Chapter 23

Riker POV

"RIKER!" Rocky yelled.

I ripped the rest of my sweatshirt off, yanked my shirt down, and looked at Rocky.

"What happened to your stomach!?" Rocky was almost shouting.

"Rocky, I'm fine."

"No you're not!"

Rocky got up from his chair and walked over to me. He grabbed my shirt and pulled it up. I smacked his hand away, and pulled it back down.

"Rocky!" I shouted.

"Riker how did you get all those scratches? What happened?"

"Rocky, I'm fine, sit down."

"No, Riker. You need to go to a doctor and get that looked at! I'll drive you. Come on!"

Rocky grabbed my arm, and started pulling me toward the door.

"Rocky let go! I'm fine!"

I broke free of his hold, and ran out the door. I wasn't sure where I was going, but I needed to get away.

I went down to the beach and hid in the nearby trees. A few minutes later, Alex came running down looking for me. She was crying.

"Alex, what happened to you?" I asked.

"He thinks I'm hurting you, like your old girlfriend. He asked me all these questions and he didn't believe anything I said. He said I can't ever come over again, and I can't see you anymore. He's trying to kill me!"

Rocky came sprinting down the road.

"ALEX!"

I stepped in front of Alex, and held her behind me.

"Rocky, get away from us!" I shouted.

Rocky walked closer and closer. My heart started racing faster and faster.

"Rocky! Get away!" I shouted again.

Rocky walked right in front of me, grabbed my shoulders, and threw me to the side. I fell hard. I looked back to see Alex take off toward the docks, Rocky chasing after her.

"Rocky I didn't do anything!" Alex shouted.

I got up and started running after them. Rocky had cornered her on one of the docks. He was slowly walking toward her. Alex was slowly walking back. I snuck up behind Rocky, moving slowly and silently. Rocky was about 3 feet away from Alex now.

I pushed Rocky hard to Alex's left, and grabbed Alex's arms as Rocky tried to pull her in with him.

"OW!" Shouted Alex.

Rocky had managed to grab Alex's ankle as he was falling. Alex had been pulled off the dock by Rocky, but I was holding on to both of her arms. Alex was dangling over the water. I quickly stepped closer to the edge of the dock, and squatted down, trying to pull her back up.

"Riker! This hurts!" Alex shouted.

"Rocky let go of her!" I shouted.

Alex was slipping lower and lower, but I held her tight. I leaned forward and grabbed under her arms. Alex put her arms around my neck, holding on tight.

"Riker…!"Alex yelled.

Alex looked up at me. There was so much pain on her face.

"ROCKY LET HER GO!" I screamed.

I grabbed Alex even lower, and up pulled hard. Rocky lost his grip suddenly, sending Alex and I flying backwards. I landed hard on my back, Alex on top of me. Rocky had swam to the side of the dock and grabbed my hand. He was trying to pull me off the dock now.

"OW ROCKY!" I shouted.

Alex took out her phone and was calling someone.

"Ellington! I need you to come down to the beach! It's an emergency! I need help!" Alex said.

Within a matter of seconds, Ellington and Ross were sprinting down the road. Rocky was still trying to grab me and Alex, and pull us off.

"Rocky is trying to kill us!" I shouted.

"What's going on!?" Exclaimed Ellington.

Alex and I stood up.

"We need to have a family meeting," said Rocky.

"What happened?" Asked Ross.

"Can you guys help me up?" Asked Rocky.

"If you guys help him up, you need to hold him back from us!" I said.

Alex and I started walking quickly back to my house while Ross and Ellington helped Rocky get up on the dock.

When we got to my house, I tried to open the door, but it was locked. Rocky, Ellington, and Ross were almost here now.

"Why'd you lock the door?" I asked.

"We didn't. Rydel said she and Ryland were going shopping, so it was probably her," said Ross.

"Well, we're locked out," I said.

"Alex, can we go to your house?" Asked Ellington.

"Yeah…"

We all walked across the street. I made sure Alex and I kept a distance from Rocky. We went inside and sat down at the table on her porch. Rocky sat across from Alex and me, and Ellington and Ross sat next to Rocky on both sides.

"Riker, how about you tell your side of the story first. What happened down there?" said Ellington.

"Ok. Rocky was trying to hurt Alex down at the beach. He chased her down there. I was standing in front of her and I wouldn't move, so Rocky threw me to the side, and I fell. Then, he chased Alex down one of the docks. He was going to push her off or something, but I snuck up behind him and pushed him off instead. He tried grabbing her arm, but ended up grabbing her ankle instead. Alex was pulled off the dock, but I had her arms. Eventually, I got her back up on the dock, and Rocky started trying to pull me off. That's when Alex called you," I said.

"Rocky, why were you trying to hurt Alex?" Ellington asked.

"Because she hurt him! Tell him to pull up his shirt and see for yourself."

Everyone was staring at me now. Awkward…

"Riker…"

I reluctantly pulled up my shirt, revealing my scratched up and bruised stomach.

"Riker!" Exclaimed Ross and Ellington.

"So Alex really did hurt you? And that really was blood on your shirt the other day!? Riker, why are you protecting her?" Ellington asked.

"I'm not protecting her! Well, I mean I am, from Rocky, but she didn't do this to me! You have to believe me!" I said.

"Riker, we need to leave," said Rocky.

"No we don't!" I yelled, pounding the table.

"Riker why didn't you tell us she was doing this to you?" Asked Ellington.

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO HIM!" Alex shouted.

Alex got up from her chair, crying, and ran inside. I heard her slam the door.

"Riker, we should go," said Rocky again.

"Wait."

Everyone went silent and looked at Ross.

"We don't even know Riker's side of the story yet! You guys are accusing Alex of something based on what Rocky didn't even see her do! Let Riker talk!" Ross said.

I sat there completely in shock for a minute.

"I… Ok... Well, Alex and I were talking the other day. We were sitting on the edge of one of the docks. Alex got up because we were going to head up to her house. She warned me not to walk into the spider web behind me. I turned around, jumped back, lost my footing, and fell off the dock. The water was really low that day. I was freezing and couldn't get out. I told Alex to go get one of you guys, but you had left to go to that historical place. Alex grabbed my hand, and tried pulling me up. I was using my other hand to push myself up. My hand slipped or something, and my stomach slammed down on the dock. I started slipping down to the water again, but Alex eventually helped me get up on the dock. She also helped me get back to her house, and took care of me all day. It was completely my fault, Alex didn't do anything. I was lucky she was there. I wouldn't have been able to get out of the water without her… I need to go talk to Alex," I said getting up.

As I walked down the hall to Alex's room, I could hear her crying. I knocked on the door.

"Alex?"

I slowly opened the door to find Alex laying on her bed looking at me. She sat up as I closed the door and walked over to her. I sat down next to her. She leaned against me as I put my arms around her waist. We didn't say anything, but Alex kept crying.

Ross POV

"We screwed up big time!" Said Ellington.

"I can't believe I did that! I've never done anything like that before! I should've believed Riker. I can't believe I did that…" Said Rocky.

"Ross, it's a good thing you said that. You just saved us from something even worse, possibly ruining Riker's future," said Ellington.

"You guys need to go apologize. Like right now!" I said.

Rocky and Ellington walked down the hall to Alex's room.

Riker POV

There was a knock at Alex's door. Rocky and Ellington came in. Alex saw them and turned away from them, her face against my chest.

"Alex?" Asked Ellington.

Alex stayed exactly where she was, not turning to him.

"Alex, we wanted to tell you, we're really sorry for not believing you. And I'm sorry for chasing you down to the lake and stuff. Ever since Riker's last girlfriend, I've just always been protective of him. I didn't want to see him get hurt. I'm sorry," said Rocky.

"And I'm sorry for also not believing you. I knew you wouldn't do something like that, but Rocky messed with my head, and… I don't know… Alex, I'm really sorry," said Ellington.

"And Riker, I'm sorry for not believing you too. You're my brother, and I should've believed you. I'm sorry," said Rocky.

"I'm sorry too," said Ellington.

Alex and I didn't say anything. I knew she was furious and upset, and I didn't want to talk to them right now either. They slowly left the room and I could hear them leave Alex's house.

Ross knocked on the open door as he walked in.

"Are you guys alright?" Ross asked.

Alex got up, walked over to Ross, and hugged him. Ross hugged her back.

"What's this for?" Ross asked.

"I heard when you told them to listen to Riker's side of the story. You were the only one that didn't think I did anything. You saved us," said Alex.

"I could just tell you didn't do it. I can see the way you look at Riker and I knew there was no way you would hurt him."

"Thank you…" said Alex, hugging him even tighter.

Alex came back over to me. She laid down next to me again and I put my arm around her.

"Ross, I cannot thank you enough. If you hadn't said anything, there was no way Alex and I could still be together right now. I think Rocky was about to carry me out," I said.

Ross came over and gave me a hug.

"Where did Ellington and Rocky go?" I asked.

"I don't know. They can't go home though. The door's locked," said Ross.

Ross left too and Alex and I were finally alone.

"Alex?"

"Mmm?"

"I'm sorry for being so careless. It was a stupid mistake, and this never should've happened," I said.

"Riker, it's not your fault. I know how they must feel about you dating again."

"So… You're not mad?"

"Of course I'm mad. I'm furious. Just not at you…"

I looked down at her and wiped the tears off her face.

After a little while, Alex and I got up to make dinner.

"You know what's weird?" I asked.

"What?"

"I feel like I'm always wearing wet clothes when I'm here. I keep getting throw off that stupid dock. I think I was thrown off 3 times today," I said.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that," Alex said.

"It's fine... I needed to hear what you had to say…"

Alex seemed to be thinking about something. We finished making our dinner in silence.

We brought our dinners out on her porch to eat. I could see Ellington, Rocky, and Ross sitting on our front steps, waiting for Rydel and Ryland to come home and unlock it for them.

"Alex?"

"Yeah?"

"I know you said earlier that you still wanted to be my girlfriend, but… Do you really mean that? You said it was exhausting, and after today, you must be so fed up with everything. I wouldn't want you to stay with me just because you felt bad for me or something. If you aren't happy, I'd rather you break up with me, than be miserable."

I could not believe I just said that. I had given her a chance to break up with me! It didn't matter… She deserved to be happy.

Alex got up from her chair and walked over to me. She leaned down, kissed me, and put her arms around my neck.

"Does that answer your question?" She asked.

All I could do was smile. She was mine!