Page 53 of Riding Danger

From the moment I walked into that studio all those weeks earlier, I knew my feelings hadn’t gone anywhere. They were just buried so deep that I didn’t allow myself to feel them.

I had no hesitation when he handed me the four VIP tickets. Seeing him live on stage was something I looked forward to. The hour-long drive to the Central San Diego Stadium was made a lot more fun with Maggie and Tiffany in the car with me.

Tiffany’s fifteen-year-old sister, Zoe took the fourth ticket. She was happy to mostly ignore us and scroll away on her phone in the back seat.

“I can’t believe you still have my cap.” Maggie tried to grab the baseball cap she’d caught all those years ago. “I mean, I know you wear it from time to time. But I didn’t realize why you took it from me and kept it all these years.”

I batted her hand away, and she focused back on the road. I had no doubt she would try again when she wasn’t driving.

“I don’t know why I kept it.” Maybe nostalgia, maybe hope. “It’s not like I intended to tell Ethan about his father, anyway.”

Tiffany leaned forward between the two front seats. “I bet my little munchkin is excited about tonight.”

“He’s as much of a diva as his dad.” I chuckled remembering how he’d been acting before he and Ryder left for San Diego. “Between the tea and the silent treatment because they needed to rest their voices, they were driving me crazy.”

Ethan was already at the stadium. He had begged his dad to let him perform. Ryder was a little reluctant. He didn’t want our son in the spotlight. He’d been irritated about something. He insisted that parents should protect their kids from the limelight, not shove them into it.

It wasn’t until I explained to him that Ethan had the best protector in him, that he began to accept it. I reminded him that I believed he would not allow anything to happen to Ethan and he relented. Since I would be at the show, Ethan wouldn’t have to wait backstage all night, so he allowed our son to perform at the opening concert.

Apparently, he would have a two song set before he’d be escorted back to me. The audience didn’t know it but there were other surprises as well. The Poets would be making a guest appearance with a three-song set, including the reunion single they’d recorded a few weeks back. Then Layla Dean would also be performing her duet with him. It was one hell of a kickoff to his national tour.

From what I understood, there were logistical issues that went into changing the tour kickoff from Los Angeles to San Diego. He had two nights in San Diego, then he’d be headed to Los Angeles for three nights. Then a few meetings in L.A. before making it home by Christmas Eve.

That was the part I was looking forward to the most. Him being with us on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Day we would head to Tess and Harry’s. With Cat hopefully home on leave, and Grace home, Tess would be in her element. She loved the idea of all her little chicks being home for the holiday. And we loved that we could do that for her. Including her grandchildren and Ryder, we’d be ten people at the dinner table. But that was the easy part.

Ryder had already won over Harry, and Tess absolutely adored him. The challenge would be the night before. When we would do our dinner with all our friends. Nearly everyone would be home. And I looked forward to watching Ryder interact with all of them. He already met Theo, and Jason was one of his best friends. Still, I couldn’t help but be nervous about the rest.

Holden was unnecessarily protective of everyone. Aidan didn’t trust upfront. Not to mention how cagey Owen could be. And that was just the guys. I still hadn’t told Cat, and while I was sure Grace knew about Ryder, she hadn’t messaged or said anything about him.

So, as nervous as it made me, Christmas Eve was necessary. Ryder was Ethan’s father. He wasn’t going anywhere and we were together. Not that we had put any kind of label on our situation. But come on, I was his emergency contact when he got arrested.

Tiffany sat back once more. “It's a good thing you’ve been working at Salinger this last while. Can you imagine trying to get the time off for this.”

It had been something I’d been thinking about. Between the shoot for the music video and the concert, I would’ve put a strain on the department. The shift changes I would’ve needed to manage would have been difficult.

“Yeah. It's something I need to consider in the future.”

“What do you mean?” Maggie narrowed her eyes at me before turning back to the road. “Are you considering leaving the force?”

I let out a sigh and voiced the thoughts which had been playing around in my head. “I don’t know where Ryder and I will lead. I know how I feel and where I want things to go. But for that to happen, my life needs to be a little less rigid. This won’t be the last time he’s in concert and Ethan is with him. I get that at Salinger Security there’s a chance I may be away from home but…” Besides being the best in the business when it came to contraband shipments investigations, the company still took on a handful of hostage rescue situations as well as being one of the go-to companies when it came to military extraction.

“Nick Salinger is not the police department.”

“Despite what he may think.”

As we pulled up to the stadium, I directed Maggie with the instructions Ryder had given me. Each time we were stopped, I flashed my VIP pass and someone allowed us to continue. After many turns and what felt like driving in circles, a security guard finally smiled at me. “Ms. Bauman, Mr. Hawkins is looking forward to seeing you.” He waved at another man in uniform who jogged over. “This is Rudy. If you hand him your keys, he’ll make sure your car is securely parked and I will escort you and your friends to the VIP section of the stadium.”

I nodded and smiled at my friends. “Damn, fancy.”

I handed over my keys and followed the man in uniform.

The VIP section looked like nothing more than a very large tent. As we stepped inside, I spotted a celebrity couple walking over to the table toward the back.

It wasn’t until Maggie squealed that I realized it was so much more than a tent with a table. “Ooh, snacks.”

“Maggie.” Tiffany dropped her voice to a low hiss. “These people will smell blood if we act as if we’re not used to this. Turn too much and you’ll find designer drugs right alongside the bar.”

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