Page 27 of If You Fight

Chapter Nine

Ryder

Serena’s hair tickled my nose, waking me from a sound sleep. I looked down my body to see hers entwined with mine. Her tanned and smooth left leg rested against my left thigh, and I couldn’t help running my hand over her skin.

She lifted her head off my chest and looked up at me with a smile. “Good morning.”

“It is,” I said, returning her smile with one of my own. “Anytime I get to spend all night with you is a good thing.”

Shimmying up my body, she kissed me and dipped her head to nuzzle my neck. “I guess you have to go, right?”

As much as I didn’t want to even think about leaving that bed or her, I knew Robert would start to unravel if I didn’t make it to his office for nine o’clock. The last thing I wanted was to deal with him like that after spending such an incredible night with Serena.

I nodded. “Yeah. You know how he is.”

Serena looked up at me and grimaced. “I know. Just tell me we get to leave here soon and you leaving now won’t be so bad.”

I’d thought about how hard it would be for us to get away as she drifted off to sleep hours before, but now in the light of day, all those ideas amounted to nothing but self-imposed obstacles. Oliver was gone, so we had nothing to stop us now.

“We’ll go tonight. I’ll text you the details later, but for now, be ready for when he leaves to go out.”

Stunned at my announcement, she sat up and stared down at me with a look of shock in her eyes. “Tonight? Oh, my God! Ryder, this is really happening, isn’t it?”

I smiled and brought her hand to my lips to kiss it. “Yeah. It’s happening. We’ll leave tonight. We won’t have much to live on and it’s going to be hard for a little while, but we’ll be away from here, and that’s all that matters, right?”

She threw her arms around me and hugged me. “Yes! That’s all that matters! I love you, Ryder. I don’t know how I’m going to keep this secret all day. I’ll have to hide out here so I don’t blow our cover.”

Cradling her face, I kissed her on the forehead. “I need you to promise me you won’t say a thing. This only works if nobody but us knows. I don’t want to take a chance of your father finding out.”

“I know. I won’t tell a soul. I want to leave here more than you know, so I won’t mess this up.”

“I love you, Serena, and when we’re away from here, you’re going to see how happy we can be.”

She hugged me once more before jumping out of bed. “I love you. Oh, I have a million things to do before we leave. You better go so he doesn’t think something’s up. I’ll be waiting for your text.”

Watching her naked body as she trotted away into the bathroom made me want to grab her and pull her back on top of me for another round of lovemaking, but we’d have all the time in the world for that once we got away from there. For now, she was right. I needed to get to Robert’s office before he suspected anything.

***

Jesse stood outsidethe office staring straight ahead across the massive grand entryway like some kind of stone statue. Likely he’d been sent out by Robert for saying something stupid that had irritated him, but he seemed far more somber than usual when he saw me.

“You in the doghouse for something?” I joked as I stopped in front of him.

He simply shook his head but didn’t say a word as he avoided looking at me. Since Jesse was usually a huge talker, I had a feeling he’d gotten himself in real trouble. Poor guy. He really was a decent human being, although sometimes I wondered if he had hay for brains.

“Okay, I guess I better get in there,” I said as he continued to stare straight ahead. “See you later, Jess.”

I stepped into Robert’s office and the door slammed behind me. My brain raced with the idea that Jesse had just closed me in, but why? Before I could figure out the answer, I saw Robert stand from his desk and felt a fist slam into the back of my head. I staggered forward toward the red leather chairs as another blow hit me, this one even harder.

Hands grabbed me and threw me into a wooden chair against the wall I didn’t remember ever being there before. My back slammed against it as the hands held me down so I couldn’t move.

“What the fuck?” I barked in Robert’s direction as he came around the desk slowly to stand in front of me.

His mouth spread into that crocodile smile that never failed to terrify me. Staring down into my eyes, he said, “I just want the truth, Ryder. That’s it. The truth.”

Once again, my mind raced to understand what was happening. Did he find out about Serena and me? Is that what this was about?

I moved to stand, but the two men holding me down pushed me back hard against the chair. Swiveling my head to look at them, I sized up my chances at escape. Definitely unlikely. Both were giant with thick necks and arms like tree trunks. They looked like the type of guys who fucked people up for kicks, if the rabid look in their eyes was any indication. I knew I couldn’t overwhelm either without having the other one get me.

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