Page 11 of Shake Up My Life

I feel so damn comfortable.

I’m not sure why, but I feel like I sleep for hours when I’m suddenly awakened by a voice that calls out somewhere in the distance. I don’t hear who it is or who they’re looking for, but the sound of the foreign voice causes my eyes to pop open in surprise.

I’m on my stomach as I look around the room, at least what I can see in my position, which isn’t much. A blank wall and nothing else.

Everything comes flooding back to me from last night, every deliciously perfect memory. Letting out a sigh, I stretch my sore muscles. God, everything is sore, my entire body, especially between my legs.

A hand slides around my waist from beside me, turning me to the side, as Riff tugs me closer to his body, his hard length pressed against the crack of my ass. His lips touch my shoulder, then he speaks on a whisper.

“Morning, buttercup,” he says just as the door to his bedroom flies open.

We both sit straight up, in surprise, me forgetting to cover myself. There is a woman standing in front of me. She’s beautiful and looks only a couple of years older than me. Her long dark hair is smooth, and her eyes find mine before they widen.

“Are you Tanner Pratt?” she asks, her voice sounding hard.

Looking over to Riff, I shift my attention back to her. “I am,” I say softly.

She shakes her head once. “You better get your ass outside. Your brother is here, and he isnothappy.”

Riff reaches for me, wrapping his fingers around my shoulder and gently squeezing. “Your brother? You said you were over eighteen, Tanner.” His tone of voice holds a sharpness that I do not recognize from last night, and I don’t like it, either.

He thinks that I’ve lied to him.

Breaking eye contact with the woman, I turn back to look at him. “I am nineteen, almost twenty, just like I said, Riff. I live with my very overprotective brother,” I explain quickly before I turn back to the woman.

“Yeah, well, we don’t need Detective Pratt hanging around. He makes these men very uncomfortable.”

Riff shifts behind me, but I can’t look at him. I could smell the marijuana last night, I saw the cocaine, and the pills. I saw the guns on everyone’s hips. They’re the Nasty Bastards MC. I know that they aren’t good little boys.

Judging by some of the characters that were hanging around, I could tell that these men were not men who were on the up-and-up, but that doesn’t matter to me, it doesn’t matter because I fell for Riff instantly—instantaneously.

My one night of rebellion turned into something beautiful, and I refuse to let Brent rip that from me as well.

“You better go, Tanner,” Riff states.

Looking over my shoulder at him, I dip my chin in a nod. The way he’s looking at me is nothing like the way he did last night, or this morning. He looks almost…void. Empty completely. He is standing there naked, looking at me, but he doesn’t see any part of me at all.

It’s as if I don’t even exist to him.

Not anymore.

“C’mon, Tanner,” the woman’s voice calls out, it’s much softer now.

I can see the pity in her eyes. She knows that my one-night stand was nothing more than a one-night stand. Walking around the room, I quickly gather my things and dress before I make my way toward the door.

Stopping, I turn my head and look back at him.

He doesn’t say anything, his eyes don’t even move, his gaze stays trained straight ahead.

“Goodbye, Riff,” I whisper before I slip out of the room and walk toward my brother and a no doubt punishment of his that I couldn’t even imagine.

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