Page 9 of Ryder

“Yeah, fine. I’ll come over when I’m done here.”

“How about I pick you up?”

“How about you don’t push your luck?”

He gave me a tight smile before releasing me and retreating, shoving his hands in his pockets as he waited for me to make a move. Only after I’d turned and started walking back toward Transform did I hear the roar of his bike before he raced off down the road.

Ryder

As I watched Braylen roll out her little black bag across my kitchen counter, I couldn’t help but stare at her ass. I mean, come on, it was right in my direct line of view. The way her jeans cupped her cheeks was enough to make me want to tear them from her body. Her legs looked killer, even though they were covered by dark fabric. They seemed to go on for miles, even when only wearing her sneaks.

“Are you staring at my ass again?” she asked, looking over her shoulder just in time to catch me in the act.

“You know damn well I am, woman. Your ass is one of the things I love about you.” I hadn’t meant to saylove; it popped out of my mouth before I could stop it. Braylen noticed as well, judging by the stiffening of her shoulders as she turned back around.

We weren’t there yet, expressing our feelings and shit. Yeah, I cared about her and wanted to be around her more often than not, but I sure as hell wasn’t in love with her. Hell, I’d never been in love with anyone before. I wasn’t quite sure I even knew what it felt like.

I’d been involved in a long-term relationship many years back, but thinking about it now, I was never in love with Rose. She’d gotten pregnant a month in and I did the right thing by sticking with her. In the end it just didn’t work out, the danger surrounding the club too much for her, which I completely understood. I wanted her to take my daughter and move far away, outside any reach our enemies would’ve had.

Which brought me to another point—Braylen didn’t know I had a daughter. I’d meant to tell her a few weeks after we started hanging out, but it just never seemed to be the right time. And now . . . fuck, too much time had passed for hernotto know. Or so I’d been told by Jagger, Tripp, and Stone, Jagger being the one person I feared revealing my business before I could. After all, his woman was Braylen’s little sister. But he assured me it was my news to tell, so he promised not to say a word to Kena.

“Okay, let’s do this.” She walked toward me with a pair of scissors in one hand and clippers in the other. She looked like a woman on a mission, pointing toward the chair she’d set in the middle of the kitchen, silently instructing me to take a seat.

Braylen shocked me from time to time, either with her sass and stubbornness or her ability to hold a grudge and give me the cold shoulder. During the time we’d been together, I could safely say she kept me on my toes. Life certainly wasn’t boring where she was concerned. I just hoped her intentions were on point that evening.

“You’re not gonna shave my head because you’re pissed at me, are you?” My thoughts immediately flew to when Hawke’s woman, Edana, shaved his head when she’d found out he’d been cheating on her. She did the deed while he was sleeping, cutting off his long hair like Delilah did to Samson.

Hawke was no damn biblical figure, though. He was a guy who couldn’t keep his dick in his pants, until his woman had unfortunately been attacked—raped and beaten, to be exact—by some of the Savage Reapers a while back. Since then, he’d been towing the straight and narrow, watching over Edana like never before, glued to her hip whenever she left the house. It was a side none of us ever thought we’d see, but unfortunately it took a devastating incident to wake him the hell up.

“No, not unless you give me reason to,” she teased, spraying my hair with a water bottle. “Now keep still or you’re gonna end up with a funky do.” She smiled, and it was the best sight in the world—next to her lying beneath me, of course.

Braylen was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. And sexy as fuck. She knew I lusted after her, and if she didn’t know just how much I’d be sure to remind her very shortly.

We’d started off a bit rocky, me running my crass mouth and her telling me exactly what she thought of me. “Arrogant” and “cocky” were the two descriptive words she used the most, but after being around her a few times, I’d managed to wear her down enough to convince her to give me her number. A few phone sex sessions later—me always initiating because I couldn’t stop myself from picturing her naked—and she’d agreed to come over to my place. To be alone. Just the two of us.

I happened to be a pretty good cook, so the first time she came over, I made her spaghetti and meatballs. I knew it didn’t sound like anything too fancy but it was tasty, and she agreed.

She’d gotten a splash of sauce on her chin, and when I leaned over to wipe it away with a napkin, I couldn’t help myself. I’d used my tongue instead. Remembering the first time I’d kissed those pouty lips of hers was enough to make my dick hard, a happenstance that occurred on the regular whenever she was near me.

“Almost finished,” Braylen whispered, the warmth of her breath tickling my earlobe, a strand of her hair gently brushing my neck. She was inspecting her work, leaning in so close I could smell her shampoo, some kind of mango scent. Closing my eyes, I sucked in a breath while she clipped away here and there, the buzz of the clippers jolting my gaze from the darkness and back to her.

“Be careful with those damn things,” I warned, nervous she was gonna exact some kind of revenge because I’d embarrassed her earlier.

“Stop being a damn baby. I’m just trying to clean up your sideburns.” Her tongue snuck out from between her delectable lips, wetting the bottom one and teasing the fuck outta me. When she was done with the sides, she circled me until she was standing directly in front, moving closer until she full-on straddled my lap.

“What are you doing?” Surprise and excitement filled my veins, thickening other parts of my body as the realization hit that she was sitting on me.

“I need to get close so I can inspect the front of your hair.”

“You better not sit like this with your clients. So help me Christ, Braylen.” I couldn’t help it, the words tumbling outta my mouth before I could even think to stop them as my imagination ran wild. My heart picked up pace, ramming against my ribs like it wanted to break free from my chest altogether.

“Oh stop it. You know damn well I don’t.”

“Do I?” I couldn’t stop.

“Do you want me to have an accident with the clippers? Because that can certainly be arranged.”

A stare off ensued, both of us vying for dominance with raised chins and narrowed eyes. Eventually, she continued her work, turning my head from side to side multiple times. Finally, she blew out a satisfied breath and placed the clippers and scissors behind her on the table, all while still sitting on my lap. “There. All done.” Our eyes locked again and although only a few seconds passed, it felt like a lifetime.

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