Page 68 of Bound by Vengeance
Breanna nods and pulls Ashley along while Ryker hands Xavier the bags.
“Be safe,” Ryker tells them, and before we can blink, they are gone.
I’m not sure what I expected, maybe a hug between them or a thank you. I don’t know, but whatever it was, it didn’t happen.
We head back to the truck, a somber feeling settling in the cab, but there’s also a little bit of triumph. Ryker holds my hand most of the way home.
Entering the apartment with the early morning light among us, we find Emery sitting in the recliner.
“What’s going on?” she asks.
“We’re good,” I tell her, then lead Ryker into the bedroom.
Ryker is hanging in there, though the sadness around him is like a dark cloud.
Locking the door, I tell him, “Let’s get some sleep.”
Methodically, we strip our clothes and climb into bed. I wrap myself around Ryker, and he does the same to me, then kisses the top of my head.
It’s quiet in the room. I focus on our in sync breathing.
“It’s strange,” he cuts through the silence of the dark room with only the alarm clock’s light casting a very soft shade of red.
“I’m happy they got out, but I worry about them. They’re with someone they don’t know, and you saw how scared they were. I fucking hate they were exposed to that shit.” Ryker squeezes me tightly. “It’s just bringing up old shit I buried a long time ago.”
Hand on his chest, I say, “Tell me.”
He blows out a deep breath, his chest moving my head, but he doesn’t release me, thankfully. “They kicked me out because I asked too many questions about their lifestyle. I didn’t think what was happening was right. It sounded twisted and weird to me. Even being raised in that world, it felt odd.
“James didn’t like anyone challenging his idealizations. The more questions I asked, the angrier he got. When he got angry, I got a cheap thrill from it. I thought it meant I was on to something. Which I was. When they put me out, I had nothing.
Dumpster diving was my only means for food. Lived on the streets. Shit sucked, and I had to learn to deal with my mother allowing him to put me out and trying to get my head on straight. It was a lot to take on.”
“But you survived.”
He scoffs. “It took me a fuck of a long time to get where I am today, Austyn. Stealing. Begging. It wasn’t pretty, but it’s how I got to here. I just don’t want my sisters to feel the way I did. Abandoned. Alone. Helpless.”
“If my mom says that Kim and Xavier will take care of them, they will. You don’t have to worry about that.”
He kisses my head again. “I know that, beautiful. It just fucks up your head. The whole lifestyle. Coming out of it. All of it together is a lot for anyone to handle. Ashley is so young. I just hope she can hack it.”
He sighs deeply. “My cousin Carley, the one you saw on the back of my bike, she got out on her own. Ran away, actually, and didn’t come and find me until a year or so afterward. She had a hell of a time adjusting to life outside. They keep you so sheltered socially that surviving in the world is difficult, but Carley did it. She has her own place and a job outside of Sumner as a bank teller. I’m just hoping my sisters can adjust that well.”
I feel his pain. I wouldn’t want Nox or Cooper to feel anything like this. It would crush me deeply. The need to make it disappear for him hits me hard.
Rolling over, I touch my lips to his as I straddle his body, roaming my hands over him. “Let me take it away.”
He kisses me, teeth clashing, each trying to get more and more from each other. The kiss is bruising. I’ve never felt so desired in my life. The thought that he wants me so badly he can’t contain himself sends me into an arousal that’s more intense, which I didn’t think was possible.
Breaking away from his lips, I trail kisses down his neck, his chest, and his abs, loving the way they jolt by my touch. His cock is right there, hard and ready. Nerves hit me in a rush, and it takes me a moment to pull myself together and push it all away. Yes, he’s been inside me and I’ve touched him, but I’ve never come face to face with this part of a man.
Just doing what comes naturally to me, I grip him hard, to which he sucks in a breath. Here goes nothing and everything.
I latch my mouth around his hardness that feels soft against my lips.
“Oh, fuck!” he calls out, fisting the sheets next to us.
I take him in as far as I can, feeling the urge to gag. Remembering a video I saw once with a woman going down on a guy, I recall her licking around the head, dipping into the small slit. Doing exactly what she did in the video causes Ryker to growl, telling me it was the right thing to do.
