Chapter 7

Kirsten watched from the window as Summer Roberts walked with Ryan out of the poolhouse. The food had been delivered a few minutes earlier and Marissa and Seth were setting the table.

Seth had been obsessed with Summer for years and she was inwardly relieved that he'd turned his sights on the softer Marissa.

Kirsten was a woman, she remembered very well from her own teenage years what made girls like Summer tick.

"Mrs. Cohen, I hope you don't mind, but I wrapped Ryan's ribs for him, my daddy's a doctor and I know first aid," Summer said sweetly. Ryan stood nervously in the doorway. He was guilty of something.

"Thanks, Summer," Kirsten said, needing to reassure Ryan. But she knew immediately something else had gone in the poolhouse. "Ryan, have a seat, we're going to bring the food into the dining room."

Ryan obeyed silently, relaxing slightly and joining Seth and Marissa in the other room.

Summer picked up one of the cartons but Kirsten put her hand on her wrist. "Can we talk, Summer?"

"Sure," Summer replied after a beat.

Kirsten considered her words carefully. "Are you sleeping with Ryan?"

"Mrs. Cohen?"

"Call me Kirsten. And answer the question, please."

Summer had a rare flush of embarrassment on her cheeks. "Um..."

She waited, not taking her gaze off the girl.

"We haven't literally slept together but...we have gotten to know each other in a...less than chaste way."

Kirsten nodded. "I have a feeling that you do not need a lecture on the birds and the bees and neither does Ryan. But I do want you to consider very carefully what you're doing with Ryan. You're a popular girl, you have lots of friends and I can tell that you're used to getting what you want. But Ryan's special, he's not from around here and his stakes are much higher than yours. He can't afford to get in trouble..."

"And I'm trouble?" Summer asked quietly.

"Are you?" Kirsten replied.

"Ryan's my friend, Kirsten. I'm not out to hurt him or get him in trouble. I just...I like him," Summer stammered.

Kirsten studied her face. She seemed sincere.

Summer lowered her voice. "He is special."

Kirsten nodded and held out a carton for Summer to take. "No more sex in the poolhouse, okay? And if you do have sex..."

"Safe, I know," Summer said, practically squirming with her uncomfortableness.

"As long as we have an understanding," Kirsten nodded. "Then you're welcome to visit when you like."

Summer turned away but reconsidered, tilting her head at her. "Did you give Coop a lecture, too?"

"Seth doesn't have 'Coop's' teeth marks on his neck," Kirsten replied with a slight smile.

Summer hurried out of the kitchen.

Sandy pulled into the driveway and waved at the girls that were walking down his driveway.

Kirsten at told him about their dinner guests. He had been startled to hear the lilt of contentment in his wife's voice, it hadn't been what he expected after a day spent taking Ryan to the doctor's.

He'd spent his day finalizing their guardianship of Ryan.

Dawn Atwood was definitely a piece of fucking work.

She tilted her head at him. "You want me to just give you my kid? Why the hell do you want him?"

He didn't reply.

"What if I don't sign them? What's in it for me?" she asked, her blue eyes flashing.

"What's in it for you?" Sandy repeated, stunned.

Dawn's huge boyfriend leaned forward. "Yeah. If we give you the kid, what do we get? You gonna pay us?"

"Yeah, if you want Ry, you're going to have to make it worth our while," Dawn said.

Sandy picked up his briefcase and opened it on top of the diner's table, pulling out a manila folder.

He methodically placed the prints of Ryan's injuries across the table. Then he put Dawn's letter on the end. Next he pulled out the bulging social services file. Then he motioned out of the window where his buddy, Dennis, was leaning on his squadcar smoking a cigarette.

"This is your motivation. Officer Davis really hates seeing kids hurt. If I wanted to, I could have you both arrested right now for child abuse and neglect."

"You can't prove anything..." Dawn said. "I didn't do this..."

"Do you really want me to take you to court? You don't want Ryan. I do. Sign the damn paper and we both get to go back to our lives. You wrote this letter, you signed it," Sandy said, holding out the copy of the letter. "All I'm doing is giving you what you want."

"Hi, honey," Kirsten smiled, meeting him at the door. "You look tired."

"I am. It's good to be home," he replied.

"The boys are in the poolhouse. Seth's got a date tomorrow night and I'm worried that he may spontaneously combust," Kirsten said.

"So, your day was really..."

"It was good. I mean...Ryan's got a lot of baggage, but...he's a good kid. We did the right thing. Oh, and he's having sex with the Roberts' girl," Kirsten added as an afterthought.

"Wait...Summer? Seth's Summer? Seth has a date?" Sandy was having trouble keeping up. He'd only been gone for 8 hours.

"With Marissa," Kirsten replied.

"I'll talk to him about the...sex," Sandy said after a beat.

"I wouldn't worry about it. I had a chat with Summer. We have an understanding," she said. "And I don't think we have to worry about 'the sex' as you call it with Seth just yet."

"Oh." He wrapped his arms around her. "So...good idea?"

"So far," she grinned. Her face fell slightly. "Are we okay?"

"Yeah," he answered honestly.

"Good. 'Cause we just got in way over our heads."

"So, what are you going to do while I'm out on my date?" Seth asked.

Ryan covered his head with the pillow from his position on Seth's bed.

Ever since eight a.m., when the gardener had woke the house up with the lawn mower, the kid had been trying on clothes. T-shirts, fuzzy sweaters, dress shirts and for a few minutes, his tuxedo. Finally he'd settled on faded jeans and an emo t-shirt under a white dress shirt.

Ryan found it amusing that his thick curls seemed to tighten with according to his emotional fervor. Even if it was all in Ryan's imagination...it was amusing.

"Dude? Still with me? I promise we're going to go play ps2 shortly, as soon I find shoes..."

"It's four o'clock. You've been saying that since noon. Your mom had to bring us sandwiches because you weren't able to come out," Ryan said.

"Sorry. But..."

"I know. It's a big night."

Seth grinned brightly.

"I was planning on just staying in. Sleeping," Ryan answered honestly.

"Dude, you should hang out with Summer or something," Seth said, frowning. "Ask her out or something."

"I don't really date, Seth," Ryan shrugged.

"What? But you and Summer..."

"That's not dating. I hang out with girls...I don't really...take them out," Ryan replied.

"Well, I have a little experience with asking girls out, I could give you some pointers," Seth offered, smiling.

"Thanks, but I'll pass. I'm just going to stay in," Ryan said.

"But...you feel okay and everything, right?" Seth asked.

"You guys are way too worried about me. I feel fine. And you're going to have a great first date. And you look fine. Let's go downstairs, dude."

"But, I don't know what shoes..."

"Seth," Ryan grumbled and was rewarded by Seth huffing and walking out of the room, his arms full of shoes.

He climbed off the bed and followed him down the stairs.

"Dad..." Kirsten sighed, exasperated and turned to face her father in the hallway where he'd followed her.

"I want to meet this boy, Kiki."

"You'll meet him, just not tonight," she replied.

"I still can't believe you made this big of a decision without consulting me," he said.

"Dad, I've been married eighteen years, I haven't consulted you on my personal life for at least twenty. Since you told me to marry Jimmy Cooper. I consult you for business decisions, not personal," she said.

"Kiki..."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't recall being consulted when you flew that model to Aspen last weekend.

He stammered, but finally conceded. "I still want to meet him. Why don't you let me take you all out to dinner tonight."

"It's Friday night, Dad, I'm sure he has other plans."

"Well, if he doesn't, I expect to get a phone call," her father said. "If this kid's going to be living with you, we better get to know each other. Any person who's a part of my daughter's life is damned well going to be a part of mine," he added, kissing her cheek and disappearing into his office.

Since her mother had died of cancer a couple of years earlier, her father had changed. He'd thrown himself into his work during her decline and had been away at a conference when she passed away.

He'd never forgiven himself and made it a point to be involved in Kirsten and her sister's life, to the point where he came over every Sunday for brunch after morning mass.

Kirsten wasn't sure how her father was going to react to Ryan. Even though he'd made great strides in becoming a better father to her, Ryan wasn't exactly the kind of person her father would have run into in Newport.

"Mom, I'm leaving!" Marissa yelled upstairs when the doorbell rang.

"Where are you going? Is Luke taking you out?"

Marissa rolled her eyes. "No, mom. Oh, and I'm staying at Summer's tonight..."

"Wait right there, young lady," Julie said, hurrying down the stairs. "If you have a date, I think I need to meet him."

Before Marissa could stop her, her mother swung open the door.

Seth was frozen, obviously not expecting Julie. "Mrs. Cooper, hello, how are you?"

"Seth. Nice to see you. Are you taking my daughter out tonight?"

"Um, yes?" Seth stammered.

"Come on, Seth. Goodbye, 'mother'," Marissa hissed, pulling Seth outside.

"Have fun," Julie grinned, waving.

"So..."

"Ignore her, she just gets off on torturing me," Marissa said.

"So, what do you want to do?"

"I'm hungry."

Seth gave her skeptical look.

"Shut up," she laughed. She was always hungry.

"Kirsten, you can't do this to the kid right now, you'll scare him away," Sandy was telling his wife when Ryan walked in.

"What's up?" Ryan asked, sitting down at the counter.

"My father wants to meet you," Kirsten announced. "He's coming over for dinner."

Sandy was shaking his head and waving his hands behind Kirsten's back.

"Is that a good idea?" Ryan asked.

"Well, you're going to be around and he's a member of this family, too. Might as well get it over with," Kirsten said, glaring at Sandy.

"Shouldn't we wait until Seth's here, too?" Ryan asked. He had to meet the family now?

"Seth already knows Caleb. Come on, we have to make you a tinfoil hat so he won't read your mind," Sandy said. Kirsten punched him, good naturedly in the arm.

"He's not evil. I think you'll get along. He's really excited about it," Kirsten said.

"What do you think I will have in common with your father?" Ryan asked.

She hesitated.

"I'll go change," Ryan said, conceding.

The doorbell rang.

"Too late. You look fine. It's going to be fine," Kirsten said.

Sandy walked over and sat down beside him. "Hopefully he won't stay too long. And he stopped biting the mailman years ago."

Ryan was still doubtful.

He was surprised when he recognized the balding man that walked in with Kirsten carrying a large box from a restaurant.

"At least he brought food," Sandy muttered out of the corner of his mouth before plastering on a smile and shaking his hand.

"Sandford. See you're still alive. And this must be Ryan," he said. "I'm Caleb, Kiki's father and Seth's grandfather. Occasionally I even claim Sandford."

Ryan shook his hand, making sure to use a firm grip.

Caleb seemed to recognize him, too after a moment. "Where do I know you from, boy?"

"I don't know," Ryan replied honestly. "But you are familiar."

"Why don't we all sit down and I'll get our drinks," Kirsten said, giving Ryan a curious glance.

Summer ignored Luke's persistent whine in her ear and tried to focus on the keg.

This party blew.

Marissa was out with Cohen, Holly was crying because Luke had stopped fucking her and Ryan wasn't even here.

She didn't have his number and she definitely didn't want to get Kirsten on the phone. She shuddered.

Kirsten was acting like a mom already. Summer didn't do well with moms.

"Summer!" Luke said. "Are you listening to me? You have to help me get her back."

"No, I don't. You fucked up, Luke. You cheated on her. I wouldn't be a friend if I helped you. You deserve to be alone. Get over yourself," she said, pushing past him with her refilled up and heading outside to the deck.

She pulled out her phone and tried Coop's cell phone again. It went straight to voicemail.

"Coop, I'm bored! I miss you. At least when you were dating Luke we got to hang out. Call me. Oh...and hope you're having a good time." She hesitated to close the phone after she ended the call.

She finally closed it. She needed to get over this obsession with Ryan soon.

School was starting soon and she was wasting good party time thinking about a boy.

A very hot boy.

Who could fuck like a machine.

She drained the cup and tossed it into the garbage and started toward her car.

Caleb and Sandy were bantering across the table and Ryan was eating silently, but he'd relaxed after a few calm inquiries from Caleb earlier.

"Ryan? How's the veal?"

"It's, um, good. I don't think I've had veal before," he admitted.

"We don't even know what you like to eat," Kirsten said.

"This is fine," Ryan said.

"I really think we've met before," Caleb said.

Ryan glanced at him. "I think I remember now. I used to help my friend Theresa's mom clean houses out here. Your wife was sick and you'd come home at lunch to sit with her."

Kirsten could tell by her dad's face that it was true. She didn't know that her dad would visit her mom at lunch.

"That's right. Eva, she would bring Laura muffins every few days. You've grown up a lot since then, you were skinny. Always polite, though," her dad added as an afterthought.

Ryan was silent, reflective.

"Mom passed away a few years ago," Kirsten said quietly.

"I'm sorry. She was a very nice lady," Ryan replied.

"It's a small world, isn't it," Caleb said softly. "But welcome to the family, Ryan."

Kirsten could see that Ryan and her father did have something in common after all.

Ryan stepped into the poolhouse and flipped the light on.

Summer was lying on his bed, watching the door.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was bored. I wanted to see you. Is that so bad?"

Ryan walked over and leaned over the bed as she raised up on her elbows to accept his kiss.

Within seconds, they were on the bed, making out. She tasted like lust and beer.

"Wait..." Summer said, breathless, pulling away. "We can't do this here."

"What?"

"Kirsten says we can't have sex in the poolhouse," Summer said, straighteing her bikini top and standing up. "Come on."

"When did Kirsten..." Ryan started.

"Never mind, let's go outside."

He didn't have anything better to do so he let her lead him outside and behind the poolhouse to a path that led down the hill toward the beach.

"Where are we going?"

"The Cohen's and Coop share a little swatch of beach. We can be alone there and I won't be breaking any of Kirsten's rules. She busted me for that little lovebite on your neck," Summer said over her shoulder.

Ryan should've known. Seth had mentioned it last night but he'd hoped that the Cohens had been less observant. He should've known better.

"Here we are," Summer said, releasing his hand and turning to face him. "Secluded, private and perfect for a little forbidden tryst."

"You are definitely surprising," he said, stepping forward to kiss her.

He enjoyed her mouth for several minutes until they both heard the sound of voices echoing above the sound of the surf.

"Coop," Summer said softly, recognizing her friend's voice.

Ryan listened harder but couldn't make out the words.

"We should check it out," Summer said.

They almost looked like a normal couple out on a walk but the cluster of people down the beach did not.

He recognized Luke standing with Marissa, holding her arms.

He didn't see Seth.

"You have to talk to me, what are you doing with this geek, trying to make me jealous? Well it worked, you got back at me..." Luke was yelling.

Ryan saw Seth then, on his back in the sand with the familiar jocks standing over him, kicking him in shifts.

He took off in a run and was vaguely aware of Summer kicking Luke in the balls and screeching at him when he pushed the biggest guy over.

"Oh, you want some of this, punk?"

He'd managed to deal with the pain in his chest for days, but after the first two hits on his bandaged abdomen, he went down.

"Stop it! Stop it!" Marissa screamed. Summer was throwing sand and kicking at Luke's prone form from where he was protecting his danglies from her precise kicks.

Seth wasn't taking the brunt of the attack anymore, but blood was streaming out of his nose as he struggled in Chip's grip from the outer circle of boys attacking Ryan.

"You're killing him..." Seth said and everything stopped as Marissa heard the harsh gasps from Ryan.

Art hesitated throwing his punch and Summer stopped her assault.

Ryan was struggling to breathe, on his back on the sand.

"We need to get out of here," Chip said suddenly and the bulk of the boys took off in a sprint toward their cars.

Marissa went to Seth's side where he had crawled to crouch over Ryan's prone form.

"Ryan?"

Ryan couldn't seem to catch his breath, sucking and exhaling air at a painful pace, his face tight with pain.

"What's wrong with him?" Luke asked, on his feet now.

"Summer, go get my dad..." Seth said, stricken.

"But..."

"Go!" Seth yelled and she took off in a run.

"Seth..." Marissa whispered, panicked.

Ryan was clawing at his shirt and she was startled when Luke pushed her aside and pulled his shirt up to reveal his bindings.

"Get away from him," Seth said.

Marissa stifled a scream when Luke pulled out the knife.

"Dude!"

Luke positioned the knife at the bottom of the bandage and sliced upwards to cut them off.

Ryan immediately started breathing easier, digging his hands into the sand, still in pain.

"He could've punctured a lung," Luke said, sticking the knife in the sand and putting his ear against Ryan's heaving chest. "Call an ambulance..."

"Do you hear anything?" Marissa asked, clinging to Seth now, unable to control the emotions surging through her.

"Just calm down, dude, and try to breathe," Luke told Ryan before turning to her. "I think his bindings were too tight and the fight just made it too much to deal with..."

Seth was talking to 911 when Summer returned with Sandy and Kirsten and the security guard.

"What happened?" Sandy demanded, falling to his knees beside Ryan.

"Seth?" Kirsten asked.

"There was a fight, he was trying to help and then he just couldn't breathe," Seth said.

Ryan finally came out of his pain induced haze on his back in the ambulance. His chest was numb from all the icepacks and every breath from the oxygen mask was like knives were piercing his body..

"There you are. Thought we lost you for a minute there," Sandy said, smiling at him from beside the medic.

"Still here..." Ryan said, his voice hoarse.

"You're a lucky kid," the lady said. "We're leaving you on the oxygen for a little while longer before we turn you loose..."

"Are you absolutely sure he doesn't need a hospital?" Sandy asked her

"No, no hospital," Ryan said.

"This is not your decision," Sandy said quickly, silencing him.

"Keep an eye on him overnight and bring him down in the morning for some new x-rays. And you might want to let his doctor know that they don't recommend wrapping broken ribs anymore, it increases the chance of a pneumothorax," the lady said.

"Thanks," Sandy said, turning his attention back to Ryan. "We need to have a talk."

Ryan knew that he was going to get in trouble for fighting.

"I appreciate you looking out for Seth. You're a good friend. But I don't want you putting your own health in danger, for anyone. Seth's not your responsibility. You've been hurt enough and one of the reasons I brought you here was so you wouldn't be hurt anymore. Okay?"

He nodded, not knowing what to say.

"Luke told us what happened and we're going to have the boys punished for what they did to you..."

"You called the cops?" Ryan asked.

"No. I know how you feel about cops. But we are going to call their parents and tell them what happened. The Newpsies are much more worried about being in the papers than they are about police," Sandy said. "Don't worry."

"I'm sorry..."

"I know, kid. But you didn't do anything wrong. But you are grounded."

"Grounded?" Ryan asked.

"Yep. The lady of the house has spoken. She says you're on lockdown until your bruises go away. You really scared us tonight, kid," Sandy said. He patted his hand fondly.

Ryan couldn't remember his own parents ever comforting him when he'd been hurt.

Newport was definitely like no other place he'd ever known.