Page 72 of Breaking the Rules (Roaming Devils MC 1)

Chapter Fourteen

Ella unlocked the door to her apartment and went inside. The place was empty and it didn’t appear that Ryker had been there at all. She’d decided not to stay at her parents’ house. She wanted to talk things through with her missing boyfriend. She set her stuff down, exhausted from the day. Her phone was in her pocket and she reached for it, dialing Ryker’s number.

“Yeah?”

“Where are you?”

“The club.”

“Oh.” She rubbed a hand over her face. “Are you staying there tonight?”

“Why?”

She glanced around the messy apartment. “I thought we’d talk.”

“Talking isn’t something I want to do tonight. I’ve been out of town. You’ve been working all day. You can get some sleep and we’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Confused, she disconnected the call. There was only so much that she knew about his life in the MC. She’d seen the way his father acted and that fit the bill of what her father had told her about the Roaming Devils, but she couldn’t imagine Ryker doing the same thing. She couldn’t picture him holding a gun to some woman’s head and pulling the trigger. Or demanding that someone else pull the trigger. He wasn’t that cold. He wasn’t that vile.

But her father was convinced that he’d killed Razor. She didn’t think he was capable of taking another life, but she wasn’t stupid either. She didn’t know what he’d gone out of town for. She didn’t like the evasiveness either. He wasn’t going to tell her what club business he dealt with. She’d done some research on her own and the MC wasn’t just a drug-loving orgy of men and women alike. There were some serious crimes that went along with wearing the patch.

The thought of Ryker being that person wasn’t something she easily accepted. How could he really be a different person with her? Was he that good of an actor? Which side of him was the real side? Thoughts swarmed in her mind about the entire scenario and she didn’t know what to do about it.

Ella rubbed her eyes and decided to take a long, hot shower before she went to bed. It didn’t matter in the moment. She’d contemplated it enough as it was. Going to the bathroom, she turned the water on and undressed. He never talked about his cravings anymore. He never seemed to need cocaine like he had nearly a month ago. She didn’t understand that either.

In so many ways she felt like she knew him. In other ways, she felt like he was a complete stranger. Ella let her hair soak in the water before she reached for the shampoo. A noise sounded in her living room and she paused, listening. The bathroom door was open and a shadowy figure passed in her line of sight. Ella froze and reached for a towel. She wrapped the terrycloth around her and stepped out of the shower, looking for her phone. Before she could find it, the intruder caught her.

Steely arms closed around her and pulled her out of the bathroom. He shoved her to the couch, hovering over her while two of his friends collected what little valuables she had. They made lewd remarks about her nudity and one threatened to rape her before his friend talked him out of it. She clutched the towel to her chest, her hands shaking. She studied as much of them as she could. Muscular physiques. One had brown hair with a diamond earring in his ear. The other had a tattoo of some kind of symbol on the back of his arm. When the one that had caught her in the bathroom saw her studying them, he backhanded her across the face.

Ella gasped at the pain, clutching her cheek as she glared at him. He came toward her and ripped the towel from her body. He stank of stale sweat and beer. She struggled, trying to keep him off her as tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Come on. We’ve got to go,” the brunet said.

The guy on top of her stared at her while his hands roamed along her thighs. “Next time, bitch.”

Ella waited until they were gone before she got up to call her father. Her hands shook so badly that she barely found his number.

“Dad, please come over.” She half sobbed. “Some guys broke into my apartment.”

“Are you okay?” he asked. “Did they hurt you?”

“Please come over.” She sniffled and hung up. Her door remained wide open and she was naked in the middle of the floor.

Ella stood and went to the couch to get the afghan she kept there. She wrapped herself in it and lay back on the sofa. Her heart still thumped against her ribs. Her father would be there soon and he’d take care of everything for her. Ella grabbed her phone from the floor and dialed Ryker.

“Yeah?”

She swallowed. “Some guys just broke into my apartment.”

“What?”

“I was in the shower. They made lewd remarks about raping me and then one tried.” She sobbed, unable to stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks. “Can you please come over?”

“I’m on my way.” He hung up. Ella curled up on her side, lying on the sofa. She couldn’t stop shaking.

Her father was the first to find her. He and her mother came into her apartment unannounced and bent down to her.

“Oh, honey.” Her mother put her arms around her. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you?”

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