Page 30 of Hate the Game
He growled and stomped around to his side. He got behind the wheel and I held my breath, expecting him to start the truck and floor it. Charlie would have. When we fought he’d drive like a maniac, no matter how I begged him to stop. Ryder didn’t pull out immediately after starting the truck. He just sat there with his hands locked on the steering wheel.
“Do you need to go straight back to the dorm?”
I refused to look over at him. “Why?”
“Just answer the question, Savannah.”
I should’ve said yes but I was too curious for my own good. “No.”
He slowly pulled out of the lot and drove downright cautiously as he took us farther from campus. He didn’t explain where he was taking me and I wasn’t going to ask. I wasn’t going to speak to him if I could avoid it. I was angry at him. He’d been a jerk. But I was also freaked out by how much I wanted to crawl into his lap and kiss him. Seeing him with Sunny melted me and it wasn’t good. I was struggling to remember the real reason I was mad at him. The guilt I felt every time I thought of my brothers was overwhelming. Yet, there I was, going with him to wherever he wanted to take me.
We didn’t speak as he drove. The radio was quietly playing rock and the smell of cajun fries made my mouth water. His window was down and the air whipped my hair from my bun. Still we stayed silent. When he finally pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall in what felt like the middle of nowhere I sat forward. Was he taking me shopping?
He parked in front of a gym with the windows blacked out. There was a salon on one side and a Chinese buffet on the other that were both open and busy. Ryder didn’t explain or even wait on me. He grabbed the food and got out, slamming his door shut without a look back at me.
I scowled as I grabbed my own t-shirt from the backseat and followed after him. He was pissing me off more and more. I wanted to karate chop him in the back of his thick neck. I was in the middle of silently mimicking him when he turned around and caught me.
I froze and looked away. I wasn’t going to apologize. He was lucky that I hadn’t already murdered him.
He pulled out a key, unlocked the door, and held it open for me. I went in first and he followed me, standing too close since I’d stopped just over the threshold. The place was dark and I wasn’t a huge fan of going in blind but when Ryder bumped into me I pulled away and nearly tripped over a metal folding chair.
“Careful.”
I shot him a dirty look that he probably couldn’t see. “If you’re going to murder me I’d rather you do it without having me bruise my shins first.”
He grunted, back to just making sounds at me, and gripped my upper arm to guide me. He knew the place well enough to not stumble over anything in the dark. He took us through another door and then flipped a light switch that illuminated the room, but barely. We were in a big room with a boxing ring on one side and more of those same metal folding chairs on the other side. It smelled like sweat and beer.
“What are we doing here?” I watched him walk over to the ring and easily step through the ropes to get inside.
“Eating. Come on.” He dropped the food and pointed at a beat up cooler in the corner of the room. “There should be cold waters in there. Grab two.”
I imagined throwing each bottle at his head as I stomped over. I didn’t know what we were doing there. I was starving. I felt dirty. But the biggest issue of all was that I was still angry at Ryder for being an ass. I grabbed the bottles and tossed them to him in the ring. “Where’s the bathroom? I need to change.”
His eyes dropped to my body and narrowed. “What’s wrong with my shirt?”
“It’s covered in god only knows what, Ryder. I need to wash up before I eat. I have mud and probably worse all over me and I don’t exactly feel as fresh as a daisy. Any other questions?”
He grunted again and pointed to the other end of the room. “The right door.”
After using rough paper towels and cold sink water to clean up I felt a little better but not a lot. I let my hair down and sighed as I stared at my reflection. I hadn’t prepared for time in the sun that morning and my cheeks and nose were red from the start of a sunburn. My hair had gotten wet and dried in wild waves and curls that stuck out everywhere but having it down made me feel a little better guarded against Ryder. It was like a giant, dark red security blanket.
Ryder already had the bags open and the food spread out on top of them when I got back. He’d already gotten through half of his burger and looked like he wasn’t going to take long to finish the rest as he watched me awkwardly climb through the ropes to get into the ring.
I sat several feet away from him and took a deep breath. After eating the brownies and ice cream with Blaire the night before I was hearing the cow comments even louder in my head. I could see the thick burger and greasy fries going straight to my ass.
“What?” Ryder watched me closely, his eyes taking in too much. “You don’t like fries?”
I snorted. “I like fries more than I should.”
He frowned. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“Nothing.” I picked up the burger and ate a small bite. An attempted date rapist had called me thick. Not in a good way, either. Something about the continued blows to my ego mixed with the angry vibes coming from Ryder and I wanted to sink through the floor. I no longer felt like the same woman who’dtold Vaughn that I was hot. I felt awkward in my skin and like I needed another night hanging out with Blaire to pep myself up again.
“I could’ve grabbed you something different.”
“You didn’t exactly give me an option. And it doesn’t matter. I like this food. It just doesn’t like me. At least not my thighs or my ass.” I stood up and walked over the ropes farthest from him. I was starving but I didn’t want to eat in front of him. “How do you have the keys to this place?”
Ryder calmly stood up and walked over to me. He took my hand and led me back to the middle of the ring and down to the mat beside him. “Eat your fucking food.”
