Chapter 95: Easy Choice

The silence in the car was deafening with only the lights of the dashboard casting any kind of illumination through the small space we found ourselves trapped in. The usual easy atmosphere between us was replaced by a tension that made the air feel thick and heavy.

Glancing over at Ryder, I noticed his hands gripping the steering wheel a little too tightly.

"Are you okay?" I asked, repeating the question he had asked me only minutes ago.

"Yeah," he said, his tone a little dismissive. "Just got a lot on my mind after tonight."

His eyes flicked to mine briefly and a shadow passed over his face that told me there was more to this that he wasn’t saying.

The ride continued in silence, each of us lost in our own troubled thoughts about the disastrous dinner with his parents.

When we pulled up in front of my aunt Mara’s house, I leaned over to kiss him goodbye, but the kiss was different tonight. Lacking. Void of its usual warmth and passion.

Pulling back, I searched his face, "Is there somet