More Than Jamie Baker (Jamie Baker #2) (35 page)

Ryan was laughing and joking around with his best friend just like he used to in high school, even though Mike was in a wheelchair and Ryan was throwing the ball left-handed because his right arm was in a sling. It was comforting and heartbreaking all at the same time.

For a split second, I wondered if I was making the wrong decision. Mike needed Ryan, and so did Becky. It was selfish of me to want to take him away from them. But then he missed Mike’s next throw, and the sigh that escaped him as he chased after the ball brought tears to my eyes.

“I’m done,” he said, tossing the ball to Mike.

“Still hurts?” Mike asked.

Ryan nodded and walked alongside Mike as they slowly made their way back toward the school.

“That sucks, dude. Thanks for coming, though. It’s good to see you outdoors for a change.”

That made me worry. Since when could Ryan stand to be cooped up inside?

“Nah, you were right. I needed the fresh air.”

“You need more than that, Ryan. Your mom called me. She said you quit school?”

Ryan shrugged. “Not forever. I just needed to take some time, you know?”

“Hell yeah, I know. I’m staring down a jail sentence.”

“Did you finally get your court date?”

Mike nodded. “It’s in two weeks. My lawyer thinks that if I get any jail time I’m looking at six months or less. Hey, when I get out we should take a year together and just get out of Sacramento for a while. Go travel and see some places or something.”

Ryan’s “Yeah, maybe” sounded so depressing that Mike stopped wheeling his chair and looked up at him. “We could try to find her,” he said.

My breath caught in my lungs. I couldn’t believe it, but I was actually grateful that I’d spilled the beans to Mike before I left. I was so glad that Ryan had someone to help him get through the last month. I also knew that I was not leaving without him. Ryan was mine as much as I was his, and I was taking him back.

I pulled out the letter I’d written back at The Lair explaining that I was the one who’d taken Ryan, and not Visticorp. It outlined my plan to come back for whoever wanted to disappear with me in two days’ time and where to meet me if they wanted to go. I figured I’d have to leave it with my parents, but since Mike knew my secret, and his best friend was about to disappear right in front of his eyes, I was glad I’d decided to go to Ryan first before dropping it off at my house. Mike could relay the message to my parents easily enough.

I scanned the area and spotted at least four people who looked like they could be Visticorp spies. I was going to have to be fast—just grab him and go. If I stopped even for a second, I was sure someone would have time to get a shot off or flip the switch on some evil Jamie-stopping gadget.

I climbed down from the roof of the building I’d been hiding on, took a few deep breaths, and then ran as fast as my legs would carry me.

I didn’t stick around to see how long it took Mike to realize that Ryan was gone or find the letter I’d dropped in his lap. I simply scooped Ryan into my arms, careful of his injured arm, and didn’t stop until we were in Arizona.

I was crying by the time I set him on his feet in front of our campsite. “I’m sorry I didn’t have time to warn you I was com—”

My words were cut off with the most passionate kiss I’d ever received in my entire life. Ryan had to physically wrench himself away from me when his body demanded oxygen. He held me by the shoulders and raked his gaze over me, still a little unbelieving that I was really standing there.

“What took you so long?” he demanded in a deliriously happy sigh.

“I was—”

Apparently he didn’t care about the answer because he kissed me again—kissed me as if the world were coming to an end right that second. As if I were going to disappear from him again at any moment. He held me tight and drank me in as if I were giving him a second chance at life.

I knew the feeling.

I had a million things I wanted to say, and questions I wanted to ask. I was still so relieved to be with him again, to feel him and taste him, that I was crying as hard as ever, but I let him kiss me and I kissed him back until he’d finally had enough.

“Ry, I am so sorry,” I started again.

“Shh.”

Without another word Ryan wiped the tears from my face, then turned me around and pulled me tightly against his chest. He wrapped his left arm tight around me and rested his head on top of mine, gently rocking us as we watched the sun set over the Grand Canyon.

More tears streamed silently down my face, but these were the happiest happy tears ever to have been cried.

I’d had a dream like this once—Ryan holding me as the world turned into a wondrous rainbow canvas around us. At the time it had felt so real. Funny how now that it was actually happening, it felt more like a dream.

I’d seen the sun set over the desert a thousand times, but it had never looked so beautiful. This sunset had a million more colors, and everything sparkled with so much more vibrancy. Nothing else would ever compare to this moment.

I melted into Ryan’s embrace. There was nowhere else on the earth I fit better. Nowhere else I belonged. He really was my other half. My soul.

After a few minutes Ryan began to shiver, but he refused to let go of me. I could tell by the way he clung to me that he was prepared to fight me if I tried to pull away, so I didn’t try. He planned on never letting go of me again, and I planned on letting him hang on.

Just before the sun disappeared below the horizon I felt Ryan’s lips press lightly against my neck. “The wait was worth every second,” he whispered.

I let out this half-joyous, half-sob laugh. Ryan had been waiting for this moment with me since the first time I’d mentioned the Grand Canyon. I don’t know how many times he’d begged me to bring him here. This was our place, our moment in time. We’d claimed it for ourselves the way Neil Armstrong claimed the moon for mankind. Part of me wished we could freeze time and stay right here in this moment forever.

When the sun was finally gone, I turned around and rested my head on Ryan’s shoulder. Before, I couldn’t wait to explain myself, but now I couldn’t find the right words to break the silence.

“I told you you’d come back to me.”

I laughed again, and then sighed. “I shouldn’t have. I should have stayed away, but I couldn’t.”

“You stayed away long enough as it is.” Ryan’s grip on me tightened as if part of him was still waiting for me to bolt. “Honestly, babe, I expected you to wait a couple days, not a whole month.”

“I was waiting until it was safe to go home. Teddy was going to hack into Visticorp’s computer system and then I was going to give all the evidence of their evildoings to Carter and get them all sent to federal prison for the rest of their lives. But then Teddy couldn’t find anything, and I realized I’d never get my life back. I couldn’t just disappear for the rest of my life without seeing you again. I owed you a weekend at the Grand Canyon first.”

Ryan’s entire body went rigid. “No way, Jamie!” Ryan clamped onto me with, I’m sure, every intention of throwing a tantrum. “You are not taking me back! Wherever you go, I go. End of story.”

I laughed. “Of course not. I was just making sure you still wanted to give everything up and spend the rest of your life with me.”

“
So
not funny,” Ryan said.

I smirked. “Was too.”

“Was not.”

“
So
was too.”

Ryan tried to glare at me but couldn’t manage it.

I laughed again and wrapped my arms around his waist. “So,” I said, kissing his lips quickly because they were just too close for me not to. Ryan looked ready for more, but I had to ask, “Are you really ready to spend the rest of your life with me?”

Ryan’s eyes flashed, and suddenly he was smirking. “That’s supposed to be my line.”

“What do you mean?”

Ryan pulled something out of his front pocket and I didn’t realize what it was until he fell to one knee. My stomach dropped with him, but it wasn’t from a sense of dread. I’d never once considered marriage yet, but looking at that ring, my heart was having a hard time staying within the confines of my chest.

“I’ve known I was ready to spend the rest of my life with you for a long time, Jamie. I was only waiting for your stubborn butt to realize it, too.”

Ryan’s eyes sparkled. He was amused greatly with this mother-of-all-surprises.

He looked over at the canyon beside us and grinned. “Well, that and the right setting. Couldn’t have proposed anywhere else, so it’s a good thing you finally brought me here.”

I still couldn’t quite believe it. “Are you serious?”

“Marry me, Jamie.”

He slipped the ring on my finger without waiting for an answer. It didn’t matter. He already knew it. Like always, he’d known what I wanted before I did.

We could only grin at each other as he got back to his feet. I eventually managed to squeak out an “I love you” and then I threw my lips on his and showed him exactly how much I loved him.

Later, as I lay in Ryan’s arms under a blanket of endless stars, he caught me smiling at my ring. The light of the campfire had been making it sparkle. “You like it?” he asked proudly.

Like it? It was perfect. A simple diamond—a ridiculously large one, but still simple—just like I would have picked for myself. It was elegantly set in a slim platinum band. My favorite thing about it was the inscription on the inside of the band that read “You are my sunshine.” I’d laughed when I saw it, but I cherished it at the same time. It was so ridiculously cheesy and just so perfectly Ryan.

“How long were you carrying it around in your pocket? I was gone for a month and supposedly never coming back.”

Ryan chuckled. I loved the feel of his chest shaking beneath my head, and snuggled closer to him. “I told you I knew you were coming back for me,” he said, happily tightening his grip on me. “Picking this ring was the first thing I did the second I was released from the hospital. I knew that whenever you came back I probably wouldn’t have time to pack a bag, so I kept it on me all the time.”

“You could have just got one after I came back.”

“And not have the proof to rub in your face that I knew you’d come? Where’s the fun in that?”

“I’m too comfortable to lift my head up right now, but just so you know, I’m rolling my eyes at your arrogance.”

“That was not arrogance.” I could hear the pout in Ryan’s tone. “It was faith in
you
, Jamie. Knowing you’d come back had nothing to do with me.”

“Unless, of course, you knew I’d come back because who in the world could possibly ever stay away from Ryan Miller forever?” I said dryly.

“Hey.” Ryan laughed. “You said it. Not me.”

We were quiet for a minute and then Ryan said, “What do you say we hit Vegas in the morning, find Elvis, and make it official?”

“What?” I asked, surprised again. “You want to do it
now
?”

“Why not?”

“Um, maybe because we’re only nineteen?”

“What does that matter? We’ve just run away together. We already know we’re going to spend the rest of our lives together. Why not do it properly? I know your dad wouldn’t actually be there to kill me for living with you in sin, but even still, I hate the idea of disappointing either of your parents. They’d want us to do this right.”

It took me a minute to swallow back a lump in my throat before I could say anything. “Vegas works for me. I’m down with Elvis presiding, but if you really don’t want to disappoint my parents, we should wait until they’re there to witness for us.”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t just come to snatch you, silly. I do have a plan. I figured I’d take you up on that deserted island offer you made me, and as long as we’re going, we may as well bring my parents along with us. I know they’d give up their lives to stay with me if given the option.”

“I’m sure they would, but how—”

“I left a letter with Mike when I picked you up that explains everything. I asked my parents to tell your mom and Gene everything, and then said I’d meet whoever wants to come in two days. I just hope my parents do what I asked and actually tell your parents. I’d hate for them not to know what happened to you.”

“Actually…” Ryan cringed, “my parents know.”

I sat up, shocked. “They do?”

Ryan sat up too and sighed. “It was kind of unavoidable. I’d been shot and you were gone. Your parents and I came up with a watery story about some creep in your dorm who kidnapped you. I tried to fight him off, but got shot. Then I tried to chase you down, but couldn’t, and so I went to your parents for help. Since Visticorp made such a scene at the school, when the cops put the two stories together, it made national news. People talked about us for days.

“My parents were a mess and I couldn’t just let them believe you’d been abducted like that, so I told them. I also knew I’d disappear eventually too, when you came back for me, so I prepared them for that. They were surprisingly supportive. Gene even set me up with a bank account.”