Chapter 164: Don’t Go
Ryan’s POV
There was absolutely nothing that Ryan liked about Vivian’s ex.
But as much as he hated the man, if what Vivian was saying was true. Then the word hate could no longer cover what Ryan felt when it came to the other man. What sort of low life would go as far as to try and ruin somebody all because they were moving on.
How on earth could Bryce be out there posting all of those foul things online, he used to be her boyfriend for crying out loud!
Staring at Vivian, who looked back at him with nothing but certainty in her grey eyes, Ryan looked away. Then he pulled out his own phone, and looked at all of the things being said about Vivian once again.
Rage making his vision go fuzzy, he put the device away, took a few calming breaths, and then looked back to Vivian again.
"Maybe it is not him, perhaps someone else saw us and put these up," Vivian shook her head sadly.
"No, this is most definitely him, a lot of what has been said here matches his manner of speaking when it comes to me, and he is the only person who always called me piggy,"
What?!
His hands instantly balled into fists at her confession.
Piggy!
Bryce had been calling her Piggy, Ryan took a breath, held it, let it out, took another held it, and let it out.
But the normally calming technique just was not working. His anger would not dissipate...
Piggy!
How dare he?!
More than the nickname itself what got to Ryan even more was the resigned manner in which Vivian said it. There was no shock, no hurt there. Which meant that she had gotten quite used to being referred to like that. No wonder she’d had such low self esteem when they had met. That absolute beast, now more than ever Ryan was disappointed that he had not done more damage to Bryce, the one time that he had gotten his hands on the man.
But that could be remedied.
The wild fury that had been clawing away at his chest, suddenly crystallizing into something sharp and cold at the thought. A blanket of calm settled over Ryan, and he knew exactly what he had to do. He had to leave the penthouse, go out there, find Bryce and put the man in the ICU...simple.
His mind made up, he began walking towards the door, fantasizing about all of the things that he was going to do to Vivian’s ex. By the time that Ryan was done with him, if that man so much as dreamt of calling Vivian anything other than names that were respectful, and confidence building he would wake up and apologize.
Halfway to the door though, Ryan suddenly found himself unable to move.
Huh?
He blinked and looked down at himself, the source of his lack of motion, quickly revealing itself. Vivian was hugging him from the back, her arms gripping his middle tight.
"Please don’t go, don’t go out there,"
Oh.
For a moment he had been so consumed by rage that he had actually forgotten that she was in the penthouse with him. Reaching for her arms, Ryan gently ran his hands over them and she loosened her hold, allowing him to turn around and face her.
Her eyes held such an intense look of fear that Ryan instantly felt bad. He had not meant to scare her.
"Whatever you were thinking of doing, please don’t," She pleaded.
"I was only going to talk to him," Ryan lied, and from the look in her eyes it was clear that she did not buy that at all.
"Please don’t," She begged again, and despite everything that his entire being was begging him to go and do to Bryce, Ryan found himself nodding. Knowing he had made the right decision when Vivian smiled gratefully at him. The fear in her eyes instantly going away, she led him to the couch and he went without a fight, taking a seat when she instructed him to.
When Ryan had not been wanting Vivian to see all that had been written about her online. He had thought that he would be protecting her, and when he had finally caved and allowed her to view the malicious insults, he had thought that he would be doing damage control. Either trying to comfort Vivian as she cried, or doing his best to come her down as she raged. But now in a turn of events that he had not thought of at all, Vivian was the one doing her best to make sure that he did not go out there, and show her ex that despite having been born rich, he was very capable of rearranging the bones on a man’s face with his hands alone.
"Just let me go out there and rough him up a bit, I promise that I will hold back," Ryan said pleadingly, but Vivian, who was now standing behind him and massaging his shoulders shot the idea down.
"I do not want you going out there, Ryan, you might not have seen it. But I saw the pure rage on your face, given your emotional state, if you are to see Bryce right now, I am worried that you will end up going to prison," Ryan scoffed, tilting his head back as she massaged just the right spot.
"Even if I were to kill that man, I would not be seeing the inside of a jail cell. I have more than enough money to ensure that that does not happen," Vivian’s hands instantly stilled, then the next thing Ryan knew they were gone and she was walking around the couch to come and sit next to him again.
Reaching out, Vivian cradled his face in her hands, her grey eyes wet with tears.
"Don’t ever joke about something like that," Ryan had not been joking, but he chose to keep that information to himself.
"Bryce has already tried to ruin so many aspects of my life, I do not want him to taint you as well. Just let the police handle this," Her words finally cracked something deep within Ryan. Vivian had not been worried about him hurting her ex, she was worried that Ryan would compromise himself for the sake of that man, and that was not something she wanted.
She was trying to protect Ryan, and not the good for nothing man, who took pride in insulting her. Reaching up Ryan removed Vivian’s hands from his face and brought them to his lips, kissing her knuckles.
"I promise that I will not let that creature pollute me,"
He very carefully did not say that he would not go after.
***
All in all things were not as bad as they could have been. Sure, the rest of the world was going crazy trying to find out more about the relationship. Plus Ryan had gotten a glimpse into how horribly Vivian’s ex had treated her. But despite all of that, they still had each other and they were cuddling on the couch.
Pulling his Vivian closer still, Ryan kissed the top of her head and began to speak, his voice a low rumble.
"Sweet, kind, warm, loving, gorgeous, selfless, caring..." Vivian raised her head from where it had been pillowed against his chest and she looked at him in confusion.
"What are you doing?" She asked, Ryan smiled at her.
" I am telling you all of the things that you are," Her mouth parted in shock, but a few seconds later she was very obviously fighting a smile.
"And just why do you suddenly feel the need to tell me all of that?" Looking her straight in the eyes to let her know how serious he was being, Ryan did not waste time responding.
"Every time that the foul stuff, that that man used to say to you pops up, I want you to remember me calling you all of these good things. You are an amazing woman, and you should never forget that," Ryan had barely finished his statement when Vivian’s lips were suddenly pressed against his. Just as the kiss was about to become something deeper, she pulled back and smiled at him, her cheeks rosy.
" I love you," She told him, the pure simple honesty that he could hear in her statement, had Ryan blushing as well.
"I love you too,"
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