Page 38 of If You Fight

Chapter Twelve

Ryder

Isank into the hot water until it covered up to my chest and closed my eyes as the heat slowly eased my pain. More than a week after Robert had me beaten like a misbehaving dog, my side still ached every time I moved, but the rest of my injuries had begun to ease up and my face didn’t look like the Elephant Man’s anymore.

So today was the day I got to return to work for the very man who’d done this to me.

“I wish you didn’t have to go back there already,” Serena said quietly from beside the tub.

Turning my head, I opened my eyes and smiled, hoping that if I pretended everything was all right that she wouldn’t worry. “Me too. It’s been a nice little vacation we had here. Well, except for feeling like a bus drove over me and not being able to be with you.”

She pressed a kiss onto my lips and slid her hand through my wet hair. “I remember the first time I saw you all beaten up soaking in a tub.”

The smile she wore looked so sexy. If it wasn’t for the fact that half my torso wasn’t in working condition, I would have pulled her right into that tub with me.

“I remember that. I hurt like a son of a bitch, but as soon as I saw you, all I could think of was how happy I was you came to find me.”

“Then it was your shoulder,” she said as she slid her hand up my arm as it rested on the side of the tub. “I guess things don’t change much, do they?”

“Nope. It seems like your father is always having me beaten one way or the other.”

“Was it this bad when he did that after finding us together that night he sent me off to Italy?” she asked, her eyes full of concern for me.

Chuckling, I shook my head. “He made sure to find the biggest guy the circuit had ever seen. There wasn’t a chance in hell I’d be able to beat him. The guy pounded me into the ground, just like Robert wanted, but I guess I’d have to say it was worse that time.”

“Why?”

“Because there was no chance I’d see you once I felt better.”

Serena’s eyes narrowed in anger. “I’m sorry, Ryder. You must think you should have never come to this place.”

Cupping the back of her head, I pulled her mouth to mine to kiss away that idea. Looking into her eyes, I told her the truth. “Never once. I’ve never regretted coming here two years ago. Seeing you every night made whatever I had to do for him worth it.”

“How bad your life must have been before you came here then. You’ve had to go through so much because of me.”

I sat up out of the water and slowly turned to face her. “You? No. Your father’s to blame, not you. None of this is because of you. Don’t ever think that.”

She lowered her head and quietly said, “I never meant for you to suffer because of me, Ryder. I hope you know that.”

“Of course I know that. Look at me, Serena.”

Keeping her head down, she said, “I know what you’re going to say, and it doesn’t change the fact that all of this happened because you’re with me. Don’t say it hasn’t because it has.”

With my finger, I gently tilted her chin up so she had to face me and saw her dark eyes filled with sadness. “I would go through this a hundred times more if it meant you and I got to be together. I’ve been fighting since I was fifteen. I can take a beating. As long as he doesn’t hurt you, I’ll take it as many times as I have to.”

A tear rolled down her cheek. “You shouldn’t have to take it at all just to be with me. I wouldn’t blame you if you told me this was too much. Now you have to go back to work for the monster who did this. I have to stay here, Ryder, but you don’t.”

I cradled her face in my hands and kissed where that tear stopped. “Yes, I do. You’re here, so I have to stay here.”

Serena leaned forward and kissed me. “Do you hate me for staying here because of my mother?”

Shaking my head, I tried to dry her cheek with my thumb but only made it wetter with the bath water. “I hate a lot of things, but not you. Your father, this world of his, seeing you unhappy. Those things I hate, but never you.”

“I need to find out where she is, Ryder. If I could find her and know she’s safe from him, I could leave here with you and then we’d be happy. I told you I wouldn’t care if we didn’t have a dime to our name, and I wouldn’t. I don’t stay here because of the money.”

“You’re not Janelle, so I know you don’t stay here just for that. No woman who prefers to watch a movie in bed over a night out cares that much about money. Don’t worry about us staying here for a little longer. Whatever he does to me, I can handle it. I promised you I’d protect you, and that’s what I intend on doing.”

With that sweet naiveté that still existed in her, she said, “He gave me his word that he wouldn’t have you beaten again.”

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