday. Even after he died, the cars kept coming and even though I tried to get the guy to stop sending them, he said my dad had paid enough for me to get a new car every year, my whole life."

"Was your dad floating in money or something?" he asked incredulously and I laughed.

"My grandparents were. Both sides. My mom and dad never worked a day in their lives to get what they had, it was just handed to them; even their jobs." My grandparents had worked their asses off fo everything that they owned and even though, my maternal grandparents were good, hardworking people, they'd somehow managed to raise a cold, callous woman who cared only about herself.

"What about your mom's dance studio?" Ryder asked curiously and I nodded.

"She ran the studio, but everything was paid for by my grandparents," I replied.

"Wow," he mumbled and I chuckled.

"I know."

"I guess we're both pretty messed up, huh?" he muttered and I nodded with a laugh.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"In my opinion, it only makes us an even hotter couple." I felt him grin, before he placed a kiss on my head and I laughed. "Which reminds me, I haven't officially asked you yet..."

"Asked me what?" I asked, my eyebrows lowering.

"Casey Stratford, will you be my girlfriend?" he asked, his eyes questioning as he lifted my chin to look at him and I smiled, nodding slowly. He grinned, before pressing his lips to mine and kissing me softly. "Yep, definitely a hot couple," he mumbled against my lips and I chuckled, tangling my fingers in his soft hair.

I couldn't help but agree.