“Dude, if I ever get married, I'm going to revolutionize marriage,” Ayrton interjected.
“I don't get it, man. That sucks.”
“How was your date?”
“Not any better. They think I'm not good enough for their daughter,” I said while releasing a heavy sigh.
“Bull shit,” he said in disbelief.
“I'm not kidding,” I said sadly. I couldn't help but chuckle. It was laughable despite how much it hurt.
“We suck at life man. So bad.”
Then the doorbell rang.
“Did you order pizza?” I asked him.
“Of course! You think I ate the shit they were serving at dinner? Fuck no, man. I ain't letting myself get poisoned. Come on down, I got enough for both of us,” he said as he bolted out of the room.
I followed him down the stairs, he'd already answered the door. I heard two female voices – No way that was a pizza delivery driver.
“What's up, Ayrton?” I asked him before I could see who was at the door.
There they were. Maddie and Mikaela were on our doorstep. Mikaela and Ayrton went to the back of the house, leaving Maddie and me together in the foyer.
“I'm sorry about what happened, with my parents and all,” Maddie said.
“It's okay. You didn't have to come all this way to tell me that.”
“That isn't what I came here to say. I think – I know I want to be with you. I don't really care what my parents have to say about it. Part of me thinks we should slow down, but I know I don't want to and I know I won't be able to.”
“What're you saying, Maddie?”
“I'm saying, screw my parents. I want to be with you. That being said, I am going to get kicked out of my house.”
“So stay here. We've got plenty of room and I'd love to have you with me every night.” And so she did. Maddie drove back to her parents’ house to sneak out some of her clothes and things. She was back in an hour. My girl was with me for good. This girl was a firecracker. Intensely sexy, beautiful, gorgeous. She had something that I'd never seen in a young lady before -- An unmatched, immeasurable knack for being uniquely stunning. And that was Maddie's word.
Stunning.
The next weekend I decided I would hole up in the Yellowstone Pad and escape. Maddie was out of town for the weekend trying to mend fences with extended family, so it was the perfect chance to get away.
I wanted to play some hockey. I needed to play some hockey. Pent up aggression was not my friend. I closed up the Pad and headed to the outdoor rink at Bogert. Nobody was there – Perfect. I could skate on my own and let it all go. I got my skates on, prepped my MP3 player, and got out on the ice. It was always such a liberating feeling being out there, wind breezing through my hair. No sound except my skates cutting through the ice and the music in my ears.
A vehicle pulled up. A black Toyota. It was Maddie's car. I wondered... What was she doing there? I missed her desperately, but never expected her to be back this early.
She approached the boards, I pulled my earphones out.
“Hey pretty girl. How are you?” I asked. She was biting her lower lip nervously, not something I expected.
“I was wondering if you give hockey lessons. I'd like to try it out, and I will pay top dollar,” Maddie said in a very succinct manner. She was serious, but it also seemed like she was flirting with me. Why was she here again? Not that I didn't want to see her. Clearly something had gone wrong on her trip, so I decided to play along.
“Sure, I can give you a lesson. You don't need to pay me a dime though, it'd be my treat. Lucky for you, I brought an extra stick today.”
She joined me on the rink. I showed her how to shoot the puck, she started to try and stumbled. She spun around like a top, it was actually rather funny. I was only half able to catch her and stand her up. We were face to face, locked together. Our eyes met. She was breathing very deeply for some reason. Someone in as good a shape as she was couldn't possibly be tired.
“Hi,” Maddie whispered.
“Hey.” I was holding her, my arms wrapped around her body. Her arms were up against my chest, hands resting on my clavicles. Her golden curls sat perfectly on my arms.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah. I mean, of course. I just – I've never really felt this before,” Maddie responded.
“What do you mean?”
“When I look at you, I lose my breath. Not like someone hits me in the gut. More like – I don't know. I don't know what to do about it, it just happens.” Maddie giggled and shut her eyes. She was taking in the situation, letting it become a part of her.
“Anything I can do to help with that? Perhaps, something you want me to do?” I asked her.
“I want you to hold me, keep holding me. I like it a lot.”
“Check.” No sooner was that word out of my mouth, she was kissing me. It was one of the more passionate kisses I'd had in a while. Not sexual at all, just passionate. She was shaking, but not from the cold. She wanted to kiss me with her entire body – And that was a pretty damn cool feeling. I knew Maddie was very compassionate, but she hadn't previously been quite this forward with it.
“I also want to attack your lips,” she said with a childish laugh.
“Seems like you regularly get what you want.”
“Is that a bad thing?” she asked with a sweet, innocent smile.
“Not at all. I think it's great,” I responded.
“This just seems like a dream.”
“Well, you came here to see me, and you were supposed to be gone this weekend. Maybe it is a dream. Maybe I'm not real.” Apparently I said something right, because she immediately kissed me again. As she pulled away, she kept her eyes closed and pursed her lips, almost as if the kiss hurt.
“If this is a dream, I don't ever, ever want to wake up. I might die of heartbreak knowing it isn't real.”
We finished skating around and I debated whether or not we should go back to the Mansion or head to the Yellowstone Pad. It was a question of how much I trusted her, honestly. I was could show her my hiding spot. I had never shown a girlfriend any of my hiding spots, not even Mary-Margaret. I decided it was time to open up to her. We hadn't done much getting to know each other yet. So I showed her my hideout.
“What's this place?” she asked as we arrived.
“My getaway. I try to keep things simple sometimes. Success rate is higher with simplicity.”
The apartment was not hotly decorated. It was exactly what I wanted it to be – A bachelor pad. I had a tech station in the dining area where I could build computers if I wanted to indulge in that hobby. I also had a racing simulator in the dining room. Nothing else but a cheap couch and a crappy hand-made entertainment station that had a nice TV on it.
“Very simple. I like it a lot,” Maddie said.
“You're a terrible liar,” I responded, drawing a giggle. She had an addictingly girly laugh.
We spent the evening cuddling on the couch getting to know each other. We talked about everything, literally everything. We were alike and different. We saw some things the same and some things differently. I loved our differences. I loved how open she was, how she let me in the same way I let her in. It was like we had known each other for years. Obviously we had spent a lot of time together over the previous couple of weeks, but we hadn't connected like we did that evening. Next thing I knew, night had fallen and we hadn't eaten anything. I offered to order Chinese, but she wasn't interested in that.
“No, I want to cook for you,” Maddie said.
“Seriously? Do you remember what happened last time you tried that?”
“Perhaps I've done some learning since then.”
Maddie soon left to grab some groceries. She got back after what seemed like forever. I was instructed to turn the TV on to whatever I wanted to watch and to stay out of the kitchen. Nothing wrong with a drop dead gorgeous girl who knew how to take control. It reminded me of the gender roles incident with Diana, b
ut I wasn't worried about that with Maddie. I was watching a hockey game, but I found myself turning around so I could watch her in the kitchen. She eventually noticed me.
“What are you looking at? You're making me nervous,” she said.
“I am looking at the most beautiful girl I've seen in a very, very long time,” I responded. She walked over to me, I laid on my back on the couch. She looked down at me so her long hair draped on either side of my face, shielding both our faces from the outside world. It was an incredible feeling – The only things I could see were this lovely girl's hair and her bright green eyes.
“What're you thinking about?” she asked me, eager for a response.
“I could look into your eyes all day and never get bored,” I responded. She leaned down and kissed me. Her lips were so perfectly luscious. Just as luscious as her hair.
That Monday, Ayrton and I went out on a double date with Maddie and Mikaela. I hadn't heard Ayrton talk about a young lady like he did with Mikaela for a while now. After dinner, I glanced at Ayrton, his arm around Mikaela, and one thing was for sure – My boy was happy.
As per tradition, Ayrton and I led our ladies to their respective doors. Gotta escort the women, that's always a must. Real men are gentlemen who treat their ladies like true ladies. Another truck had parked next to us, and despite the fact that it was filled with four grown men, I didn't think much of it.
“Hey homie.” The driver nodded at me, I returned a quaint smile. This guy was a big, rough looking dude. He looked like an average LA guy, but in Montana, he was a rare breed. “Nice truck.”
“Thanks bud, same to ya.” I replied.
We were sitting at the light looking up at the overpass in Belgrade. Nobody beside us, we were in the curb lane. The sun was just beginning to set, it was looking to be a beautiful evening with the ladies.
The truck that was parked next to us at the restaurant pulled up to the light. It was like slow motion – As the truck pulled up, there were three assault rifles aimed at us. I glanced over, Ayrton glanced over.
“GET DOWN!” we both screamed as quickly and loudly as we could. The passengers in the truck opened fire on us as if they were in clip dump training. I forced Maddie down and hit the gas. A semi was turning onto the street right in front of us, I swerved to avoid him. I knew the truck would give us some time to get away, but I quickly noticed that we were down on power. The next turn off on the road was too far up and too congested, I had to get off of this road.
I veered onto the freeway. I knew it was a risky move with Betsy not running at full song. Surely those guys would be able to catch up.
“Maddie! Maddie, are you okay?” I barked at her. Blood. Lots of blood. She had been shot. “Ayrton, get up here! I need you man!”
“Dude, we're both good. What about Maddie?” Ayrton asked.
“Get up here now, she needs some help!”
“Oh fuck me,” Ayrton said as he got into the front seat with Maddie. She'd been hit hard.
Ayrton looked back at Mikaela – “Mikaela, I want you to get down flat on the floor, now!” He looked out the rear window just as I glanced in the rear view mirror. “They're catching up, man! Get down Mikaela, now!”
Betsy had done so much for me over the last four years. She was an old truck already, she'd been heavily used, and what I asked of her in that moment, I feared it was too much for her to handle. I was asking an old truck to handle the ridicule of bullets and the seething hatred of four gangsters and keep a safe haven for this girl who had an entire life ahead of her. This girl who I realized at that moment that I truly loved.
“She's doing pretty bad, man!”
“Do everything you can, I'll take care of these guys,” I said as my adrenaline pumped harder and faster.
The truck pulled up next to us. They were trying to shoot out the rear tires, so I countered and ran my truck off the berm, just enough for the tires to hide in the tall grass. Betsy wasn't handling it well. The driver of the other truck pulled right up next to me – For a moment, our eyes connected. Two men who were not willing to give up. Two men with missions, but what was his?
We were two men driving fast and refusing to lose. I felt as though I'd been in this scenario before.
I drug my foot on the brake pedal, slammed against his truck to throw the shooters off their reloads. I slammed the brakes, spun him into the median. His truck grabbed air, flipped wildly, and we were off.
I had been in such a scenario before, and I knew how to win. You can't out-asshole me when someone I love needs my help.
Within a few minutes, we arrived at the Bozeman hospital. Mikaela had been nicked by shrapnel and shot harmlessly in an arm. Ayrton escaped with a glancing gunshot to the shoulder. I was cut up everywhere from shrapnel, but I couldn't feel a thing. Maddie – She was in really bad shape. A Hollywood producer couldn't draw up a perfect storm any better. It looked as though every single bullet shot into the truck found its way to her.
Ayrton took Mikaela in his arms and into the ER. I carefully got Maddie in and onto a bed. The doctors swiftly took her away from me. A nurse was trying to get me out of the hallway as I watched Maddie rushed to surgery. I couldn't take my eyes off her.
Several hours passed. I was as fixed up as I was going to be, same with Ayrton. I was waiting on the hospital bed they had put me on, Ayrton entered the room.
“How you doin'?” he asked.
“I'm a wreck, and injuries have nothing to do with it,” I responded.
“I hear that. The doc tell you anything about Maddie?”
“Yeah. She was shot seven times. They don't know whether or not she'll make it through surgery.”
“Mikaela is going to be fine. Just gotta start praying for Maddie I guess.” Ayrton was right. That was all we could do, pray. “You check out the truck yet?”
I hadn't. I was clear to move around, so Ayrton and I went to check on old Betsy. When we emerged from the ER, it didn't even look like the same truck. It was absolutely riddled with bullet holes. Chips of paint were missing everywhere. Where was the beautiful black truck I spent so much time taking care of? The police had taped off the truck at that point.
“They said it's evidence now,” Ayrton noted. “They need to do tests on it to see if they can trace anything to the shooters.”
“I have no idea who those guys were. I know they're still out there though,” I said with a sigh.
“So what're we gonna do? If they knew your truck, they know the house.” Ayrton knew this was time for a gameplan.
“They're gonna be scoping us out, so we're going to scope them out,” I told him.
“Are we going Black Ops? Because I'm not gonna lie man, that would be sweet.”
I knew what Ayrton was trying to do. He was trying to bring a little light to a seriously messed up situation. I respected him for that, but I just wasn't going to laugh about this. The guys that tried to kill Maddie, and maybe succeeded, were still out there. This was personal. This hit too close for laughter.
“Whatever it takes to get rid of these guys. We're gonna make sure they can't come back,” I told him sternly.
“What about the truck?” Ayrton knew I was thinking about it. Some days I think he knew me far too well.
“Insurance is gonna total it. I guess I've got a decision to make. Trash it or rebuild it.”
“Is that really a question? We're going to rebuild this truck. You can't go on without it. You can't let them win like that.”
“I don't know man. You've worked a lot of miracles in your day. I don't know that even you could bring Betsy back to life after this.” I walked back inside, leaving Ayrton there. I'm sure what I said must have been hard for him to hear, but it was unfortunately what I felt. It felt like the world had crumbled and there was no chance of putting it back together. My life felt as though it lost purpose that day. If four random guys could hold such hate within them to attempt to murder four innocent in cold blood, what was this life really worth? Murderous savages, no c
are, no empathy – No hope. There we were wondering if Maddie was going to live through the attack, and these four guys were likely preparing their next move. And we didn't even know why – We didn't actually know if they would mount a second offensive, but it seemed as though they had some vested interest in seeing us dead. Didn't know what it was, but both Ayrton and I knew this wasn't over.
We went back into the hospital and waited. We were met by a nurse several hours later, deep into the night. “Come with me,” she barked. She led us to Maddie's room. Maddie was alive and awake. Groggy as all get out, but alive.
I entered, she noticed me and smiled. That put me much more at ease than I had been. I wondered if she'd be mad at me. It was my job to protect her. She was with me in public, I should have protected her. I failed, but she was still smiling.
“Hi,” she said.
“They didn't take your smile,” I responded.
“The only person who can take my smile away is you. Are you okay?”
“I'm better now that I know you're still with us,” I told her.
“I love you so much,” she started tearing up. She was choking back words – Clearly about to say something she didn't want to. “I've fallen so deeply in love with you in such a short time, and that scares me. It's been scaring me. I'm only eighteen and I love you so much, I don't know what to do with myself. Now this happens and I think – I just think maybe I need to listen to what my parents said and let you go.”
“Why would you say that? I don't want to go.” And I really didn't. Desperately, I didn't want to go.
“I think it's the best thing. You don't want to be traveling the world with an anchor pulling you back to Montana.”
“You would never be an anchor to me. The beauty in our age difference is I know exactly what I want, Maddie. I want you.”
“And I know I want you. Well, I think I want you. I don't know what I want. Maybe I want to figure that out. Either way, I can't figure out what I want while hanging onto you. It's not fair to you.”
The Legend: The Love of Ryan Sumpter Page 12