Page 42 of Unbreak Me
“Let’s go,” I say, pushing off the door. He wants to get out of his hell, and I want to be the one who pulls him out of it.
His eyes burn into mine before he steps back and opens the door.
“After you.” He motions at the door, and I step through. Taking my hand again, he walks us over to Bobby. I smile at him when we approach where he’s standing. He’s in his mid-forties, and like most of the guys who work here, he’s covered in tattoos.His dark beard is trimmed nicely, and his warm brown eyes capture mine as he smiles back at me.
“I’m taking the afternoon off. We’ll be back tomorrow to get Eve’s car.”
He looks at Ryder, and I can tell he has a million questions. “So the meeting went well? You didn’t screw it up and make her quit on us?”
Ryder rolls his eyes at him. “No, Eve’s part of the business now and will be in charge of running the office and anything else she wants to get her hands involved in.”
Bobby grins at Ryder. “Thank God. You were drowning back there.”
“I know,” he laughs.
Bobby turns and meets my eyes. “Ryder has told me a lot about you these past couple of years. It’s good to finally have you here.”
“All bad things, I’m sure,” I murmur. I can only imagine what he told everyone about me when I left.
“Actually, all good things. You had a lot of great ideas for this place that Ryder made sure I implemented. You have an eye for business.”
I’m taken aback by the compliment and the fact he never talked badly about me for leaving. “Thank you,” I say softly. I glance at Ryder, and the corner of his lip turns up.
“I told you this place was as much yours as it is mine.” He focuses on Bobby and turns serious. “I’ll have a meeting with the guys about Eve and her role in the business in more detail, but let them know it goes without saying that she’s to be treated with respect and off limits. I’ll be having this conversation with Nick especially. If he values his job, he will respect my boundaries.” Ryder has a death grip on my hand, and I see his tense jaw as he makes it known that I’m his. Something inside me burns even more.
“Got it, Ryder. I’ll let them know, and you can talk to them more at the meeting.”
“Thanks, Bobby. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He pulls me with him, and I wave goodbye to Bobby as I try to keep up. Chuckling, he lifts his hand before getting back to work.
He walks me over to a black Porsche GT3 before opening the passenger door for me.
“This is yours?” I’ve only seen him drive Travis’s truck. I haven’t stepped foot in the garage at the house. He told me he got us matching black vehicles, but I didn’t know he finally got his dream car.
“She’s mine,” he looks at her with pride in his eyes. “She was in a bad wreck, and I restored her from the ground up.”
I slide into the black leather seats with the red trim and look around as he gets into the driver’s side. There are only two bucket seats, and everything is modified to perfection. He slips on the seatbelt, and I do the same.
“She’s beautiful, Ryder. You always wanted one of these.” I run my hand along the gleaming dashboard.
“I found her broken and knew exactly what she felt like,” he says quietly. “I bought her that day. I saved her, and in a way, by putting her back together, she saved me.” I reach out and place my hand on his arm, wanting to comfort him. He looks down at my hand, and I see him tense. “I don’t need your pity right now, Eve. I need your anger. If we are going to do this, I need you with me. If I see pity in your eyes when I look at you, I won’t be able to feel the anger that’s been brimming underneath the surface since you first came back. I’ll stuff it back in, and it will always be there.”
I take my hand back and rest it on my lap. “It’s hard to find my anger when I feel so bad about what I did to you. I feel like I can’t breathe sometimes because of the guilt I feel,” I admit.
“Under all that guilt, I know you are fucking pissed at your parents for what they did, and I’m going to drag it out of you.” He roars the engine to life and shifts it into gear, peeling us out of the parking lot.
He takes the longer way home, where the streets are more deserted. I watch his strong muscles flex as he shifts gears. He’s in complete control of the machine beneath us, and I can’t help the way my heart rate goes up as adrenaline rushes through my body. He glances over and notices me watching him. A smirk plays on his lips as he focuses back on the road. He knows exactly what he’s doing to me. My eyes roam his body, and when I see him straining against the front of his jeans, satisfaction weaves its way through, knowing he’s feeling the same.
A low growl escapes his lips, and I jerk my eyes to meet his. Greys pierce me before shooting back to the road. He finally shifts gears and slows down as we near his house. The garage door opens, and we enter it before silence fills the air. He’s out the door the minute the garage door shuts. I fumble with my seatbelt, my hands shaking from the anticipation of what’s to come. He opens the doors and pulls me out, leading me to the back door and across the pool deck.
Thankfully, Jake and Miles are working today, so we don’t have to deal with any questions about why Ryder is pulling me into his place in the middle of the day. The door closes behind us, and I hear a soft click as Ryder locks it. His eyes lock onto mine as he walks toward me. I instinctively walk backward into his room until I hit the bed, forcing me to stop.
Bending down close to my ear, his scent invades my senses. He’s always smelled amazing to me, like sandalwood mixed with a hint of spice. “You were gone for exactly nine hundred and eighty-nine days. I know because I counted every fucking one of them. I have had this fierce possessiveness towards you ever since you came back. The need to claim you as mine over andover again consumes my every waking moment,” he breathes against my ear, sending shivers down my spine.
“I want to own every inch of this body, so there is no doubt in your mind of who you belong, too. We’ve both been in hell for the past three years and a huge part of me wants to punish you for that.” He pulls hard on my ear lobe with his teeth. “I want to take back what we’ve missed and turn this pain into pleasure.”
He grips my hips tightly, and I can tell he’s barely hanging on, but he wants my permission first.
“Do what you need to erase the pain,” I whisper. “I want to be punished for leaving. It will take some of the guilt away. It’s still there, choking me every time I think about the hurt I caused you. I want to be set free.”
