Chapter 47: Chapter 47

The soft clanging of bells filled her ears, making her eyes pop open. Ryder reached over her and pressed it off - his skin sliding over her bare body. A yawn escaped from her lips. She had barely slept last night. She rolled over on her side and focused on the wall - with her eyes trailing the lavender border at the top. This would be her last morning here. Ryder breathed deeply as he struggled to wake himself up. Last night was another late one.

He pushed himself up and rolled out of the bed. “I should be used to this,” he said.

She smiled and brushed his bangs out of his face. Best to keep up appearances.

Their eyes connected and Alecia's heart jumped. His eyes glittered in the early morning light, making him look like a youth. Like the boy she had fallen in love with. Would a part of her always love him?

He kissed her head, sending the familiar tremors through her before leaving to wash up.

She laid out his clothes, and made him coffee. Her heart tugged. She pressed down on the side of her head. Why now? All week she had despised his presence and now part of her wanted to stay and see if she could make him change. No, he wouldn’t change. He had never changed one bit for her.

Ryder came into the kitchen, fully dressed for work with his coat in his hands. He drank the coffee down and reached for her, pulling her into his arms. He gave her a long, sensuous kiss that made her toes tingle.

“I can’t wait to come home tonight,” he said, before leaving.

But she could. Alecia sat at the kitchen table and let the tears pour down her face, trying to purge all her emotions out. It shouldn’t be this hard. Why did her emotions conflict this much? Yes, he was being loving now, but tonight he could easily lock her in the room again with no thought. She looked around the kitchen she had shared with him for a few brief years. Over the stove hung the chicken towel he had made fun of when she bought it. He had called her a country bumpkin. She ran a hand over the blue cover mats on the table. They had picked these out together. Alecia balled her hand into a fist. Things would only get worse as Taylor said. It would be best to leave before he did hit her.

She slipped the rings off her fingers and made her way to the bedroom, placing them in her jewelry box and then picked up the wedding picture. She would bring one memory and nothing else.

Two hours later, Alecia took a cab to the airport. In her hand she clutched the fake I.d.

which rattled in her shaking grasp. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her nerves.

Once at the airport, she pulled a black baseball cap as far down her head as it would go.

She must look like a terrorist instead of the wife of a billionaire’s son since she wore nothing but gray sweats and a small book bag was her only luggage. She walked up to the counter, and handed the clerk her plane ticket. The woman brushed a lock of her hair out of her face, stamped her ticket, never once looking at her I.d..

She took the document and smiled. Now she only had to make it on the plane and through the rest of her life without Ryder catching up to her.

People bumped into her or rushed past while she waited behind a long line. She had forgotten what it was like to go through security and to have her luggage checked. Ryder and she had always slipped through checks with not one person batting an eye, but now it took her three hours just to be able to board a plane.

She focused on the end of the terminal as she walked through the long blue hallway. Once she had run through one to get to Ryder, jumping into his arms. His eyes had glowed that day. Her stomach turned. She needed to stop thinking of him, or she’d never be able to move on.

The sides of the plane appeared to press in on her with all the passengers crowded together. A baby cried at the back, while a man talked on his cellphone loud enough for all the passengers to hear. She found her seat and stretched her feet as far as she could, a mere half a foot in front of her. Her life with Ryder had spoiled her. She would have to relearn how to live with just enough.

She closed her eyes and leaned back into her seat as a weight pressed upon her and her nerves began to calm down. No one had tried to stop her. The Hendrix arm must not reach as far as Taylor thought it did. A yawn escaped from her lips. Maybe it wouldn’t be too hard to avoid him.

Her eyes popped open as someone tapped her shoulder - every part of her stiffened. Ryder.

A young woman with light brown short hair and an inviting smile touched her shoulder again.

“We have arrived at New Zealand, ma’am.”

Alecia nodded. She had made it. This was too easy.

Ryder walked into the apartment and dropped his briefcase. He walked to the couch and sat down, letting his body sink into the cushion. It had been another long day. The money his firm slipped around today had greased the wheels for another lucrative government contract. He turned his head to the side. Where was Alecia? Usually she appeared, when he came home either with a cup of tea in her hand or a dinner plate.

“Ally,” he shouted out, but he heard no response, or feet moving in the apartment. He stood and walked to the bedroom. Maybe she was tired and had laid down. He opened the door and noticed the sheets were not disturbed. He flicked on the lights. She was not there.

“Alecia,” he shouted as he opened his phone, and called hers. He listened to it ring, and then lowered it from his ear when he heard a sound from the kitchen. He went there, following the sound of the ringing. He stopped when he saw the phone on the table.

“What?” he whispered as he picked the phone off the table; catching a glimpse of white paper. He picked it up and read, “Ryder, I’m fine; don’t come looking for me. This is for the best.”

He crumbled the note in his hand as a deep heat spread throughout him. She was nowhere around. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Stay calm. You can bring her back. He flipped her phone opened and pulled up Trina's number.

It rang several times, but no one answered. He dialed it again, but this time, he left a message. “Trina, if she’s with you, have her call me.” Ryder closed the phone and brought it to his lips, slightly banging it, even though he wanted to fling it across the room. He picked his phone up and called Richard.

“Hello.”

“Alecia's gone!”

“Son?”

“She’s gone! She left me a note!”

“Alecia left you! Check the accounts; she probably wiped them clean.”

“Got ya.” He hung up the phone and went to the office, turning on his computer. The light reflected against a stack of bank cards. He picked them up and dropped them one by one. She had left every single one she owned.

He pulled up his accounts. There was not one withdrawal. Maybe he could close them, but then if she withdrew something he would know where she was. He picked up her phone and called her parents, but no one answered. “Hey Mr. Bell, if Alecia is with you could you please call me? We had a spat and I just want to apologize.” He closed the phone.

“Why did she do this?” He laid his head on his hands. “She was happy.” Ryder jumped to his feet and knocked the computer screen onto the floor, making it break open. “She fooled me.”