Page 71 of Crazy for You

Ryan met his gaze dead-on. “Maybe I wasn’t much of a role model back then, but you never gave me a chance. I was only eleven.” Maybe you could have opened your home to me, too, or at least mentored me, instead of turning your back on me when I was just a troubled kid.

“It was easy to see you were one of those boys who…” Kate drifted off, studying the hardwood floor beneath her loafers.

Ryan clenched his fists at his side. “Was a lost cause?”

“It was too late to save you, Ryan, but it wasn’t too late for Trent.” She had the good grace to look apologetic. “It was best for everyone that we gave Trent a fresh start.”

“That’s bullshit.” The words burst from his throat before he could contain them. “Maybe it was easier for you to pretend that I didn’t exist, but it sure as hell wasn’t best for me. Trent was all I had left in the world, and you took him from me.”

His words hung in the air, harsh and bitter.

Gary and Kate both took a step backward, eyeing the door.

Fuck. He’d wanted to mend his relationship with the Lamars, but this…this he couldn’t take. He was so goddamn tired of not being good enough for them.

Kate lifted her chin. “What’s done is done. We did the best we could for our son, and now we want him to return to Missouri with us.”

“He’s eighteen. He can stay here if he damn well wants to.” Ryan heard the anger in his voice. This wasn’t what he’d wanted, not at all.

“We know that,” Gary said, “but we need you to stop filling his head full of whatever rubbish you’ve been feeding him since he got here. We want him to re-enroll in Missouri College for the fall semester. He belongs back home with us, not clubbing and riding zip-lines here with you.”

“I can’t make him re-enroll any more than you can.” Ryan drew a deep breath, trying to rein in his temper. “Trent’s an adult, and as you well know, he is working for me at Off-the-Grid, not playing around on the zip-lines. It took some doing, but I got him off his cell phone and putting in some good, hard work out there, and I won’t apologize for it.”

Kate’s chin lifted. “Trent’s held jobs in the past. He’s not an irresponsible kid.”

“Frankly, he’d still be in college if he hadn’t been so set on coming out here to find you,” Gary said.

Ryan’s pulse roared in his ears as his control snapped. “He dropped out of college because he wants to become a DJ. And it is fucking insulting—pardon my French—that you two continue to judge me by the way I acted when I was eleven. I was a kid! I’d just lost my mother. Yeah, she was a junkie, but she was all I had, besides the baby brother you were so hell-bent on keeping me away from. And you know what? Despite all that, I think I turned out pretty damn well. So you can take your sanctimonious act and shove it because I’m done listening.”

“How dare you speak to us that way!” Gary roared, his face as red as a lobster fresh from the pot.

Ryan turned away, disgusted. “You expect me to keep being polite when you’ve done nothing but insult me in return? I’ve had enough. You want Trent to come home with you, you’re going to have to convince him yourselves.”

16

Emma heard the motorcycle coming long before it reached her apartment. Hoping it might be Ryan, she climbed out of bed and tiptoed toward the front door. His familiar form came riding out of the darkness and pulled into the driveway. He parked, killed the engine, and then just sat there in the dark, head down, shoulders hunched.

She opened the door and went to him. The cool nighttime mountain air slithered across her bare skin, raising goosebumps over her flesh. She walked toward him, the cold pavement stinging against her bare feet.

“I don’t know why I’m here,” he said, his voice low. “It’s late. I didn’t want to wake you.”

“I was awake. I’m glad you’re here.” She touched the sleeve of his jacket. “You okay?”

His silence spoke for him.

“Want to take me for a ride?” she asked, since he didn’t seem eager to talk.

His hungry gaze settled on her pink nightgown, making her sizzle beneath it.

“I’ll be right back.” She dashed inside, yanked her gown over her head, and pulled on a blue top and her skinny jeans. She zipped up her boots and her jacket and went back outside.

Ryan hadn’t moved. Something was definitely up with him.

She put on her helmet and climbed onto the bike behind him, sliding her arms firmly into place around his waist.

He revved the engine and guided the bike back onto the road, roaring over the deserted mountain roads outside Haven with the moon as their guide, the night as their witness. It was just as magical as that first night when he’d given her a ride home after work.

Beneath her palms, Ryan vibrated with tension, his body wound as tight as the machine below them. She’d seen him with Trent’s parents at Off-the-Grid this afternoon, and she hoped like hell they weren’t the source of his current mood.

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