Page 15 of Rider

“Yes, he’s been asleep for about an hour now. You’re fine. He’s gotten a lot more used to noise now and is sleeping through most of the night now.” I made a big deal of crossing my fingers up beside me so she could see my humor in it. I turned back around to find her dressed in the sweats and t-shirt I had given her. “Let’s go sit down in the living room and we can get your phone on the charger.” Carmen nodded and followed me out of the bedroom. When we got to the living room she took her phone out of her purse and I put it on the charger. Once we sat down on the couch, I tried to think of what we could do to solve her car problem.

“You know Rider owns a shop and garage. We could probably call him to help get your car either towed or the tire changed. He’s at the club right now, though. He told me they had a meeting tonight but I’m not sure how long he’ll be there.”

Her eyes shot to mine at the mention of Rider and him being at the club. “Is Ink there with him?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t know, he just said that they had a meeting tonight and that he would come by after it was done. He didn’t get into who was going to be there and who wasn’t. I know he’s a patched in member so my guess would be yes.”

“I was just wondering. He took me home last night and I was out of it. I barely remember getting home but the vivid image of my sixty year old father in his underpants, holding his shotgun on the front lawn really stuck with me from last night.”

My mouth gaped open. “Please tell me you’re joking. He did not!”

“Yep. From what I can remember, he came out guns blazing and telling Ink that he could run along and not too kindly. He was also waving his shotgun around like he was the king of the Wild West. It sobered me up quick but by the time I got dad calmed down enough to put the gun down, Ink was nowhere to be found.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. I had met Carmen’s parents a few times and her dad was always very well dressed and only ever displayed the best manners. The thought of him in his underwear yelling at someone like Ink just had me bubbling with laughter.

“Ray, come on. It was so embarrassing. It was like I was some sixteen year old kid coming home after curfew.” Carmen groaned and put her hands over her face. “I’m sure he thinks I’m pathetic. I’m some drunk girl who lives with her parents and doesn’t have a job.” She looked up at me then. “He does know I have a job right?”

I laughed in spite of the look of horror on her face. “Yes, he knows you have a job! Rider told him we work together so he’s gotta know you at least have a job.” My teasing voice eases some of the tension on her face. “Look, if you end up hanging out with me and Rider again, I’m sure you’ll see him and can right all the wrongs you feel you made last night, ok?”

She smiles mischievously. “Does that mean you and Rider are an item now?”

I could feel the blush burning my cheeks. I rarely talked about things like this and it’s been so long since I was with anyone, I forgot that people like to know all the details when it comes to relationships. I nodded. “Yes, we are officially together and he met Colton yesterday.”

Carmen raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Wow! You must really like him if you let him meet Colton.”

“I do. I’m not sold completely on the MC but I think we’ll work it all out. He told me we would talk about it more and I figure we will tonight once he gets here.”

“Is that my cue to leave then?” Carmen laughs, “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Ok, for real. Let’s figure out how I’m going to get home. After my shameful appearance last night, I can’t call my dad. I also refuse to text Ink even though I did find his number in my phone this morning. I can’t afford to pay for a tow either so I need to try to figure out how to change it. I have a spare tire in the trunk but I don’t have a jack. Plus—downpour.”

“Let’s try Rider. I’ll send him a text and we’ll see if he can help us out. He’ll have a jack in his truck or at the shop at the least. I’ll swear him to secrecy and make sure to tell him to leave Ink behind.”

Carmen groaned and threw a couch pillow over her face. I laughed so hard my face hurt.

Two hours later, Carmen was asleep on my couch and Rider was on his way over. He had to stop at his house to get his truck, and I was starting to understand his club’s rules about riding their cycles to all meetings and club events no matter the weather. When I opened my door, I was greeted for the second time this evening by someone who was drenched to the bone. His clothes were plastered to his body, but this time I could admire the view. His jeans were tight against his muscular legs and his thick thighs made me want to climb him like a tree. I pulled him in for a hug and he tried to pull away to stop me from getting wet but I didn’t care about that. I buried my nose in his jacket, smelling the wet leather. He had opened his jacket at some point and his shirt underneath was clinging to his chest and I could see the outline of his hard muscles. He was perfect.

Rider wrapped one hand around my waist pulling me tighter against him while his other hand wove into the back of my hair, he tilted my head, and when our lips met we molded together. When we pulled apart, I smiled up at him and I could feel my cheeks heat under his gaze. “Let’s get inside baby, it’s freezing out here.”

Oh right, he would be cold standing outside in wet clothing on a freezing cold night. I quickly ushered him inside and locked the door behind him. He started walking through the house checking all the windows and doors. When he saw Carmen asleep on the couch he smirked and continued towards the bedroom. When he stepped inside he pulled off his wet jacket and shirt. I grabbed him a towel so he could start to dry off. He didn’t have any clothes here so I picked up his discarded, wet clothes and took them to the sink in the bathroom to wring out.

Rider came into the bathroom and watched me. “What are you doing baby? I’ll throw them in the dryer.”

I shook my head. “No, my dryer isn’t working right now so they’ll need to be wrung out and then I can hang them up to dry. I’m sorry.”

He walked towards me and took the clothing from my hand and dropped it into the sink. He pulled me in tight and wrapped his arms around me. “Ladybug, why didn’t you tell me that last night when I was here? How long has it been not working?”

“Just a few days.”

“I’ll get someone over here to fix it first thing tomorrow morning.”

“No, you don’t have to do that. You’ve done so much for me already.”

“Babe, I told you yesterday, I’m going to take care of you. You. Are. Mine. I take care of what’s mine. The dryer will be fixed tomorrow.”

Resigned, I accepted the finality of his tone. Tomorrow I’d have a working dryer again, so I had that to look forward to. It made me feel giddy inside to know I’d finally have it fixed. “Carmen’s out for the night so you won’t have to go out in the rain again.”

He hummed.“Yeah, that’s one good thing. I’ll get it taken care of first thing in the morning and I’ll be out again before Colton wakes up. Don’t worry.”

That caught me off guard. I wasn’t aware that he was trying to sneak out. Is that the real reason why he left so early this morning? “You don’t have to leave before Colton gets up. We’re together, if we’re going to be together and you think this is going somewhere then I think it’s ok he sees you here. I’m confused why you thought to hide it. Right now you’re telling me one thing but it’s coming off as another.”

---