Thursday, July 22, 2010

Sessions Chapter 29

The Crossing



"Stay down," Ryan ordered, watching Stanfield walk off, not one damned look back. He kept his hand on Elise's shoulder, slid it up through her hair, taking a deep fistful of her hair and clenching his hand around it. She was shaking. She landed a good one across his back, something he was going to feel tomorrow, something he was already feeling, but she'd fallen hard, and hearing that asshole rip into her, he knew it had taken whatever breath she had.

Mel knelt down, quietly questioning her, something Elise didn't appear to understand or hear. "I'm all right," she said it in a strange thin voice, and shifted, trying to get to her feet. "I have to go. I have to explain."



"We need to talk about that." He lifted her easily and held on, and she let him hold her, blank, boneless.

"Ryan," Mel began carefully, "we need to go."



Elise put her hands against his chest and pushed back, pushed hard, smacking against him. No way she could shove him aside but her intent was clear, and, stung, he let go. "Get away from me!" she hissed.



She started to get into the car, stumbled and leaned against it with a long gasp, Mel coming up beside her,  Elise shaking her head. "Leave me alone.  Both of you, leave me alone."



He knew her, knew every little move, knew she wasn't anywhere near fine, moved in and blocked her from getting in the car. She wasn't getting past him. Trying to get through, she was upset but he had to try, "Where the hell do you think you're going? Come on Elise, he doesn't give a shit about you! Don't go running after him, give me a chance to work something out, but damn it don't chase him down!"



Leaning back against the white fender of that expensive car, mud on her dress, right up in his face, yell first and then walk it back, that was his girl, yelling at him now. "Back off, Ryan! I told you we're done and I meant it then and I mean it now! Get out of my way and stay out of it!"



Elise yanked open the door, staggered into the car, rain all over the dash and seats and the key, she kept her head down and started the car. Backed it up, hitting the wall on the way out, and burned rubber, headed in the wrong direction, accelerating the wrong way down a one way street.



He wanted to go after her, make her see how wrong she was, take her somewhere, wrap his arms around her and keep her safe. He wanted to hunt down Stanfield and kill the son of a bitch. He'd waited so damned long, knew it was coming, but he'd underestimated how hard it would be when he saw it tear her apart. His shoulders hurt, pain climbing up through his neck, misery so powerful he had to fight to stand there..



Mel placed a cool hand on his arm, and Ryan leaned into her, torn, trying to hang on, trying to convince himself she'd be back, she needed him. She'd be back. Despite the heat, he shivered, and stood there, stuck, speared, pinned and bleeding.

"Ryan," Mel urged again gently, "this isn't your fight. Come on, we have to go."

23 comments:

Van said...

Ryan is going to be in an even darker place after this :( At least he has Melinda's support... speaking of which, this is obviously painful for her too... :(

Poor Beth is going to be absolutely devastated when she finds out about Cooper's encounter with Gemma :(

S.B. said...

Van, 'Poor Beth' bought this problem, so she'd better be prepared to deal with it.

Melinda understands heartbreak. I don't know where Ryan will end up, not sure he will survive. But Mel has a part to play.

thank you!!!

thelook said...

Yes finally! The affair is over! Okay so the way it ended wasn't particularly great for both people involved and said others... but at least Beth has the thought of knowing it's all done? 'Cept Cooper did something he shouldn't have... :(

Qui. said...

I feel for Beth. This chance meeting has caused more heatache and problems than they needed! I can only imagine what will happen when she finds out, if she find out what Cooper did.

Sorry, I deleted my first comment because I left some stuff out.

love the new layout

S.B. said...

Qui, Beth didn't let go until now. I feel for Ryan, he's been given a lot of mixed messages, and did what he thought was right, and waited and waited because she gave him reasons to believe there was a point in waiting.

thanks about the layout!!!

Muzegoddess said...

How much more can this poor guy take? It's just like Rayne said a while back, seeing this is like watching him bleed to death. I reallyliked Ryan and Beth togther (to a point; I know what she has with Cooper is on a totally different level), but I hope this is the final nail in the coffin for his sake. I hope he can truly close the door. Sad part is I think this is going to be the emotional death of him for good.

So sad :( Poor Ryan.

S.B. said...

thelook....yeah it finally is over. Nothing like watching your ex lover try to kill the man you love to clarify your position!

Cooper has some serious problems, and not just with Beth.

S.B. said...

Muzegoddess, that's exactly how I feel, it has been like watching him bleed to death. I love Ryan and hate seeing this happen but it was inevitable. Cooper kicking Beth to the curb is not going to make her run to Ryan, and she's blaming Ryan for the confrontation. Addition and subtraction don't work like that in an emotional world. I don't think he will ever recover.

S@n said...

Another powerful chapter!
WoW... if Beth had walked away in chapter 28 (I think) when Ryan offered to walk her to the car, all this mess wouldn't even exist!

I do feel sorry for all of them.

The three of them are stubborn like mules... they act on impulse without thinking of the consequences...

this meeting, which wasn't even planned, has caused more destruction than the picture the paparazzi took of Beth and Ryan!

Fate does have an interesting way of working... who would have thought that Beth's 'business meeting' would end with Cooper taking advantage of Gemma, and Ryan standing there on the middle of the street watching, once again, how Beth is walking away from his life...

Looks like Beth is going to end all alone, at least for sometime...
maybe she can go back to Tony (I know that doesn't even make sense)
but who knows... life goes around and around...

I'm soooo dying to see what happens next, I don't mind reading an update from you guys every day!

Gorgeous shots and what can I see about the writing? Perfect!!!

S.B. said...

S@ndy, Beth probably needs to sit somewhere and think about impulsive and indulgent behavior and what it's cost at least two men she loved.

She should have walked away from Ryan when she met him on the street. She didn't. She gave in to that pull, that 'might have been' fantasy, the 'what could it hurt to just stop and talk to him' illusion.

Fate does have a way of finally lining it all up. Many pieces on the board, many people drawn into this, including her daughter. Her sons. It does go around and around and where you end up may depend on a single moment.

Oh girl, the shots were awful LOL! But thank you!!

The Lunar Fox said...

First off, before I forget, I am loving the header with Cooper and Beth in front of the moon, everything black and white. That's beautiful.

Oh I think it was clear last time when Beth chose Cooper over Ryan. But clearly he needed all hope crushed from him too.

I'm actually very curious about Mel's reactions. Her face in the last two pictures is very interesting. There's a sadness there, and at the same time it's a knowing. Maybe I'm just extrapolating that based on what I know, but still there is clearly something there in the pictures.

S.B. said...

Lunar, Gayl's work is so beautiful! I'm into black and white right now too.

Crush the man. Yes he clearly needed it.

You are right. Melinda knows Ryan. And she understands loss. And the sadness is not just for Ryan. One very strong woman who has a big part to play.

Qui. said...

well since you put it that way, I take back my sympathy! lol

AtomicSpaceKitty said...

There's just so much heartache here that I think is all the worse because it was drawn out for so long. I'm not sure where everyone is going to stand or who they will be with at the end of this, but I hope Beth finally realizes that she needs to step up and take responsibility for part of this. I hope it's not a case of too little, too late.

I'm aching for Ryan. I hope he's able to make it through this. What you said in one of the comments ("...not sure he will survive") scared me a bit. I hope it's not as dire as it sounds (as in physical death, although emotional death can be almost as bad. He could turn into an emotional zombie).

S.B. said...

Kara, I ache for Ryan too. He's completely unstable, self destructive, strung along, given all that intermittent reinforcement, I want you I don't want you. Emotional zombie at best.

Beth taking responsibility at this point probably won't fix anything. Yes she does need to step up and look at it. Did she string Ryan along? Yes. Was it deliberate? Not sure it was, but she knew she wasn't going back to him, but never quite cut if off until now. Some of that might be Ryan's determination to hang onto what happened between them and hope for more. People who fall in love make all kinds of unspoken promises to one another.

Rad said...

Seems very important that Mel was there to witness all of that, rather than Ryan and Beth being alone. Sad, heartbreaking, heartwrenching, inevitable...

The brevity of the last few updates has worked - each is like a short, sharp shock; each has its own emotions that would be less effective if they'd been string together in longer chapters.

S.B. said...

Rad, thank you! We're working short and sharp, and from you, thank you!

Mel knows Coop and Ryan, both of them, intimately. She can't do much to help Ryan, and Beth's on her own. The interesting thing for me is that Ryan might crash and burn. Miss Beth might go down too.

Ning said...

Haha, I'm actually rejoicing that they're parting ways. About time, I say! (Maybe a little too late, even.)

But then again, now that Cooper has decided to walk down a dark path, will Beth be left with nothing?

Also, reading Rad's comment made me think too: Will Mel be doing something to help? :)

Valpre said...

I'm so afraid for Ryan and sad for Beth; she's finally let got of him but what is she going back to? The timing is all so wrong and I can't help feeling all three took the same wrong turn but are about to land in different places.

S.B. said...

ning, it did go on too long, although the relationship was dormant.

Coop and Beth certainly have some difficult times ahead. They have a family though, children who are going to be caught in the middle of this. and Mel might be able to at least clarify why Ryan was there.

S.B. said...

Hey Val!

Well she's not going back to much at this point. The timing was bad, but given how hard Ryan clung to hope that it would all work out eventually, it may have been the only way to crack everything wide open. Gemma, of course, is the wild card. She makes a complicated situation a lot worse!

KDSGS said...

The wrenching emotion, I felt for Ryan, but not Beth. I lost sympathy for her long ago, how DARE she string along Ryan? LOL! But, she is paying for it now.
And after reading the previous chapter, and Cooper literally going off the cliff, everything here is all smashed to hell. Wonderful how this is playing out. Raw. Powerful. Cool.
great update ladies!

S.B. said...

Drew, thank you so much. We put a lot of effort into it!

She definitely made a mistake. They all made mistakes and they are all paying for them...