Chapter 7

Riley POV

I could hear my phone vibrating, but I couldn't answer it. I had to focus on hitting Dylan with the baseball bat I still had in my room. But after I heard a thud, I didn't hear anything else but my phone. And it was going crazy! I looked over for a second, and I could see Riker's picture on my phone. And then I saw Riker's car pull in. Rocky, Riker, and Ellington came sprinting over to my house. What if Dylan was there just waiting to kill them?

"RILEY!? IT'S RIKER! WHERE ARE YOU!? ARE YOU OK!?" Riker shouted.

I pushed my dresser out of the way and opened my door. Riker was standing right outside. I ran into his arms, and he picked me up, hugging me really tight.

"Thank god you're ok! Your front door was wide open, and there were all these muddy footprints leading to your room! I seriously thought you were gone!"

"Why?"

"Riley, all I heard was a thud, and then your line went dead! I tried calling you back, and you never picked up!"

"Oh…"

"What was the thud?"

"I don't know."

"I think I do," said Rocky, pointing at the top of Riley's door.

We all looked up. There was a note stuck to her door, held there by a knife that went through to the other side. Rocky pulled the knife out, and the note fell to the ground. Ellington picked it up.

Riker POV

"Read it," I said.

"Riley, I want to give you a chance to do things right. If you do this how I tell you, I promise I won't hurt your boyfriend. Meet me in the woods of Cat Mountain tomorrow night at midnight. I'll be right near the parking lot. You won't miss me. But if you don't come, just know that you had a chance to save him. Dylan."

I looked over at Riley.

"Riley?"

"I'm going."

"WHAT!? You are not!"

"He's not going to stop until I'm dead. And I don't want you to end up hurt or dead because of me!"

"So you're going there, willing to die?"

"If it saves you, then yes."

"Riley, this is insane! I'm not letting you go!"

"Riker, he's going to kill you!"

"No, he's not."

"How?"

"We're calling the police. They'll take care of it."

"Riker, they're already looking for him! What can they even do?"

"They can protect you!"

"Riker. Wouldn't it just be better if I went to the woods, and finally ended this?"

"Hold on. Ellington, Rocky, can we have a minute to talk please?"

"Yeah, we'll meet you at home," said Rocky.

I took Riley's hand, pulled her into her room, and sat her down on my lap on her bed.

"Riley, how could you ever think that? How could you possibly think that handing yourself over to Dylan is the answer!?"

"Riker, I know you say you love me and everything, but don't you ever get tired of being my boyfriend? I've caused you so much trouble, and I almost got you killed that night in the woods! You got lucky you only needed stitches! Riker, if I go tomorrow, this will all be over! And you won't ever need to be in danger ever again!"

"Riley, no! I'm not letting you do that! And I've never been tired of being your boyfriend! Even if… I'm not still your boyfriend right now… I'll always love you no matter what, and there's no way I'm letting you go there to get killed!"

I started crying a little bit, thinking about what would happen if I ever lost Riley. She was totally the girl of my dreams.

"Riker, what other choice do I have?"

"I told you! We'll call the police!"

Riley wiped my face off gently.

"Riker, I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Well I don't want to see you get killed!"

I took Riley's hand in mine, and looked into her eyes.

"Riley, I love you. I can't let you do anything to get yourself hurt."

Riley suddenly kissed me, and I never wanted that moment to end.

"Riker, I don't know what to do!"

I pulled Riley into the kitchen.

"I'm calling the police, and you're not going to those woods tomorrow!"

Riley sighed. I never really knew until now how much she really cared about me. I mean she was willing to die for me! I picked her up, and sat her on the counter while I called the police and told them everything.

"Riley?"

"Yeah?"

"So, I talked to the police, and they want to catch Dylan."

"Obviously."

"No, I mean, like… They have a plan, and they would use you as bait."

"What!?"

"No! It's not what it sounds like! They would have everything all planned out so you won't really be in any danger. But you need a parent's permission because you're not 18 yet."

"What if I don't want to do that!?"

"You were just willing to die! How can you not want to do this!?"

"Riker, I was willing to die for you. This is different."

"But if it works, we'll never see him again! Riley, think about it! It'll just be you and me. We'll never have to worry about Dylan ever again! This is what we've always wanted!"

"What if something in the plan goes wrong?"

"Riley, nothing will go wrong. It's the police we're talking about. Police don't mess up, especially when it's something like life or death."

Riley sighed. She didn't want to do it.

"Won't you at least think about it?"

"Fine. But if I don't want to do it, I'm not."

"That's completely fine. I only want you to do it if you're comfortable."

"Well what else did the police say?"

"Uh…"

"What?"

"You're not going to like this…"

"What!?"

"They think that until they find Dylan, you should get a bodyguard. Well unless you want to do their whole plan thing."

"A bodyguard!? Do they know how much money that probably is!? My parents want me to be safe, but not if it means paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars! We'll just have to figure something else out…"

"Riley, I'll pay for it."

"Riker, you will not."

"Yeah, I will! Riley, I'm… well I used to be your boyfriend. And whether or not I still am, I'm still at least your friend. And as your friend, I'm doing this for you."

"Riker, I can't let you do that for me."

"Why not?"

"That's a ton of money."

"So? I'm part of R5! We have a ton of extra money! Riley, my family loves you, and if we have to spend a little money to make sure you're safe, then of course we're going to do it!"

"Your family I just made a fool out of myself in front of…?"

"Riley, seriously! I told you! They probably didn't even notice!"

I locked the front door, and brought Riley to her room.

"Ok, not that you look bad or anything, but how about you go take a shower, put on some comfy pajamas, and then we'll watch a movie, and wait for your parents to get home so we can tell them what happened."

"Could you be more obvious?"

"What?"

"Not that I look bad or anything?"

"Riley- I-"

"Oh stop. It's fine. I know I look awful. I'm all sweaty from thinking I was about to die!"

"Is it ok if I agree with that, or no?"

"No."

"Ok."

"Well then I'm going to take a shower now."

"Ok, I'll wait here for you and make sure nothing unexpected happens."

"Yeah like my ex coming to murder me, or the power going out, or who knows what else!"

Riley went to go take her shower. I texted Rocky to bring over movie stuff and my pajamas just like the other day. It was still raining out, and I was a little creeped out. But I needed to be here and protect Riley at least until her parents came back from work.

I was changing in Riley's room when Riley walked in on me. I had my pajama bottoms on, but I wasn't wearing a shirt. And Riley always seemed to have a problem with that. Although this time, something was different…

Riley walked over and kissed me. She didn't even seem to care that I was shirtless at the moment.

"Stop turning red! God, Riker!"

Riley pulled me to the floor so we could sit there and start our movie.

"Riley?"

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you care that I don't have a shirt on? You normally yell at me."

"I've decided that if that's what makes you happy, then I can live with that."

"So I never have to wear a shirt around you ever again?"

"Riker."

"Kidding!"

I pulled Riley close to me for a hug. We only had about an hour to relax. When her parents came home, things got really complicated.