Page 43 of Ryder

He glances from me to her, pulls his chair out and sits, chuckling. “Yeah, you really look like it.”

“Ryder here was just trying to control my life, once again, from his pedestal, and I was just setting him straight,” Crystal says. It seems this new personality is here to stay.

“Nope. Just lookin’ out for you, as I always will, now and forever,” I shoot back.

“Whoa.” Luca spreads his hands toward each of us. “Let’s just take a beat. I was only gone for five minutes, and you two are ready to tear out each other's throats.”

You could cut the tension with a knife.

“He started it.” Crystal points in my direction.

I snicker. “We’re gonna do this?”

“Apparently.”

“Okay, enough,” Luca says. “Tensions are high because we care about you, Crys, so stop being a brat and just listen. If we didn’t care, neither of us would say anything.”

“I appreciate that, but I’m not a brat,” she tosses back, sounding exactly like a brat. “There comes a point in a person’s life where they create their own path, and those around them need to let go and trust that the person in question has got this.”

Is it just me or do her eyes float my way for a second?

“I know that,” Luca goes on, his face softening. “But we have a right to be worried.”

He’s being too nice, but I’ll get to the bottom of it. If she’d convinced me she was actually happy, would I let her go? Probably not, but at least I’m honest.

Crystal may be able to pull the wool over her brother’s eyes, but she can’t fool me.

She has no clue I know exactly where to start looking.

9

CRYSTAL

I don’t knowwho they think they are. I’m so sick of being treated like a little kid by these two annoying jerks. Everyone just wants to try and rule my life. If it’s not Mom and Dad, it’s Luca, with Ryder chiming in because he’s like a dog with a bone. I don’t know who gave him the keys to the kingdom, but he’s wearing that badge with pride.

Who the fuck does he think he is?Acting jealous and asking me a million questions that he truly expects me to answer. He didn’t seem to care in the year that I’ve not been in his life. The odd text here or there doesn’t constitute an actual friendship, no matter what he says. I told him I’d fallen in love with him… All he had to say was he didn’t know, and then excuses about not stirring shit up and me going back to school.

He’s the king of excuses, that much I know.

I couldn’t ask you to be with me, not with my lifestyle…

I mean, what is that supposed to mean? So he hasn’t slept with anyone in an entire year? I realize that as a prospect, he’s not supposed to have women coming and going from the club, it’s forbidden. But that doesn’t mean he can’t do stuff in his own time.

Then there’s Jimmy.

The anxiety rolling off me that Ryder and Jimmy will find out about one another is palpable. I really am in a fucking nightmare, one that I created. In my defense, I had no idea that Jimmy had MC ties in New Orleans, or that there would be even a slight chance he’d think about moving here. When he told me about the position with the Devils Ink MC, I knew it would be a bad idea. At least for me. But I love Jimmy. It wasn’t the same feeling as Ryder, but Ryder will always be my first love. He also didn’t exactly tell me he felt the same way about me when I’d confessed I was in love with him. He’d hesitated. I don’t know what he expects me to do with that. Fall over myself because now I’m finally in some kind of happy place, he can swoop in and take over? I should kick him in the nuts.

So I sit through dinner, trying to ignore the looks Ryder keeps giving me, while also trying to engage in conversation so Luca won’t get suspicious. It’s a miracle he hasn’t figured it out.

“Are you sure you don’t wanna come back to the suite?” Luca asks Ryder when we’re in the car.

“No thanks, bro, but I really should get home.”

Ryder sits in the back, saying jack shit, and somehow that infuriates me more.

“Fine, but call me tomorrow. We’ll do something. Have lunch, catch up, you can show me around.”

“I’d like that.” I smile. I love my brother. As annoying and nosy as he is, he means well. I love that about him, but he’s acting more like my dad than my brother. And right now, I don’t need any more pressure.

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