Chapter 18: Chapter 18

CODY

I roll my eyes as Devin tries to argue with Chase how he clearly won the game even though the game itself says otherwise. He then goes on to claim Chase cheated.

Jason just smiles, sitting between the two of them with the controller in his hands. He begins to restart the game without their knowledge.

"Mind if I join you?" Nicky asks as she walks into the room. She swings herself gracefully over the side of the couch to sit next to Devin.

"You any good?" Devin questions as he passes her a controller.

She scoffs at him. "Please, there's no video game you can beat me at." She takes the controller from his hands. "Besides, this gives a reason not to get stalked by that Barbie. She acts like since we're both two of the only three girls in this house that immediately makes us buddies."

She shudders. "Uh, no thanks."

"Where is Elaine?" Chase asks her.

Nicky's lips twitch as her eyes spark with mischief. "I have no idea."

"Liar." Devin immediately says, pausing the game they had started. "What did you do?"

Nicky places a hand over her heart dramatically. "Me? Nothing." She points at the paused screen. "You're all losing by the way."

Eight games later and Nicky's the winner, for every single one of them. Devin huffs and tosses his controller to the floor.

"I vote we change games."

Nicky smiles smugly and leans back on the couch. "Bring it on."

"What are you all up to?" Ryder leans in the doorway, bruises and cuts on his knuckles, a cut above his eyebrow, and his overall appearance is that of someone who got into a fight.

"What happened to you?" Chase asks, and Ryder smiles like he's rather pleased with himself.

"There was a rodent infestation at the restaurant. I volunteered to help rid them of that problem."

"So the rodents won?" Nicky questions innocently. Ryder's smile drops from his face.

"No." He deadpans. "But they made me realize how big a cockroach problem this house has."

Nicky glares harshly back at him. "I'm not a damn cockroach."

Ryder holds his hands up in mock surrender. "You said it, not me."

"Why are you even here?"

Ryder feigns getting shot in the chest. "You don't want me here?"

"I don't want you on the same planet."

"And I don't give a f-ow!" Ryder cries out as Henri grabs hold of him by his ear and begins to drag him out of the room.

Nicky and Devin full-on laugh while Chase and Jason just look highly amused. I smile. Ryder comes sprinting back through the door a moment later. Henri renters not too long after.

Ryder runs behind the couch. He stands on one side and Henri stands on the other. He matches every step of Henri's with a step of his own in the opposite direction.

Henri finally throws his hands up in the air in exasperation. "I swear he's six." He mutters before leaving the room.

Suddenly a hand claps me on the back before moving to rest on my shoulder. I look up at Ryder who smiles devilishly.

"Want to go play foosball?"

I narrow my eyes in suspicion but before I have a chance to protest Ryder hauls me to my feet and begins to drag me out of the room, his arm slung over my shoulders like we're the best of friends.

"Should I be concerned?" I finally ask and Ryder just laughs and shakes his head. "I didn't even know Thirteen had a foosball game."

"She had one as of yesterday." I shoot him a look and he just shrugs. "I got bored." He says as if that's the best explanation.

We begin to walk up the stairs to the third floor. I give him another look as he hides a smile.

"This is the third floor," I state. "There's only bedrooms up here." He gives another devilish grin.

"It's in my room." I feel my eyes narrow on their own as he tries to smother his smile.

He stops in front of one of the rooms and begins to type in a code on the keypad next to it.

"How come your room has a key code?" I ask.

"Unlike you guys, I'm here all the time. Therefore this is my room, and whatever I want Thirteen will put it in." He bites his lip as he begins to silently shake with laughter.

"What's so funny?" I question him when he finally opens the door.

"Nothing." He stands to the side and makes a sweeping gesture for me to enter first. I barely even make it into the room before I'm shoved by him from behind.

I stumble and brace my fall with my hands. Damn, he's a lot stronger than he looks. I hear the door shut behind me, followed closely by an audible click of a lock...and then an evil laugh.

I get to my feet and glare at the door before walking over and trying to open it. It doesn't budge. I turn and glance over the room.

There's a large king-sized bed in the middle of the room, a desk in one corner, and couch in the other. A TV's mounted on the wall in front of the couch and countless books are sitting on bookshelves by the desk. There are two nightstands on either side of the bed, and two large double doors leading out to a balcony. There's another door next to a dresser on the far right wall, probably leading to a closet, another door directly across from it, a bathroom if I had to guess.

The entire room is color coordinated with red, black, and a light cream color...and I've never been in here before. I wouldn't know whose room it is...if not for the sling thrown carelessly across the bed.

It's only now I hear the sink in the bathroom turn off and the door to the bathroom open.

"Cody, what the hell are you doing in here!?" Thirteen yells out, clearly surprised. I turn to look at her and immediately turn away at her lack of clothes. Her body wrapped in a towel.

I hear her move around the room before another door closes. A moment later it opens.

"I'm decent." She says and I turn to face her. She's got a sports bra and pair of sweats on. Both black in color. "What are you doing in here?"

I shrug and point to the door. "I don't really know. Ryder tossed me in here."

Thirteen's facial expression turns into one of annoyance. She walks up to the door and tries to open it. When it doesn't open she types in a code on the keypad on the side. A red light flashes. She tries again. Same red light.

"He changed the damn password." She curses under her breath and runs her hands through her wet hair. She lifts up her fist and bangs on the door.

"Ryder! Open this door!" There's no answer. "Open this door right now! Unlock the damn door Ryder! I'm going to kill you!" Finally, we can hear laughter on the other side of the door. She bangs on it harder. "RYDER!"

She lets out a sigh when she finally realizes he's not going to be opening the door anytime soon. She walks over to the towel on her bed and begins to dry her hair.

I wince as I eye the bullet hole in her arm and the bruises running up her side.

"I'm sorry," I mutter, feeling the need to apologize for what my brother did to her. Her head snaps up to look at me and then to what I'm looking at. She just shakes her head.

"You don't have to apologize. You're not the one who did this to me." I just nod solemnly. She tosses the towel back into the bed.

"But in the spirit of apologizing," She starts, turning towards me. "I'm not going to apologize for anything I did cause quite frankly, I'm not sorry."

I blink, once, twice, before her words actually sink in. "You're not sorry for any of it?" I question in disbelief. "Not even the letter?"

She winces. "I might be a little sorry for that."

"A little?"

"Well, I didn't write it." She says with a shrug. "Ryder did."

"Why did Ryder write a letter to me that you signed?" I question, my voice slightly raising if she notices she ignores it.

"I wanted-no-needed you to hate me. Ryder has a way with words as I'm sure you've figured out by now. Besides, he knew exactly what to put to make you hate me." She shudders as if reliving the memory. "I didn't even read it, I just sent it to you." She pauses for a moment while she takes a seat on the bed. "Though I take it you never told the rest of Delta 2 about the letter."

I shake my head in response. She sighs. "You have every right to hate me. I just needed to make sure you wouldn't try looking for me. Wouldn't wait for me to come back. I had no intention of coming back but obviously, things change."

I kneel in front of her. "I don't hate you." I finally say.

She smiles slightly, sadly. "You should. Especially after that letter."

"I thought you didn't read it."

"I didn't. But I know Ryder and I just know that letter was nasty."

"It was," I confirm.

"And yet you could still stand to look at me. After you thought I sent that after you thought..." She stops for a second and runs her hand through her hair. "After you thought I meant it."

"I guess I was more upset with myself than I was you." I shrug. "I wanted to hate you for it, but how could I when Devin was continuously reminding me that I would probably be dead if you didn't walk away."

"You would be." She says, there's a slight smile playing on her lips and I shake my head, a smile of own threatening to surface. It's silent for a while.

"I'm sorry." I finally say. "I'm sorry for everything. Mostly for being a complete and total-"

She cuts me off, by placing her finger on my lips, I look at her curiously.

"As much as I would love to hear you finish that sentence." She smirks at me and I roll my eyes at her. "I feel like Henri's just going to suddenly materialize out of nowhere."

I laugh and she removes her finger from my lips and smiles lightly.

"Are we good?" I ask softly, afraid of her answer.

She purposely pretends to ponder it and suddenly a mischievous smile spreads over her face.

"We're even." She says simply. Her facial expression says so much more though.

"Awwww....." I hear Ryder say through the door and I glare at it. He's been listening in the entire time.

"But..." I trail off, sensing she wants to say more.

"You have to help me get the idiot behind the door back." She whispers.

"How?"

She smiles even wider. "I'll tell you once you finally agree."

"What? No. Tell me first."

She shakes her head dramatically. "Then I guess we're not good." I narrow my eyes at her and she smiles smugly back at me.

I shake my head in exasperation. "I can't believe I'm agreeing to this."

"I can." She says simply. "Oh and we're getting Devin too." She adds.

"Is this a common occurrence between you and Ryder?" I ask. "Because that's a pretty good reason to begin to worry."

She laughs lightly before pain washes over her face and she clutches at her side. She smiles reassuringly at me, trying to convince me she's fine. I give her a flat look.

"This is nothing." She says, talking about everything Ryder's done. "This is child's play." She gets up and walks towards the closet, pausing in the doorway.

"You should only be worried when Henri gets involved. That's when things get interesting."