Page 63 of Ryder

Braylen laughed, but there wasn’t a goddamn thing funny about what Zoe said. I cleared my throat to get her attention. “What do you know about sex?” I probably should’ve corrected her assumption, but I was too caught up with the fact that she knew anything at all about the topic. She was only twelve, for Christ’s sake.

“I’ve heard about it.” She rolled her eyes, and I thought I was gonna lose it for sure. Every muscle in my body locked up tight, but thankfully Braylen stepped in before I gave myself a heart attack.

“I’ll talk to her, find out what she really knows,” Braylen said quietly. “Sometimes kids say things but have no idea what they mean.” I relaxed, if only slightly. “Now why don’t you go wait for us in the living room?

“But. . . .” I swore I pouted like a little bitch. “I thought . . . you know.” I waved my index finger back and forth between us.

She leaned up on her tippy toes and pressed her lips to mine. “I’m not letting you ruin my hair.” She playfully slapped my chest. “Now go get ready, and I’ll do the same.” Braylen tapped her foot while she pointed toward the doorway. Unfortunately, I knew I’d have to wait to ravage my woman, but I hoped she knew she was in for it once the opportunity presented itself.

As she shut the door behind me, I saw her say something to Zoe, and they both laughed, the sound making me extremely happy. She might just be more receptive to the idea of having my kid after all.

Brutus came barreling toward me as I entered the living room, hopping up on me as soon as I sat down. It wouldn’t take me long to get dressed, so I decided to spend some time with my buddy. I loved that damn dog, more than I thought I’d love any animal.

“She knows what she’s missin’,” I mumbled, patting Brutus’s head as if he had any clue what I was talkin’ about. He wagged his tail and gave me a sloppy kiss, licking the side of my face when I made a move to roughhouse with him. Jumping off the couch, Brutus ran toward the door, letting me know that while he wanted to play, he needed to go to the bathroom.

It was rather kismet if I did say so myself. Watching after my three-legged friend as he circled the same patch of grass before taking care of business, I realized that we had both been discarded during the early years of our life. Sure, no one had thrown me out of a moving vehicle, but I’d been tossed around from foster home to foster home until I aged out at eighteen, finding my real family when I became a member of the Knights Corruption years later. I’d been working at a garage when Marek had swung by to pick up a part for a bike he’d been working on. We got to talking and within an hour he’d offered me a job at the club’s garage. The rest was history.

Both Brutus and I had reaped a sliver of justice for the wrongs done in our lives as well. About a month prior, I’d been out for a drive when I’d spotted a familiar lookin’ piece-of-shit car: an Oldsmobile Cutlass with faded blue paint peeling everywhere on the body and a bumper held on by duct tape.

The vehicle was parked outside a liquor store, and when a man emerged and walked toward the Oldsmobile, I made my move. With his hand resting on the handle of the driver side, I walked up behind him and spun him around. When I’d asked if he was the fucker who tossed a puppy from the car, wanting to make sure I had the right person, he smirked and asked me what business it was of mine. In other words, he was the offender. Breaking his nose didn’t satisfy my need for revenge, so I shattered his arm, the one used to discard Brutus like he meant nothing at all.

Much like the payback I’d sought for my dog, fate had done the same with Richard. Although I wanted to put that chapter of my life behind me and remember my mother as she was before her death, wonderful and loving, I still chose to keep tabs on her murderer. It was close to four months after I’d gone to his house that I learned he’d had too much to drink one night and ended up crashing his car into a tree, killing only himself in the accident.

His death brought the final closure to a life of misery, Braylen helping to heal the rest of me with her unconditional love and support. I was one lucky bastard, something she was sure to remind me of whenever she found the opportunity.

Braylen

On the ride over, I couldn’t stop staring at the man who’d flipped my world upside down, in more ways than one. Everything from his occasional arrogance to his infuriating protectiveness, to the sweet words he whispered while he buried himself inside me. Ryder was the man of my dreams. It’d been a bumpy road, and there were still some potholes in our future, I was sure, but I knew we could get through anything as long as we loved each other.

And we did.

Fiercely.

For the occasion, he’d chosen to dress up. Not in a complete suit, because that just wasn’t him, but a crisp white button-up, sans tie, and a pair of dark blue dress pants, brown shoes completing his dressy yet casual look.

As we sat at a stoplight, Zoe in the back seat with her earbuds in, singing along to whatever pop song was on, Ryder unbuttoned his sleeves and rolled them repeatedly until his entire forearms were exposed, the muscles jumping with each movement he made. He caught me looking and said, “I have another muscle you can stare at. Taste, even.”

My eyes widened as I glanced back at his daughter, but she hadn’t heard a thing he’d said. The rest of the trip was done so in silence, other than the radio, for fear that I’d lose control and jump over the console and into his lap. Which would be highly inappropriate with a child present. So instead, I chose to keep my eyes away from all things Ryder and stare out the window as the world passed us by.

After we arrived and took our seats under the tent that had been erected on the lawn behind the clubhouse, Ryder on my right and Zoe on my left, I couldn’t help but be extremely grateful for all the gifts I’d been given. My thankful thoughts were interrupted, however, when my sex-on-a-stick of a man leaned closer and started saying things in my ear that got me all hot and bothered, all sorts of sordid images flashing through my brain and causing me to twitch in my seat.

“Since you wouldn’t let me do it at home, I’m gonna get my way we leave here. I’m gonna hike up your dress and bury my face between your legs. You know I’m addicted to that pussy, baby,” Ryder professed, kissing my cheek like he hadn’t just threatened me with a good fucking. I kept my eyes straight ahead and smiled, not wanting Zoe to think her father was whispering about sex again.

After Ryder had left the bedroom, allowing me to have a talk with Zoe, I’d discovered that she had indeed learned about sex, although some of it was still confusing. I told her it only got worse, to which she gave me the funniest look. After answering a few basic questions, I told her that if she had any more, she should really talk to her mother about them. I’d also warned her not to ask her father, not until she was much older, like around thirty. We both laughed at that one, although she thought I was joking. I wasn’t.

Ryder’s daughter had been staying at our house for the past week, scheduled to leave the next morning, and while our time together had been short, we’d bonded rather quickly. She thought I had a cool job, and I thought she was a pretty amazing kid. I definitely looked forward to her next visit, which was only a few months away.

As we waited for everyone to arrive, my thoughts drifted to the people who’d become like family, the tragedy bringing us all closer together. When I wasn’t working, or hanging out with Kena or Sia, I was shopping with Adelaide, Sully or Reece, or hitting the town for a girls’ night out, although one of the guys always attended. They said it was for our safety, but since there was no more viable threat to their club, I’d chalked up their hovering as just being overprotective.

I shifted in my seat, trying to see who’d just pulled into the lot, when Ryder’s fingertips trailed up my leg, my blue dress riding up my thigh when I’d turned around. Zoe’s head was turned the other way so she hadn’t noticed, but I needed to nip his advance in the bud before he became really brave. Under normal circumstances, I knew he had no qualms about throwing me over his shoulder and disappearing somewhere more private. And while he might be more reserved because of why we were there that day, I still didn’t completely trust him not to act . . . like himself.

“What are you doing?” I whispered, turning my head more toward him so as not to draw the attention of his daughter. His fingers were still ghosting over the top of my leg, the heat from his touch driving me insane.

Keep it together.

“Just touching you.” He smirked, knowing he was playing a dirty game.

“Well, stop it,” I gritted. When his hand trailed farther up my leg, my body shifted completely toward him so only I knew what he was doing.

---