Page 13 of Ryder

“She just had to fuckin’ push, didn’t she? Couldn’t leave well enough alone,” I mumbled, whipping my beer bottle into the hearth of the fireplace, the shattering glass doing a less than stellar job of releasing any of my pent-up fury. “Fuck!” I roared, adrenaline coursing through me with no end in sight.

My cell rang, vibrating on top of the end table and cutting through the expletives I continued to yell into the silence around me.

“Hello,” I shouted into the receiver.

“Hey, it’s Stone. No time to ask what’s up your ass, man.” No break between words before he asked, “Do you know if anyone visited Braylen at work? Or approached her on the street? Anything weird?” His words were clipped and quick.

“What are you talkin’ about?”

“Are you with her right now?”

“No, she just stormed outta here a few seconds ago. What the hell is goin’ on?” I’d begun pacing again once I answered the call but I halted, fear of the unknown freezing me in place.

“Addy and Sully were approached on the street by some guy, telling them that they would get what was coming to them soon enough. The whole club would. Same fuckin’ thing happened to Reece and a few of the strippers at Indulge and Flings.”

“Who was it?”

“Don’t know. He wasn’t wearin’ a Reapers cut, although that doesn’t mean anything.”

“I’ll call you right back.” I hung up on Stone while he was still talking, ran out the front door and raced down the steps toward Braylen’s car. Thankfully she hadn’t left yet; she was sitting in the driver seat texting someone.

Whipping open her door, I grabbed for her hand to pull her out of the car. Startled, she dropped her phone, but when she realized it was me, she shot me daggers before leaning farther into the vehicle.

“I don’t have anything to say to you,” she yelled, bending over to retrieve the fallen device. Her blonde hair looked disheveled, as if she’d been tugging at it, and her eyes were red, almost like she’d been about to cry. No time to feel bad about upsetting her, though. There were more pressing things to deal with right then.

“Did anyone strange approach you recently?” My forearm hung over the top of her door, refusing to budge in case she tried to slam it shut.

“What?”

“Just answer the question, Bray. Did a man approach you recently? Spouting off at the mouth about getting what’s coming to you?”

“No.” Worry etched deep around her eyes. The last thing I wanted to do was freak her out, but I needed to make sure she was safe.

“Listen, put everything else aside. I need you to trust me. Don’t go anywhere alone. I mean it. Not to work, not back home. Nowhere.”

“You can’t seriously think you’re gonna tell me what to do, especially after what you just said to me in there,” she spouted, angrily pointing to my house. “Because I’m not listening to anything you have to say.”

“You can be as stubborn as you want, woman, but I’m fucking serious. There’s a possible threat out there and I’ll do what I have to in order to keep you safe. Even if that means being your goddamn shadow.”

Unlocking her phone, she frantically started typing a message, biting her lip in concentration while waiting for a response. “Where’s Jagger?” she asked. “Is he with Kena? Isshesafe?”

“I’m sure he’s with her. He won’t let anything happen to her.”

“I need to go. I need to find out where she is. She’s not texting me back now.” She said something under her breath before turning the key in the ignition. Grabbing the door handle, she tried to close it, but I still had it braced open.

“I’m following you home,” I instructed, my tone deadly serious.

“Fine. Hurry up.”

As I removed my arm from the door, she slammed it shut, threw her four-door sedan in Drive and peeled out of my driveway.

That woman was gonna be the death of me yet.

Braylen

Five days had passed since Ryder freaked me out with his sudden and random interrogation. I’d asked him later that night, when he insisted on following me home and then walking me inside, if I was in any real danger. He said no, but I couldn’t help but feel that he was lying to me.

Against my wishes, he’d continued to show up at my house to follow me to work, then at Transform to follow me home, making me promise to call him right away if anyone strange tried to talk to me. I’d wanted to ask him to define “anyone strange,” but I had a gut feeling he wouldn’t be too happy with my lack of concern about the situation, one I was still left fumbling around in the dark about.

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