Page 72 of Broken Player

"What do you meanwhen I move to LA?" he asked, leaning forward.

I glanced down at Ryan, whose breathing had evened out as she slept against my shoulder. "Well, I can't stay in the band and live in fuckingTexas.Not that I'd want to live here anyway," I whispered, wrinkling my nose.

"Sure," Quinn agreed, waving me on.

"I know Ryan doesn't want to stay and work the ranch. She has dreams, and I plan to make every single one come true. But I know she'd never leave you behind. And truthfully, I don't want to leave you here, either. You're a good guy, and I like having you around. You want to protect Ryan as much as I do, not that she needs it."

He chuckled softly again then winced, rubbing his temples. "Fuck, no. She's no scared little girl. She's a badass. That's part of why I love her so much," he confessed in a whisper as his eyes flicked down to take her in, and I could've sworn I caught something in his gaze that shouldn't be there, but I shook it off. Quinn had never been anything but a good friend to Ryan.

Dismissing that thought, I closed my eyes and thought about what we were going to be facing. As much as I wanted to put on a brave face for Ryan, I really had no idea how her parents were going to react. And I knew there was no fucking way Yates was going to just let this go.

He had plans for my girl, and when she walked away from that, it was a blow to his considerable ego. I didn't know what he had the reach to make happen, but he had money. He might nothave access to a lot of it, but he was a clever and sneaky son of a bitch, and I couldn't underestimate him.

Not knowing what I'd be dealing with when it came to his retribution had me stressed the fuck out, but I'd never tell Ryan. She was already worried enough. I could handle that asshole myself. I had to admit it was unsettling as fuck that Connor hadn't been able to dig up even a speeding ticket on Yates. There was no way he was that clean.

The question was, what was he hiding? I intended to find out.

The plane shook again, and I tightened my grip on Ryan, but she didn't wake up. The rest of the plane ride, I tried to clear my mind and stay as calm as possible so that Ryan could rest. I didn't let shit rattle me. I was smarter than that. I needed more information, and until I had it, there was no point worrying about it.

I tried to relax the rest of the flight, planning what steps to take next in my mind and then letting them go. Ryan slept, resting her body against mine, and she fit like she was made to be there. I hated to wake her up, considering neither of us got a lot of sleep over the past couple of days. A grin broke out on my face as I relieved my favorite memories of Ryan's body wrapped around mine all weekend long.

Just before we touched down, I gently woke her by kissing her entire face, everywhere but her lips. Her eyelids fluttered open, and she looked up at me with tired eyes. "Time to wake up, Freckles. Wouldn't want you to miss out on your favorite part."

Glancing over at Quinn, he was slumped in the seat, his glasses askew on his face. He looked like a fucking wreck after the weekend, but it made me happy that he fit in just as well as Ryan with my friends.

Ryan sat up straighter and leaned over to look out the window. Her passion for every new thing was like a breath of fresh air in my lungs. It was infectious. I'd flown around theentire world. I'd flown so many miles that I barely paid attention to it anymore, let alone appreciated the parts that used to be exciting. But watching the world through Ryan's eyes was like rediscovering it.

I was quickly getting addicted to life with her by my side. I never imagined I could actually have her, and now that she'd walked away from everything for me, I planned to do everything to show her she'd made the right choice.

The wheels touched down with a jolt, and the engines roared as we barrelled down the runway before slowing. "Well, Freckles, you ready to do this?" I asked, capturing her hand in mine and pulling her attention away from the window, back to me and reality.

She sighed heavily, looking back at me through unsure eyes. "No, but I'm never going to be more ready to face it than I am right now."

"That's my girl," I praised before Quinn sleepily interjected, "Our girl."

Laughing, I stood and led us to the front of the plane where Hilda had our bags ready. After a quick thanks, we climbed down the steps and got into the truck I'd bought and had delivered to the hanger. If we were going to be spending more time out here, I didn't want to have to keep renting cars. It was a pain in the ass.

The ranch was about half an hour away, and the entire way, Ryan alternated between nervously chatting about nothing at all and complete silence as I watched her chew her lip until it looked like she drew blood. Quinn dozed off and on and kept to himself most of the ride. "Do you think your sisters will be there?" I asked, trying to get her talking so she'd quit hurting herself. My motivation was partly selfish. If her lip was injured, I wouldn't be able to kiss it without causing her pain, and I couldn't have that.

Not kissing her wasn't an option either. So talking it was, even if it made her think about what she didn't want to. We were going to have to face it in just a few minutes anyway.

"I hadn't really thought about it. I hope not. They don't forgive as easily as my parents, and they don't let things go. Charlie's like a bloodhound with a scent. She'll never give up until she's unearthed every single detail more than once just to be sure," she explained, sighing. "Ireallyhope it's just mom and dad."

I rubbed her upper thigh in circles gently, hoping I could calm her down a little bit with my touch the way she did to me whenever I was just in her presence. It seemed to work as she leaned against me. She was lost in thought, but luckily she gave up the assault on her lower lip.

"Fuck, Lancelot. You better hope the girls aren't there, or they're going to make it so much more difficult on you," Quinn unhelpfully added from the back seat, and I shot him a glare in the rearview mirror.

He shifted his eyes away from me before rubbing Ryan's shoulder. "But I'm sure they won't be there. They're way too busy with their own lives," he added, trying to be reassuring, but the damage was already done as Ryan stiffened next to me.

"Quinn and I will run interference if we have to, Freckles. Don't worry about your sisters. This isn't about them. Really, this is between you and your parents," I gently reminded her.

"You're right. And once we talk to them, we can figure out what to do about the ranch. Right?" she asked, her big, doe eyes pleading with me to have all the answers.

"Right," I agreed, squeezing her thigh and feeling a zing shoot straight to my dick. We stayed in bed until the last possible second before we flew back, and still, my body reacted as if I hadn't spent the weekend fucking her in every room of my house.

And I had a big goddamn house.

I had some ideas about what I wanted to do with both of our ranches, but we needed to first deal with the wedding fallout. There were so many issues flying around with this situation I wanted to take them one at a time.

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