Page 35 of Ryder

“Five seconds.”

A tear fell down his cheek, the sight definitely unexpected. “I don’t need five seconds. Kill me. Don’t hurt my daughter.”

Braylen

I awoke to a note from Ryder, telling me he had club business to deal with and that he’d be back the following day. He also left instructions for me to wait for Hawke so that he could follow me to work. Rolling my eyes, picturing the look on Ryder’s face as I did so, I knew better than to not follow his wish. Besides, I was still very much shaken up over the attack.

I had to admit, I never thought Ryder and I would ever get to the point in our relationship where he’d finally open up to me. Yes, the road to get there had been riddled with obstacles, frustrating and even hurtful at times, but we finally made it. That wasn’t to say it’d be easy from here on out, of course; if I knew anything about that man, the word “easy” should never be used.

But it was a start for sure.

Everyone was allowed to leave the clubhouse the same day Hawke and Ryder returned. After hours of glorious sex, Ryder took me back to his house, insisting I stay with him for the next week, just to be safe. I told him I couldn’t, that I was worried about Kena, but he assured me that Jagger was going to stay with her at our place. Once I’d confirmed with my sister, I gave Ryder my acceptance.

There was only one simple rule, and that was that I was to sleep in his room while he took the couch. Afraid he’d hurt me again while he slept, he said it was the only way until he could figure something else out.

How are things with Ryder going?Kena asked, looking from me to the stage where our friend Kevin was performing. He was the lead guitarist for the local band Breakers. They’d built up quite the following, so much that he’d quit working at our family’s restaurant to pursue his music full time. We had no doubt he’d make it, he was that good.

Kevin had casually chased my sister but she’d never accepted, not wanting to deal with groupies. She’d come to find that she still had to deal with brazen women throwing themselves at her man, although the situation wasn’t as bad with Jagger. Especially since he never paid attention to any woman at his fights other than Kena.

“Better than before. He still drives me nuts, giving me crap about flirting with my male clients, but he’s calmed down some. I think now that he’s comfortable enough to let me in, he’s more relaxed.” I took a sip of my drink. “With life in general, you know?”

Yeah, I do, she signed.

Ryder was supposed to have been back earlier that day, but since I hadn’t yet spoken to him, Hawke giving me some excuse about him being out of range or some crap, I’d decided to take Kena up on her offer to get together. We hadn’t been able to spend much time hanging out recently. If we weren’t working, we were both spending time with our guys; there simply wasn’t much time left over for anything else. That was why, when she insisted we go out, just the two of us, I jumped all over the invitation.

I really thought Jagger would’ve shown up at some point during the evening, if not to check on her to make sure she was okay, then to make sure Kevin didn’t try to move in on his woman. What Jagger failed to remember sometimes was that he was it for my sister. Whatever interest she’d held toward Kevin was but a speck of what she felt toward Jagger. No comparison whatsoever.

“I’m having a lot of fun tonight, sis.” I raised my glass and she clinked hers to mine. “We need to do this more often for sure.”

She smiled and nodded, both of us taking a drink before chitchatting about the latest fashion trends and movies we both wanted to see. We settled in afterward to fully enjoy the band’s set, which lasted for another hour.

On my way back from the bathroom, I stopped off at the bar to grab another soda since I was the designated driver. When I turned around, I saw Kena frantically waving to me from our booth. She looked worried, so I hurried over as fast as I could.

“What’s the matter?” I asked, looking all around to try and figure out if there was some sort of danger present. I unfortunately had some sort of idea what that would actually look like now.

Your phone keeps ringing. She’d just finished signing when my phone lit up again. “Unknown” flashed across my screen. I didn’t pick it up because I had no idea who was calling. While I was in the middle of my internal reasoning for ignoring the calls, my cell flashed again. Whoever was calling wasn’t gonna give up. Not until I answered.

Swiping the screen, I answered, “Hello.”

“Jesus Christ, Braylen. What the hell?” It was Jagger.

“What’s the matter?” His tone unnerved me, put me on alert, yet I had no idea why. “Are you looking for Kena? Why didn’t you just text her?”

“I have. A million times. She’s not answering.”

Holding the phone away from my mouth, I said, “It’s Jagger. He said he’s been texting you, but you’re not responding.”

Kena picked up her phone but she couldn’t turn it on. The battery had died.

What does he want?

Positioning the phone back to my mouth, I asked, “What’s so important that you’re blowing up my phone?”

I chuckled but stopped as soon as he said, “You need to get over here. Ryder is flipping the fuck out.”

“So you’re not calling for Ke—”

“No! You need to get over here.Now!” he shouted. I heard people screaming in the background, and one of those voices was Ryder’s. From what I could decipher over the phone, his speech sounded slurred.

---